Alan Wake's Sam Lake Takes a 'Dead Take': Surgent Studios Assembles All-Star Cast for Psychological Horror Flick-Game
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
*Dead Take*, a new psychological horror game, has revealed a star-studded cast including Sam Lake and other gaming veterans, promising a unique blend of live-action and gameplay that blurs the lines between film and interactive entertainment.
Right, so you know that feeling when you're watching a movie and you think, 'Bloody hell, this would make a great game'? Well, Surgent Studios is flipping the script with *Dead Take*, and it's assembled a cast that reads like a who's-who of gaming royalty. Courtesy of Eurogamer, we've got the full rundown, and fair dinkum, it's impressive.
Headlining the show are Ben Starr and Neil Newbon – names you might recognise, and *should* recognise if you've been keeping up. But wait, there's more! Jane Perry (fresh off haunting our dreams in *Returnal*) and Alanah Pearce (who lent her talents to *Cyberpunk 2077*) are also joining the fray. But the cameos? Oh, mate, the cameos are where it gets properly interesting.
We're talking Laura Bailey (*The Last of Us Part 2*), Matthew Mercer (*Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth*, *Tears of the Kingdom*), and, hold onto your hats, Sam Lake himself (the mastermind behind *Alan Wake 2*). Yeah, *that* Sam Lake. The bloke who practically invented meta-narratives is *in* a game about blurring the lines between reality and fiction. The irony is thicker than pea soup.
Surgent Studios dropped a new trailer alongside the cast reveal (check it out below – it's properly unsettling), showcasing the game's… unique splicing mechanic. Apparently, you'll be merging live-action clips to uncover clues, which sounds like a recipe for both brilliant innovation and absolute chaos. I, for one, am here for it.
[Embedded YouTube Video: DEAD TAKE | FULL CAST REVEALED | OFFICIAL TRAILER]
According to Abubakar Salim, creative director at Surgent Studios, this casting wasn't just about star power. "*Dead Take* is about actors. So we needed actors who've lived it," Salim told Eurogamer. "It's a game about the high of ambition and the rot underneath it. The lies we tell ourselves to get in the spotlight, and the monsters we become to stay there. Everyone in this cast has felt that pressure. This was a chance to bleed it out." Heavy stuff, eh?
Salim also chatted with Eurogamer previously about how *Dead Take* is aiming to mush together the lines between gaming and cinema. He wanted to show off the actors themselves – no hiding behind fancy CGI characters. "You're going to be watching Ben and Neil do their work on screen as actors," Salim said. "And the reason why is because I didn't want them to hide behind animated characters, or 3D characters. I wanted to show you them. That's essentially something that I really wanted to hammer in as well, while using these guys, is because we're so used to seeing them behind Astarion or Clive. What are they as actors when you see them in the flesh?"
*Dead Take* is slated to drop on July 31st on PC (via Steam and Epic). Will it be a terrifying masterpiece? A gloriously messy experiment? Or a bit of both? Only time will tell, but with a cast like this, I'm betting it'll be worth a look.
Tags: horror games, indie games, Sam Lake, casting news, psychological horror
Original article: Eurogamer