Half Mermaid Productions

Half Mermaid Productions is an independent video game development and interactive media production company based in Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 2017 by writer-director Sam Barlow, the studio creates narrative games that combine cinematic storytelling with player-led investigation. Its work spans live-action interactive cinema, non-linear mysteries and psychological horror, bringing filmmaking and game design together within stories that players explore through interactive systems.

The studio's debut production, Telling Lies, was released in 2019 by publisher Annapurna Interactive. An investigative live-action thriller, it uses a non-linear desktop interface to let players explore its narrative. The project established the company's approach to combining filmed performances, screenwriting and interactive discovery.

Half Mermaid followed with IMMORTALITY, which it developed and independently published in August 2022. The game explores the disappearance of fictional actress Marissa Marcel through archival footage from three unreleased movies. Its interactive film structure extends the studio's interest in stories assembled through exploration, connecting cinematic material with game mechanics rather than presenting a conventional linear film.

Expanding into horror

As of October 2026, the studio is developing two announced horror projects. PRECOGNITION, originally announced under the working title Project C, is a live-action science-fiction horror game developed in collaboration with filmmaker Brandon Cronenberg and published by Kinetic Publishing. The collaboration continues Half Mermaid's work at the intersection of live-action filmmaking and interactive storytelling.

Project D is a third-person psychological survival horror game built in Unreal Engine. It broadens the studio's development work into a different presentation and gameplay format while retaining its focus on psychological storytelling.

Across its productions, Half Mermaid combines game direction, cinematic screenwriting, interactive narrative design and video production. Its capabilities also include 3D asset creation and Unreal Engine development. The company works with external publishers on selected projects while also having experience publishing its own games independently.