Summary
God, I hope I don’t regret saying this on the internet where nothing ever truly disappears, butAmazon’supcoming video game anthology series has all the signs of a classic in the making. Announced at this year’sGamescomOpening Night Live,Secret Levelcomes from Tim Miller, co-founder of Blur Studio, director ofDeadpool, and showrunner of the much beloved Love, Death & Robots.
That animated anthology show was praised by critics and audiences alike for its aesthetic, tonal, and thematic variety, and unlike many shows, it actually seemed to get better with time instead of worse – Rotten Tomatoes shows the first season has a 77 percent proportion of positive reviews, while the latest, third season has a 100 percent rating. It’s also won a ton of Emmys, for what that’s worth.
Secret Level seems to work with a similar format, except instead of focusing on stories revolving around either (obviously) love, death, or robots, each of the first season’s 15 episodes will be an adaptation of a different video game. Ordinarily, this wouldn’t immediately inspire hope in me, but there are a few things about Secret Level that have already convinced me it might be something truly great.
Tim Miller’s Emotional Reveal Sold Me On The Passion Behind It
If you’re as jaded as I am, you likely see video game adaptations as part of a trend of big companies capitalising on theincreasing popularity of the genreto make as much money as possible. Many of them feel soulless – we don’t have to look any further than this month’s Borderlands box office flop to see how hollow an adaptation made without that passion can end up.
Tim Miller did end up directing two weeks of reshoots for Borderlands, but I won’t hold that against him. Imagine being the guy sent in to try and salvage analready doomed moviewith that little time.
But when Miller got on stage to announce Secret Level, he was so obviously emotional that his eyes filled with tears and his voice cracked. After talking about the games Blur Studio has created cinematics for, he said emphatically, “We do this because we f*cking love video games,” to loud cheers from the audience. Shortly after, he said, “I’m very emotional because I’m so excited.” He had to stop speaking several times to collect himself because he kept choking up.
If anything, it’s clear that he feelsvery stronglyabout the series. Obviously, this isn’t an indicator of quality, but it does tell us that this isn’t a cash grab made by people who don’t care about or don’t understand gaming, it’s made by people who care enough to cry on stage about it. That’s a good sign.
The Games Being Adapted Aren’t What You’d Expect
Another good sign: the list of games being adapted will probably surprise you. When it comes to video game adaptations, the most profitable thing to do would be to focus on games that are already widely popular within the mainstream – that’s how you get a built-in audience. That means marquee console exclusives, incredibly popularPCfree-to-play games, and massive franchises.
Whether because most of those games are already being developed into adaptations or because Secret Level is interested in less wildly popular titles, there’s a surprising amount of variety in the episode list. Yes,Sonyexclusives make a number of appearances: there’s a whole episode dedicated to what appears to be first-party Sony games likeGod of WarandGhost of Tsushima, and the unreleasedConcordalso gets an episode of its own.
But there’s also aDungeons & Dragonsepisode, and one based on the MOBAHonor of Kings.Mega ManandPac-Maneach get their time in the sun. We also seeSifu, Unreal Tournament (which hasn’t seen a new game since 2007),The Outer Worlds,Spelunky,Warhammer 40,000,New World: Aeternum, Korean FPS Crossfire,Armored Core, and the also unreleasedExodus. That’s a pretty wide spread across classics, cult favourites, and indies, covering quite a number of genres.
This shows us that Secret Level isn’t just about the household names of gaming, it’s interested in the deeper cuts, across continents, genres, eras, and budgets. It shows love for the broader medium and not just the games that make the most money, which is amazing. I’m especially thrilled about The Outer Worlds making an appearance – out of all of Obsidian’s games, this is not the one I would have guessed would be adapted.Pentimentnext, perhaps?
Keanu Reeves
Okay, you got me. The real reason is that Keanu Reeves seems to make an appearance in the Armored Core episode, which is enough to get me to tune in on its own. Also, Exodus stars Matthew McConaghey as its protagonist, and while his involvement in the show isn’t confirmed nor so much as hinted at, I would scream, cry, and throw up.
Secret Level
Cast
Secret Level is a computer-animated anthology series that tells bold, unique, and emotive stories set in popular video game franchise worlds.
