Lights camera secrets
By Paul Hunter
Surgent Studios follows up its debut title with Dead Take, a first-person psychological horror that swaps bright worlds for shadowy corridors. Mixing puzzle-solving with full-motion video, it’s a project that thrives on atmosphere and character work.
At the centre of the experience is a story rooted in ambition, control, and the cost of chasing success. This isn’t just told—it’s performed. Neil Newbon and Ben Starr headline a talented cast whose on-screen moments add weight and tension to each discovery you make.
Exploration is paired with interactive investigation, from unlocking hidden spaces to piecing together media files in a home theatre. These elements fit neatly with the game’s mood, each puzzle or clip pulling you deeper into its world.
Dead Take offers something different for horror fans—part game, part cinematic drama, all tied together by strong performances and a clear vision. But does this blend of formats and themes deliver a horror worth experiencing first-hand? Let’s find out!
You take control of Chase Lowry, an actor who arrives at a luxury mansion to find his missing friend Vinny. The house belongs to Duke Cain, a director whose methods have raised alarm. The setup feels like a closed stage where every room keeps a secret.
The story is not told through long exposition. It unfolds in fragments. You find media drives, load them into a theatre, and splice clips to form longer scenes. Those stitched moments reveal conversations, scandals and the pressure that drives people to extremes. The FMV work gives the scenes a theatrical edge, letting expressions and small gestures carry meaning where text would normally sit.
Rather than a single villain, the tension comes from the system Cain represents. Notes and objects around the mansion point to cover-ups, NDAs and indulgent behaviour that favours a few. You begin to see how ambition can warp choices and how the industry can reward ruthless acts. That theme is threaded through each discovery you make.
Details matter here. A found letter, a film strip needing development, or a spliced clip can change how you read a previous scene. Puzzles sit alongside these moments, but their purpose is narrative: to open new rooms, unlock drives and reveal what people said when no one else was watching. The acting anchors those reveals; the cast’s delivery turns fragments into a clearer picture of greed and control.
The mood is less about constant jump scares and more about watching a private drama unfold. You move from clue to clue, and the story keeps tightening around the mansion’s secrets until the final sequences arrive. The result feels cinematic and measured, with performance-led scenes carrying most of the emotional weight.
Gameplay in Dead Take leans on investigation and editing rather than combat. You move through rooms, open cupboards, and sift through props looking for drives and notes. The core loop is simple: find a media stick, load it in the home theatre, then decide whether to watch or splice it with others to form a longer scene.
Puzzles sit at the heart of progression. You develop film, mix chemicals to prepare reels, and program key fobs to unlock doors. At times you must change a painting to match the right light or tweak a sauna’s temperature to trigger an event. There are plenty of four-digit locks, hidden keys and bits of machinery that need parts to operate. These tasks feel like steps in a layered mystery rather than random chores.
Splicing is a major mechanic, yet the system only accepts correct combinations, so some sequences require trial and error. That guesswork can frustrate, but when clips snap together to reveal a longer exchange, the payoff is clear. The live-action footage does much of the narrative heavy lifting; seeing an edited scene in full often reframes earlier clues.
I remember one moment where I spent a good stretch developing a strip of film, then spliced it with another clip I’d almost dismissed. The new scene exposed a motive I hadn’t suspected and opened a locked room. That rush of connection is the system at its best.
There are no enemies; tension grows from what you uncover and how the edits change context. If you like methodical puzzles and cinematic reveals, Dead Take’s mechanics feel satisfying.
Presentation in Dead Take rests on two pillars: the filmed scenes and the audio. The FMV clips are the core of how the story is felt. When the footage runs in the home theatre, small shifts in expression or a paused look reveal as much as any document.
Neil Newbon and Ben Starr anchor those moments with clear, controlled portrayals. Other cast members, including Alanah Pearce, Matt Mercer and Jane Perry, fill out the house with believable turns. It’s the tiny details—an eye twitch, a delayed breath—that make a line land and nudge meaning into a new light. Voice work from the director figure ties into the live scenes and gives continuity between played clips and in-world audio.
Sound pushes the mood further. There are moments built around a crying baby, distant banging and raw screams, all set against a sparse piano motif. Those elements combine to make ordinary rooms feel suspenseful. At times I found myself jumping at a loud scare and then moments later listening to a soft line I knew mattered. That back-and-forth says a lot about how the game asks you to pay attention.
Visually, the mansion leans into layers and shadow. Lighting choices and set dressing create places for things to hide, and the camera work in clips often shows just enough to keep you unsettled.
All of these pieces work together to make the presentation feel theatrical and purposeful. The acting supplies most of the emotional weight, while sound and staging deliver the atmosphere that keeps you hooked in.
Final Score: 8/10 - Great
Developer: Surgent Studios
Publisher: Pocketpair Publishing
Genre: Horror
Modes: Single-player
A key was provided by the publisher.
By Paul Hunter
Surgent Studios follows up its debut title with Dead Take, a first-person psychological horror that swaps bright worlds for shadowy corridors. Mixing puzzle-solving with full-motion video, it’s a project that thrives on atmosphere and character work.
