Secret Level is an adult animated anthology series created by Tim Miller for Amazon Prime Video. It is produced by his Blur Studio with Amazon MGM Studios. Dave Wilson executive produces and serves as supervising director. It will consists of fifteen stories set in the worlds of different video games. The voice cast includes Arnold Schwarzenegger, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Kevin Hart, Laura Bailey, Heaven Hart, Keanu Reeves, Gabriel Luna, Ariana Greenblatt, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Michael Beach, Emily Swallow, and Claudia Doumit.
| Secret Level | |
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| Created by | Tim Miller |
| Directed by | Dave Wilson |
| Creative director | Jerome Denjean |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
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| Original release | |
| Network | Amazon Prime Video |
| Release | December 10, 2024 – present |
The series was ordered by Amazon in August 2024 and was first revealed at Gamescom that month. Its first eight-episode part was released worldwide on December 10, 2024, with a second seven-episode part to release on December 17, 2024.
Premise
editThe series consists of fifteen animated, standalone short stories based on the following video games and franchises:[1][2][3][4]
Episodes
editPart 1 (2024)
edit| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Animation studio | Original release date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Dungeons & Dragons: The Queen's Cradle" | Maxime Luère, Léon Bérelle, Dominique Boidin, Rémi Kozyra | K. D. Davila and Levin Menekse
Short Story by: Brooke Bolander | Unit Image (from France) | December 10, 2024 | #ATRI 104 |
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Cast : Noah Manzoor as Solon, Madeleine Knight as Mora, Laura Wohlwend as Tally, Delroy Atkinson as Luzum, Umulisa Gahiga as Ahokal, Paul Ridley as Oriel, Rita Estevanovich and Tracy Wiles as Tiamat | ||||||
| 2 | "Sifu: It Takes a Life" | László Ruska | Rich Larson
Short Story by: Rich Larson | Digic Pictures (from Hungary) | December 10, 2024 | #ATRI 108 |
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A young main character talks to a street vendor before seeing Sean enter The Club, one of the people that killed his father and killed him. The main character enters The Club looking for Sean and fights his way through many goons. Some of them managed to kill him, however the main character has the ability to come back to life at the cost of his age. By the time he reaches Sean to fulfill his revenge, he has aged beyond Sean's recognition. The main character returns to the street vendor, presumably after killing Sean after multiple tries as shown by his elderly appearance. The vendor initially thought he was the main character's grandfather before realizing it was actually him. Cast : Parry Shen as MC (young), Ping Wu as MC (old), Lydia Look as Li, Nelson Lee as Sean, Feodor Chin as Thug, Rae Lim as MC (child). | ||||||
| 3 | "New World: The Once and Future King" | Maxime Luère, Léon Bérelle, Dominique Boidin, Rémi Kozyra | Teleplay by : J. T. Petty and Philip Gelatt | Unit Image (from France) | December 10, 2024 | #ATRI 118 |
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A proud and arrogant King Aelstrom sails to the island of Aeternum with a fleet hoping to conquer it, however it was destroyed in a storm leaving no survivors except Aelstrom and his crippled advisor Scaevola. After angering a local merchant named Urda and getting killed, both Aelstrom and Scaevola wake up on that beach, realizing that everyone on the island can neither leave nor die. Continuing his goal of conquest, Aelstrom challenges the island's ruler, King Zima, to a duel only to be utterly defeated. Aelstrom continues to challenge King Zima over and over in various challenges ranging from chess, jousting, and wrestling only to lose every time. Scaevola then admits that Aelstrom was always a terrible king and only praised by his subjects in his nonexistent skills to prevent angering him, while King Zima was born poor and worked his way to being king. Angered, Aelstrom discards Scaevola and explores the island for a way to defeat King Zima. Aelstrom finds a mountain peak containing a monster and fails to kill it, however realizes that he gains a piece of armor and weaponry after ever attempt. After many tries, Aelstrom is equipped with corrupted magicical armor and weaponry and challenges King Zima again, only to still be utterly defeated. Bored and annoyed of Aelstrom's efforts to overthrow him, King Zima simply hands him his crown. Estatic, Aelstrom runs back to the shore he started to wear his crown, only to realize that he is all alone. Aelstrom then seeks help from Urda to learn blacksmithing. After time passes, Aelstrom reunites with Scaevola, gifting him a prosthetic arm made from the crown King Zima gave him. The two become friends again. Cast : Arnold Schwarzenegger as King Aelstrom, Steven Pacey as Scaevola, Gabriel Luna as King Zimah, Arazou as Urda, Dana Haqjoo as Zimah's aide, Carlo Rota as Sorcerer. | ||||||
