Abubakar Salim has loads of beef with Hollywood—and he’s getting it off his chest in his newest online game. The actor, identified for his roles as Alyn of Hull on Home of the Dragon and Father in Raised By Wolves, has been balancing his time between the large display and gaming, two industries which have been affected by a slew of comparable points: lengthy hours, shrinking jobs, abuse of energy, and, extra not too long ago, the fast rise of synthetic intelligence use and generative AI.
Salim’s sophomore recreation, Useless Take, is a narrative of Hollywood, ambition, and exploitation, dressed up as a horror recreation that takes purpose at his business’s issues, from corruption to AI use. “Hollywood is pure horror,” Salim says.
Useless Take is a agency departure from his debut recreation, Tales of Kenzera: Zau. The place Zau advised a vibrant, heartfelt story about grief, Useless Take is a psychological thriller set at the hours of darkness rooms of a Hollywood mansion. After his pal Vinny goes lacking, struggling actor Chase breaks into the house of the business’s hottest director, Duke Cain, seeking clues. The sport is an escape room by the use of residence invasion; room-by-room puzzles unlock extra areas of the home, whether or not meaning digging by way of bedrooms and closets, or navigating a poolhouse. Duke’s area is suffering from clues a couple of misplaced youngster and a failed marriage, together with hints about how far he’s prepared to push actors in his movies.
Salim likens writing the sport to an exorcism. “You hear these tales,” he says of whispers about headline-making abuse and unhealthy habits. “It’s horrific. To then make a recreation that explores that felt like ‘oh fuck you’ to the business and the machine. It truly is mad what folks get away with, the quantity of toxicity that exists on an business degree.” Useless Take lets gamers piece collectively these types of tales, a lot as you’ll in actual life, by way of emails, notes, and context. An actress caught in a MeToo-like scandal. A director pitting his actors towards one another, or pushing them past their limits.
All through their search, gamers discover flash drives containing video clips of the sport’s actors. Salim made the bizarre option to let these scenes play out as real-life footage as a substitute of as animation. Though using full-motion-video in video games has loved newfound reputation, due to titles like Immortality, it’s nonetheless unusual. Ben Starr (Ultimate Fantasy XVI, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33) and Neil Newbon (Baldur’s Gate 3, Date All the pieces) act as the sport’s leads, Chase and Vinny. Each actors have labored for years, nevertheless it’s solely not too long ago that they’ve had the highlight, due to extra distinguished roles in standard video games. “They’re fucking good and I wanna present that, moderately than placing them behind a personality,” Salim says.
As a inventive skilled, there’s lots for Salim to dislike about AI use—and he actually does dislike lots—however one worry stands out to him: photographs or movies being “bastardized” in methods actors and artists haven’t any management over. “I believe that is disturbing and disgusting,” he says. “The very last thing I need is somebody to generate a horrific picture of myself after which my daughter to come upon it as we’re older. That will be horrible.”
