Everyone has had dreams that feel a little too much like real life, and that’s the kind of the vibe I got jumping intoDead Take, the latest psychological horror game from Surgent Studios. After making waves withTales of Kenzera: ZAU, the developer has seemingly taken a hard left turn into something much darker, far stranger, and deeply meta. You play as an actor named Chase Lowry (Neil Newbon) who wakes up in a mansion in Hollywood after a party gone wrong. His friend Vinny Monroe (Ben Starr) is missing, and the only clues are found on corrupted video files scattered throughout the mansion. It’s part haunted house, part film school fever dream, and it’s a story worth witnessing, unraveling, and being an integral part of.
As both a horror game and an escape room enthusiast,Dead Takehad my number the moment I laid eyes on it. The premise is simple on the surface: find your missing friend inside a creepy mansion. However, once the game gets going, it quickly becomes clear that there’s more going on than it wants you to see at first. There’s no tutorial, no warm welcome, and no real sense of safety.
Right out of the gate, it’s important that I mention just how brief of an experienceDead Takereally is, with my 100% completion time ending up at around 4 hours. The reason I mention that, though, is to emphasize how little I can reveal about the game’s story without spoiling anything, as that is essentially the substance thatDead Take’s impeccable style relies on. That being said, I’m willing to bet it could take players upwards of 6 to 7 hours, depending on how skilled they are atescape room games, how quickly they move through the mansion, and how much they’re willing to uncover on the side.
Dead Takeis one of those stories and settings most have probably seen inpsychological horroror thriller films, and, coincidentally, its narrative revolves around the emotional complexity and business-oriented nuance of the film industry that isn’t clearly seen until you’re right in the thick of it. The mystery begins with you, Chase Lowry, essentially breaking into a mansion to find your friend Vinny Monroe, who isn’t responding to your texts. From there, the story unfolds as you collect flash drives containing video clips ofDead Take’s different characters, most of which are interviews and audition reels.
Whilejump scaresare certainly welcome in a horror game, the genre is arguably more effective when it relies on atmosphere instead. Fortunately, that’s the case withDead Take, although it does have the occasional jump scare here and there to keep you on your toes. Atmosphere is where this one truly shines, however, and that’s almost immediately evident in its lighting, tone, and ambient noise.
After its somewhat loud introduction,Dead Takeis eerily quiet, as players stand outside the mansion looking for a way in. But upon entering the mansion and moving through it, a haunting, low frequency begins occupying the soundscape, and it’s almost enough to make you stop dead in your tracks and wonder whether you actually want to take the next step forward or open that door in front of you. This continues throughoutDead Take’s story, with themusic and ambient noiserepeatedly either changing or vanishing altogether, making it best played with headphones, the lights off, and with no one else home.
The mansion itself is dark and a bit suffocating at times, with flickering lights and strange noises reverberating in the distance. As it is with most escape room games, exploring the house is all part of the experience, but it’s also a major variable in howDead Takebuilds its atmosphere. Players might walk into a room only for the doors to slam behind them, or they might return to an area they once visited, only to find that the mannequin that used to be there is now gone for some reason. This effectively turns the mansion into one ofDead Take’s main characters, which is essential to any escape room game experience.
To top it all off,Dead Takelooks fantastic, and Surgent Studios' attention to detail is abundantly clear. The lighting, textures, and overall design of the mansion and its outskirts are visually striking enough to make anyone feel like they’ve been dropped into another version of reality. All the actors are shown in live-action, while everything else is virtual, but the line between what is real and what is not is often blurred, no doubt thanks toUnreal Engine 5.
It is worth mentioning thatDead Take’s story is fairly predictable, but that doesn’t make it any less compelling to experience. Many will have the “big twist” figured out at least halfway through the game, although there are still plenty of side stories involved that you can miss if you aren’t thorough in your exploration. What makesDead Take’s story and its many layers so unique, though, is how it unfolds. While it’s expected that ahorror escape room game’s narrativewould be gradually pieced together, it’sDead Take’s execution that sets it apart.
At some point during the story, players discover a screening room with a projector in need of repair. Upon fixing said projector, they can then plug in the flash drives they find to play video clips and watch them in the screening room. This is the primaryway in which the story unravels, as opposed to players merely finding notes and relying on the environmental storytelling of a traditional escape room game.
These video clips are where talents likeBen Starr, Neil Newbon, Jane Perry, and Laura Bailey get a chance to show off — and show off, they do. Not one performance inDead Takeis unconvincing, with Ben Starr arguably hogging the spotlight as Vinny Monroe and being both intriguing as a character and mysteriously terrifying at times. Neil Newbon, who plays Chase Lowry, the player character, also shines in these moments, giving players a deeper look into the emotions and personality of the character they’re playing, who never says a word, save for on the screen.
