Secret Level Is Finally on Prime Video: Is It as Good as Love Death + Robots?

After the success of the animated series Love Death + Robots, the studios that produce cinematics – the videos that typically appear at the beginning of most video games – received a major boost.

CGI animation quickly took a leading position, and small companies realized that by joining forces, they could get funding and the opportunity to create at the level of giants like DreamWorks and Pixar.

Secret Level Is Made by Love Death + Robots Creator

One of the lucky ones was Tim Miller. He founded Blur Studio in 1995, which was responsible for the visual effects on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

It was Miller who came up with the idea of bringing together several teams with fundamentally different approaches to animation and creating an anthology under the catchy title Love Death + Robots.

With Secret Level, Miller returns to his roots, but the result is not at all what fans of either video games or the director's previous project expected.

Secret Level Has Only a Few Episodes That Really Deserve Attention

The anthology has a total of 15 episodes, eight of which have already been released. The creators chose 14 cult and not-so-cult games, and another episode was reserved for Sony for a hilarious mashup of dozens of characters.

The main difference from Love Death + Robots is that there are no invited artists, the full creative power remained in the hands of Blur Studio. And perhaps it was this decision that played a cruel joke on the series.

Despite impressive graphics, noticeable differences in the style of each episode, and an adult rating, most episodes fail to engage viewers with either the story or the visuals.

Only a few episodes actually deserve attention. The plot of the recently released Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is steeped in the dark aesthetics of deep space, where war, bravery, and despair reign.

And the story, inspired by Pac-Man, surprises with an unexpectedly bloody and scary approach to the game. Another standout is Armored Core: Asset Management, starring Keanu Reeves as a battle robot pilot, is an action-packed episode about the struggle between pride and loneliness.

Secret Level Is Too Simple for Video Games Fans, and Too Short for General Audience

Secret Level has not decided on what its audience is. In 2024, it is difficult to attract gamers with ordinary cinematics, and for people far from video games, the modest timing will not be enough to get into the story.

In the end, Tim Miller, having signed another successful contract for his own studio, produced a mix of commercials of impressive quality, but was unable to give the new animated anthology what his previous projects were loved for – soul.