Immortality (PC)

Before anything else is said about Immortality, a huge commendation must be given to its creators for the impressive dedication put into realizing its concept. Composed of three feature length films that are legitimately constructed like they could have been decent works outside of this video game, creating these movies is then complicated by the fact that each one is shot like it was made in a different decade and despite Immortality’s plot giving wiggle room for these to be incomplete, it still includes other means of patching in the missing scenes to make all three work as fairly complete tales. In fact, the impressive level of craftsmanship on show in Immortality’s three films was given so much attention that it almost feels like the video game element was an afterthought that perhaps does all of that work elsewhere a bit of a disservice.

 

In Immortality, an actress named Marissa Marcel has gone missing, and considering her history of starring in three unreleased and unfinished movies, it does seem likely that something more than bad luck has lead to this string of unusual circumstances. Marissa plays the leading lady in all three films and an effort was made to compile as complete a picture as possible of the movies, often requiring the project to substitute in things like table reads and rehearsals in place of completed scenes to piece them together. You won’t be watching the three films in a coherent manner though, many of the clips accessible only by making connections between the ones you have on hand and scenes you have yet to see. This is done primarily by clicking on a region of the screen where something of note is found, an actor’s face for example taking you to another scene they’ve appeared in. This can apply to objects and even specific parts of people as well, but pretty early on the player will likely realize this method of finding new scenes is pure guesswork, especially since objects can connect to scenes in other films. You’re not really making many informed decisions on what to click, because while you can reason that an actor will have multiple scenes, you will need to click on things like an apple or crucifix to find scenes that aren’t otherwise connecting to the web of clips you’re uncovering. A crucifix can at least be said to have a close tie to one of the films since it’s about a Catholic monk, but other objects like a bowl will just whisk you to some clip that might as well have been randomly selected, meaning once you’ve exhausted the connections that feel like they would be fruitful, you’re just clicking on eligible objects and hoping to see something new.

The three fictitious films featured in Immortality are Ambrosio, a 1968 book adaptation about a Catholic monk being lured into sin, Minsky, a film from the 70s about a detective that falls in love with the muse of a murdered artist, and Two of Everything, a picture from 1999 about a woman who looks like a celebrity and is recruited to fill in for her at functions and other events she doesn’t wish to attend. Despite the near random order you’ll unearth clips from each of these films, they do have coherent narratives to learn about and there is some incredibly impressive cinematography involved in bringing them all to life. Creative shots exist across all three even when some like Ambrosio are certainly meant to have lower budgets, but that cinematic presentation makes it easy to believe these all could have been the work of authentic film crews. Since the scenes are often from rough cuts you also get plenty of fun peeks behind the film-making curtain as you hear or see them setting things up, adjusting the performance, or messing around after the director calls “cut!”. What makes this even more impressive is that technically these are all behind the scenes looks that are still being acted out, meaning that this supposed look at the making of the three movies is actually still a set of actors portraying on screen roles. This is certainly important for Marissa Marcel most of all, and with three different movies where the real actress Manon Gage has to portray how Marissa would act both as a character and on set, it is a marvel that she’s able to do so with such believability you never even question it.

 

While you’re piecing together these clips though, you are meant to be finding clues for what happened to Marissa, but the unfortunate truth is that the bulk of them don’t really relate useful information to you. They are mostly just appropriate clips for helping you understand the plots of the films that were being made, and while the subject matter of each film has metaphorical importance to the mystery, the way you actually start to uncover the truth is a bit weak. You are able to freely fast forward and rewind clips, this useful for searching for things to click on, but while you’re doing this you will start spotting irregularities in the film and will need to begin investigating these abnormal disturbances to get the answers you’re seeking. Weirdly enough though, while you have hours of footage to comb through in search of these, it’s fairly likely you’ll find one and be given such a large nugget of information that it makes most every other detail feel a bit tame. You can get such important information upfront that it can feel like the other disturbances you uncover aren’t contributing too much, and some really are fairly basic or just show you something you could have already gleaned from similar discoveries. The truth isn’t ineffective at least, it is a conceptually intriguing narrative in its own right, but it’s delivered with little regards for the amount of time you’ll spend playing Immortality since it can lead to whole hours of time spent afterwards feeling underwhelmed by the scraps that barely build up additional intrigue.

