Sam Barlow seeking IMMORTALITY in upcoming mystery

Written by Jack Allin — June 16, 2021 at 13:06

Sam Barlow likes keeping secrets. That's not only true in-game, but about each new release from the creator of Her Story and Telling Lies. At long last we have the first details for IMMORTALITY, previously teased only as "Project Ambrosio," though in typical Barlow fashion, they'll probably raise more questions than they answer. 

The game revolves around a budding young actress on the verge of stardom named Marissa Marcel, who made only three films in her career before disappearing entirely. Curiously, none of her movies was ever released and all were "thought to be lost or destroyed." The first was 1968's Ambrosio, an adaptation of a "notorious Gothic novel," followed two years later by a mystery called Minsky, in which Marcel played the prime suspect in the murder of a famous artist. Decades later came Two of Everything, a "subversive thriller which explores the duality between a successful pop star and her body double." Fortunately, a cache of film reels from these long-lost pictures was recently discovered, finally allowing a glimpse into the tragic actress's works, and possibly her fate.  

That's about all we know so far, though Barlow's pedigree offers some clues as to what we can probably expect from the production and gameplay, as does his claim that he hopes to "use this footage as a lens to explore the medium and peek inside the second half of film’s first century. Perhaps it can bring closure to the questions around Marissa’s disappearance also." For his most ambitious project yet, the acclaimed indie developer is getting script support from fellow screenwriters Allan Scott (Don’t Look Now, The Queen's Gambit), Amelia Gray (Mr. Robot, Telling Lies) and Barry Gifford (Wild at Heart, Lost Highway). 

There is (of course) no specific target release date at this stage, but IMMORTALITY is on track to be launched on Steam sometime in 2022 for Windows PC, with other platforms planned but yet to be announced.