Dead Take is an experimental puzzle horror game that shines a haunting light on the entertainment industry. But that doesn’t mean it won’t still have you muting your sound just to avoid a jumpscare or increasing it to watch some stellar live-action performances.
Dead Take’s main draw is its actors. After all, if someone told you there was a game with live action Neil Newbon, Ben Starr, Matthew Mercer, Sam Lake, and more, you too would be willing to look past the fact that it’s a terrifying horror game filled with creepy mannequins.
However, it’s so much more than that. It’s a terrifying escape room that’s equal parts experimental and absolutely chock-full of surprises.
Dead Take screenshots
What is Dead Take about?
You play as Chase (Neil Newbon, the voice behind Astarion from BG3) as he enters Duke Cain’s extremely messed-up mansion in search of his best friend and fellow actor, Vinny (Ben Starr, best known for his portrayal as Clive in Final Fantasy).
What follows is basically The Shining, but with mannequins that jump out at you instead of a man chasing you with an axe.
Every room has a puzzle, and every puzzle helps you uncover the twisted aspects of the film industry, from cover-ups, scandals, and the lengths people will go to be a star.
Acting perfection with a clear message
The main draw for this game is its cast. Knowing the stellar performance we’d seen from Newbon as Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starr as Verso in Clair Obscur (or Dorian in Date Everything), it was clear we’d be getting some fantastic acting.
Every performance, whether it was through the live-action snippets to the voice acting from Cain, was superb. Each eye-twitch or pang of rage was subtle yet spoke a thousand words and greatly aided in telling the story, even if I spent half of the clips nervously waiting to jump out of my seat whenever something snuck behind me.
But that was the beauty of Dead Take. You spend the entire game in a sort of mid-scare limbo. There are so many places for things to hide, and it’s all heightened by the overarching puzzles you need to complete.
Perhaps the most challenging aspect is the Splaice (yes, that’s how it’s spelled, I don’t like it either). There was a lot of guesswork when it came to putting the clips together, and only the correct answers could combine, eliminating that freedom of creation I hoped for.
Verdict
Dead Take is a sublime exploration of the dark side of entertainment, exploring obsession, manipulation, and hunger that are all expertly edited into a short but scary adventure.
However, despite its heavy themes, it’s impossible to ignore the overall predictability of the whole thing. In fact, it often devolved into a ‘get footage’ fetch quest, which, while still engaging, did force an element of expectancy that horror doesn’t exactly thrive in.
The game is undeniably experimental. It has a message and is solely focused on expressing that. As such, the ending did suffer. I was left with more questions than answers as the credits rolled (no spoilers here), and felt that the game was so focused on telling the tale of a horrid director and his manipulation that it left most plot points utterly open.
Regardless, Dead Take is a sublime horror game filled with some phenomenal performances expertly heightened by the live-action nature. It’s unique, fun, and fantastically paced. Even if I knew what was coming, it didn’t soften the blow of unexpectedly seeing Ben Starr’s screaming face pop up on my screen.
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