Barlow es uno de los autores mas idiosincráticos de la industria y con Immortality lo reafirma rotundamente. Retuerce el concepto de lo ficcional y el montaje explorando progresivamente infinitos matices. El juego del año.
It's a pretty interesting concept and I've had a unique experience while playing this game. It's sometimes creepy without any jump scares, which is a big plus for the developers. What ruins the overall experience for me is some technical issues. The closer you to the end, the more frequent the game crushes ruining the atmosphere. Plus, the final titles weren't triggered properly. It's 4/5 from me.
A peculiar and abstract FMV mystery game told through the interactive behind the scenes footage from three never released films. The game starts off grippingly strong and messes with the player, revealing haunting imagery that will make you go, "Wait, this is a horror game?".
This is a great game held back by some of its mechanics. I played this in one session with a friend and it was very fun bouncing ideas off of each other as we attempted to understand what was going on. Ending was both unexpected and unnerving.
This is a great game held back by some of its mechanics. I played this in one session with a friend and it was very fun bouncing ideas off of each other as we attempted to understand what was going on. Ending was both unexpected and unnerving.
There were moments in Immortality that caught me by surprise. The first time I stumbled into subversive footage - an eerie momentum creeping over the scene and unfamiliar faces suddenly on screen - I was enthralled.
Gradually, that became less and less interesting as I started to feel the weight of the pretentiousness. The performances were all mostly great, but why would I wanna dive into 3 movies in such detailed manner, when frankly, they all would land on some form of a late night LifeTime movie channel. AKA - they're boring and melodramatic.
Gradually, that became less and less interesting as I started to feel the weight of the pretentiousness. The performances were all mostly great, but why would I wanna dive into 3 movies in such detailed manner, when frankly, they all would land on some form of a late night LifeTime movie channel. AKA - they're boring and melodramatic.
No es un juego. Es una película. Bueno, son tres películas.
La cuestión es que no se le puede aplicar el baremo de un videojuego a algo que se sostiene puramente por su trama y sus personajes, que son ambos excepcionales, sobresaliendo Manon Gage por encima de todo con el papelón que se marca como Marissa Marcel.
La cuestión es que no se le puede aplicar el baremo de un videojuego a algo que se sostiene puramente por su trama y sus personajes, que son ambos excepcionales, sobresaliendo Manon Gage por encima de todo con el papelón que se marca como Marissa Marcel.
This review contains spoilers
Pretty mixed. On the one hand I definitely appreciate it being interesting, both in the story it's trying to tell (layers of actors playing actors playing actors, what it means to make art, and what does the artifice do to us) and in the way it tells it, formally. I'm always down to try a game that doesn't play like anything else I've seen before, and I found the sifting-through-clips gameplay here occasionally charming. I thought the sound design was good - eerie and affecting. Piecing together pieces of the story was often really fun - hearing a contextless clip and then later discovering the full context from another is a good little aha moment. I also thought two of the performers were real standouts - Manon Gage and Charlotta Mohlin give interesting and complex performances.
One of my biggest issues with the game is that almost all the other performances aren't that good. I don't like Ambrosio in Ambrosio or the director of that movie, I don't like Carl Greenwood, or Andrew Hessenberg, or John Durick, or Amy Archer. For a game that is composed basically entirely of watching movies (especially ones that aren't knowingly bad), this is a problem!
Some other issues:
- finding the clips in random order can really deflate the pacing and mystery of the game. It's fun to find a mysterious clip and then find a clip with the answer like an hour later - it's not fun for it to happen 7 hours later, or for one of the huge reveals to happen really early (which can and does happen).
- actually finding the clips can be really tedious. It may make the game too "easy"/immediate, but I wish clicking, for example, a candle only showed you more candle clips that you hadn't seen before - it is frustrating to cycle through the same 4-5 clips, almost give up, and THEN get a new clip, all from the same prompt.
