DERELICT - Podcast Rankings and reviews

I came across this little beauty after having finished The White Vault. Found it on the “More like this” list on Spotify and now that I’ve finished Part 1 of Season 1 OH MY GAWD I NEED THIS PUMPED INTO MY VEINS. The sound design! The voice acting! Most importantly the story! The character arcs! Actual arcs! Y’all know how hard it is to find stories like this in podcast form with believable character arcs?! Almost impossible. I was on the edge of my office desk, becoming shooketh by everything about this story. Not only is it well executed and produced, it’s phenomenally acted and has awesome writing. The dialogue is superb! I’m so excited to binge ALL the seasons!

The story was great, the acting was good. The only reason I can’t give it 5 stars is the sound mix. There are many points throughout where it is very difficult to hear the dialog because it’s audio levels are so low and the sound effects are so loud. I’m listening in April of 2025 and despite hearing the producer address this during a mid-season update and remaster episodes I still find many parts where certain character dialog is still very low and washed out by everything going on. Despite that it’s very entertaining and does a good job of painting the scene with audio effects and sparking the imagination.

Season 1- 5 star. Season 2- 2 star. Season 1 Single-handedly THE best podcast production I’ve ever heard. Well cast, well written and well balanced. Even if sci-fi isn’t your thing, I could see you enjoying this furious, shape-shifting & dynamic bit of chaos. Loved it till Season 2. Took a dramatic nosedive in production quality. Cast feels a notch lower and it’s a repeat of season one in terms of dramatic suspense - everything is critically life threatening and comes down to the last half a second. Will continue regardless! Voice to sfx volumes are considerably mismatched- an airlock opening blows your ears up while voice is a strain to hear at lowered volume. As the episodes proceed, the few voices remaining….. tend….. to……. Speak……with large….. gaps?…… betweeen…. Words. You’ll know it when you hear it. It keeps getting worse.

I’m interested in the story but really distracted by the sometimes painfully high or low pitched context sounds. I sometimes have to turn the volume down to not hurt my ears, but then I can’t hear dialogue. Sound balance could be a lot better.