This can unfortunately have a knock-on effect to how other moments are interpreted as well. A table read is a realistic element of preparing for a film, but they can go on for a long time and are often the driest way a scene could be portrayed, making their frequent reappearances and minimal importance really wear on a player who is hoping for juicy developments or even just creative cinematography. When there are rehearsals you at least get to see the scene realized even if there is a lack of a proper set and considering the differences between how it is being acted out before you and how it might have unfolded had the movies been completed isn’t as far a stretch since everyone is acting appropriately in character and with the appropriate props. All three films are sordid in some degree and even behind the scenes activities can hit on mature subject matter here but you can even get amusing elements like the performers looking plain and professional as they set up for what will look like passionate love making on film. When there is purpose behind why we are getting the incomplete versions of scenes it can be engaging to watch them unfold, but not all of them were created with such things in mind either because authenticity was prioritized or you could feel the budget a bit like when a concert from Two of Everything is just described.

 

Immortality’s clip finding methods also can lead to oddities like a premature ending cropping up when you luck out or, conversely, things dragging as you keep pulling up clips you’ve seen before or ones that don’t really add much as you’re scouring for the distortions to learn from. The distortions being hard to coax out at times only lead to added frustrations as you move your mouse around trying to find the sweet spot in manipulating the tape to actually view the new content you know is there, and since this vital info is so disconnected from actually watching the movies it can be easy to just start caring less about whatever minor bits of content are found in the dregs you’re pulling up after already knowing the main course of events for all three films. The amount of content needed to make all three motion pictures believable as products that could have been completed lead to a wealth of clips that don’t really contribute much towards the game’s broader purpose, and since you’re already going to get a heavily disconnected version of all three plots, it’s hard really invest yourself in scenes that exist to help bridge parts of a linear narrative or pace it out.

THE VERDICT: Those interested in experimental film-making will find much to love with Immortality, but it also feels like its video game elements take a backseat to its showcasing impressive cinematography and a commitment to making its three fictional films feel plausible. The core mystery isn’t as meaty as one would hope and details are unearthed in an incredibly fiddly manner, not just in how the disturbances are investigated but in how clips are connected as you just click and hope you’ll be taken to a new relevant scene. Learning more about the three movies and seeing some of the more clever approaches to behind-the-scenes content means Immortality doesn’t lose all its steam even when it can end up front-loading important details about Marissa Marcel. Hopping between clips in what might as well be a random order is a weak novelty though, one that undermines all the marvelous craftmanship and performances that bring the illusion that these were movies being made to life.

 

And so, I give Immortality for PC…

An OKAY rating. Undoubtedly a technical achievement and one with remarkable thought put into not just how all three films should be shot, but how they should be left incomplete at parts to add extra layers to how viewing them piques your curiosity, Immortality still feels like its trying to ride to high praise with these elements rather than properly rooting it all in a video game context. To best put this into perspective, it feels prudent to compare the works of Sam Barlow, this game’s designer and director having also created Her Story that does the concept of connecting clips far better. In Her Story, clips are already fairly short in general so you don’t get things like the long dry table reads, but they are also far more likely to be relevant. Even if nothing is directly said about the case in a clip in Her Story, you are using keywords to find new clips, meaning something can be said that you can reasonably guess might be mentioned elsewhere. Even stumbling across a huge plot detail by accident in Her Story still won’t create the full picture and so the closure that comes with knowledge is better spaced out, but Immortality falters in these areas where Her Story succeeds. Immortality’s clips are connected in a frivolous way where plain objects can be key to finding important scenes and even more reasonable guesses for how to find things to click just leads to unexciting options like clicking actor faces until the web starts repeating itself. Immortality doesn’t space its reveals well and you can get far too much information from a clip that was basically worthless until you found the distortion, and if there are no distortions in the clip, they can often be only relevant to the plot of one of the films or just a connective bit that can go on for a while without bringing anything new to light. Immortality just has you bouncing around hoping things piece together, and while there is some novelty to figuring out the course of events for the trio of movies despite viewing them in such a random order, it’s not as compelling as experiencing a narrative told in proper order or with some actual purpose to the chaotic presentation.

 

Immortality still deserves plenty of kudos just for how much skill was required to pull off its complex concept, but fascination with the methodology shouldn’t be a substitute for interesting interactivity or a well conveyed narrative. Sam Barlow’s Her Story already seemed to have a grasp on how a chaotic presentation can meld together into a comprehensible whole where your participation in uncovering the truth is valued and meaningful, but here it seems ambition took precedent and while the game is worth experiencing for that experimental design approach, it also sacrifices a good deal of effectiveness in favor of being a piece of art you’ll be impressed exists.