I’m very much enjoying this but there are some parts, mainly high action scenes, where you sort of lose what’s happening. Whatever happens to Bonnie and Apollo is not explained clearly at all. Overall, it’s really good story though.
This was really well done in terms of characters and intrigue, the voice acting was great and the audio was cool as well. However the ending was incredibly underwhelming? Tom needn’t have existed at all, really. There is no explanation as to why he is the only one that remembers her, and the plot seemed to be building up to the two of them perhaps meeting, but it never happened. This was going to be four or five stars but the ending brought it down.
As someone who read the original story long before listening to this podcast, a lot of info as to what is happening at a given time is simply missing. I get that the sounds are supposed to give the listener indication to what’s going on, but if I hadn’t read the OG story first I would’ve been extremely confused as to what I was supposed to be hearing. Even I was still mildly confused at times as to what was going on. I get that with a podcasts, apposed to written story, you have to leave out a lot of the inner monologues and plot descriptions, but it’s missing key details at times that make the original story so horrifying and compelling. Seems like literally only the dialogue of the story was used for this adaption, there should be more natural narration included to give the correct amount of detail & information. Specifically let down when the scariest moments are happening, the ones you of course want the most details for, are missing key information that would tell the listener what the characters are experiencing, expecting us to fill in unknown gaps in the plot. Love the OG story and keep coming back to it, sharing it, and do love the way it was brought to life here, but again it’s missing that original narration and detail.
The production is great. The storyline is good and intriguing. All the actors did great. I’m not going to remove a star for it, the ending is not terrible, but it’s anticlimactic, forgettable, and I felt like they just didn’t know what to do with the storyline so it just kind of ends. It kind of makes me wonder what the purpose of the British friend was, he went to look for her, but nothing, literally nothing, it just ends. No explanation that I recall of how he got the tapes or how she could have gotten the tapes back “out of the road.” It might not be a plot hole since no explanation was even attempted, but it feels cheap. Again, it feels like the show was going full steam ahead and then just derailed in episode 10. Those might be harsh words for a 5 star review, but the first 9 episodes were among the best audio drama I have ever heard. Episode 10 isn’t terrible, but I feel like they producers were just tired of making it and called it quits.
If this was a voice acting critique it would be five stars. Same with production. The narrative suffers from a lack of explanation. There are ways to do found-audio storytelling that still tell the story but there are massive story gaps that are filled with albeit spectacular, but unclear sound effects. Was left intrigued but rather unsatisfied.
While I hate over explaining narrative in podcasts, this show goes the exact opposite. It wasnt until I googled the show did I find out there are more explanatory versions written. The podcast seems to be aimed at people already knowledgable of the story line, as anyone else, I dont know how they could infer whats going on in this very confusing story line. I had to replay so much just because i had no clue what was happening. A lot is said that means nothing, and nothing is said to mean a lot.
what incredible show. i was quite literally on the edge of my seat (and scared!) throughout this series. this was well produced and well casted. Wishing for another season but it’s perfect as a capsule. love love love!
The first few episodes were stellar. The second half, especially the last few episodes were confusing. Too many sound effects with no explanation of what was causing the sound, a complex plot that could not be communicated clearly, developments in the story explained away in a single sentence. And then it just ended. Kudos to the beautiful and soothing voice of the main actress.
Episodes 1-6 (3.5-4/5): really tense, suspenseful series of vignettes that really build tension without arriving (narratively or geographically).
Episodes 7-10 (4.5-5/5): genuinely excellent story. Great characters, twists, and moments I’ll remember.
Excellent:
- Sound design. My goodness, please listen with quality audio output. Production team delivered.
- Tessa Thompson and W. Earl Brown. Skilled actors show their talents.
Subpar/adequate:
- Some of the writing and supporting cast. Couldn’t tell where the disconnect happened, but people in tremendously stressful situations didn’t always talk or sound like it. This isn’t an absolute rule, but it seemed noticeable to me.
This show is not for everyone, and the Venn diagram of people who “just don’t get it” and people who don’t like it does not make a circle. Totally possible you will get it and just not like it. That said, I think most people who give the team a chance and meet them on their terms will find it a rewarding ride.
Why can’t Qcode make more than one season of anything?! Their shows are so good but they just drop them and leave you hanging. Getting pretty sick and tired of this and wondering what the heck I even am paying for with my subscription. Thanks for another let-down Qcode.
If you hate visual imagery and love to hear random sound effects with little to no explanation of what’s happening, this is the story for you? Are you the type of person who hates closure at the end of stories as much as I do? Great, this story does a great job of leaving all your questions unanswered! Do you love characters who are clueless and have no depth! Well I have good news, you’ve found the left right game.
Finished the series for closure and confirmation this is rubbish.
