Best Secret Level Episodes From Season 1

Summary

• Prime Video’s Secret Level offers original stories for iconic video game characters with exceptional animation.
• Episodes center on different games, with each episode being of varying quality.
• The Dungeon & Dragons episode feels rushed and ends abruptly; however, the Armored Core episode has impressive visuals and a great twist ending.

Prime Video’s Secret Level comes from the same creator and animation studio behind Love, Death + Robots, and the episodes truly serve as secret levels to some of the most iconic video game series. There’s lots of original storytelling for these beloved games and plenty of phenomenal animation behind them.

It’s an anthology of shorts, with each new episode centering on a different game, so some may be better than others. Overall, Tim Miller and Blur Studio have done an excellent job with where they took these games. Here’s how they all rank!

Updated on December 18, 2024, by Dennis Moiseyev: Amazon Prime Video decided to renew Secret Level for Season Two right on the launch day for the first season’s second batch of episodes. We’ve now added the remaining episodes that finish off Secret Level’s debut season, so see where these new stories stand in the rankings below!

15

Mega Man: Start

More Like Mega Man: Where’s The Rest Of It?

Mega Man’s episode is called ‘Start,’ and it’s precisely correct for all the wrong reasons. This is the shortest episode of the season and Mega Man’s story really begins in the final moments, giving you a tease of his suit, and then just abruptly ends there. This turns into an even bigger disappointment than the Dungeons & Dragons episode.

There could’ve been so much more to this episode to really evoke the level design and aesthetic of the beloved Capcom platforming game, but you didn’t get any of that. There was a quick set-piece fight between a giant rogue machine and the main costume-less character, Rock, who uses the freeze weapon attachment to defeat it, and it also took place inside a boring lab.

14

Exodus: Odyssey

Nothing That Proves Truly Exciting About Exodus

Exodus is a new sci-fi RPG that was unveiled at the 2023 TGA ceremony, along with Secret Level, but its episode is here and yet the game is still some light years of its own away. The story follows a father’s odyssey through space trying to catch up to his rebellious daughter, who ran off on an adventure. He always seems to be behind her, and she continues to age throughout her travels until he finally catches up and needs to rescue her.

There’s an overreliance on narration and too many time jumps where you might start to lose interest, especially since you don’t know much of anything about this game or these characters, who don’t really amount to anything in the larger scheme of things. The whole thing feels like a rehash of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar with more space conflict and lore tied to Exodus.

13

Spelunky: Tally

As Straightforward And Concise A Spelunky Presentation As It Gets

The Spelunky episode also goes by too fast and reminds you somewhat of the New World: Aeternum storyline, minus the whole ‘becoming king’ aspect of it. You have the video game protagonist Ana Spelunky trying to traverse a cave but keeps on failing and dying to many different obstacles, from traps to creatures. Then, you find out she’s with a companion named Liz Mutton, who keeps a tally of all of their deaths.

Ariana Greenblatt is immediately recognizable as the voice of the determined young spelunker Ana, and she’s truly the heart of this episode. While it may be only five minutes long, there’s a lot that’s said about perseverance and hard work, which is also coupled with some magnificent visuals and art direction.

12

Playtime: Fulfillment

Maybe Play Has Some Limits In This Episode

While some might be left desiring more from the PlayStation episode, which was the season-ender, others might think it was just what was needed. The Helldivers were perfectly included in the storyline, their lines about “freedom and democracy” never failing to entertain. Kratos, Sackboy, and Colossi make some cameo appearances, but the absence of other major PlayStation IP is felt.

The story is also not what you might think, but it still works, even if you’re left somewhat confused as to what just happened. You follow a bike courier sent on a time-sensitive mission to deliver a package while being chased by the multiverse of PlayStation IP and later her flying robot companion that turns evil (voiced by none other than Kevin Hart). However, the ending fills you with hope and makes you excited about Season Two.

The main protagonist in this episode, O, is voiced by Kevin Hart’s daughter, Heaven Hart.

