Secret Level a bunch of shorts inspired on gaming properties was already appealing but once I saw that it looked like a spiritual sequel of Love Death + Robots I was even more hyped. I wasn’t even aware that it was made by the same teams but it makes perfect sense. It’s heavy on Sony but at the same time they seem to have ponied up the money Below is general thoughts on the show and each little short given its own little comment. As more seasons come out they’ll be added to the list here.
I don’t mind having no Nintendo or more iconic figures, it really took me back to the 90s when there were a bunch of new franchises you didn’t know getting promoted instead of the usual fanfare. It’s made to briing awareness to franchises you might not know. It worked, I wasn’t aware of many of the shorts and became a fan of because of this. I think it’s a nice mix. I would indeed liek more rturning ones, especially form older forgotten IPs. I like the Pong intro. It’s not even all gaming even if part of the same culture so I’ll give Warhammer 40k and D&D a break. I mean if you just have a video game then I guess Jurassic Park could’ve had a short right? Like Love Death + Robots, this is going ot be some of the best CG you have seen. i think it needed nudity to balance out the gruesome violence.
“Dungeons & Dragons: The Queen’s Cradle”. Tiamat origin, a decent storyfor such a short aount of time that feels like it could be a real D&D session. Characters were interesting enough, perhaps too hyper realistic. Couldn’t have represented the pen and paper game better.
“Sifu: It Takes a Life” : Great Stylied art and a really compelling and well done story. melancholic, it might not be the best story but it’s likely my faovrite. And I got to know a game I had no idea existed and now own.
“New World: The Once and Future King”: Intersting concept, realistic art style perhaps didn’t suit it the best. It’s a short fun story that perhaps coudl’ve flowed better but a nice little message. I really enjoyed it, I think it needed something more to make it stand out more. Game seems interesting and far different from the short.
“Unreal Tournament: Xan”: Also super realsitic but the sci-fi setting is a nice change. I liked that it kind of sort of felt like the game that I never even knew had aa story and yet here it made sense. A more of a classic story of the slaves rebelling but it works.
“Warhammer 40,000: And They Shall Know No Fear” : Generic warhammer fight but not in a bad way. It feels like a CG for an RST game showing you what can happen in the game. Makes me curious about the world.
“PAC-MAN: Circle”- umm i don’t hate it, but why is pacman the bad guy, id on’t midn the gruesom take, and hte general idea was kinda good but i thinktit oculd’ve resembled the gamea bit more like ghosts beng more ghostly i dunno, Shadow Labyrinth
“Crossfire: Good Conflict”: I offered a job a bit on the boring side although perhaps the most realistic CG. Story is just a bit generic which amkes it boring despite being ok. It just doesn’t stand out enough with the other shorts. I once almost took a job to work on this game but didn’t go through with it.
“Armored Core: Asset Management”. Keanu Reeves? Wasn’t expecting him. A fun way to end this part 1. Giant mech game, unfamiliar with the story but the one portrayed here kept my interest and made me want to know more about this world. One of the best shorts. Voice in your head yay.
“The Outer Worlds: The Company We Keep” : unfamiliar with the games hsort ittle story messed up story scifi firefly type universe.
“Mega Man: Start”: Very short little origin.. Unlike others I don’t feel I need more from Mega Man. I liked it but it’s best left to the imagination. A great a realistic rock.. the music only makes it better..
“Exodus: Odyssey”: No game exists as of now, who knows. You need to pay more attention and I didn’t I’m sorry. Could be an intersting story it’s about time space and time happening but it couldn’t grab my attention. Might give it another look at another time.
“Spelunky: Tally”: I don’t care about the game but man this was a really good story about how lives in a video game work. What they mean with each play through.great concept that made me appreciate lives in gaming, that’s how good the story was.
“Concord: Tale of the Implacable”: Man so much lore dump in this short, a lot of srs biz world building but man was it boring. No wonder the game is dead, only reason to not care about this short more. I had a morbid curiosity and even expected it to be good but even then this only shows in highight why the game is dead.
“Honor of Kings: The Way of All Things”; A moba game I’m unfamiliar and will likely never play…but this short was so good in dealing with fate and destiny one of the stronger shorts.
“Playtime: Fulfillment” : A Playstation celerbationa and tribute and what a let down. It goes to show Sony just doesn’t have the IP to make it magical similar All Star Battle Royale fared, but I expected more icons like in that game. In a way it embodies current playstation culture: You have your hyper realistic world where most of the short takes place with only small sprinkles of Sony Play Station IP. Kratos / Colossus / Little Big Planet quick cameos etc but they barely have anything to do there and it is mostly the story of this realsitic black girl. Only at the end does she reach a world of video game magic that actually looked fun to explore. Modern Sony in a nutshell, so much potential but no let’s go for the realsitic gritty world with realistic protagonist, snoring.
Can’t wait to see more shorts. Wish list: more dead IP.
Secret Level.