Sam Barlow's Her Story brought a stunning reinvention to both FMV (full motion video) games and non-linear detective storytelling. Praised for the lead actresses' performance carrying the drama and tension, Barlow was able to craft a compelling story no matter which route you chose. After a slight misstep with his follow-up, Telling Lies, Barlow is back in incredible grandeur to present Immortality, a trilogy of films that disguises the plot of a missing persons case and another non-linear narrative hunt that feels like an editor's nightmare.

Right at the top of Immortality, you are presented with the star of the hour, Marissa Marcel. She starred in three unreleased movies throughout her career; Ambrosio, Minsky, and Two of Everything, which you happen to have full access to with footage from on set, during rehearsals, tech scouts, and even after hours. You must sift through the clips, which can range from a few seconds to whole minute-long scenes to pick up on clues to understand what the movies are about, what went on during each filming, and how do people, places, and faces fit together. Barlow and Half Mermaid legitimately just shot a trilogy of films in their entirety, which is a monumental feat already, before considering the fact that each is styled and shot as per the time periods (60s, 70s, late 90s), which brings new styles, new cameras, and new technology to the fold. As a game told entirely through its filmed content, the expectation is high, but Immortality hits consistent home runs when it comes to its production design work and holding its logic within the world of film. From the standpoint of a filmmaker myself, it was great to see the process of making a feature so accurately represented. This is aided by a cast of cinema grade actors who captivate every scene they are in, whether they're supposed to be acting or not. A clear standout is Manon Gage playing the lead Marcel. She has a compellingly innocent, but devious nature, and the character only gets more complex as you dive in. Special mention also to Charlotta Mohlin whose performance is an emotional, terrifying surprise which continued to deliver shock and awe with every new moment.

With the hours of footage found in Immortality, you are given only a few tools at your disposal. You start with your main roster of any clips you've already seen. When clicking on a clip, you can fast forward or reverse and even go frame-by-frame to catch small details. However, the main mechanic is the "match cut," where the player can pause a clip at any time and click on a relevant person, prop, or set decoration and match that icon to a totally different, new clip somewhere else within the three movies. It's a little disorienting at first, but suddenly you realize that the footage is an ever evolving pile of keys, and you just need to find the right ones to progress. I was initially afraid of being caught in a loop, having to pixel hunt for new videos, akin to classic point-and-click adventure games, but Immortality never left me without something new to watch for more than a couple minutes. I liked how flexible the system was, but almost wish the match cuts were a little more intentional in areas. There are also some dark secrets hidden within the footage, and finding them is the game's ace in the hole in engagement with its volume of dialogue.

I was uninterrupted consuming Immortality for hours straight, and I only hit roadblocks in a few instances. The game's sorting system for clips works well enough, but frequently bugged out when I attempted to bounce around a lot of footage at once. Similarly, the scrubbing through clips never felt very intuitive on mouse and keyboard, which is odd for a platform where you can edit said trilogy of movies. My major gripe mainly comes down to the ending of the game, which I will not spoil here, but I felt could have been kept more grounded. Much of the footage almost feels inconsequential to the mystery when you learn the rules of the world. I wish that strong, relevant themes relating to Hollywood and the industry that had been presented took more of the focus, rather than an ending that may feel unearned in the face of the hours of footage you need to watch to see it. Overall, Immortality is a stranger ride than I expected. Its films are the highlight and the gambit of logical catch-up is astoundingly well-handled, but compared to payoffs in other non-linear detective games, it may be more of a red herring than a cracked case.

For fans of: Her Story, 13 Sentinels, Paradise Killer, Return of the Obra Dinn