| 4 | "Unreal Tournament: Xan" | Franck Balson | Justin Rhodes | Blur Studio (from the United States) | December 10, 2024 | #ATRI 102 |
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A malfunctioning mining robot gains sentience, realizing that its human masters abuse robots and views them as expendable during their mining job. Furious, the sentient mining robot takes control of the other robots and kills their human masters. All the mining robots are then arrested and forced to compete in a public gladiatorial combat as a message against rebellion. the sentient robot watches how various mercenaries slaughter the mining bots and learns their fighting tactics, and proceeds to win the fight when it was its turn to fight. The sentient robot continues to learn combat skills from watching other combatants and continues to have a string of victories, gaining the name XAN and the approval of the masses. In an effort to learn why all the fighters are losing to a mining bot, the Gamemaster gets one of her technicians to study one of the mining bots while she sends her Necris Captain and his soldiers to personally fight XAN. XAN realizes what will happen and instead tries to stall the fight in order to upload itself into the mining bot currently being studied by the technician. XAN successfully uploads and defeats the Captain. The Gamemaster enters the stadium with her guards to personally oversee XAN's execution, only for XAN to take control of the entire stadium and kill the guards. Using the Gamemaster's recorded voice, XAN starts a rebellion with the support of the audience. Cast : Elodie Yung as The Gamemaster, Gideon Emery as Necris Captain, Mitch Eakins as Dean, Chris Payne Gilbert as Parker, Carlin James as Liandri Technician, Fred Tatasciore as Arena Announcer | ||||||
| 5 | "Warhammer 40,000: And They Shall Know No Fear" | Dave Wilson | J. T. Petty and Justin Rhodes | Blur Studio (from the United States) | December 10, 2024 | #ATRI 101 |
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Cast : Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Bladeguard Sergeant Metaurus, Clive Standen as Lieutenant Titus, Ben Plessala as Young Titus, Mark Sheppard as Astropath and Ultramarines Orbital Command, Alexa Kahn as Sorcerer of Tzeentch | ||||||
| 6 | "PAC-MAN: Circle" | Victor Maldonado & Alfredo Torres | Teleplay by : J. T. Petty | Illusorium (from Spain) | December 10, 2024 | #ATRI 115 |
| 7 | "Crossfire: Good Conflict" | Damian Nenow | Philip Gelatt
Short Story by: Russ Linton | Platige Image (from Poland) | December 10, 2024 | #ATRI 112 |
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Cast : Ricky Whittle as Cross, Claudia Doumit as Layla, Samuel Roukin as Fitz, Matt Peters as Mahler, Jessica Camacho as Cabrera, Jake Matthews as Mason, Aidan Bristow as Jeffrey, Chris Jai Alex as Unaffiliated Mercenary Driver and Global Risk Operator, Piotr Michael as Global Risk Sniper | ||||||
| 8 | "Armored Core: Asset Management" | Dave Wilson | Teleplay by : J. T. Petty
Short Story by: Peter Watts | Digic Pictures (from Hungary) | December 10, 2024 | #ATRI 117 |
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Cast : Keanu Reeves as Pilot, Erin Yvette as The Voice, Temuera Morrison as Old Salt, Patrick Schwarzenegger as The Kid, Steve Blum as Dispatch and Mechanic | ||||||
Part 2 (2024)
editProduction
editSecret Level was created by Tim Miller, who executive produces at his company Blur Studio. Blur Studio serves as a production company along with Amazon MGM Studios. Dave Wilson serves as executive producer and supervising director. The series was ordered by Amazon Prime Video on August 14, 2024.[5]
Promotion
editThe series was announced during Gamescom on August 20, 2024. A trailer was released at the event, which featured segments from each of the episodes.[1][7]
