Immortality (video game) – Wikipedia

2022 video game

Immortality is an interactive film video game developed by Sam Barlow and published by Half Mermaid Productions. It was released for Windows and Xbox Series X/S in August 2022. Android and iOS versions through Netflix app were released in November 2022. A macOS version is also in the works.

The game is based on the fictional model turned actress Marissa Marcel (Manon Gage) who had starred in three movies from 1968, 1970, and 1999 but which were never released. Marcel has since gone missing, creating a mystery for the player to solve. In the same manner as Barlow's prior works Her Story and Telling Lies, Immortality incorporates the use of full-motion video for the player to piece together Marcel's fate.[1] The player begins with one clip from one of the three films, and the player can pause and click on a person or item of interest. The game will then show all other clips from the three films, as well as behind-the-scenes production footage and television and interview clips, which the player can review and seek out further persons or items.[2]

Much of the plot is shown through secret footage the player reveals by manipulating the footage from the films, TV interviews, etc.; because of this, the plot progresses in a non-chronological, broken narrative format. This synopsis follows chronological order.

Two immortal beings, credited as "The One" and "The Other One," predate humanity and are able to live indefinitely by taking on the forms of humans and living their lives. This ostensibly ends the human's life, though elements of their personalities and memories mingle with the beings' own personalities and memories. Their kind's numbers have dwindled since human civilization began. They can regenerate from being killed, though some methods, especially burning, are implied to be permanent, although the ending throws even this into question.

The One and The Other One seem to be a pair, though their relationship is never explicitly defined. The One is fascinated with humanity, particularly their proclivities for sex, violence, and art. The Other One is ambivalent toward Humanity, seeing them as inferior copies of the immortal beings, and believes that the immortals and humans should exist separate from each other. However, they indulge The One in their exploration of humanity.

The One becomes Marissa Marcel, a French girl who is implied to have been mortally wounded by German soldiers in World War II and absorbed by The One as a mercy. In 1968 she auditions and is awarded a role in Ambrosio, a film based on the gothic novel The Monk by Matthew Lewis. During filming she becomes romantically involved with director of photography John Durick. The film's director, Arthur Fischer, steals the negatives, which prevents the film from ever being released.

Two years later, John directs Minsky, a detective story set in New York City's avant-garde art world. He casts Marissa as a lead; she also has significant creative input in the rest of the film. The Other One, taking the form of a man named Carl Goodman, also joins the cast as the film's other lead. Marissa and John's relationship deteriorates, possibly because Carl also begins a romantic relationship with John. While filming a scene, Marissa shoots and kills Carl with a prop gun at point blank range. To the rest of the cast and crew, this appears to be a tragic accident; the truth is that The One intentionally killed The Other One. Carl's death causes filming to halt, and the film is never released. Marissa reveals to John her and Carl's true natures as immortals, and tells him that she killed Carl. John is horrified by this, which disappoints The One. She murders John and takes on his form, shedding Marissa's form. The general public assumes Marissa became a recluse.

Nearly 30 years later, Fischer gives the negatives from Ambrosio to John in an attempt to free himself from deathbed regrets. The nostalgia causes The One to remember Marissa fondly and take on her form simultaneously with John's form, essentially existing in two bodies at once. Meanwhile, the actress Amy Archer watches footage of Carl's death, which allows The Other One to take her form. John, Marissa, and Amy begin work on a new film, Two of Everything, a drama film about a pop star named Maria who allows her coincidentally-identical body double Heather to pretend to be Maria so that she can live a pop star lifestyle and Maria can have a break from it. John directs, Marissa plays both Maria and Heather (paralleling The One's attempt to exist as two people), and Amy plays a villain character who murders Heather, thinking she is Maria. During filming, both John and Marissa behave strangely: Marissa is sometimes unresponsive and suffers nosebleeds, and both she and John occasionally collapse in exhaustion. John is also frequently absent during filming, implying that he vanishes when The One cannot maintain both forms. In several pieces of footage Amy pleads with Marissa to take breaks, but Marissa rebuffs her concerns. During one take, Marissa spontaneously bleeds from her head. The Other One tells her that their kind cannot sustain existing in two forms at once. Before Marissa becomes completely unresponsive, she asks Amy/The Other One to help her die onscreen as The Other One did, and therefore become truly immortalized in film. Amy films herself burning an inert Marissa's body. Two of Everything never finishes filming.

After the player watches Marissa burn, the grid containing all the clips they've collected during the game slowly disappear, revealing the face of The One. They tell the player they are "part of you, now," implying the player is their new host.

Barlow had announced Immortality as "Project Ambrosio" in 2020 and had blogged about its development over the year. His writing suggested that the game may have more of a horror-themed nature than his previous games, along with several passages marked as if classified or redacted information.[3][4] Barlow brought on three additional screenwriters for the game: Allan Scott, Amelia Gray, and Barry Gifford.[1] The game was formally announced during the E3 2021 event in June that year for Microsoft Windows, iOS, and Android.[1] In March 2022, Half Mermaid Productions announced that a version for Xbox Series X/S would also be available at launch.[5] During PC Gaming Show 2022, it was announced that the game would release on 26 July 2022, but was later delayed to 30 August 2022.[6][7] In August 2022, it was announced that the mobile ports would be published by Netflix.[8]

Immortality premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2022.[9] It was subsequently released on August 30, 2022 on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox Game Pass, and Windows via Steam and GOG.[10] It released on Netflix via Google Play and IOS in November 2022.[11]

Immortality received "generally favorable" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic.[12][13]

In an early review due to its print format, Edge awarded Immortality a perfect 10/10 score, the 24th game in its history to do so.[25]

In addition, Immortality has been praised for its acting performances, notably that of Manon Gage, who has received critical acclaim for her performance as Marissa Marcel. Edge called her performance "outstanding." Vulture's Lewis Gordon called it "a knockout performance."[26] PJ O'Reilly of Pure Xbox said Gage "provides a core performance that marks her out as an absolute superstar in the making."[27] Vice's Cameron Kunzelman noted: "...watching Gage play Marcel playing these characters is like watching someone juggle while riding a unicycle in the middle of the Indy 500, and she does it perfectly and without breaking a sweat. Its really something."[28]

Charlotta Mohlin has also been praised for her performance, with Edge calling her "remarkable",[25] and Tristan Ogilvie of IGN calling her "spellbinding."[29] Well Played AU's James Wood said "[Mohlin's] work is something I will be thinking about for years to come."[30] Nate Hermanson of Video Games Are Good noted Mohlin "[makes] us cry, laugh, shudder, and blush in almost every scene she [is] in."[31]

Continue reading here:

Immortality (video game) - Wikipedia