What makes the whole process even more engaging is how these video clips come together to form the whole story. When a flash drive is plugged in, players unlock a new video clip that is usually either an interview or audition, butDead Take’s splicing system adds an entirely different layer to it. Certain flash drives can be spliced together in the projector room to offer new perspectives on characters as well as deeper stories. But the system works in the same way the rest ofDead Take’s puzzles do, in that players are given subtle clues as to which footage can be spliced together to form new clips.
It’s not just an interesting way to keep players directly involved in every aspect of the story, but it also serves as a more fulfilling way to discover every substory, as opposed to simply focusing on the main narrative.Dead Take’s side stories require more thorough exploration and puzzle-solving from players, but they’re worth doing in the end for the context they add to the overarching narrative.
One ofDead Take’s most interesting characteristics is how it takes theidea of an escape room and turns it on its head. Whereas most escape room games see players trying to get out,Dead Takewants players to go deeper in. In one way, it is traditional in the sense that you may’t leave, as there’s no way to actually drive away from the mansion. However, the puzzles you’re tasked with solving aren’t for the purpose of getting out, but for getting in and solving the mystery at its center.
There’s a certain amount of tension that comes with this approach, too, withDead Takebeing a psychological horror game. That question lingers about whether you really do want to unlock that door in front of you because of the mystery of it all and the potential jump scare or images that aren’t easily erased from memory. Rather than trying to get away from the danger,Dead Takewants you to pursue it, even if you’re doing so in dread of what might be waiting for you around the corner. I personally found that tension fulfilling, as events would frequently occur in the game that I didn’t expect, leaving me panicking, heart pounding, frantically looking for a way to put an end to the horror.
Of course, no escape room game would be effective without somepuzzles to solve, andDead Takecertainly has plenty of them. However, many of them are fairly easy to solve. That said,Dead Take’s story is the star of the show, and if the puzzles were too demanding, it might have put the narrative on the back burner or made it less enjoyable.
AllDead Take’s puzzles require is a decent memory and thorough exploration. I began the game by exploring every inch of the mansion that was available to me and taking mental notes of everything that I saw. From there, solving its puzzles becomes second nature, with immediate callbacks to images, notes, and locations. Not every solution was as straightforward as the last, but the vast majority of them didn’t provoke extensive thought.
There is an aspect to solving these puzzles that is immensely rewarding, however, and that once again comes back to the narrative, thegame’s atmosphere, and the discovery of the mansion’s many rooms. What initially seems to be a fairly manageable map eventually grows into something much larger, with plenty of hidden areas that aren’t easily stumbled upon.Dead Takealso employs a unique tactic for assuring players they’re making progress, often with loud banging on a nearby door or even the sound of heavy breathing behind them. These moments, if nothing else, made solving puzzles all the more gratifying.
Dead Takemay not be along game, but it’s one that sticks. Even a predictable twist doesn’t make the story any less interesting to piece together. The way the game slowly feeds players new information through video clips, puzzles, and subtle environmental shifts is immersive, and the performances sell the whole thing.
Dead Takeclearly wants players to focus on uncovering its story, and the mansion is built in a way that makesexploration feel rewardingeven without much resistance. The atmosphere does a lot of heavy lifting, with sound and lighting creating an ever-present sense of tension that kept me leaning forward the whole time.Dead Takemight not break the escape room genre wide open, but it finds a creative way to pull players into its world, and it’s worth seeing through to the end.
EXT. MANSION - NIGHT"FIND VINNY"
Night falls and he still won’t pick up the phone. You arrive at the mansion: the last place he went. It’s oddly quiet for the site of a glamorous party the night before. Your invite must have gotten lost in the mail. In any case, you make your way inside to find your friend.
Actors have to look out for each other in this industry.
Feed me something real
INT. MANSION - NIGHT"PLAY YOUR PART"
An abandoned film set. A broken home cinema. Searching the mansion and unlocking its secrets requires the fullness of your ingenuity. Pay attention.
INT. HOME CINEMA - NIGHT"A SPLICE OF LIFE"
Your search reveals a number of USB drives and memory cards containing corrupted video files. Some can be spliced together to reveal what really happened within these walls. Try not to lose yourself in your work.
INT. HEART OF HOLLYWOOD - NIGHT"TAKE YOUR SHOT"
The house is watching. It seems to haunt your steps. Piece together what really happened last night as you discover a side of the entertainment industry only discussed in whispers.
The cruelty. The sordid gossip. The auditions gone wrong. The shadowy figure with the power to make or break your career.
There’s only one way to guarantee your success: feed me something real.
Dead Takereleases on June 30, 2025 for PC. Game Rant was provided a code for the purposes of this review.
