Immortality
Review

Immortality (2022) is a mystery horror game where you investigate the lost movies of Marissa Marcel to unravel the mystery of her disappearance. As you paw through the footage, you uncover a story that spans three decades in unnerving and horrific ways. It's unusual not only because it's a game that contains three actual movies to explore, but the ways in which this narrative twists in unexpected ways.

It's a game comprised of three movies with clues hidden in each one. The films span three decades. In 1968 we have an adaptation of M. G. Lewis’s notorious Gothic novel The Monk. Here Marissa is an unknown actress and is cast as Matilda. In 1970 we have a thriller Minsky that follows the death of a famous artist in New York. Marissa, now well known, stars as the muse suspected of murdering him. In 1999 we have the movie Two of Everything. A subversive thriller exploring the duality of a pop star and her body double. Marcel stars in the film after a lengthy hiatus.

The movies were never released and had thought to be lost or destroyed. When they turn up they grant access not only to the stories they were telling, but the actors and characters that tell it. It's more of a horror story than Telling Lies or Her Story, with movement in the shadows stretching your suspension of disbelief in both of the films in the game and the game itself.

Like Sam Barlow's previous games it's live-action and draws in considerable talent. Allan Scott, who wrote the horror classic Don't Look Now and worked on the Netflix hit The Queen's Gambit. Novelist Amelia Gray who has also written on Maniac, Mr. Robot. Then there's Barry Gifford, who penned the David Lynch movies Lost Highway and Wild at Heart.

Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Immortality 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 8 months ago.