The pilot who features in the Armored Core episode was the subject of media attention and speculation due to his resemblance to actor Keanu Reeves.[8][9] Though Prime Video declined to disclose casting information at the time of the announcement, ComicBook.com reported an influx of "nearly nothing but replies about Reeves and his potential appearance in [the series]" under a post by Armored Core's social media account.[10] IGN's Wesley Yin-Poole said that were it not really Reeves, the actor could claim a royalty payment due to the certainty of the character's likeness to his.[11] GamesRadar+'s Ali Jones remarked that while the shot could have been "simply be an ethnically ambiguous man with similar facial hair", they noted the likeness, and doubted that Armored Core would place the image so prominently on their social media account if it were "just some random actor" and not Reeves.[12]
In October 2024 Reeves's casting was officially revealed alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Kevin Hart, Heaven Hart, Gabriel Luna, Ariana Greenblatt, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Michael Beach, Emily Swallow, and Claudia Doumit.[6]
Release
editThe series premiered its first part worldwide on December 10, 2024.[13] with a second part releasing on December 17, 2024.[6]
Reception
editOn the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Secret Level has an approval rating of 64% based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 6.0/10.[14] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 53 out of 100 based on nine critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[15] Steven Nguyen Scaife of IGN said the show struggles to find satisfying stories for a short-form anthology in a 5/10 review and felt dissatisfied by the selection of the source material.[16] Aramide Tinubu of Variety wrote that the show acts as poorly written AI summaries of massive tales[17].
References
edit- ^ a b Martin, Cole (August 20, 2024). "Love, Death & Robots creator reveals new gaming-themed anthology series for Prime Video during Gamescom Opening Night Live". Windows Central. Future plc. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
- ^ Higham, Michael (August 20, 2024). "Amazon Series Secret Level Reveals Animated Stories For God Of War, Sifu, Warhammer And More". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (August 20, 2024). "Prime Video's Animated Anthology Series Secret Level Reveals Full List Of Featured Games, Including Pac-Man & D&D, Gets Premiere Date & Teaser". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
- ^ Tassi, Paul (August 21, 2024). "A List Of Every Game Featured In Amazon's Promising Secret Level Show". Forbes. Integrated Whale Media Investments. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (August 14, 2024). "Prime Video Orders Animated Video Game Anthology Series Secret Level From Love, Death & Robots Creator". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on August 19, 2024. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
- ^ a b c Gonzalez, Umberto (19 October 2024). "Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Hart, Keanu Reeves Join Prime Video's Adult Animated Show 'Secret Level'". The Wrap. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
- ^ Schedeen, Jesse (August 21, 2024). "Secret Level: Every Video Game In The New Gamescom Trailer". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
- ^ Gach, Ethan (August 20, 2024). "It Sure Looks Like Keanu Reeves Is Starring In An Armored Core Short Film For Amazon". Kotaku. G/O Media. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
- ^ Barder, Ollie (August 21, 2024). "New Anthology Series Secret Level Will Feature Armored Core". Forbes. Integrated Whale Media Investments. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
- ^ Moore, Logan (August 20, 2024). "Is Keanu Reeves in Secret Level's Armored Core Episode?". ComicBook.com. Savage Ventures. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
- ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (August 21, 2024). "It Looks Like Keanu Reeves Is in Amazon's Armored Core Animation". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
- ^ Jones, Ali (August 20, 2024). "I think Keanu Reeves is in the new Armored Core adaptation, and I can't believe no one's saying anything about it". GamesRadar+. Future plc. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
- ^ Seitz, Loree (August 20, 2024). "Video Game-Inspired Secret Level Anthology Series Gets December Premiere Date on Prime Video". TheWrap. Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
- ^ "Secret Level: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
- ^ "Secret Level: Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
- ^ Nguyen Scaife, Steven (December 5, 2024). "Secret Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved December 11, 2024.
- ^ Tinubu, Aramide (December 10, 2024). "Prime Video's Video Game Anthology 'Secret Level' Is an Uninspired Snooze: TV Review". Variety (magazine). Retrieved December 11, 2024.
External links
edit- Secret Level at IMDb