Asurmen: The Darker Road Review
Asurmen heads to Ulthwé and Eldar Hi-jinks ensues – I do love a good Grim-Dark adventure story.
Hey BoLS Readers, AdamHarry here with a proper review for Asurmen: The Darker Road – an audio drama. I had thought of doing a video review of this audio drama by doing a dramatic reading of the audio drama of me writing the review…but then I got a nose bleed from the meta-joke that was trying to form. After regaining consciousness I decided I’d just write a straight-up review.
Now, I would like to say a few things to gauge expectations. I’ve listened to audio books before and podcasts. I think this was my first audio drama and also my first audio drama from Games Workshop. I think that distinction is important because an audio drama isn’t just a reading of a book dramatically. There are sound effects, a score, and (in this case) multiple actors preforming their lines. Note, I said preforming lines, not just reading them. Again, it’s a distinction I want to make clear.
Asurmen: The Darker Road is really a “movie” in that way – only you have to create everything but the sounds with your own imagination. If you enjoy that type of thing then you’d probably enjoy an audio drama – I actually did!
In fact, I’d be down to try out another GW Audio Drama. So if you’re looking for a rating for this one you can pretty much stop reading now – I liked it and would listen to another. I can’t really rate it on a scale because…well, I don’t have another audio drama to compare it to if I’m honest. So take that for what it’s worth.
Minor Spoilers from here on out…
I won’t go into too much detail but if you want to preserve the “suprise” then stop reading and go listen to this Audio Drama already!
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Still Here? Then let’s do this!
The story starts with Asurmen exiting the web way in his sentient ship and arriving at Ulthwé, craftworld of Eldrad Ulthran. It floats in close proximity to the Eye of Terror and the danger seems to entice his ship. Regardless, Asurmen seems to be somewhat at the mercy of fate – but he also chooses to participate in the events rather than just be a passer-by (more on this later). He lands on the craftworld and is greeted by a former pupil of his, the Dire Avenger Exarch Dolkhiriath.
Skipping ahead a bit Dolkhiriath escorts him to a meeting with the Farseer Shar-telion and Eldrad. And basically they are the four main characters of the story. Shar-telion “convinces” them to go on an expedition to a crone world in search of an Oracle who can guide the Eldar’s future and help restore them to “power” and prosperity.
I say “convinces” because this is where that concept of fate vs free-will kind of pokes it’s head. Asurmen is basically an Immortal Pheonix Lord, he’s been around the block a few times and he knows that he is “guided” but that he still has a role to play. He accepts that part of his journey is to actually engage in this expedition. Fate brought him here, but he walks his own path…
Anyways, after a chat with Eldrad they are off to the crone world. This is when the story really starts getting interesting. Because it’s basically influence by the warp, things are not as they appear…Again, I’m not going to ruin it, but the audio drama really started to sound like a night of D&D in the Grim-Dark…which is pretty fun if you’re willing to buy in!
Their expedition takes them through various trials and tribulations. Make a save vs fear here, a save vs will there, solve a puzzle or two. Have a couple of combat encounters…Along the way, their escorts of Dire Avengers are cut down and killed off leaving only the 4 main characters towards the end. So, ya…it’s pretty much like a D&D game before the boss fight.
I won’t spoil the ending, but let’s just say you could probably make an educated guess as to who walks away from this one…
Overall, I did enjoy the story – it made my commute go a little bit faster and I appreciated it. Listening to this audio drama has convinced me to give others a shot. Some of the things I really appreciated were the performances of the voice actors and the sound production. They were all really into their parts and were convincing performances. I’ve heard bad dramatic readings and this was NOT one of them. So kudos to the cast!
The sound production and design were really fun, too. The background score really enhanced the story in good ways by subtly helping set the tone, mood and pacing. The sound effects could have been a tad louder, but I get that they were secondary to the narration and performances. I actually wish there was more combat in the story just because I liked the sound effects, the clanging of weapons, the firing of the shuriken weapons, and the hum of the powered blades…it was cool to get a sense of what the Eldar of 40k sound like for the first time.
One of the things I will warn folks about is that the voice actors’ voices were all modulated based on the fact they were wearing helmets. They are still understandable – much better than Tom Hardy’s Bane from The Dark Knight Rises, but I think some folks might find that distracting.
Again, I don’t think it would be fair for me to give it a number rating – but I did enjoy it and would listen to it or another audio drama from Games Workshop. So Two-Thumbs up from this listener. Asurmen: The Darker Road is available from Black Library right now. If you’re looking for something to listen to while commuting or painting then I’d recommend it!
Asurmen: The Darker Road $12.99 (MP3)
A Phoenix Lords audio drama
With the future of Craftworld Ulthwé at stake, the Phoenix Lord Asurmen joins the warriors of the craftworld on a mission that will lead them down a dark and dangerous road.
LISTEN TO IT BECAUSE
It’s an all-star eldar team-up with the first Phoenix Lord and a young Eldrad Ulthran fighting side by side for the future of Ulthwé!
THE STORY
It is said the Phoenix Lords arrive on the eve of great moments… Guided by fate, Asurmen the Hand of Asuryan comes to the craftworld of Ulthwé. At the behest of the head of the seer council, he joins the warriors of Ulthwé and the young seer Eldrad on a quest to the Crone Worlds in search of the oracle Hiron-athela. It is believed that this being holds an artefact that could safeguard Ulthwé’s future, but in order to obtain it the eldar must travel a dark road…
Written by Gav Thorpe Running time 71 minutes (approx).
Performed by Gareth Armstrong, John Banks, Steve Conlin, Toby Longworth, Penelope Rawlins and Genevieve Swallow.
…Now I want to play D&D set in the Grim-Dark. If ONLY there was an RPG to reference *Cough*DarkHeresy*Cough*