- Revealing the secrets can be very very finnicky. There's no mechanism to find them outside of vibration except for inconsistent audio queues, so you have to play with a controller. Even if you know a secret is there, it can be tricky to actually get it to play.
- There's an immature sexuality to the game. I don't have an issue with sex/nudity in games but there is a TON of it here. That's not a problem in and of itself but there is a cartoonish horniness to some of the characters that comes across untrue.
- The contextless way you come across many of the scenes and secrets robs them of any emotional/thematic efficacy.
- I found the rehearsal and behind-the-scenes footage way more interesting than the rest because a lot of the movie footage wasn't shot like a movie? There is a simplicity to a ton of the films that sort of hurts the plausibility of the films as "found footage". I suspect this is a technical/budgetary limitation but it is jarring nonetheless.
One of my biggest issues with the game is that almost all the other performances aren't that good. I don't like Ambrosio in Ambrosio or the director of that movie, I don't like Carl Greenwood, or Andrew Hessenberg, or John Durick, or Amy Archer. For a game that is composed basically entirely of watching movies (especially ones that aren't knowingly bad), this is a problem!
Some other issues:
- finding the clips in random order can really deflate the pacing and mystery of the game. It's fun to find a mysterious clip and then find a clip with the answer like an hour later - it's not fun for it to happen 7 hours later, or for one of the huge reveals to happen really early (which can and does happen).
- actually finding the clips can be really tedious. It may make the game too "easy"/immediate, but I wish clicking, for example, a candle only showed you more candle clips that you hadn't seen before - it is frustrating to cycle through the same 4-5 clips, almost give up, and THEN get a new clip, all from the same prompt.
- Revealing the secrets can be very very finnicky. There's no mechanism to find them outside of vibration except for inconsistent audio queues, so you have to play with a controller. Even if you know a secret is there, it can be tricky to actually get it to play.
- There's an immature sexuality to the game. I don't have an issue with sex/nudity in games but there is a TON of it here. That's not a problem in and of itself but there is a cartoonish horniness to some of the characters that comes across untrue.
- The contextless way you come across many of the scenes and secrets robs them of any emotional/thematic efficacy.
- I found the rehearsal and behind-the-scenes footage way more interesting than the rest because a lot of the movie footage wasn't shot like a movie? There is a simplicity to a ton of the films that sort of hurts the plausibility of the films as "found footage". I suspect this is a technical/budgetary limitation but it is jarring nonetheless.
SECSOhonestamente um dos melhores videogames já feitos e minha nova referência principal de uso de ambiguidade na escrita.
Interface Cinema-Videogame linda, tanto de um ponto de vista de gameplay quanto de um ponto de vista de roteiro. Maravilhoso, 15/10.
Interface Cinema-Videogame linda, tanto de um ponto de vista de gameplay quanto de um ponto de vista de roteiro. Maravilhoso, 15/10.
"What do you think I'd see if I could walk away from me?"
Un juego hermoso y fallido. A favor, el cuidado y el detalle con el que están filmadas las películas, y el momento mágico de descubrir por primera vez "algo más" en los clips. En contra, una mecánica no determinísitica que atenta contra completar la colección de clips y, sobre todo, una historia que se pasa de etérea y queda lejos de su ptencial.
incrível
This review contains spoilers
Я, наверное, бля, тупой. Я реально недопонял эту игру. Вопросы возникли с первых минут геймплея: что это за дурацкая механика поиска футажей? Просто рандомный клик по рандомному объекту в кадре - и ты попадаешь в, о чудо, в рандомный футаж с похожим объектом. Что, блять, простите?
Мне не особо понравилась Telling Lies (в Her Story еще не играл), но там ты ощущал себя детективом, цеплялся к словам, искал потаённый смысол. А тут просто рандомные клики - смотришь отрывки из трёх невышедших фильмов (или даже записи репетиций) и пускаешь слюни от уныния. Из трёх фильмов зашёл только Minsky, и то на полшишки.