1. The constant QCode plugs in the middle of the story was a buzz kill
2. The audio was mostly a “drive” sound. Dialogue was abrupt and predictable.
3. The British guy served NO PURPOSE. He is better off building Legos.
4. Better options out. Hope the TV series is better.
Dopetastic. Loved it. You got a problem with it? You got a problem with me. Come see me. We can handle it. I stay strapped with C4. Only sad part was I kiiiiinda wanted.. oh wait I don’t wanna spoil anything ok bye
Best original story to come out of r/nosleep since Borrasca. There will not be a season 2 from the original author - there was never one written, this was the end. And thank goodness for that - this is the perfect ending and doesn't need any elaboration.
The best QCOde story Ive heard yet. Really entertaining, maybe a bit too short. At times it was hard to tell what was going on too. All in all was really good does a great job keeping the listener engaged start to finish.
I’m so glad I stuck with this through the first episode. Once we got into Alice’s tapes, I was hooked and the story went so many places from there. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I read this short story a few years ago, and it has been one of my favorites of all time ever since. This popped up in my recommendations to listen, so I decided to.
Everyone involved absolutely did it justice, I couldn’t believe how much every twist and turn affected me in the exact same way it did years ago! Love this rendition, definitely recommend giving it a listen with headphones to get the full immersion!
1 year later of listening to audiobooks/podcasts all day at work and this is still one of my favorites. I wish they had more reviews so they could make another season !!!
After listening I wanted more, really hope a season 2 will come out
After listening to Borrasca, and the quality of story and production, I am working my way through Qcode. This was not disappointing, I really hope for a season two.
Had me from the beginning and I never looked back. Like driving into the tunnel (heh)
Half of these podcasts should have been shows and most of these shows should have been podcasts.
They need to get Jordan Peele on this asap lol. This would be a great show/movie.
The production quality, story, mystery, audio quality, actors’ voices…everything about this podcast makes it THE BEST podcast I’ve listened to of all time (well…since 2016 when I started listening to podcasts). I typically appreciate nonfiction podcasts, and still this takes the win.
Congrats to everyone who made this happen! You’re incredibly talented.
PS. Please make season 2 ASAP
Good story and sound affects to get you into the story. There is way to many “F” works used. It’s used so much it gets hard to listen to at times. They use it like a very uneducated person that can’t express themselves any other way. The people in these stories need a little more depth than that in my opinion.
Reliance on sound effects during the story left me in the dark for some key parts. Also, the ending reminded me a lot of Star Trek The Motion Picture. A bit lackluster and without a profound moment that brings everything together. But worth listening to.
It was a fun listen for sure, but if your hoping for any sort of profound or coherent ending-you’ll be very disappointed. I, for one, was very disappointed & that is the main reason why I’m giving 3/5 stars. Another reason being the reliance on sound effects to convey parts of the story that would have greatly benefited from narration (or better sound effects). I found myself being totally lost at various points throughout the series-& after reading the reviews-I found I was not alone in that feeling.
I LOVE shows like Tanis and Rabbits and I’m always looking for new alternate reality type shows. This one is perfect. It’s much less convoluted than a lot of the others while still being super engaging. I just wish it was longer!
Loved listening to this while driving to and from work! The audio teases the imagination. Instead of “show” and tell, it’s “hear” and tell, and I love it. The story is awesome! And the audio is incredibly crisp.
My favorite are the moments we hear what we don’t understand. It plays on the horror of the unknown, because it could be anything our twisted little mines come up with.
But the character from the “framing” story is annoying, and only serves one relevant plot point, which doesn’t deserve an entire storyline of its own.
The purpose of “bluejay” is to add drama and tension into the plot, which the story has plenty of without her, making her both redundant and irrelevant, as she also does not contribute to the overall plot.
As many others have said, the foley and audio elements are poorly matched to the plot, and frequently fail to contribute relevant information to the story.
I’m a huge fan of audio dramas, this by far is one of the best. Reminds me of how good things were before the mass commercialization and cash grabs of the current state of pods. This story is up there with the original “We’re alive” podcast. Awesome work guys, and thank you.
The story overall is really great and if the story existed in isolation I would have given it more stars. The problem is that there were many times that I didn’t understand what was happening just from the sound effects. If you liked this you should check out the original Reddit story (Has Anyone Heard of the Left Right Game) because it is not only more descriptive but also differs a bit in the end. At the end of more than one episode I found myself googling “What happened Left Right Game” for the finished episode. Upon finding posts on reddit that addressed this many people mentioned that they also couldn’t follow based on the sounds alone. When you read the original story there are certain elements and characters that are described in detail whereas in this podcast they are either not described or described with language so in descriptive they might as well have said nothing. For example and without spoiling there is one episode where the primary description of a figure is something like “What’s wrong with his face!”, but in the original written reddit post/story the physical description is gone into in depth. Overall this podcast is definitely worth a listen, the story is great, but this adaptation would have benefitted from less reliance on sound effects and more on exposition and narrated descriptions.
