The gods are dying. Extra particularly, they’re being killed. The world is on the opposite facet of the cataclysmic Nice Divine Warfare, shedding its magic because it waits for a prophesied savior. However that’s not this story. That is the story earlier than that. The story of Ever and Rake, two Godkillers misplaced in their very own grief as they attempt to discover solutions in a world that gives none — till they discover one another.
That is the story of Godkiller: Steadiness. First premiering in August 2024, Godkiller: Steadiness is a status drama precise play podcast that explores how we deal with grief, typically to our personal detriment. The restricted collection includes a pantheon of visitor performers to play the gods themselves, together with Brennan Lee Mulligan, Matt Mercer, Arabia Iyengar, Anjali Bhimani, Luis Carazo, and Christian Navarro. Whereas these large names deliver a few of the most emotionally resonant performances of their precise play profession to the desk, the center of the collection lies with its three core solid members: Gina Susanna as Ever, Jannes Wessels as Rake, and Em Carlson as everybody else.
Over the course of 20 episodes, audiences hearken to the parallel journeys of the tender-hearted, obsessively pushed Ever and the cynically numb Rake. Ever, trying to find a treatment to the illness that took her father-figure, and Rake, obediently following the violent whims of his divine mom, discover mirror photos of themselves in each other as they uncover that chasing redemption can both save us or destroy us.
A solid member of BlackwaterDND’s major marketing campaign, Wessels’ portrayal of Rake’s tortured submission evokes Theon Greyjoy’s Reek from Sport of Thrones. Susanna, an up-and-coming performer within the precise play area, affords a nuanced vary of hope and despair in her efficiency as Ever, biking from tender, mild like to bottomless despair with a degree of expertise that enables her to carry her personal alongside titans of the particular play medium.
Facilitating the collection is BlackwaterDND solid member Carlson, who wields faer expertise as a psychological well being skilled as each a protect and a sword, creating area for a few of the most emotionally highly effective role-playing I’ve encountered as an precise play critic. Carlson’s enhancing and sound design, although delicate, helps the solid by balancing gameplay with efficiency whereas leaving room for the heartbreaking silences in between.
This collection just isn’t for everybody, although. Godkiller, a holypunk darkish fantasy recreation designed by Connie Chang of Transplaner renown, just isn’t a high-paced, action-packed comedy car. The collection takes its time creating these arcs, reveling within the weight of the world it has constructed — although you may be rewarded when you decelerate sufficient to carry that weight with it. It doesn’t shrink back from navigating the truth of its chosen theme, weaving emotional abuse, substance use, and derealization into its narrative internet (with corresponding content material warnings earlier than every episode).
Although Steadiness is technically a prequel to BlackwaterDND’s earlier collection Godkiller: Oblivion, the collection doesn’t require any earlier data of the world — although viewers of BlackwaterDND’s major marketing campaign will discover easter eggs from the shared universe. As of this writing, 10 of the 20 installment restricted collection have premiered, that means there may be loads of time to catch up because the collection strikes into its second act.
Episodes of Godkiller: Steadiness premiere biweekly on BlackwaterDND, or wherever podcasts are discovered.