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In an era where video games are described as cinematic, or (derogatorily) as "movie games," its rare to find a title that actually explores the connection between cinema and interactive media. IMMORTALITY is fully committed to that exploration in every respect. In brief, the conceit of the game is that you are a film archivist trying to piece together the mystery of a highly talented and charismatic actress (Marissa Marcel) who starred in three obscure and unreleased films (AMBROSIO 1968, MINSKY 1972, and TWO OF EVERYTHING 1999) before vanishing into thin air.
The gameplay is extremely simple: it involves you navigating a grid of film scenes, selecting what you want to watch, and viewing the scene. Scene lengths vary from a few seconds to a few minutes. At any point in the scene, you can pause to select characters/actors, objects, or events in the scene. For example, if you select close-up of an actor's eye, you will be taken to another scene (featuring a close up of an actor's eye). The same with candles, wine glasses, flowers, mirrors, and so forth. Besides this symbolic connection, nothing necessarily links the act of scene hoping together (that is, it is semi-randomized what scene you will get next). This means you are always jumping between scenes, outtakes, rehearsals, behind-the-scenes content, etc, between the three films. You have to put together the plot of the three films together through this piecemeal process, while also deducing the broader story of the game and the central mystery around Marissa Marcel.
You begin the game with a small number of scenes and gradually fill out the grid. You get certain achievements along the way (clicked on this kind of object 5 times, etc) but otherwise there is really nothing in the game that indicates you are making progress. Gradually, as you play, you will encounter prompts (extra-filmic sound effects and vibration on the controller) that require you to scrub the film backwards and forwards to unlock "hidden scenes" which tie into the central story of the game. By the time I completed the game (about 14 hours) I had unlocked most, but not all, of the scenes. There are still some central elements of the mystery I have not yet seen.
In terms of the reality of your role (as archivist/detective), the mechanism for jumping from scene to scene doesn't make a tremendous amount of sense. But as a way of making each person's gameplay experience unique, and of telling each of the three films stories non-linearly, its a fairly elegant solution. You are never quite sure how much agency you have in effecting the gameplay, which may be frustrating to some.
One of the things that I liked best about IMMORTALITY is also, depending on your taste and patience, one of its greatest weaknesses: commitment to the art of film-making. AMBROSIO (1968), MINSKY (1972), and TWO OF EVERYTHING (1999) are essentially fully realized and completed films. Each is fully committed to depicting the genre conventions, cinematographic elements, and cultural milieu that it depicts. This sort of meta/recursive element (a film game about the magic of films) might be extremely annoying to people who are not invested in movies as an art form.
AMBROSIO is a middlebrow period religious drama/thriller presided over by a lecherous British director who repeatedly guides the film into schlock and sexploitation. MINSKY is grimy 70s New York countercultural neo-noir produced with the help of Warhol. TWO OF EVERYTHING is a meta/postmodern psychological thriller with more than a passing resemblance to EYES WIDE SHUT. Each of the films (and their behind the scenes, rehearsal, and promotional material) capture the film-making styles, technologies, and performance styles of their genres and era magnificently.
It is hard to exaggerate what a magnificent accomplishment this is. It makes contemporary Hollywood directors who trade in nostalgia-bait (Ti West) look like a total chumps. If the Oscars were not so hostile to video games as a competitor for entertainment, this game would be lauded as a major breakthrough. Its certainly much smarter and better than other contemporary jerk-off attempts to make "films about film" (The Artist, ARGO, Birdman).
There are certain contrivances, to aid the gameplay, that slightly break the immersive sense that you are *really viewing* *real films* from their era. The camera is often stationary longer than would be tolerable for a proper cut. Characters hold objects up to camera to hint that it is intractable. Small things like that. But really, these are minor complaints.
I think the game slightly overstays its welcome. Progress is at times frustrating -- to unlock secrets that move the story forward, you have to unlock a certain number of scenes -- which means you are often clicking objects and things quite randomly, and seeing scenes you've seen before again and again, until you make a breakthrough or find a new scene. Again, this comes from the commitment at the heart of the game (and which makes it a genuinely remarkable achievement): they actually filmed three complete films, and they really want you to see how much love and how much work went into it. I can't fault this, others might be eager for the experience to be over long before it actually is.
On a final note, the performances are magnificent. The actors, especially Manon Gage (who plays Marissa Marcel) are incredible talents. As people with relatively few credits (per IMDB) it would have been impressive to pull off the performances in one of these films convincingly. Gage and the rest of the cast are able not only to pull off the three films (including the particularities of genre, direction, and performing style relative to their fictional era of production) perfectly, but they bust their chops to portray not only the characters in the films, but their *real* actor counter-personas included in all of the extra-filmic material. IMMORTALITY a genuinely staggering artistic achievement.