by Pablo Alfierri
Worth: $17.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Keanu Reeves, Aleks Le, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ariana Greenblatt, Nelson Lee
Intro:
… an exciting milestone in the convergence of gaming and filmmaking, bridging these mediums to celebrate the diverse communities that have found homes in these peculiar, enchanting, and sometimes unsettling digital worlds.
Once in a while, we mere mortals on this floating rock are blessed with truly captivating, meticulously crafted entertainment – the kind that makes you whisper ‘oh, wow…’ as the credits roll.
Secret Level is the latest anthology series from the team behind the acclaimed Love, Death + Robots, featuring 15 episodes that each celebrate a beloved or cult-classic video game series.
From Pac-Man and Dungeons & Dragons to Mega Man and Cross Fire, each installment captures the essence of these games and transforms them into bite-sized narratives – a monumental challenge handled with remarkable finesse by the visionary artists behind each distinct episode.
Tim Miller spearheaded the project, deploying his VFX team from Blur Studio to tackle the Warhammer 40,000 and Unreal Tournament episodes, while other acclaimed animation studios brought their unique visual signatures to the remaining stories.
The series opens with “The Queen’s Cradle”, a Dungeons & Dragons-inspired tale following adventurers who rescue a young boy from a Dragon Cult. The episode immediately highlights one of the anthology’s key challenges: condensing worlds rich with established lore into short films that can only scratch the surface of their source material’s depth. The overwhelming depth of D&D’s established lore makes it challenging for newcomers to fully immerse themselves in this fast-paced adventure, with years of world-building and context rushing past in mere minutes.
Not every episode hits the mark. A handful of entries – particularly those based on more recent gaming franchises – feel more like lavishly produced promotional material than self-contained stories. While these segments showcase outstanding technical artistry and production values that rival big-budget game trailers, they lack the narrative depth and emotional resonance that make the anthology’s stronger episodes so compelling. The resulting pieces, though visually stunning, leave viewers feeling like they’ve watched a glorified DLC announcement rather than experiencing a complete story.
Where Secret Level truly excels, though, is with properties that offer more room for interpretation. The standout example is the Pac-Man episode, “Circle”, which follows a mysterious warrior guided through a maze by a floating golden orb named ‘Puck’. The episode masterfully blends horror with psychological exploration – elements that few would associate with the cheerful yellow, fruit-chomping circle of the original arcade game.
Yet even episodes based on deeply established universes manage to resonate, regardless of viewers’ familiarity with the source material. “The Company We Keep”, based on The Outer Worlds (2019), follows Amos, a modest miner who becomes a test subject for corporate scientists at the Numa Experimental Station. This segment stands out for its pitch-black humour and sharp commentary on corporate greed, enhanced by cutting-edge facial-capture animation that bridges the gap between reality and its dystopian sci-fi setting.
Secret Level represents an exciting milestone in the convergence of gaming and filmmaking, bridging these mediums to celebrate the diverse communities that have found homes in these peculiar, enchanting, and sometimes unsettling digital worlds.
