Dead Take to come alive this year on PC

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Psychological horror adventure with live-action FMV to star Neil Newbon and Ben Starr as leads

There have been lots of fictional (and sadly nonfictional) explorations of the seedy, less savoury elements behind the Hollywood movie industry, but perhaps none quite so horrifying as Dead Take, an upcoming psychological horror adventure from Surgent Studios.

Players assume the role of an actor (what else?) who grows concerned when his friend Vinny doesn't answer his phone. He was last heard from while attending a "glamorous party the night before" at a "dark, opulent mansion" in Hollywood Hills, so you decide to follow in his footsteps to find him. All seems unusually quiet when you arrive, however, so you venture inside, where you get the disturbing feeling that the house is alive, watching you, haunting you at every step. You'll need to choke back your anxiety in order to explore the place in search of your missing friend. Along the way you'll begin to "piece together what really happened last night" as you "descend into the gilded rot of the entertainment industry" and discover a much darker side of it that is otherwise "only discussed in whispers."

Described as a "twisted horror game about power and corruption," Dead Take plays out like a traditional first-person 3D thriller that takes players through a variety of eerie settings within (and perhaps beneath) the mansion, including an "abandoned film set" and a "broken home cinema." To progress through a story about "the monstrous cost of creation," you'll need to solve "escape-room-style puzzles" and collect any "USB drives and memory cards containing corrupted video files" you find. Some of the files can be spliced together into live-action video to help "uncover the darkest secrets behind the entertainment industry’s glittering facade," but you'll want to take care not to go too deep and "lose yourself in your work." Of course, any FMV clips about actors need good actors to play them, and that's certainly the case here as Neil Newbon (Baldur’s Gate 3, Resident Evil Village) and Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33) are set to star in the game's lead roles.

While no firm target release date has yet been announced, Dead Take is due to launch on Steam sometime later this year for Windows PC.