Sam Barlow is the writer and director of Immortality, Telling Lies, and Her Story and the founder of the Half Mermaid production company. His most recent games are interactive fiction experiences that allow players to search through archives of footage such as police interrogations and video calls. Sam’s latest game, Immortality, asks players to comb through footage from three unreleased movies to uncover what happened to actress named Marissa Marcel.

We spoke with Sam about the untapped possibilities in video games and how his stories work to expand what games can do. Plus: what's the point of making art, anyway?