REVIEW: ‘Secret Level’ Offers An Anthology That Honors Its Inspirations

I’ve been saying it for a while, but a lot of video game adaptations, and adaptations in general, would work better as anthology series. Prime Video’s Secret Level tackles that concept head-on through animation. Prime Video, as a platform, has been the only real contender in terms of offering a variety of adult animation. From Invincible to The Boys: Diabolical, they’ve highlighted how adult-focused programming is their focus.

Secret Level is another fantastic addition to their growing animation and video game adaptations library. A new adult-animated anthology series, Secret Level creates original stories set within the worlds of some of the world’s most beloved video games from the past and the present. With 15 episodes tackled by different animation studios and handling a variety of themes like grief, resiliency, and good old-fashioned combat, it’s no surprise the team was the creative minds behind Netflix’s LOVE, DEATH + ROBOTS.

Each of the animated episodes varies in length, style, and video game IP. Still, the throughline of the entire series is that each one is crafted as a love letter to the video games, what they inspire, and the people who play them. Tim Miller serves as the series creator and executive producer, with Dave Wilson joining Miller as Executive Producer while also serving as Secret Level’s supervising director.

It is difficult to paint a singular thread across 15 stories from different creators. This is what makes anthologies specifically hard, whether it’s a contained film that needs a wrap-around or a series that needs to adhere to one theme. That said, Secret Level achieves a level of consistency across each episode that allows it to appeal to anyone who loves video games, regardless of what era they played them in.

In the shorts “PAC-MAN: Circle” and “Mega Man: Start,” Secret Level explores two classics from entirely different angles. While “PAC-MAN: Circle” delivers horror, “Mega Man: Start” offers a warm-hearted inspiration. For the tabletop players or general consumers of any number of video game inspirations, the opening episode “Dungeons & Dragons: The Queen’s Cradle” showcases the importance of your party and does so in a darker style than we’ve seen in Legends of Vox Machina or the Chris Pine film, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. 

Other stories honor longstanding properties with solid science fiction short stories. This is the case for “Warhammer 40,000: And They Shall Know No Fear” and “Unreal Tournament: Xan.” Both of these showcase jaw-dropping animation and attention to franchise mainstays that will make players smile. But Blur Studio, the animation studio behind each episode, makes each vignette not feel iterative so much as honoring the past.

Then, there are Secret Level vignettes that allow smaller stories to take on grand narratives. “Spelunky: Tally” embraces the game’s genre by representing your growth by failing over and over and, ultimately, how each run, no matter the quality, becomes a unique adventure. In many ways, this short highlights not just an IP but rather the joys found in the roguelike genre of video games.

“New World: The Once and Future King” also takes on its genre. This short plays with the idea of dying repeatedly while on the quest to take over Aeternum. It revels in the inherent humor that dying only to wake up on a beach again inspires from the survival game genre. With Arnold Schwarzenegger as the voice of the vignette’s protagonist, it stands out strongly even when missing the longstanding connection other games have.

Still, Secret Level’s varied approach to storytelling lets three vignettes truly shine by bringing out elements of the game that have become a hallmark. Less about genre and more about atmosphere and player attachment, “Sifu: It Takes A Life” and “The Outer Worlds: The Company We Keep” use the aesthetic of their games and their signature atmospheres, and each captures why people fell in love with their respective games.

For “Sifu: It Takes A Life” it’s pure action. Hallway scene and all, this episode of Secret Level knows why the game succeeded: it tapped into a deeply beloved style of action cinema and didn’t overstay its welcome. “The Outer Worlds” also offers one of the funnier stories in the anthology vignette bunch. Doing so by embracing the dark comedy about crushing capitalism that Obsidian imbued into the video game. Add in a star-crossed infatuation, and it stands out as one of the top of the series.

The variety of genre, tone, and identity in each of the Secret Level episodes is captured effortlessly. Leaving “Armored Core: Asset Management” and “Honor of the Kings: ” as solid standouts for embodying two distinct and separate styles.

“Armored Core: Asset Management” brings the more hyperrealistic animation of any of the shorts. It helps strengthen the choice to have Keanu Reeves as the lead for the short and also makes it stand out in an anthology that is steeped in sci-fi storytelling. More importantly, the somber atmosphere balances out the high-genre elements in a way that immediately captures the audience.

On the other side, “Honor of Kings: The Way of All Things” presents a grander cultural narrative around a board game. While this animation is no less detailed when it comes to the environment and beautiful bridging between technology and organic, the character models themselves retain a stylized aesthetic. This is a donghua (Chinese animation), after all, and I mean that in the best of ways. Where it feels like many of the animation studios were chasing after the most realistic animated worlds, Digic Pictures doesn’t lose its style or eye and is better for it.

The final round of IP-based titles are games that I quite frankly knew nothing about, and in the case of  Concord, they don’t exist anymore. “Exodus: Odyssey,” “Crossfire: Good Conflict,” and “Concord: Tale of the Implacable” are all fine enough animated vignettes.

Of the three, Exodus got the most emotional value out of its limited run time, especially since that video game has yet to be released. “Crossfire: Good Conflict,” on the other hand, winds up feeling lost in the genre-heavy mix, and the inclusion of “Concord: Tale of the Implacable” feels like a funeral that makes it hard to find joy in the story despite the high caliber of the story on display.

Secret Level also chooses to end on “Playtime: Fulfillment,” which caps the series by embracing the thrill of playing video games. With a young protagonist in a sci-fi city, the story does what it can to highlight the importance of play—its role in our lives and the honest joy of winning. It’s an entry that every PlayStation will love, and one that captures the passion we have for a medium that brings us so much joy.

When rated wholisticly, Secret Level is a science fiction buffet. There is so much to love about the individual world creative and spins on the franchises that each vignette takes on. That said, while the variety of themes and messages is large, the actual variation of genre or even animation style is lacking. Which, at times, can feel like the vignettes themselves are constrained by the aesthetics of their games’ cinematics instead of creatively encouraged to expand beyond them.

That said, Unit Image, Digic Pictures, Goodbye Kansas Studios, Illusorium Studios, Platige Image, Axis Studios, and Blur Studio all deserve accolades for the shorts they each created and how they captured the properties. While one animation style was favored the most, Secret Level is still a powerful testament for what the medium offers.

This critique doesn’t overshadow the series’ success as an anthology. Still, it does beg the question of what a Season 2 may look like and if the studios tapped to tackle the gaming tasks will venture beyond the confines of of hyperrealistic animation. Ultimately, however, gems like Sifu, Pac-Man, Spelunky, and Honor of Kings add enough variety to the animation aesthetics to make the 15-episode series feel innovative and not just cohesive.

Secret Level ultimately fulfills its assignment. More importantly, it does so by telling stories that you will get more from if you’ve played the games that the vignettes are based on, but it won’t alienate new audiences who may just be fans of adult animation. Crafting a series that takes time to meet its gaming audience but still holds the gate open for a new one should be commended. In that way, Secret Level succeeds.

Secret Level is streaming exclusively on Prime Video on December 13, 2024.