После первой половины игры происходит, конечно, небольшой ахуй, но он тоже продлился недолго, потому что потом пришлось ПЕРЕСМАТРИВАТЬ ВСЕ НАЙДЕННЫЕ ФУТАЖИ В ПОИСКАХ ДВОЙНОГО ДНА. И это двойное дно такое... дно... Что в этом сюжетном повороте люди находят - я не пойму. Так вот. Может, я тупой. Может, я чего-то не понял. Может-может-может.
Мне не особо понравилась Telling Lies (в Her Story еще не играл), но там ты ощущал себя детективом, цеплялся к словам, искал потаённый смысол. А тут просто рандомные клики - смотришь отрывки из трёх невышедших фильмов (или даже записи репетиций) и пускаешь слюни от уныния. Из трёх фильмов зашёл только Minsky, и то на полшишки.
После первой половины игры происходит, конечно, небольшой ахуй, но он тоже продлился недолго, потому что потом пришлось ПЕРЕСМАТРИВАТЬ ВСЕ НАЙДЕННЫЕ ФУТАЖИ В ПОИСКАХ ДВОЙНОГО ДНА. И это двойное дно такое... дно... Что в этом сюжетном повороте люди находят - я не пойму. Так вот. Может, я тупой. Может, я чего-то не понял. Может-может-может.
Immortality has layer upon layer of storytelling, each composed of their own enticing narrative and connected to the others in unimaginably tight ways. On top of that, each of these said layer brings thought-provoking ideas on life and art, especially with well crafted critiques on the latter and its current state.
I loved it.
I loved it.
Muito difícil para mim falar sobre um game que é um "filme interativo". Eu não consigo, sinceramente, fazer uma análise dele como eu faço com os demais jogos. Mas, de fato, o que ele tenta ser, que é um game interativo com uma história, ele faz muito bem, e a história por ser o grande ponto central do game. Eu certamente curti pra caramba.
I'm really torn on this one. Immortality, from a development, mechanic and production standpoint is amazing. However, I'm not sure I fully understood what was going on in the story, how the mechanics actually work or what I was supposed to take from all of this.
I love the movie clip approach with this game but I just wish the story was more cohesive and less random. It's basically a randomized, video scavenger hunt and I get that they wanted this to be mysterious and rewarding for those seeking everything out, but after the novelty wears off, it’s not really that fun. In the end, the credits rolled and I don't know why. I think I have an idea of what was happening but I don't fully "get it." 🤷
I love the movie clip approach with this game but I just wish the story was more cohesive and less random. It's basically a randomized, video scavenger hunt and I get that they wanted this to be mysterious and rewarding for those seeking everything out, but after the novelty wears off, it’s not really that fun. In the end, the credits rolled and I don't know why. I think I have an idea of what was happening but I don't fully "get it." 🤷
This review contains spoilers
Art-sy
Started without expecting much but ended up being very surprised with what I got by the end after 10 hours or so.
It's like a puzzle game, mystery included. You need to solve what happened to Marissa Marcel through tapes of unreleased and unfinished flims. Flims that were specifically made for this game, three in total. Those three flims occur on different eras. One made in the 60's, one in the 70's and one in the 90's. This is very important to note.
We unlock these different scenes by clicking on an object or someone's face. As we unlock more and more scenes we'll be having a rough idea of what each movie is about. Everytime we click on something a random scene with the related object or person will appear and roll out instantly without much context, it doesn't even need to be the same movie.
Don't worry if you can't get what are you watching at first. It is made on purpose and going blind I was the same. But like any good puzzle you'll be putting things in order in your head, thus making sense out of the situation even beyond the movies themselves.
But there is also a even darker path you can took, making some tricks in specific scenes, then it will trigger something let's say, revealing.
I really did liked this game, took me by surprised everytime it could. Surrounded by mystery in a messy plot, it got me hooked from start to end. But even after finishing it and unlocking most of the scenes, I can barely make out the whole meaning of it was by the end. But I'm still very intrigued by it, even after finishing it.
