AD Favorites: Immersive fiction

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This is a repost from my journal from 5 years ago(!!!) which means things have changed and evolved and there's probably a LOT more immersive fiction out there. Anyhoo, enjoy the handful of themed posts I managed to scrape together



So, I know I have my podcast rec list but I thought it would be cool to try writing a couple of genre-specific AD posts. Because who knows, perhaps there's someone out there who'd be interested in that? I'm planning on writing about horror, space/scifi, comedy, and fact podcasts but I have no idea how often I'll be able to write these out. The genres will most likely overlap more than a little but I don't think it matters much.

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I'm not exactly sure if immersive audiodrama is the correct term to go with here, but that's what I'm choosing to use (the other option would be epic, I guess) Immersive AD is perhaps one of the most complicated thing to produce because it usually has a wide cast, on-location recording, and a fuckton of rich movie-level sound effects. When it's done well, it's like listening to a movie, a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Here are some of my favorites:

We're Alive is the behemoth legend of immersive AD and with well over 1million downloads it has earned its place. It's a story of a zombie apocalypse and while the setting is somewhat tropey and I don't agree with some of the creative writing decisions (that's my feminist nurse side speaking), there's no denying the overall quality of the show. The universe is still going strong and the creators are both producing new content with Goldrush and offering insight on the creative process with the Archive series. 

If you love GoT, you'll probably love Tumanbay. Filled with blood, gore, sex, violence, and plot, it's the best kind of BBC quality you can get. Two seasons out and third in the making, it's a highly enjoyable experience. My only complaint is that the story is (of course) told with the voice of a man with very few strong female characters. I get it that it's most likely a culturally appropriate decision but...I'm pretty sure even in the ancient Egyptian Mameluk society they had women who knew what they wanted and how to get that. 

The Cleansed was the first podcast of this scale I listened to. It's another post-apocalyptic saga that follows a small band of people who try to find justice and hope in the middle of uncertain times and rivalling tribes. I got annoyed about the heterosexual young love that was shoved at my face (I honestly thought they were going for a gay romance there but I guess that would've been too progressive...) and some heavily underlined characterization, but otherwise this was pretty good.

Edict Zero is... I don't even know. It's science fiction, an investigative story mixed with The Matrix, new world order, secret government organizations, and plot within plot within plot. S4 spans for over four years and, well, that's my biggest complaint. Even though I love the story and the almost movie-length episodes, by the time S4E5 came out, I'd completely forgotten about what had happened before. And even after I refreshed my memories, I had little to no clue of what's actually happening (because PLOT). But it's freaking good, I love the actors and the characters (SOCRATES!), and the plot twists have had me stopping in the middle of the road with my mouth open wide. S5 is in production and apparently the team is aiming for a more regular schedule. Can't wait!
Edict Zero FIS is complete as is the spin-off thing Captain Afterland, but apparently there's more coming? Can't wait!

Do you have any immersive audiodrama favorites? Share the love and let me know!

Comments

[merrileemakes]

Thanks for sharing! Edict Zero sounds interesting, if a little frustrating. I'm give it a go.

Have you tried The Left Right Game?

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Yeah, I posted about it last year.