We all have things we liked that we didn’t realise were considered a bit naff at the time, and for me that thing was FMV games. Well, I win. FMV games are back and cool again. Which, by extension, basically means Dragon’s Lair was good. I don’t make the rules. Here’s the latest trailer for Dead Take.
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You’re looking for your mate Vinny in a mansion, following a big party. There’s lots of red lights. A forlorn roomba bashes itself hopelessly against the wall. Someone’s boarded up what looks like the elevator shaft. There’s a private cinema. Maybe it’s Quentin Tarantino’s mansion. Maybe he boarded up the elevator shaft to stop whoever he was in the private cinema with escaping while he monologued, in his cocainiest voice, about 70’s exploitation films for three hours. The mysteries pile up.
To put a slight damper on my grand proclamations re: resurrected genres, it does look like you can explore the mansion at your leisure without being ferried from one scene to another. The FMV-ness of it all comes in via acted scenes starring Neil Newbon (Baldur’s Gate 3, Resi Village) and Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI, Clair Obscur). First person exploration horror games aren’t exactly in short supply on Steam, and I’m naturally a bit sceptical over leaning on big names to elevate something otherwise plain, but without a creepy doll or lumbering followbeast in sight, I’m into what Dead Take is doing with its setting – more mystery than outright spookshow. You’ll edit together video clips and solve puzzles to figure out what’s happened here.
“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,” reads the Steam Page. “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”.
It’s from the Tales Of Kenzera: ZAU devs, Abubakar Salim’s Surgent Studios. Salim himself is no stranger to some of the nastier sides of working in entertainment, another reason I’d bet on Dead Take being a fair bit more thoughtful than whatever Amnesia clone has popped up in my inbox for the day. It’s also the first game being funded by Palworld devs Pocketpair. This one’s “coming soon”, but you can play the seminal masterpiece ‘Dragon’s Lair’ in the meantime.
