Prime Video has just dropped the first batch of episodes of its new animated video game adaptation, "Secret Level", and it's left me feeling a little conflicted.
In the "Secret Level" announcement, it got hyped up as a "captivating" new anthology series with 15 "mind-bending episodes" worth of "ground-breaking" animation used to tell original short stories set within the world of a variety of video game worlds.
After streaming the first eight episodes, I can't help but feel that's a bit too much hype, as I wouldn't necessarily describe any of what I've streamed as particularly "mind-bending". In actuality, "Secret Level" is a visually impressive dose of violent action... but that's all.
What is 'Secret Level' about?
"Secret Level" is a brand-new adult animated series from the creative minds behind Netflix's "Love, Death + Robots."
As I mentioned, each episode tells a story set within the universe of one of many video game or entertainment properties. That list includes the likes of Dungeons & Dragons, Unreal Tournament, Armored Core, Pac-Man, Warhammer, and the world of PlayStation, among others.
To bring those titles to life, the "Secret Level" team has assembled a range of big stars that includes Arnold Schwarzenegger, Keanu Reeves, Kevin Hart, Temuera Morrison, Arian Greenblatt, Emily Swallow, Gabriel Luna, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Merle Dandridge, Adewale Akinnuoye-Abgaje, Clive Standen, Laura Bailey, Heaven Hart, Ricky Whittle, Claudia Doumit, and Michael Beach.
Why 'Secret Level' has disappointed me
Based on this first batch of episodes, I can't shake the feeling that "Secret Level" is mostly an exercise in marketing first, making a TV show second.
By and large, "Secret Level" feels like it is relying mostly on the trappings of its many brands to sell itself. In most cases — the bizarre re-imagining of Pac-Man aside — these original stories feel very bland or inconsequential. Really, "Secret Level" is a vehicle for action sequences featuring mech duels, powerful magic spells, or gnarly shoot-outs.
This story problem could well be a consequence of the anthology format; none of these episodes pass the 20-minute mark and therefore have to cram their "stories" into a very short timeframe. Even still, I feel like Blur could have developed things a little further beyond, say, creating a narrative for a single match in CrossFire.
Much of what "Secret Level" has offered so far feels like extended, very pretty cutscenes or marketing material, engineered more to have people heading to the right storefront to buy Armored Core or picking up a D&D sourcebook to find out who Tiamat is.
I'd wager most would-be viewers are likely already familiar with these game universes, and I have a feeling that said viewers will probably find "Secret Level" a kind of forgettable exercise in bringing said franchises to life.
I say this knowing there's every chance that what's still to come will change my opinion of "Secret Level" — though the promise of an episode dedicated solely to PlayStation's ill-fated hero shooter, Concord, isn't exactly an appealing one. Right now, I can't say I'm as on board with "Secret Level" as I once was.
If you're craving some gory action, give it a shot, but otherwise, don't go in expecting a must-watch show; "Secret Level" probably won't be joining our list of the best Prime Video shows anytime soon.
When do the next 'Secret Level' episodes drop?
"Secret Level" is being released in two installments. The first batch, which contained episodes 1-8, arrived on Prime Video on December 10. The remaining installment will be released one week later, on Tuesday, December 17.
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