Surgent Studios has officially unveiled Dead Take, revealing the first look at the upcoming game, as well as announcing a slate of new cast members. As announced, Dead Take will feature the talents of Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI) and Neil Newbon (Baldur’s Gate 3), with appearances by Alanah Pearce (Cyberpunk 2077) and Jane Perry (Baldur’s Gate 3).
The team has also confirmed cameo appearances from Laura Bailey (The Last of Us Part 2, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and plenty more besides), Sam Lake (of Remedy Entertainment), Matt Mercer (Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Critical Role), Travis Willingham (Marvel Rivals, Critical Role), and CDawgVA (Honkai: Star Rail).
‘Dead Take is about actors. So we needed actors who’ve lived it,’ Abubakar Salim, Surgent Studios founder said in a press release. ‘It’s a game about the high 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.’
Dead Take is all about the darkness of the acting scene, with real life experiences inspiring a horror-infused narrative. Here’s the official description: ‘In Dead Take, you play as an actor who becomes uneasy when your friend won’t answer the phone. Delve into the gilded rot of the entertainment industry and show up at the last place he was before he went quiet: a dark, opulent mansion.’
Read: Abubakar Salim’s Surgent Studios teases new horror game
‘Haunted by mysterious humanlike figures, you advance into the house by solving object-based puzzles and splicing together the video clips you find along the way. Oddly quiet for the site of a glamorous party just hours before, the house is now populated by the figures that seem to turn up where you least expect them.’
You can see these horrors begin to unfold in the newly-revealed trailer for the upcoming game.
Surgent Studios’ Dead Take – First Trailer
The game will take place in first person, with players exploring a haunted Hollywood Hills mansion riddled with strange sights and discrepancies: ‘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.’
You’ll need to keep your eyes focussed on reality if you have any hope of surviving your journey and making it out alive – whether with your friend in tow, or otherwise.
Those keen to jump into this new horror adventure won’t have to wait long. As revealed in the game’s latest trailer, Dead Take is set to launch for PC in just a few weeks, on 31 July 2025. Stay tuned for more on this upcoming game.
Also on ScreenHub: Australian video game sales were down 3% in 2024
Australian consumer spending on video games was reportedly down 3% year-on-year in 2024, with a new report from IGEA revealing players spent a total of AUD $3.8 billion in the last year. Across traditional retail channels, sales have fallen, with hardware dropping a significant 17%. Full-game software sold at a retail level was also down, by 34%.
As noted by IGEA, strong launches like Helldivers 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, and EA Sports FC 25 drove video game sales across multiple platforms in 2024. PlayStation 5 remains the best-selling console in Australia, followed swiftly by the Nintendo Switch. Traditional retail video game sales were only partially salvaged by a boost for first-party peripherals, which increased by 14% year-on-year.
