Horror takes on many forms in video games, such as an action approach, where players gun down zombies with aplomb, or more vulnerable takes on the genre, where the protagonist lacks the weapons to take down an incredibly powerful foe that stalks them through the game.
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Enter Dead Take, the new game by Surgent Studios of Tales of Kenzera: Zau fame. This game tackles the subtle horrors that happen behind the scenes in the entertainment industry, while exploring the heavy price of fame that many people pay, either willingly or unwillingly.
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In Dead Take, the player explores the mansion of Duke Cain, a secretive Hollywood mogul who is responsible for some incredibly popular movies. The game is a 3D first-person psychological horror game, but the player keeps stumbling across film scenes using real-life actors, with FMV sequences that are central to the story.
It’s certainly a unique idea to blend gameplay styles in this way, and a horror game about the entertainment industry is the ideal way to unite all these different concepts together. However, going into unknown territory means there’s also the capacity to make mistakes.
Gone Home Meets Immortality In A Bar
Right off the bat, it’s easy to compare Dead Take to a few games, with the mansion exploration reminiscent of Gone Home, and collecting the videos and searching them for clues feels like Immortality. To make an even older comparison, completing the puzzles spread around the mansion feels like Myst, as it’s advised that the player keep a pad and a pen with them on their journey.
The Cain mansion is a fantastic setting for a horror game, with each room representing different varieties of Hollywood success, hinting at the awful systematic abuse that lies just beneath the skin of the industry. There is a slow-building sense of dread, accompanied by an excellent soundscape that hints at horrors happening just outside of the player’s view.
However, while Dead Take does a great job at building suspense, it also throws in some extremely cheap and unnecessary jump scares. This isn’t random YouTube vids in the early 2000s: horror games have moved beyond the need for cheap jump scares, and the ones in Dead Take are to the game’s detriment.
The player will be walking through a door, and suddenly, a pixelated screaming face will appear on the screen for a split second to jolt them.
When exploring the Cain mansion, it quickly becomes apparent that not everything is on the up and up. There are numerous vandalized photos of actors spread around the building, as well as countless notes reporting on bad behavior on the set. I’m not the biggest fan of reading text documents in games (I prefer the show-not-tell approach), but the ones in Dead Take are mostly excellent, merging horror and HR in ways that further hint at the horrors that have taken place behind closed doors.
While the game makes some early mentions of strange design choices when the Cain mansion was built, it quickly becomes apparent that there’s something supernatural going on. Rooms change as puzzles are completed, the player is teleported into new areas at a whim, and ghastly mannequins move behind you of their own accord. The exploration of the mansion is top-notch, and the Metroidvania-style shortcuts throughout the story are a godsend that cut down on any backtracking frustration.
Dead Take’s Puzzles Require Sharp Attention
While I mentioned Gone Home as an inspiration, that was more about the atmosphere and the setting. Dead Take has a far greater emphasis on puzzles than Gone Home, with the player needing to pay attention throughout the whole game, as items grabbed early on or off-hand comments mentioned in a video can be relevant later in the story.
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It might be more apt to compare the puzzles in Dead Take to an old ‘90s point and click game. There are instances where it’s very easy to miss a solution because it’s not obvious when something can be interacted with. A button that highlights items in the environment that are important would be helpful.
There are some excellent puzzles in Dead Take that test the player’s skills without being too obtuse, such as one involving dressing a set. This isn’t true across the board, as there are also puzzles that are so basic that they may as well not be implemented. It’s a mixed bag across the board, and it’s a shame there isn’t an option for more difficult versions of existing puzzles for more advanced gamers.
Dead Take’s Live-Action Sequences Are The Highlight Of The Game
The big draw of Dead Take is the live-action sequences, as the game has heavily promoted its incredible cast, including Neil Newbon (Baldur’s Gate 3), Ben Starr (Final Fantasy 16, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33), Jane Perry (Returnal), and Matt Mercer (it would be easier to list the things he hasn’t been in.)
The bulk of the scenes in Dead Take are based around audition footage, as well as various production crew & agents reaching out to people via messages. These are tied to a mechanic where players need to splice footage together, which is integral to solving certain puzzles and progressing through the game.
We could be seeing a repeat of the Game Awards 2023, when both actors competed for the “Best Performance” award. Only this time, they’ll be fighting over who gets to represent the game.
The performances in Dead Take are amazing across the board, with Newbon and Starr in particular knocking it out of the park. The only issue is that there’s not enough of them. The live-action footage aspect of Dead Take was promoted as being a huge part of the game, but you spend far more time exploring the mansion and solving puzzles than you do with the actors. This isn’t to say they should have filmed Gone with the Wind’s worth of footage, but what’s there leaves you wanting so much more.
The Story Of Hollywood Horrors Feels Real
The best horror stories are the ones that could happen to you. Chances are, a werewolf isn’t going to tear you apart when you step outside your front door, but serial killers and mass murderers are a real (although thankfully rare) thing. It’s the element of realness and potential for harm that makes people so fascinated with killers, as Freddy Krueger isn’t real, but Ed Gein was.
This is why the horror in Dead Take works so well. Scenes showing actors being mistreated on the screen are matched with notes about the terrible acts that go on in private rooms. Obviously, it goes into video game extremes at various points, with spooky images and Resident Evil-style puzzles everywhere, but the undercurrent of realness works to the game’s advantage.
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Those who engage with Dead Take’s story will find an excellently told tale of the price of success. The people who are just here for the puzzles and the ghosts who step out of the shadows and show “boo” won’t get as much out of the experience. This is a game that demands the player’s full attention, where you need to digest every scrap of lore spread around the Cain mansion to get the most out of Dead Take.
The Credits Roll A Little Too Soon
One thing that players need to know going into Dead Take is that the game is extremely short. I managed to finish the game in five hours of playtime, despite needing to start over early on due to a glitch, and doing a slow playthrough, taking screenshots for this review, and making plenty of notes for guides.
Players need to know that Dead Take is a short game going in and that it can easily be finished in a single sitting.
A short runtime isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If the game manages to do everything it set out to do in that timeframe, then it’s a win, especially in an era when so many titles pad out their runtimes. Fortunately, Dead Take is a cheap game, launching at $14.99 (with a 10% discount for the first two weeks after release). In the case of Dead Take, it feels like there’s more they could have done with the concept, either with the mansion itself or with the actors. What’s here is still a lot of fun, but it leaves you wanting more.
Dead Take is brimming with atmosphere, with the Cain mansion being an absolute joy to explore (at least for those who like to be scared). If the story were longer and there were more live-action sequences, then the game could have been something truly special. However, what’s here is still worth checking out, especially for horror aficionados who are looking for something a bit different, and a little more real. For that low cost, it’s worth the price of entry.
Dead Take
Reviewed on PC
Systems
- Developer(s)
- Surgent Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Pocketpair Publishing
Pros & Cons
- Tremendous performances from actors across the board
- Some clever puzzles that test the player’s wits
- Game does a great job at building a tense and foreboding atmosphere
- Too many cheap jump scares
- Runtime is extremely short
- Some puzzles require pixel hunting or too-easily missed clues
