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Immortality, the new film-game hybrid from Sam Barlow and the team at Half Mermaid, is getting immensely high praise from critics.
For those unfamiliar with Immortality, it's from the minds behind Her Story and Telling Lies, and like those games, this interactive tale is told using full-motion video. This time around, the story involves Marissa Marcel, an actress who starred in three movies, which were never released, and then mysteriously disappeared. The aim of the game is to look through footage from those three lost films and piece together what happened to poor Marissa.
We immensely enjoyed Barlow's latest slice of interactive movie drama, calling it "yet another masterpiece of storytelling". In her review, our own Sam Loveridge said, "It's quite capable of messing with your head. Not only will the very NSFW parts make you wary of where you're choosing to play Immortality, but it also makes you second guess yourself. It'll start with something you think you almost see in a scrub back and forth, and before long you'll realize there's much more to Marissa's story than you'll initially ever imagine."
Our sister site, PC Gamer, was equally impressed, awarding the game 95/100. "Immortality is a remarkable game. It picks freely from several eras of cinema to deliver a genuine exploration of what it means, and what it costs, to make great, meaningful art. The game's actors are giving the performances of their lives, both as the 'real people' they're playing and in their various in-game movie roles."
If that's still not enough to pique your interest, Edge magazine has awarded Immortality a rare perfect score of 10/10. In issue 375's review, Edge describes the sense of freedom offered as "exhilarating", saying "at one point we're given to wondering whether Half Mermaid has created the medium's first 4D open world." Elsewhere, it describes the game as "a new high bar for creator and genre" and one that "never stops reminding you of the human beings at the heart of the moviemaking process, and the very real cost of their art."
A historic verdict. The first and last word on @HalfMermaid's extraordinary Immortality. E375 is on sale now: https://t.co/hPO7eaD0yF pic.twitter.com/e4bQGrEyPjAugust 30, 2022
If you fancy seeing what all the fuss is about then and you're a Game Pass subscriber, then you're in luck as today, August 30, Immortality is being added to Xbox's subscription service. It'll be joined by Immortals Fenyx Rising, Commandos 3: HD Remaster, and Tinykin.
See all the new games set to launch on Microsoft's latest console this year and beyond with our guide to upcoming Xbox Series X games.
