Secret Level (Amazon Prime Video)

[Ocean H]

Prime Video is blending video games and animation for one its biggest bets in the adult-animated space to date. According to sources, the streamer has teamed with Tim Miller and his Blur Studio, the creative team behind Netflix’s acclaimed series Love, Death & Robots, for another adult-animated anthology, Secret Level.

https://deadline.com/2024/08/prime-v...ur-1236040365/

[Mr. Chaverria]

Didn't know wtf I was looking at initally via the little pic on the video. Started it, Warhammer... okay. Never played anything from that property but it looks cool. And then it just keeps showing off more and more. And I'm very cautious cuz it is a lot of things that I love. But... I really like that team that did the Netflix anthology series. When they showed Mega Man, that one just tugs at me bad. Goddamn did I love Mega Man. Wish Capcom would've let Megaman Legends 3 finish production. I want that story to end. That's my Shenmue III.

Secret Level - Teaser Trailer | Prime Video - YouTube

[mwynn]

Secret Level - Official Trailer | Prime Video - YouTube

[cheez avenger]

Looks awesome and from the folks that did Love Death Robots. I'm so in.

[ps3bd_owner]

Seeing "Concord" made me chuckle. lol

[Ocean H]

YouTube

YouTube

YouTube

[RocShemp]

8 episodes are up. None feature Mega Man. (Or Concord, but who really cares about that?)

[Mr. Chaverria]

Yeah. I looked through the listing... no Megaman? What?

Dungeons & Dragons is the first one. There was a lot of love in that one. I know about D&D as a thing and I enjoy from afar the designs I see on its art.

Sifu one goes by real quick. It's short but it feels shorter almost.

Now onto the other ones.

EDIT: Wait, okay. The rest are released on December 17th.

[RocShemp]

First episode, D&D, was so so. It swung for the fences but 16 minutes meant it was incredibly rushed, given the scope. And the facial animation on the gnome (or whatever she was) was pure Uncanny Valley.

[RocShemp]

Sifu was better, since it had a narrower focus, more befitting of the format.

I'll watch the rest tomorrow. No rush.

[RocShemp]

Okay, so the first two episodes may have been so-so, but the third episode with Arnold Schwarzenegger was great. It's a shame the first two were nowhere near as entertaining.

[RocShemp]

I watched two more episodes tonight. The Unreal Tournament episode was descent. Not the most original story but well told within the short format. Although, truth be told, it's just a rehash of The Second Renaissance from The Animatrix.

Next up was the Warhammer 40,000 episode. That failed to engage me at all. Lots of gnarly kills but all in service of a story so thin in made the previous episode seem convoluted. I certainly hope Henry Cavill has something more interesting envisioned for that Warhammer 40K series he's developing for Amazon. If it's as hollow as this, count me out.

So far, only the third episode about New World: Aeternum has been truly memorable.

[RocShemp]

Pac-Man was weird yet predictable, but I kinda liked it. Definitely not your typical Pac-Man but rather in keeping with the metroidvania reimagining announced in this year's VGA.

​​​​​​​Crossfire, although competently made, felt like spectating a FPS match with no dog in the fight. At least some of the gunfire sounded good.

[Tony208]

Binged the whole thing tonight and really surprised this got renewed. Like how many episodes were good anyway? Most of it was forgettable. Even as a big gamer who knows what almost all of these are based on it was boring.

[Ocean H]

Originally Posted by Tony208

Binged the whole thing tonight and really surprised this got renewed. Like how many episodes were good anyway? Most of it was forgettable. Even as a big gamer who knows what almost all of these are based on it was boring.

Well I found most were good. If you knew anything about Love, Death + Robots as well as short stories, you should have expected similarity. Otherwise, short stories are not for you.

[RocShemp]

Originally Posted by Ocean H

Well I found most were good. If you knew anything about Love, Death + Robots as well as short stories, you should have expected similarity. Otherwise, short stories are not for you.

I know that tastes differ, but his finding most of the shorts boring or forgettable doesn't equate to ignorance with regards to the concept of the short story. And he's not wrong. Plenty of these have been boring and/or forgettable. At least, to him and me. If you enjoyed most/all of them, I envy you. But it doesn't mean that either of our respective subjective opinions are "correct".

[HomerThompson]

"Renewed" most likely means they had the episodes already in production with most animation so it had a Season 2 before Season 1 even aired.

[RocShemp]

Originally Posted by HomerThompson

"Renewed" most likely means they had the episodes already in production with most animation so it had a Season 2 before Season 1 even aired.

That's what I believe is the case with most quick/early season two announcements.

[RocShemp]

Armored Core was interesting. Lots of really cool action and a genuinely great performance from Keanu Reeves. But it ended just when the story got interesting.

The Outer Worlds was really good. It starts out cute and quirky, gradually growing more insidious, until it hits you with a well earned sad ending. Really well done.

[RocShemp]

I decided to watch one more, since Mega Man was the next episode. That is a huge barely 6-minute cocktease. For all the hype surrounding that episode, it's the worst by the simple fact that it's just a trailer.