We usually control our video game heroes ourselves and explore the colorful fictional worlds using a keyboard, mouse or controller.But in Secret Level we have to keep our feet still, because the new series shows us little stories from our favorite universes. Our help is not required because the protagonists (largely) solve their own problems.
Since thenDecember 10, 2024you can watch the first eight episodes on Amazon Prime Video. The remaining seven episodes will follow onDecember 17, 2024.
Peter, Franzi and Tristan were allowed to watch the series in advance. Just in time for the release, the three will tell you which episodes are their personal highlights.
Danger! The following lines may contain spoilers from other universes!
New World: The Once and Future King (Folge 3)
May we introduce: The unintentionally funny main character. Image source: Amazon Prime Video
Franziska Hammerschmidt:I haven't played New World: Aeternum, but I still like the episode best. I am kidnapped into a little video game sitcom that tells a little story about friendship with a lot of humor and charm.
The island on which the characters are stranded looks like any other sandy oasis that we already know from various video games. Nevertheless, the series manages to make you feel that something is different or even unusual. Of course, I can't tell you in detail what exactly that is. But if you watch the episode you might understand what I mean.
A big plus is of course the slightly arrogant and idiotic main character, to whom action legend Arnold Schwarzenegger lends his voice and even muscles.
So here it's simply a matter of: turn your brain off, sit back and enjoy the show.
PAC-MAN: Circle (Folge 6)
In addition to the well-known eaten ball, this guy is the protagonist of the episode. Image source: Amazon Prime Video
Peter Bathge:If you had asked me beforehand which episode of Secret Level I was most looking forward to, the answer definitely wouldn't have been the episode about Pac-Man. To be honest, at first I even thought that the protagonist had jumped onto the screen straight from the Oddworld series of games. But after just a few seconds I was sitting in front of the screen, transfixed.
The storytelling is great, the images are impressive, the plot remains mysterious until the end. The unusual hero's journey, the focus on eating or being eaten, the wonderful allusions to ghosts - and then that ending. “Shiiiiiiit,” I said in the best The Wire manner in view of the shocking scenes, which of course I don’t want to spoil here. But if you've seen Secret Level, then you know what I mean. Shiiiiiiiit.
The Pac-Man episode takes a template that couldn't be more abstract and uses it to tell a deep story full of action and surprise that captivated me more than any other episode of Secret Level.
Peter's review of the entire series,
The Outer Worlds: The Company We Keep (Folge 9)
This love story is anything but beautiful. Image source: Amazon Prime Video
Tristan Gudenrath:When I saw the episode for The Outer Worlds, one of my favorite games of all time, I was seriously heartbroken. But not because the short film was bad. Quite the opposite. I was just so carried away by the tragic love story. And that rarely happens to me with anthology series.
It took less than 60 seconds for me to take the protagonist to my heart. He finds out about a new job purely by chance, which gives him the chance to see a past girlfriend again. To do this, however, he has to serve as a test subject for the morally flexible pharmaceutical company Auntie Cleo, thereby putting his life at risk.
In addition, the episode offers everything I wanted from a film adaptation of The Outer Worlds: weird humor, a touch of brutality, exaggerated characters as well as criticism of the system and capitalism. Simply great!
Warhammer 40,000 also gets its own episode, which even continues the story of Space Marine 2. You can find out more about this in the article in the box above.
Will you be checking out Secret Level? Which episode are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments - we're excited to hear your opinions!
