Was SECRET LEVEL Over-Hyped?

Like most of you watching this video, I’m a massive video game AND animation nerd, so on paper Secret Level, now available to watch on Amazon Prime, should be an absolute winner…but after the first few episodes, I’ve been left…wanting. And it seems a lot of other people feel the same, judging from the first bout of reviews. As the most watched animated show to debut on Amazon Prime with 1.5 million views in its first week, there will be some of you watching this who are perhaps asking yourself the same question…or just wondering what the hell I’m implying. So, although this series is an absolute spectacle, why does it fall short? Well, let’s start off by looking at Blur Studios, the creators of the series.

Blur Studios

Founded in 1995 and based in California, these guys have a fantastic legacy of producing some pure eye candy and cinematic goodness for tons of triple A games. They were the team behind Love, Death and Robots on Netflix, spanning 3 series and winning a few Emmy’s along the way. Blur Studios are the heavy weights when it comes to animation, pushing the boundaries of what’s achievable, without pigeonholing themselves, giving us stylised, unique visuals as well as realistic CGI which is sometimes indistinguishable from real life. They’re one of the reasons why Secret Level received so much hype, as anyone who was aware of their work, knew what we could expect. I was one of them.

Exploring various video game IPs, this latest series takes Blur Studios back to its bread and butter, creating stunning cinematics for characters we know and love, from Warhammer 40,000, Pacman, Armoured Core and a ton more. Like I said I should absolutely love this, and there’s no doubt I found myself sitting there with my mouth agape, comprehending what my eyes were seeing, but after reflecting on each episode, I was left asking myself the question: was that it?

I almost felt guilty for asking this because I completely understand the amount of time, work and experience that went into every frame, every storyboard, every 3D model and every visual effect. So, then I asked myself WHY I felt like this…or rather didn’t feel what I was expecting, and I think it boils down to a few things.

All Looks, No Brains?

Where the captivation of each episode is apparent, they felt relatively shallow. Without selling them short, they are in essence just video game trailers. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, but perhaps I’ve been spoilt. In fact, with shows like Arcane, Blue Eye Samari and Scavenger’s Reign, which I’ve confessed my love for previously, I KNOW I’ve been spoilt. These were animations that gave the spectacle AND story. I binged these shows episode after episode because I was compelled to know what was going to happen next. With Secret Level, I found myself moving onto the next episode, merely out of curiosity for which game would be visualised next…not necessarily out of desire.

While we had gems like New World and Space Marine 2, the series felt like it descended further into mediocrity, with forgetful episodes such as Mega Man, Spelunky and Concord, culminating in the final episode which felt like an outright advertisement for PlayStation. There was no substance and became fairly monotonous, following the same formula with some fancy sequences and fast-paced action, which usually concluding with an open-ending or cliff-hanger, merely providing fan-service. I couldn’t help but feel like this was all a tech-demo, used as a vehicle to simply expand Blur Studios’ show reel, flexing their muscle as the go-to for game cinematics. All of this led me onto my next question…

Was it all just Marketing?

Art can take on many forms, but the closer you get to marketing something, the further you get from it being art. Animation is undoubtedly an art form and something Blur Studios embraced when they took on Love, Death and Robots. Art isn’t trying to sell you anything. It exists purely for your enjoyment, it’s only function being to fill you with some kind of feeling. It’s principally emotive. Expressive.

If we take the animated series Arcane as a comparative example, it wasn’t trying to sell you the game League of Legends. It was just trying to tell you story, drawing you into the characters and world. This is why it achieved a resounding 100% on rotten tomatoes. Now compare this to the 63% Secret Level bagged. Yes, some of you might be saying “But that’s the critics scores which are flawed, you should use the popcorn meter as a true representation of audience reception” …but that would be bias. As I said, Secret Level is pure fan service. It will undoubtedly get a higher score from gamers…which is good. Secret Level isn’t in any way BAD…just perhaps over-hyped.

What’s Next?

Regardless of mine, or your thoughts, Blur Studios have been given the go ahead with season 2 of Secret Level…which I will watch, but perhaps with more tempered expectations. There’s undoubtedly unlimited content that can be drawn upon and despite my criticisms, the show has been a commercial success, which is what matters most, I guess. Now I’m off to compare more similarities to the Space Marine 2 episode to the fan-made Astartes video…I might be seeing you again soon.