Spoilers ahead, be cautious
For what I could understand of the plot is that the "Immortal Woman" let's call her that, was trascending bodies through different time periods. Loving the medium of Art she tried to create the best story ever, so she used Marissa as a vessel after dying and making her the closest we can get to a "Perfect Actress", to create that perfect story she wanted to told to the world, a story that can trascend through time and elevate humans. But as time went on, she noticed that wasn't going to be possible because she didn't understood art in the way normal people did.
If we take a look how she acts during the scene she appears, she is the total opossite of Marissa's personality, revealing her motives and true self on screen.
That is what I can get out of this "movie-game". Definitely an interesting story to be told and "Immortalized"
Started without expecting much but ended up being very surprised with what I got by the end after 10 hours or so.
It's like a puzzle game, mystery included. You need to solve what happened to Marissa Marcel through tapes of unreleased and unfinished flims. Flims that were specifically made for this game, three in total. Those three flims occur on different eras. One made in the 60's, one in the 70's and one in the 90's. This is very important to note.
We unlock these different scenes by clicking on an object or someone's face. As we unlock more and more scenes we'll be having a rough idea of what each movie is about. Everytime we click on something a random scene with the related object or person will appear and roll out instantly without much context, it doesn't even need to be the same movie.
Don't worry if you can't get what are you watching at first. It is made on purpose and going blind I was the same. But like any good puzzle you'll be putting things in order in your head, thus making sense out of the situation even beyond the movies themselves.
But there is also a even darker path you can took, making some tricks in specific scenes, then it will trigger something let's say, revealing.
I really did liked this game, took me by surprised everytime it could. Surrounded by mystery in a messy plot, it got me hooked from start to end. But even after finishing it and unlocking most of the scenes, I can barely make out the whole meaning of it was by the end. But I'm still very intrigued by it, even after finishing it.
Spoilers ahead, be cautious
For what I could understand of the plot is that the "Immortal Woman" let's call her that, was trascending bodies through different time periods. Loving the medium of Art she tried to create the best story ever, so she used Marissa as a vessel after dying and making her the closest we can get to a "Perfect Actress", to create that perfect story she wanted to told to the world, a story that can trascend through time and elevate humans. But as time went on, she noticed that wasn't going to be possible because she didn't understood art in the way normal people did.
If we take a look how she acts during the scene she appears, she is the total opossite of Marissa's personality, revealing her motives and true self on screen.
That is what I can get out of this "movie-game". Definitely an interesting story to be told and "Immortalized"
Such an interesting concept and a vibe like no other.
Who the hell let David Lynch make a video game?
[played off-stream]
[played off-stream]
This game changed how I feel about movies and art in general and it might be legitimately perfect.
This game had an unimaginable effect on me and I will be thinking about it for weeks, months, maybe years to come, if not the rest of my life. I cannot recommend it enough.
the jacob geller video that i FINALLY got to watch after beating this is as good and moving a thematic summary as anything, i wont needlessly repeat it. instead ill just say: what rly rly earns the final beat, as unnerving as it is transcendentally beautiful, is the incredible Simulated Madness of the preceding play experience, wraps around yr brain and rewrites it in exactly the way i want from these kinds of games. idk how the emotional arc of this game managed to Surprise me when in hindsight its literally the same one as i had in her story...blank curiosity leads to uncomfortable voyeuristic secret seeking leads to destabilizing terror leads to Compassion Against All Odds leads to enrapturing emotional transcendence via the accumulation of a million brainworms. that this is preserved with the Incomparably Larger Scale is so impressive,,,this is in many ways one of the most lavishly maximalist games ever made, and no part of it feels untextured. i have been thinking nonstop ab how this game feels in my hands and in my head ever since i started it and i cant imagine itll leave any time soon.
