I really enjoyed Love Death and Robots; it felt like a collection of shorts made by creators who were genuinely invested in their projects—a display of artistry and creative expression. Secret Level feels like someone watched Love Death and Robots and thought, "Let's do that, but with my existing properties." It was clearly manufactured, designed to be a series of advertisements and promotions for various IPs, rather than a genuine celebration of gaming history. There’s just nothing authentic about it. The animation quality is good across the board—that wasn't the problem. The issues lie in the underlying concept and how those stories were told. While there's variety in the games featured, the selection itself feels odd. Some episodes were genuinely entertaining—New World, despite being an Amazon game showcased in an Amazon show with Arnold Schwarzenegger, was silly and fun. Armored Core featuring Keanu Reeves, SIFU, and WH40K were all acceptable too. Pac-Man felt different, but something didn't quite click for me. Crossfire was a complete waste of time. Do people even care about Unreal Tournament in 2024? Exodus is a game that isn’t even released yet, so nobody knows anything about it anyway. Concord failed as a game, so the episode itself wasn't particularly memorable. Spelunky, DnD, MegaMan and Outer Worlds were just alright. Then there's Honor of Kings—a mobile gatcha game from China that even China attempted to limit its popularity but couldn’t. That episode was superficially okay, but it still centered around a problematic game. And the worst part: The final episode was essentially a PlayStation advertisement with Kevin Hart voicing a robot. What can you say about that? The format worked so well in Love Death and Robots because there was genuine passion and artistry behind those shorts. This is just the same structure used to create commercials. Perhaps there will be a second season, maybe they’ll take lessons from this one and do better, but—even though some episodes were decent—the overall concept seems fundamentally flawed and it won't likely replicate the success of LDR. Should you watch it? A short answer is no. If you're curious to see how certain video games might translate into a CGI movie or series, then maybe give it a look. Otherwise, there’s nothing special here.

Source on TMDB