Recent reviews by /|\ ^._.^ /|\

A visionary RPG that features a rich world and story.

Inventive game that delves into a great narrative about media.

/spoiler I enjoyed the facial manipulation aspect, very reminiscent of IRL socializing with neurodivergence.

Its exactly what you want if you're looking for a tabletop experience.

A really sweet experience. You can tell the people working on this put a lot of love into it and had a lot of fun in the process. Its filled with charming moments and a fluid story that motions you through the small world of Purrgatory with love. By the end, and with the elements of selection during blackout scenes, Purrgatory felt like a glimpse into the kindness that comes from sharing ourselves.

This game has a multitude of layers for you to peel back and slowly piece together a truly compelling and varied story. Immortality is not a story about one thing, if you go into it looking for an ending then it may not be the most enjoyable experience. The true gameplay lies in the large amount of clues and direct information you are given to piece together not only the longer life of Marissa but also the inputs and experiences of those surrounding them as they pursue making a movie. The questioning of our relationship with art, humanity, love, and those around us is skillfully weaved between plot lines and deep characters. This is especially highlighted by the amazing performances by everyone in the game. The variety of performance can be particularly seen in the character development of Marissa. The story of Immortality is further complemented by its immense referential ability, making reference to art history to weave back into the stories of the characters. This further complements the development while creating a complex view of art through fictionalized lives, surreal experiences, meta-commentary, and the inclusion of more documentary/historical elements (i.e. the inclusion of Andy Warhol, the reference to the superstars, and Candy Says). Gender is also deeply important in this game and a critical reading of the game through the lens of gender is still necessary to fully understand the story and its position in the world I believe. Spoilers are needed to explore this point, but in this review I will say that it is important to go into the game with a perceptive eye towards the multitude of threads the game brings up, particularly that of gender. While Immortality is a deeply well-made and thought out game, I still have three major critiques of it.

Firstly, throughout most of the first half of Immortality, the game is largely heteronormative. This element of the game is completely deconstructed as the game progresses, but I still believe the largely heteronormative beginning, despite its ability to reveal the perversions of industry and fetishization in art, somewhat hampers the experience of the characters. As the story is revealed, for me, it felt like a more deep understanding of gender and sexuality would’ve been present for the characters involved. Still, the heteronormativity present in much of the beginning of the game is, I believe, a further commentary on gender, identity, and the performance of the two, particularly in how they are defined or performed through being watched by others (i.e. the scene in which Marissa insists they look at the camera despite Fischers protesting). However, I am still left wondering if the critique they are making could have been developed further or if inclusion of the reality or, rather the simulated reality of violence, in the game is even necessitated by the message it's trying to portray.

Secondly, mechanically Immortality presents the experience to the player in a way that allows the player to begin creating logical threads throughout the story. However, this process of piecing together the puzzle is somewhat misleading, in my opinion, to the player until later into the game. There is little mechanical development within the game, which would not be an impediment if not for how the latter half of the game is presented. For me, while playing I used the image mode to jump down the rabbit holes I’d fallen into following the logical threads I’d connected from watching the clips. It wasn’t until I had passed the credits scene, which in itself I believe can be reached far too early in the game and can lessen the overall experience. If you are playing the game and reading this, please play after the credits scene and explore the story fully as there is a lot to be found in completing the game fully (even if it grows tedious towards the end). Upon gathering nearly all the clips in the game, I realized that much of the game is actually RNG-based and that the threads I’d been following were really just the product of me going through a random order of the clips with whatever I was clicking on. I understand this is how the game is laid out from the start, but the mechanical element ultimately slows down the gameplay and experience of the story in ways that only help to make the players involvement in piercing the story together feel lesser than what it had seemed when exploring the clips.

Lastly, another major critique of mine with the game is the lack of diversity in the casting of Immortality's main characters. This is especially disappointing since we see the more diverse cast of great actors who fill the minor characters roles. Ultimately, the game is filled with a cast of amazing actors who put on stellar performances that take delicate consideration and caution of the plot surrounding the films, particularly in reference to Marissa's character. Because of this it would’ve been nicer to see some of the actors of minor characters have more ability to shine. While they do an amazing job of playing roles designed to push the stories of the main characters, I think these performances could’ve been given more appreciation for what they were as both character and referential performances to the larger piece itself.

Overall, Immortality is many things. It's a commentary on art, identity, gender, love, the media, and humanity, but it's also just a beautifully shot piece filled with interesting story lines and deeply amazing performances from the cast. Immortality offers a deconstruction and view into the human experience of creation and identity, through the lens of characters that feel so deeply real even in their unrealness. To experience Immortality, I recommend allowing yourself to fall through the story and slowly peeling back each layer of each character, plot line, and reference in the game to truly be struck by its totality.

KCs main highlight is its ability to capture historical realities in terms of the physical environment. Other than this, the story, writing, and gameplay can sometimes be mundane to laughable (combat is quite enjoyable though). Lastly, the incessant push for a lack of diversity in the game from the devs will forever be a bad mark on it.

So deeply good. This game encounters and engages with geography in ways I've seen few games do. Even without direct manipulation of the player within the environment, the spaces feel deep.

This games takes some effort to get into, but once you've figured it out it can be one of the most rewarding experiences in gaming.

world design good

if you like monkeys and watching em grow, you already know you want the game.