Prime Video’s video game anthology series has its heart in the right place, but hasn’t grown into its best self.
Ever since Castlevania became a hit on Netflix, game studios have had their titles optioned out to any streamer looking for a potential multi-season hit of their own. Prime Video’s already got Fallout and eventually Mass Effect in its deck, and Secret Level is aiming to offer something different by being an anthology covering titles across multiple decades instead of a singular series. The end result is akin to the first games in what clearly aspires to start a larger franchise: solid and showing tons of promise, but also in need of some refinement and sharper focus.
Despite a lack of genuine connective tissue, Secret Level’s 15-episode season can be divided into three slices of video game history: the games that were, games that are, and games that will be. Most of the show is made up of current games, which include major mainstream titles like Armored Core and Space Marine II as well as more genre or region-specific darlings. Meanwhile, the former shines a spotlight on franchises whose individual developers haven’t done anything major with them in years, and the latter hypes up games whose creators are hoping become a big hit when they land in the next year or three.
If there’s anything that links Secret Level’s episodes together, it’s that each one really does feel like it belongs to the title it’s attached to, whether it’s just telling a story in that particular universe or pointedly setting up important events that matter in that game’s lore.