11

Concord: Tale Of The Implacable

A Solid Adventure In What Would’ve Been The Concord Universe

The Concord episode had a decent narrative that tied into the game and was a nice send-off to the short-lived multiplayer shooter from PlayStation. The use of a narrator here was much improved over the Exodus episode, with the timing of the dialogue playing well into the comedy and scene transitions.

The episode starts with a team of Freegunners breaking out their captain, who was captured during a score, and they’re successful… until they’re soon all betrayed to the Guild during a cosmic storm known as The Tempest. While the characters were fun and distinguishable by their varying personalities, their chemistry was nowhere near the level of Guardians of the Galaxy.

10

Honor Of Kings: The Way Of All Things

A Secret Philosophy Level With Incredible Visuals

Honor of Kings will be familiar to MOBA fans, and this episode takes an existing character from the game, Yixing, to lay out a cinematic backstory in a unique way. Yi Xing (how it’s spelled in Secret Level) basically challenges the Tiangong, a system that holds together the city of Chang’an, to a match of Weiqi (otherwise known as Go) in a setup not too far off from Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal.

This is probably Secret Level’s most contemplative episode, centering on the philosophical theme of free will and really making you ponder some of the subject matter. It adds a lot of surprising depth yet almost feels out of place with the rest of the episodes from this season, as everything else here offers nothing but pure entertainment joyrides with not much thinking involved.

9

Crossfire: Good Conflict

Good Action And Clever Storytelling

Crossfire is a military shooter that seems to be the least familiar game featured in the inaugural season. Without the name in the episode title, you might think this was an extensive cutscene from Call of Duty or a level in Spec Ops: The Line with a storm bringing heavy rain instead of sand and dust.

This episode is straightforward military action with non-stop shootouts and hand-to-hand combat between mercenary groups, who each think of themselves as being on the side of good, hence the name ‘Good Conflict.’ Although having a vague premise, the story is well-plotted and has some wonderful character interactions with a cast also featuring Modern Warfare’s Claudia Doumit (Farah Karim) and Samuel Roukin (Ghost).

8

Dungeons & Dragons: The Queen’s Cradle

An Appetizer Of What’s To Come

Although filled with gorgeous landscapes and a wonderful cast of characters that have a lot of depth in the short time that you’re with them, Sceret Level’s Dungeons & Dragons episode feels disappointing in the end. It seems like the battle’s just getting started, and then it just ends on a cliffhanger with the party facing Tiamat, where you only desire to see more.

Solon and companions Tally, Mora, and Luzum have great chemistry and are funny and compassionate. All the spell-casting and fantasy combat are a delight to watch, with cutscene graphics and animation that resemble Diablo 4-level quality, but the entire episode feels too rushed and more like a cinematic teaser for a D&D video game.

7

The Outer Worlds: The Company We Keep

Exactly The Short Story You Need Before The Outer Worlds 2

With The Outer Worlds episode, you might be thinking ‘How in the world can you capture such a large sci-fi RPG experience into a short?’ Well, Blur Studio truly accomplished this task by honing in on the main themes and essence of the game with regard to corporations and capitalism through the backdrop of a heartwarming story about friendship.

The Company We Keep stars Amos, an immediately charming and likable protagonist who cannot lie about anything. He’s honest and sweet and puts himself through painful and life-threatening torture (without really thinking too much about it) as a tester for Auntie Cleo’s products, all to meet up with his scientist friend and crush, Felicity. There’s a wonderful message of support and also some hilarious jabs at an ultra-capitalist society, which perfectly sums up The Outer Worlds.

6

Armored Core: Asset Management

A Gritty Approach To FromSoftware’s Mech Game

If FromSoftware’s Armored Core had a child with Blade Runner, you would arrive at this Secret Level episode. And funnily enough, it stars Keanu Reeves as the main protagonist piloting the Core unit named Shrieker, and he has an irksome AI voice inside his head like he was for V as Johnny Silverhand in Cyberpunk 2077. Except instead of a rockstar revolutionary, he’s a drug-fueled mech combat pilot.

