Abubakar Salim's Critique of Hollywood: Unveiling Industry Woes in Dead Take

Abubakar Salim, recognized for his roles as Alyn of Hull in House of the Dragon and Father in Raised By Wolves, has a profound discontent with Hollywood. He is now channeling this sentiment into his latest video game venture. Salim has been straddling the worlds of the big screen and gaming, both industries grappling with a litany of comparable challenges, such as long working hours, diminishing job opportunities, abuse of power, and the recent exponential growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI applications.

Dead Take: A Horror - Infused Exposé of Hollywood

Salim's second game, Dead Take, is a narrative that masquerades as a horror game while delving into the realms of Hollywood, ambition, and exploitation. It serves as a pointed commentary on the industry's ills, from corruption to the utilization of AI. Salim candidly states, "Hollywood is pure horror."

Departure from Debut: A Shift in Narrative Tone

Dead Take represents a significant departure from his debut game, Tales of Kenzera: Zau. While Zau recounted a vivid and emotionally resonant story about grief, Dead Take unfolds as a psychological thriller set within the shadowy confines of a Hollywood mansion. In the game, struggling actor Chase breaks into the residence of the industry's renowned director, Duke Cain, in search of his missing friend Vinny. The game is structured as an escape - room - style home invasion, where room - by - room puzzles unlock further areas of the house, including bedrooms, closets, and a poolhouse. Duke's abode is replete with clues regarding a lost child, a failed marriage, and indications of the extreme lengths he goes to in pushing actors in his films.

Writing as an Exorcism: Confronting Industry Toxicity

Salim likens the process of writing Dead Take to an exorcism. Referring to the whispered accounts of headline - grabbing abuse and unethical behavior in the industry, he remarks, "You hear these stories. It is horrific. To then create a game that delves into that felt like a 'oh fuck you' to the industry and its machinery. The level of toxicity that prevails within the industry, and the impunity with which people operate, is truly astonishing." In Dead Take, players piece together such real - life - inspired stories through emails, notes, and contextual clues. These narratives include an actress ensnared in a MeToo - like scandal and a director pitting actors against each other or pushing them beyond their limits.

Unusual Choices in Dead Take: Real - Life Footage and AI Concerns

Real - Life Footage: A Unique Cinematic Approach

Throughout the game, players discover flash drives containing video clips of the game's actors. Salim made the unconventional decision to present these scenes as real - life footage rather than animation. Despite the recent resurgence of full - motion - video in games, spurred by titles like Immortality, this remains an uncommon practice. Ben Starr (known for Final Fantasy XVI, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33) and Neil Newbon (featured in Baldur’s Gate 3, Date Everything) take on the lead roles of Chase and Vinny. Salim explains, "They're incredibly talented, and I wanted to showcase their abilities without hiding them behind a character."

AI Anxiety: Fear of Image and Video Manipulation

As a creative professional, Salim has numerous reservations about the use of AI. One particular fear that looms large is the potential for images or videos to be "bastardized" in ways that actors and artists have no control over. He expresses, "I find that disturbing and repulsive. The thought of someone generating a grotesque image of myself, only for my daughter to stumble upon it as we grow older, is truly horrifying." This concern is not unfounded, given real - world instances such as actor Pedro Pascal being slandered through AI - generated videos falsely depicting him groping fellow actresses, and in May, players transforming a digital Darth Vader, voiced by an AI replica of James Earl Jones in Fortnite, into a foul - mouthed, slur - hurling antagonist within hours.

AI in Dead Take: A Reflection of Industry Realities

Editing Mechanics: AI - Inspired Gameplay

In Dead Take, the found video clips are integral to unlocking the game's story. Players can utilize a computer bay within Duke's mansion to edit film, "splice" clips together, and create new footage. For instance, an interview of one actor can be transformed into a tense conversation when combined with another's. Each new clip provides an alternate perspective of the game's characters, enabling players to draw fresh conclusions, and each unlocked clip triggers a new set of puzzles.

AI's True Nature: Cutting Corners, Not Evolution

Salim describes the in - game editing machine as "cheaper than an editor, but prohibitively expensive in its own right," which mirrors the capabilities of a modern AI - powered editing suite. He comments, "It's all about cutting corners. It's not about furthering human evolution." While AI may execute certain tasks more rapidly than humans, it comes at the cost of job losses and environmental impacts. Salim concludes, "AI is a threat." Although it is currently being employed across the entertainment industry in various forms, from writing to animation and video editing, he remains steadfast in his belief that it will never replace actors. "The most significant threat lies in the abysmal quality of the content that people will be consuming. The thought of an entire generation being raised on computer - generated, subpar AI offerings is terrifying. It will lead to a homogenization of thought."