Full-motion video is easy to giggle at now that we’re decades removed from its prominence in arcades of the ‘80s and homes of the ‘90s. Heck, you could argue we didn’t take it very seriously at the time, either. BeforeDead Take, we saw it nowadays as a brief hiccup in gaming history (its Wikipedia article links directly to a list of gaming’s greatest commercial failures), but FMV was a once-delightful staple of the time.
CGI and motion/performance capture have become all the rage since FMV died a relatively quiet death in the ‘00s. But when it was popular, horror felt particularly well-suited to what was essentially an interactive movie with real actors and real locations. This combo gave us games like Phantasmagoria or Night Trap (good luck notsinging that theme songnow), titles remembered fondly as cult classics long after their format faded into obscurity. Being made to feel like you’re part of whatever atrocity is happening on-screen to a cast of unknown actors is important to the impact of these games, which is why the mosticonic FMV titlesof yesteryear all fall into a creepier niche.
Certain developers, like Remedy Entertainment, cling onto the appeal of FMV. Quantum Break, Control, and Alan Wake 2 make extensive use of the technique, and the results prove to be frequently incredible.
But what happens when you use well-known actors in full-motion video decades after its heyday? What happens when it’s utilized as an accent to break up escape room sections in a first-personpsychological horror gameabout exploring the seedy underbelly of Hollywood? You get Dead Take, a title by House of the Dragon actor Abubakar Salim’s Surgent Studio that promises to shine a revealing light on an industry so shrouded in celebrity and mystique.
You’re Meant To Recognize The Faces In This Game…
Dead Take is played primarily in first person, running in the shoes of struggling actor Chase Lowry as he explores the unsettlingly large estate of revered director Duke Cain. Chase’s friend and fellow actor, Vinny Monroe, has been missing since he attended a party held at the Cain Estate the night before, and growing worried, Chase sets out to find him. What he discovers instead is a house haunted by the memory of that lavish party, now full of boarded-up areas, hidden rooms, blood spatter, and jump scares galore.
What sets Dead Take apart inthe slew of good horror titlescoming out today, though, is the inclusion of iconic actors in the modern gaming and nerd culture sphere right now. The game is led by Neil Newbon (Baldur’s Gate 3) playing Chase Lowry, while the missing Vinny is portrayed by Ben Starr (Final Fantasy 16), with both performances telling a haunting story of the lengths some folks will go to if it means a fleeting chance at the big time.
Along the way, you’ll fill in background lore for tortured characters played by names like Laura Bailey (The Last of Us Part 2), Matt Mercer (Critical Role), and Travis Willingham (Fullmetal Alchemist). You find their industry headshots, driver’s licenses, news articles about them, and all kinds of things that flesh out the nail-biting background of this twisted adventure.
Newbon appears on camera when Chase is staring into your eyes as he tears himself apart auditioning for a role in Cain’s film, but Starr steals the spotlight as a ghost you spend the game chasing. He’s gone, but he’s right there with you throughout the entire experience – you find his wallet, watch his film audition tape, hear him frantically beg for help when you read a bloody note, and even find his portrait taped to an ominous jack-in-the-box – and this happening to an actor I recognize made things hit that much harder.
… And You’re Meant To Be Uncomfortable About It
And that’s exactly what Surgent Studio was hoping to accomplish with its sophomore title. Salim saidin an interview with Insider Gamingahead of launch that every detail included in the game’s exploration of what it takes to make it in Hollywood was based on something he’d seen himself, and watching it play out with actors you know is meant to push that boundary another step further.
Salimalso said in an interview with Inversethat the decision to move between eerie first-person exploration and jarring jumps to FMV was made because it’s “an unsettling experience as a player,” and it was a startlingly effective choice. You see Starr get shouted at and belittled by a director the industry adores to the point of turning a blind eye to his abuse, watch pieces of Newbon give a brutally honest performance in his audition, and discover all the dirty secrets hiding away in the estate of an untouchable Hollywood superstar.
If left as a first-person horror adventure, which is how you’ll experience most of the game as you plod through the oversized manor in search of escape room puzzle solutions, Dead Take would still have been great. The story and the mysteries it promises is enough to beckon any fan of tingling spines and goosebump skin, and man, will it keep you stuck there with its aggressively dark, oppressive atmosphere.
Dead Take effortlessly does exactly what it set out to do – entice you in with a quiet release starring some of your favorite actors, encroach into your comfort zone so it can shove you firmly out of it, and entrap you in a game too startling to turn off until you’ve gotten to the bottom of its bitter, ugly truth.
