Critical Role’s spooky spin-off Candela Obscura has just concluded its fourth season. If you’re getting ready to sit down and see how Circle of the Crimson Mirror wraps up this weekend, prepare to put some time aside: its third and final part comes in at just shy of six hours long. (Don’t worry, no spoilers here!)
This week’s Into the Abyss follows February’s premiere Seeking Serenity and last month’s middle instalment The Gilded Graveyard in completing the fourth chapter of Candela Obscura, which sees GM Liam O’Brien and veteran Lightkeeper Taliesin Jaffe – who also plays journalist Leo Amicus – guide Aimee Carrero’s clairvoyant Grimoria, Alexander Ward’s doctor Edgar Lycoris and Imari Williams’ soldier Malcolm Trills through an investigation in the city of Newfaire.
The latest season of the spin-off show using the titular horror RPG – published by Critical Role’s own RPG studio Darrington Press – ends in fittingly epic fashion, with Into the Abyss running to five hours and 50 minutes in all.
That makes it almost as long as watching the original Star Wars trilogy (that is, A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, not episodes I through III) back-to-back, though Star Wars edges it out by half-an-hour or so at six hours and 24 minutes. (Skip the credits and you might be close.) You could watch all three Back to the Future films (five hours and 42 minutes) or the good Indiana Jones movies (at a combined five hours and 44 minutes for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom and Last Crusade) in less time, though.
Given the marathon length, Critical Role unsurprisingly encouraged viewers to “take regular breaks” while watching, with the lengthy runtime also seeing the episode’s on-demand video pushed back from its regular time after the initial livestream.
Even so, Into the Abyss doesn’t quite take the crown for the longest Candela Obscura episode to date. That goes to chapter two’s finale Broken Path at six hours and 13 minutes long – putting this latest episode in second place.
It’s got some distance to go before it tops the D&D adventures of regular Critical Role, too. The last episode of Campaign 2 saw off the Mighty Nein with a mammoth seven-hour-plus finale, while the conclusion of Exandria Unlimited: Calamity crossed the six-hour mark.
Still, the latest episode of Candela Obscura now ranks as the fourth-longest Critical Role episode of any kind by my calculations – no mean feat for a group known for their roleplaying marathons. Be sure to stretch your legs every hour or so!
After wrapping its latest chapter, Candela Obscura will bring its tabletop frights into the real world next month with its first live show in LA. Maybe the real terror will be for your buttcheeks.
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