lots of complicated feelings as a noted Hater Of The Physical Plane And Coil, particularly as highlighted in the clip geller's video centers. i gotta make art. it seems like everything is still yelling that at me.
ftr all three of these movies would probably be 5/5 azzy bangers in Your Letterboxd Feed if they were real
lots of complicated feelings as a noted Hater Of The Physical Plane And Coil, particularly as highlighted in the clip geller's video centers. i gotta make art. it seems like everything is still yelling that at me.
ftr all three of these movies would probably be 5/5 azzy bangers in Your Letterboxd Feed if they were real
reached the end credits but wtf I'VE STILL GOT SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS 😭 sam barlow imma find you bitch
overall amazing game, take your time with it. marissa marcel is a STAR
overall amazing game, take your time with it. marissa marcel is a STAR
Opera incredibile. Un passo avanti rispetto a Telling Lies dal punto di vista della sceneggiatura e delle meccaniche di navigazione. Recitazione di livello superiore, così come la messa in scena e la cinematografia. Un miglioramento anche per quanto riguarda la gestione dei filmati che in TL era sin troppo confusionaria. Lo sblocco di nuove sequenze porta in continuazione a sequenze già viste: folle, noioso e ritmo-uccidente. Com'è stato possibile fare un errore così grossolano? Se una sequenza è già vista non dovresti essere riportato ancora e ancora su di essa. Inoltre, anche se c'è il solito sistema dei "preferiti", è impossibile ricordare i filmati già scrutinati per intero o meno. Piccoli grandi difetti che intaccano fastidiosamente ma non irreparabilmente un'opera che poteva essere un "capolavoro" senza troppe riserve.
This review contains spoilers
free on netflix.
bought it bc the jacob geller video popped up in recs. watched the video afterwards and concur completely - you'll know it when you get there.
recall having a similar inkling wrt "her story", where like the game's structure throws out a couple of twists, and then once you've figured out "generally" what's going on the story's denouement gets padded out into a teidous completion goal. there's still "content" but are you going to bother wading through rng to find it?
same thing applies here, two fold - once you figure out the gameplay twist the rest of the film sequences fall apart bc it's so brute-force. same generally applies to the narrative twist as well: once you figure out where the story is going it just devolves into tedium. have to wonder if a different approach should have been taken wrt puzzle design - eg obra dinn's approach to a similar sort of "context-relevant" issue (the match cuts seem like a perfect fit for this - did i just play the game wrong??)
love the film-making theme as well as the homages in the first two films (durick fell off w 2oe). big fan of the vision and i'll try anything else sam barlow puts out.
bought it bc the jacob geller video popped up in recs. watched the video afterwards and concur completely - you'll know it when you get there.
recall having a similar inkling wrt "her story", where like the game's structure throws out a couple of twists, and then once you've figured out "generally" what's going on the story's denouement gets padded out into a teidous completion goal. there's still "content" but are you going to bother wading through rng to find it?
same thing applies here, two fold - once you figure out the gameplay twist the rest of the film sequences fall apart bc it's so brute-force. same generally applies to the narrative twist as well: once you figure out where the story is going it just devolves into tedium. have to wonder if a different approach should have been taken wrt puzzle design - eg obra dinn's approach to a similar sort of "context-relevant" issue (the match cuts seem like a perfect fit for this - did i just play the game wrong??)
love the film-making theme as well as the homages in the first two films (durick fell off w 2oe). big fan of the vision and i'll try anything else sam barlow puts out.
Had to read stuff about the plot to fully comprehend it, but this was so much fun as an experience! I'd put Sam Barlow right up there with Lucas Pope as the two people with the most innovative ideas in gaming
O jogo já começou me surpreendendo bastante com a sua proposta de clicar nos objetos e personagens pra desbloquear novas cenas, aos poucos isso foi cansando um pouco e fui achando um pouco aleatório o jeito de desbloquear novas cenas. A história estava interessante, mas faltava algo ali, até que teve o grande TWIST do game... A primeira vez que eu descobri a mecânica escondida do jogo eu pirei de verdade, deixou o jogo totalmente interessante de novo, diferente da primeira proposta, não deu tempo de cansar enquanto procurava mais e mais sobre a história, que é sim muito criativa e interessante. Talvez se os elementos da camada mais superficial fossem melhor aplicados, seria pra mim uma obra prima, mas continua um grande jogo, que vale muito a pena conhecer.
Not my type of game, seemed too complicated for me to want to figure it out.
The latest game from creator, Sam Barlow, Immortality is an interactive game where you must scrub recovered archive footage of fictional actress Marissa Marcel to discover what happened to her after a 30+ year career in film. Over three decades, you find footage from three films, 1968's erotic thriller Ambrosio, the 1970's detective mystery Minsky, and the 2000's thiller Two of Everything (all fictional films).
You start with a single video where Marisa is on the game's version of The Late Show and is talking about her first film Ambrosio and how it wasn't released, and that her next film Minsky was being made with the Director of Photography of her first film, leading this second one as the Director. To gather additional scenes, you must enter an image mode where you can highlight a person or thing as your subject and you will be taken to another clip containing the selected option. So from talk show you could click on Marissa to see another scene she was in, the host to watch another interview, a chair to be directed to scenes with chairs in them, and so on.
This will eventually run you through all three films and behind the scenes footage where you start to find that things had changed for Marissa since she first started working in the industry. Seeing how she has adapted to the work and how she sees others. New questions will arise as off the scene comments are said or references to something that happened in the film or behind the camera. You must figure out what caused her to vanish.
Additionally, the film allows you to play it at various speeds or frame by frame and even backwards. It is here that the true story of the game is hidden in subliminal footage of a woman known as "The One" will discuss scenes as an outside participating party, that is never shown in the scene unless played in reverse. The story really picks up intrique with these secrets and by the end of the game you have experiences one of the best games (imo) of the last few years.
You start with a single video where Marisa is on the game's version of The Late Show and is talking about her first film Ambrosio and how it wasn't released, and that her next film Minsky was being made with the Director of Photography of her first film, leading this second one as the Director. To gather additional scenes, you must enter an image mode where you can highlight a person or thing as your subject and you will be taken to another clip containing the selected option. So from talk show you could click on Marissa to see another scene she was in, the host to watch another interview, a chair to be directed to scenes with chairs in them, and so on.
This will eventually run you through all three films and behind the scenes footage where you start to find that things had changed for Marissa since she first started working in the industry. Seeing how she has adapted to the work and how she sees others. New questions will arise as off the scene comments are said or references to something that happened in the film or behind the camera. You must figure out what caused her to vanish.
Additionally, the film allows you to play it at various speeds or frame by frame and even backwards. It is here that the true story of the game is hidden in subliminal footage of a woman known as "The One" will discuss scenes as an outside participating party, that is never shown in the scene unless played in reverse. The story really picks up intrique with these secrets and by the end of the game you have experiences one of the best games (imo) of the last few years.
Really gets the feeling of being deeply in love with creating art but only being capable of making stuff that Lifetime would probably pass on
parece ser bem foda o jogo, pena q não é do meu gosto
The production quality of this game is insane and unlike anything I've seen before. Three actual, real-life movies were made for this game. And they're good movies on their own too. I would love to go see Minsky in theatres.
But the final third of the game has the same problem as Sam Barlow's last two games. I reached a point in all three of these games where I think, "Okay, I've figured it all out. How do I end the game?" And then the game goes on for another two hours of me randomly watching clips, hoping for something interesting.
Still a very cool game and it's extremely ambitious which I love to see.
But the final third of the game has the same problem as Sam Barlow's last two games. I reached a point in all three of these games where I think, "Okay, I've figured it all out. How do I end the game?" And then the game goes on for another two hours of me randomly watching clips, hoping for something interesting.
Still a very cool game and it's extremely ambitious which I love to see.