At the centre of the experience is a story rooted in ambition, control, and the cost of chasing success. This isn’t just told—it’s performed. Neil Newbon and Ben Starr headline a talented cast whose on-screen moments add weight and tension to each discovery you make.
Exploration is paired with interactive investigation, from unlocking hidden spaces to piecing together media files in a home theatre. These elements fit neatly with the game’s mood, each puzzle or clip pulling you deeper into its world.
Dead Take offers something different for horror fans—part game, part cinematic drama, all tied together by strong performances and a clear vision. But does this blend of formats and themes deliver a horror worth experiencing first-hand? Let’s find out!
You take control of Chase Lowry, an actor who arrives at a luxury mansion to find his missing friend Vinny. The house belongs to Duke Cain, a director whose methods have raised alarm. The setup feels like a closed stage where every room keeps a secret.
The story is not told through long exposition. It unfolds in fragments. You find media drives, load them into a theatre, and splice clips to form longer scenes. Those stitched moments reveal conversations, scandals and the pressure that drives people to extremes. The FMV work gives the scenes a theatrical edge, letting expressions and small gestures carry meaning where text would normally sit.
Rather than a single villain, the tension comes from the system Cain represents. Notes and objects around the mansion point to cover-ups, NDAs and indulgent behaviour that favours a few. You begin to see how ambition can warp choices and how the industry can reward ruthless acts. That theme is threaded through each discovery you make.
Details matter here. A found letter, a film strip needing development, or a spliced clip can change how you read a previous scene. Puzzles sit alongside these moments, but their purpose is narrative: to open new rooms, unlock drives and reveal what people said when no one else was watching. The acting anchors those reveals; the cast’s delivery turns fragments into a clearer picture of greed and control.
The mood is less about constant jump scares and more about watching a private drama unfold. You move from clue to clue, and the story keeps tightening around the mansion’s secrets until the final sequences arrive. The result feels cinematic and measured, with performance-led scenes carrying most of the emotional weight.
Gameplay in Dead Take leans on investigation and editing rather than combat. You move through rooms, open cupboards, and sift through props looking for drives and notes. The core loop is simple: find a media stick, load it in the home theatre, then decide whether to watch or splice it with others to form a longer scene.
Puzzles sit at the heart of progression. You develop film, mix chemicals to prepare reels, and program key fobs to unlock doors. At times you must change a painting to match the right light or tweak a sauna’s temperature to trigger an event. There are plenty of four-digit locks, hidden keys and bits of machinery that need parts to operate. These tasks feel like steps in a layered mystery rather than random chores.
Splicing is a major mechanic, yet the system only accepts correct combinations, so some sequences require trial and error. That guesswork can frustrate, but when clips snap together to reveal a longer exchange, the payoff is clear. The live-action footage does much of the narrative heavy lifting; seeing an edited scene in full often reframes earlier clues.
I remember one moment where I spent a good stretch developing a strip of film, then spliced it with another clip I’d almost dismissed. The new scene exposed a motive I hadn’t suspected and opened a locked room. That rush of connection is the system at its best.
There are no enemies; tension grows from what you uncover and how the edits change context. If you like methodical puzzles and cinematic reveals, Dead Take’s mechanics feel satisfying.
Presentation in Dead Take rests on two pillars: the filmed scenes and the audio. The FMV clips are the core of how the story is felt. When the footage runs in the home theatre, small shifts in expression or a paused look reveal as much as any document.
Neil Newbon and Ben Starr anchor those moments with clear, controlled portrayals. Other cast members, including Alanah Pearce, Matt Mercer and Jane Perry, fill out the house with believable turns. It’s the tiny details—an eye twitch, a delayed breath—that make a line land and nudge meaning into a new light. Voice work from the director figure ties into the live scenes and gives continuity between played clips and in-world audio.
Sound pushes the mood further. There are moments built around a crying baby, distant banging and raw screams, all set against a sparse piano motif. Those elements combine to make ordinary rooms feel suspenseful. At times I found myself jumping at a loud scare and then moments later listening to a soft line I knew mattered. That back-and-forth says a lot about how the game asks you to pay attention.
Visually, the mansion leans into layers and shadow. Lighting choices and set dressing create places for things to hide, and the camera work in clips often shows just enough to keep you unsettled.
All of these pieces work together to make the presentation feel theatrical and purposeful. The acting supplies most of the emotional weight, while sound and staging deliver the atmosphere that keeps you hooked in.
The Verdict
Think of Dead Take as a short, sharp theatre piece you play. Live-action clips led by Neil Newbon and Ben Starr steal the show, and the supporting cast supplies texture worth hunting for. Much of the fun comes from practical tasks—developing film, tweaking sauna settings, hunting four-digit codes—and the splicing mechanic that unlocks fuller scenes. Audio work gives shocks their bite, while edits deliver the real payoffs. The Splaice offers a rewarding challenge, and at three to four hours it’s a compact, well-priced experience.Final Score: 8/10 - Great
Dead Take details
Platform: PCDeveloper: Surgent Studios
Publisher: Pocketpair Publishing
Genre: Horror
Modes: Single-player
A key was provided by the publisher.