Secret Level is an anthology series that tells fifteen short stories based on various video games and franchises that span developers from across the world. It sees the return of Tim Miller and Blur Studio, with this marking their second collaboration since Netflix’s Love, Death & Robots.
It boasts magnificent animation that looks almost lifelike in most episodes and is filled with so much colour and unique art styles in others, which are also integral to the storytelling that’s involved across the fifteen episodes.
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED
Have you ever been watching Summer Game Fest or The Game Awards, and you see a CG trailer and think to yourself, “Wow, that looked absolutely phenomenal. Imagine if they were able to make a show or film with that animation.” It’s crossed every gamer’s mind at some point in their life, and finally Tim Miller has taken what he’s beautifully done with Love, Death & Robots and applied that here with various games. “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”
There are many things that could’ve gone wrong while making this, but surprisingly, out of the fifteen episodes that there are, only one of them disappointed me. A show that caters to gamers raises the important question of whether a non-gamer can enjoy it equally, and the answer is yes. As someone who avidly plays games, there were still some episodes based around a game I had either never heard of or I just hadn’t played before, but I was still able to enjoy those episodes and take something away from it.
Some of the episodes continue directly after the story told in their respective game, such as “Warhammer 40,000: And They Shall Know No Fear,” which takes place after the ending of Space Marine 2’s campaign. This episode specifically lacks dialogue for 90% of the episode and tells its story through the visuals. The writers aren’t expecting you to know how that game ended; all the information that you need is given to you within the episode. Another fine example of this was “Unreal Tournament: Xan.” I have never played an Unreal Tournament game, but this episode does an outstanding job of adapting the story from a game that I was unaware had any.
With fifteen episodes for audiences to watch, there are bound to be some favourites or even episodes that are surprisingly better than anticipated. An episode that caught me off guard and has also caught people over on X off guard from its trailer was “PAC-MAN: Circle.” Without giving too much away about what takes place in the episode, it felt like a twisted take on the popular kid-friendly character who everyone knows for eating small pellets and running from ghosts. It takes what is a simple concept from that video game and recontextualises the entire meaning behind it.
On the other hand, “Mega Man: Start” takes a slightly different approach to Pac-Man and keeps the story more familiar to that told in the game. It’s refreshing, heartwarming, and family-friendly and shows the capabilities of what’s possible with a show such as Secret Level.
THE FUTURE OF MARKETING
The main takeaway for audiences and fans is that they’ll be able to enjoy new stories in the worlds of their favourite games, such as Sifu or Mega Man, but there’s a bigger picture behind Secret Level that only video game developers and the creators behind this show will get anything out of, and that’s the marketing of these games. For one, people are going to discover new games from the stories told within these episodes, which might pique their interest. I’m personally interested in playing Honor of Kings, and I had not known of that game’s existence until Secret Level.
Another huge way in which marketing has been used for this show is that there’s a specific episode that people will not recognise, but the name was quite familiar. “Exodus: Odyssey,” where had I heard the name Exodus before? It was the name of a video game that was announced back at The Game Awards 2023. This episode wasn’t only beautifully animated by Blur Studio with the help of motion capture from Rogue Mocap, but it also gave an extensive look into what we could expect from this game that was yet to release. The world-building was unlike anything seen from any of the other episodes and easily built up anticipation for the game’s release.
Tim Miller and Blur Studio have created something truly spectacular, and not only are animators being put at the forefront with their skills being shown to the world with how lifelike a lot of the animation can look, but they’re also providing a space for developers to advertise their upcoming game.
Why drop another CG trailer when you can instead drop a 14-minute episode that can offer so much more? If Secret Level is met with the success that it deserves after all the hard work that’s been put into it, this could easily be the future of how certain video game developers decide to advertise their games, and I’m all here for it.
IS THAT REALLY ANIMATION?
While Secret Level was produced by Blur Studio, they only animated three of the fifteen episodes, leaving the remaining twelve episodes for several talented studios who are known within the industry for creating CG trailers for video games. Each video game has its own unique style, and the animators from the various animation studios were able to cater to the unique style, whether it was Sifu’s stylised look or realism found in a game such as Crossfire.
For fifteen episodes, it can become tiring seeing the same realistic animation, but thankfully Secret Level spreads episodes with varying different animation styles throughout the show. Sifu, Mega Man, and Spelunky offer enough variety and respect the respective art styles to allow there to be enough breathing room in what is a lengthy show, although the runtime for each episode varies. While it would’ve been nice to have seen more varying art styles, Blur Studio, Axis Studios, Goodbye Kansas Studios, Illusorium, Platige Images, Unit Images, and Digic Pictures all deserve the recognition for the stunning animation they’ve managed to deliver for their shorts. While there may be an episode not to someone’s liking, the animation never disappoints.
A BEAUTIFUL SEND OFF
Concord, a game that was released earlier this year by Firewalk Studios, was unfortunately met with mixed reviews from critics and players alike. The game got shut down within a month with the studio being dissolved, but thankfully we get to see one last glimpse into what Concord had to offer. It’s pretty much what you’d expect, as it takes inspiration from the misfit stories of Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s entertaining, hilarious, and the characters are easy to fall in love with. It’s not enough to warrant wanting to play the game, but it will make you think of a possible future where Concord flourished.
Secret Level ends on the PlayStation episode, “Playtime: Fulfilment,” and it feels rather symbolic to end a show about video games on PlayStation as it’s “For The Players,” and this episode is exactly that.
It takes place in a hub world that felt reminiscent of PlayStation Home and featured several iconic PlayStation characters, such as Kratos and Sackboy. This episode also featured the voice of Kevin Hart and his daughter Heaven Hart, which felt lovely to hear in an episode that was all about family and community.
This show has a range of voice actors, some returning to voice their respective characters, such as Christopher Judge as Kratos, or to voice completely new characters such as Keanu Reeves. The list of voice actors goes on forever, but each and every single one of them understood the assignment and delivered what was expected of them and nothing less.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Secret Level is not only a show that caters to its gaming audience but also caters to its audiences that might not be too familiar with the worlds that they’re exploring. It’s stunning, captivating, and sends beautiful messages across the episodes about family, community, sacrifice, and love. Tim Miller has achieved exactly what he wanted to with this show, and it’s a love message to all gamers, video game developers, and fans of fantasy, sci-fi, martial arts, and possibly any genre you can think of.
This is a show that can possibly go on forever and continue to bring support to the gaming industry that’s currently needed during this hard time of strikes and layoffs.
Secret Level releases on Prime Video on December 10. Check out the trailer below:
Fancy reading something else? Check out: ‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’ Review
