Secret Level Teaser Trailer Reaction
‘Secret Level’ is a TV anothology series adapting 15 video games. It’s made by Blur Studio and will be released in Amazon Prime Video later this year, and it looks very promising. In a world where longform video game adaptations are either fantastic or terrible, ‘Secret Level’ seeks to try something new by having a shorter focus, but hopefully one that yields great results.
The full list of video games are as follows:
- God of War (PlayStation Studios)
- Sifu
- Warhammer 40K
- Unreal Tournament
- New World: Aeternum
- Dungeons & Dragons
- The Outer Worlds 2
- Pac-Man
- Honor of Kings
- Armored Core
- Mega Man
- Exodus
- Spelunky
- Crossfire
- Concord
It’s a mostly impressive list, as many of these franchises have a long and storied history – ‘God of War’ for example, with its recent more narratively focused games, has a huge amount of potential for an adaptation, though some are more baffling in their inclusion.
‘The Outer Worlds 2’ for example, which hasn’t even been properly teased as a game itself, much less been released, is already getting an adaptation, a confusing choice since the first game was phenomenal and is sitting right there, and then there’s ‘Concord’.
Sony are obviously capitalising around the game, (which will have launched when the series comes out), but it’s one that not a lot of people are excited for, and if the game doesn’t manage to launch well, then by the time December rolls around the episode on ‘Concord’ is going to land with all the impact of a fart in the wind, and just be extremely awkward.
The one with the most promise must be ‘Armored Core’, not least because FromSoftware’s brilliant mech video game series, but because it will include Keanu Reeves, the world’s most likeable man. Warhammer 40k will also be an interesting one to watch, especially as Amazon Prime Video has a 40k series in development. It’s like a test run in that way.
Personally, the one that brings the most excitment is the Spelunky adaptation. The platformer is a roguelike, which means each death is permanent and forces a restart. How this is brought to life in a TV show brings unique narrative challenges that will have to addressed.
How this will be done is unknown at the moment, as the trailer only shows brief flashes of the games it includes. Audiences have a few months to wait to find out, as ‘Secret Level’ doesn’t release until December 10, 2024.
