Video games have often been dismissed as mindless stimulation, bereft of meaning. Likewise, many have struggled to adapt their narratives into other media, producing a slew of regrettable misfires. Amazon Studios’ new anthology series, Secret Level, attempts to address both of these wrongs by presenting 15 vignettes that highlight the worlds and messages of a diverse selection of games.
Each roughly 15-minute episode of Secret Level is a short story drawing from the universe and narrative of a different video game property, rendered in cutting-edge, mostly photorealistic CGI. These contained tales either explore the backstory of their source material, extend the narratives directly or reinterpret them in surprising ways.
One need not be a superfan of any of the adapted properties to enjoy their respective episodes. Without the context of the original games, Secret Level functions like an anthology of science fiction tales in disparate universes—but naturally, there’s also plenty of Easter eggs and enrichment for fans to revel in.
The first episode I dove into was the Warhammer 40, 000: Space Marine episode, “And They Shall Know No Fear.” Immediately, Secret Level‘s animation style struck me as a great fit for not only the video game, but the larger intellectual property from which it sprang. Its introduction was a perfect orientation into the life of Space Marines, and the grim process that forges them into superhuman soldiers. Naturally, hell soon breaks loose, and the episode’s main action sequence is a stylish, pitch-perfect rendition of what combat would look like to these hulking titans. You sense the disconnect and disparity as a band of Space Marines mows through unarmoured opposition.
The tables are soon turned as Secret Level explores the visceral reality of the Space Marine’s daemonic foes, with a brain-tickling efficiency that would make Deadpool & Wolverine‘s Cassandra Nova jealous. All told this episode is style over narrative, in a way that suits the universe. If this is what we can expect to see from Amazon Studios’ potential adaptations (either with Henry Cavill or not), I’ll be pretty satisfied.
Similarly, the Dungeons & Dragons episode, “The Queen’s Cradle,” should prove worth a watch for any fans of the tabletop game. Like Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s set in the Forgotten Realms, arguably D&D‘s most prevalent setting (though it has no discernible connection to 2023’s Game of the Year).
Those who know their Forgotten Realms lore will find plenty of familiar ground here, in a short story that focuses on an NPC-level character rescued by an adventuring party. It presents many aspects of the game in compellingly lifelike fashion, from the haunting scale of dragons to the inner workings of magic, right down to the use of somatic spellcasting requirements. There’s even an “I didn’t ask how big the room is, I said ‘I cast Fireball'” moment before an epic conclusion that will have experienced D&D players’ jaws hitting the floor.
It’s ironic, in a way, that the Secret Level episodes I enjoyed most were the ones based primarily on tabletop properties that dabble in video games, more so than the episodes directly based on video games.
It’s possible that one of Secret Level’s most-discussed episodes will be Concord’s “Tale of the Implacable.” Admittedly, it’s a bit jarring to jump into this story knowing the game’s fate is already sealed, but I found it one of the most interesting tales—by its conclusion, anyway.
Just as the game’s trailer didn’t do much for me except evoke memories of Guardians of the Galaxy, “Tale of the Implacable” seemed like a rather generic heist story at first glance. An impression of “Ocean’s Eleven in space” gave way to a compelling, insular standoff, and an act of defiance that almost made me wish I’d found time to give the game itself a shot to see how it might connect.
Amongst Secret Level‘s handful of stories are several appearances from prominent actors, like Keanu Reeves, who appears as a mech pilot in the Armored Core episode (before the role he was destined to play hits the silver screen later this month). To my surprise, however, my favourite of these guest roles was Arnold Schwarzenegger in the New World: Aeternum episode, one of the most laugh-out-loud enjoyable of the batch.
Though Secret Level‘s animation is impressive by-and-large, I did find myself longing for a little more variety in its source material and visuals. Sifu and Spelunky‘s episodes were a welcome breath of fresh air after the overall grim, grey, and gory tone of many other episodes, like Crossfire‘s tactical showdown.
“I went into Secret Level hoping for something imaginative and varied like season one of Star Wars Visions, and instead found an opposite experience.”
The one episode that I bounced off entirely was, to my surprise, Pac-Man. Judging by the source material (and ignoring that brief, toothy glimpse from the trailer), it had the potential to be the big divergence from the hyper-realistic tone of the rest of the season, a sort of “reset” button and refresher after the gloom. Instead, Secret Level swerves hard and puts a full horror-fantasy spin on the classic icon.
If not for the famous name attached to it, “Circle” could have been a novel and original sci-fi short story (thanks in no small part to Emily Swallow’s absolutely haunting performance, a sinister reflection of her role on The Mandalorian). However, because of the famous name attached to it, I had a hard time truly immersing myself in it. Any actual connection to the video game is buried beneath an abstract layer of violence, rendering it practically unrecognizable.
It was the Spelunky episode that offered that stylistic and thematic reprieve instead. Like a few other episodes, it engages with the concept of death in video games, applying a deeper meaning to the way our on-screen counterparts reset after they die, especially in a roguelike title like this. Unlike the Sifu or The Outer Worlds episodes, it offers a more optimistic spin on the process, even as its young protagonist (voiced by Arianna Greenblatt) endures a series of painful misadventures.
With such a broad sampling of games on offer, there’s a good chance to find something here that resonates with you, even if you go in blind to the source material. I went into Secret Level hoping for something imaginative and varied like volume one of Star Wars Visions, and instead found it to be the opposite experience. Where Visions took one source and reinvented it in many different ways, Amazon Studios’ anthology takes many sources and tries to homogenize them, resulting in a more selectively enjoyable experience.
Admittedly, two of the episodes I was most interested in—the PlayStation and Mega Man episodes—were not available for screening before publication. Hopefully, they’ll help round out the thematic curve of the season.
All that being said, if one of your favourite games is among the crop of Secret Level’s first season, there are definitely worse ways to spend a quarter of an hour, or about the length of a game update. Should the anthology receive a second season—and I hope it does—it would benefit from investing in more variety in its tone, visuals and source materials.
