Too lazy to choose your own adventure? Fighting Fantasy have got your back. Sit back and let a cast of classy-sounding English voice actors do all the hard work in this collection of audio dramas inspired by the classic Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks The Forest of Doom, The Citadel of Chaos, Deathtrap Dungeon and Creature of Havoc. It’s choose-your-own-adventure without any of the choice, risk or, during some of the duller chapters, adventure.

Fans of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone’s iconic books will be in nostalgia heaven as they are reunited with characters, monsters and locations from each book, sumptuously acted and dramatised by a full cast and special effects studio. Keep an ear out for David Warner and Charlie Higson (recent author of his own Fighting Fantasy book), the standout cast members among a whole host of BBC Audio and Big Finish alumni.

But a fancy cast and nostalgia will only get you so far. Weighing in at four hours (roughly 60 minutes each) that’s a lot more passive sitting than Fighting Fantasy fans might be used to, and without the novelty of choice, some of it does play out as very generic fantasy action. Does anyone really have the endurance to sit through four hours of daft names and silly voices in sub-Lord of the Rings adventures? Well, following its Kickstarter campaign – which achieved funding in a mere 24 hours – there certainly seems to be a market for it, and it’ll be money very well spent for fantasy fans with a lot of time on their hands (or ears). It definitely makes one’s morning commute more palatable, if slightly exhausting.

This collection of dramas is a gift to lovers of all things Fighting Fantasy – a wonderfully put together nostalgia trip by people with an obvious love for the books and their lore. They may lack the innovation of their forebears, but to those mightiest and dedicated of adventurers, they’re an absolute treasure.

https://www.fightingfantasyaudiodramas.com/

FIGHTING FANTASY AUDIO DRAMAS BOX SET / NARRATED BY: VARIOUS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW