Secret Level

A couple of cool episodes aside, Secret Level feels like a monument to mediocrity. The writing is painfully mid, dragging the whole show down despite the undeniably impressive visuals-though even those feel like reheated leftovers from a decade of superior video game cinematics. Honestly, what is this show trying to do or say that hasn't been done (and done better) by video game marketing in the past 10+ years?

The lineup of titles is baffling. Where are the big names? The absence of heavy hitters screams one thing: developers wanted no part of this trainwreck or were waiting to see if Season 1 could stick the landing. Spoiler alert-it didn't.

Short-form storytelling seems to completely elude the creators. What should have been tight, impactful, and memorable comes across as disjointed and uninspired. Variety called it an "uninspired snooze," and for once, Variety wasn't being harsh enough.

Secret Level is proof that flashy visuals can't hide a lack of vision, heart, or originality!

I don't know how they managed to separate the first season into 2 complete separate quality parts. First was pretty good, I would rate it a solid 8, especially the Warhammer 40k episode, that was a 10.

And now we get to the second part, every episode was bad and mediocre. I had to skip the Concorde one, irritating, the last was so cringe that had to skip again. The only watchable episode was the Exodus one. Meh, what a letdown. Finish a season on the lowest quality episode.

I had to change my initial 8 score to 6, and that is even gracious. Do better for season 2!

I had to change my initial 8 score to 6, and that is even gracious. Do better for season 2!

Short stories within the setting of video games. Or very loosely based on the setting of the games. Very different games, ranging from Pac-Man to Warhammer 40.000. Even Concord, where I assume the creators have been cursing themselves when seeing what that game ended up being.

It's mainly meh stories about mostly mediocre-at-best games I often have hardly even heard about. The visuals are great though. But except for one or two out outliers there is little substance. I am sure the cutscenes for most of those game were better. Let's not compare this to anthology shows like Black Mirror or Love Death and Robots.

Still. It's made by people that seem to be gamers.

I've always wanted a series like this. When watching cinematic trailers or cutscenes for video games I've often thought that some would make for peak television.

I knew the creators of love death and robots would nail another animated anthology series and am glad to be proven right. The Warhammer episode was definitely the highlight for me so far I really hope to see more in the future. My only complaint would to be given more time for certain episodes.

There are so many solid video game stories that this show can delve into and adapt into fleshed out episodes, the possibilities are very exciting and I'm glad they've gone for a more gritty and adult tone throughout. I am very pleased with what's been shown so far and am anticipating what's to come.

All the episodes except few felt like game trailers, like what's the point of even making them if it's over before the conclusion. They have no plot elements or any kind of character developments. Few had very well laid out foundations and its execution was also well done. Ex: I was looking something in mega man episode. Maybe the next season they try a different approach.

So far the best ones are Warhammer, Unreal tournament and Armoured Core. These episodes have the best overall narrative which can be enjoyed as a story. Others were not bad but they felt like an afterthought or like a game trailer.