The episode is filled with fantastic visuals and sound design. The combat cinematics are spot-on with what you receive in the gameplay of an Armored Core game, especially 2023’s Fires of Rubicon, though the enemy mech suits don’t feel too original or special. But that also fits into the theme of the story, with no one being as special as Shrieker’s pilot, and it has a twist ending that leaves you thinking.

Boba Fett and Jango Fett actor Temuera Morrison makes a cameo appearance in this episode as Old Salt.

5

Sifu: It Takes A Life

The Soulslike Beautifully Represented In Such A Short Length

Sifu was a short and sweet episode done right. It was sweet for both the action sequences that take place and also because of the sweet and poignant ending that reflects on aging and the cycle of life. While the video game is a grueling beat ’em up Soulslike quest for vengeance where you get revived older than you were before, the Secret Level episode examines a deeper nuance behind the game mechanic.

At the beginning of the episode, the protagonist is quite young and eating dumplings at his favorite spot. Fast-forward some well-animated and choreographed fight scenes with enemies and then the final boss, and he returns to the same dumpling spot looking like Gandalf. The owner believes him to be the grandfather of the young man she just served, and they end with a nice conversation, where they potentially fall in love.

4

New World: The Once And Future King

A Brilliant Schwarzenegger Redemption Arc Set In Amazon’s Own Game

The iconic bodybuilder and action movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger was perfect for the voice role of King Aelstrom in the New World: Aeternum episode. He’s very amusing, always referring to himself in the third person, showing off his brawn, and just doesn’t give up on wanting to become king of the island he’s shipwrecked on. That is until he lets darkness overcome him.

Schwarzenegger’s Aelstrom goes through a montage of different ways he dies and gets brought back to life trying to best Aeternum’s King Zimah, even taking a chess piece to the eye and losing a limb. His character development in just the short span of the episode is remarkable, with a wholesome ending that makes this entire story super memorable and worth watching.

3

Pac-Man: Circle

Not The Pac-Man Story You Were Expecting

The Pac-Man episode was like The Substance or Black Mirror version of the classic arcade game, with surprise body horror and gore galore. From the opening moments, you might question whether you’re in the correct episode, but then comes the AI-powered yellow orb named Puck (voiced by The Mandalorian’s Emily Swallow) and the rest of the story just grabs your attention.

This episode was written by executive producer J.T. Petty, who’s also the writer of the Outlast series, so you wouldn’t expect anything less than an exceptionally dark horror narrative for Pac-Man. The main protagonist is a warrior trapped in the maze of an alien planet with Puck as an ally by his side like a Ghost in Destiny before the ending takes a twisty turn. Cherries even make an appearance here to put the cherry on top.

2

Unreal Tournament: Xan

Truly An Unreal Episode

Unreal Tournament: Xan was thrilling and meaningful from start to finish. The themes are identical to Detroit: Become Human without the Quantic Dream game even appearing in the season. You have a group of mining robots who are horribly mistreated by their corporate makers, and they decide to rise up, which gets them thrown into an Unreal Tournament arena, where their rebellion only grows.

The whole episode is like watching a sci-fi version of Gladiator. The Gamemaker is a compelling antagonist who wants to destroy every last robot that defies its creator’s orders to rise against humans, and seeing her ruthlessness throughout the episode makes you root for the robots, who have found a leader in Xan. The combat and action sequences are spectacular, which include a nod to the Ripper weapon from the game.

1

Warhammer 40,000: And They Shall Know No Fear

The Star Attraction

Given the popularity of the Warhammer 40,000 series and the 2024 launch of Space Marine 2, all eyes were on this episode, and Secret Level more than delivered. It found the right balance of story direction, set pieces, pacing, and character development. What you get here is a spotlight on Titus (with Clive Standen returning as the voice), which entails his backstory and relationship with his fellow space marines.

The visuals and narration at the beginning fit so well with the ending scene that you really couldn’t ask for a more perfect resolution. The action scenes are brutal and masterfully shot, with influences from Zack Snyder’s slow-motion frames and George Miller’s Mad Max battles. The final showdown with the main antagonist was also psychological and very surprising, using the soldier’s fears against them.