Among the many video game trailers shown at Gamescom Opening Night Live, a gem unexpectedly appeared: Secret Level, an adult animated series from the creators of Love, Death + Robots.
This trailer was packed with various video game characters and worlds, but will apparently only feature 15 games, each receiving a modern story for one episode. The list of games is: Armored Core, Concord, Crossfire, Dungeons & Dragons, Exodus, Honor of Kings, Mega Man, New World: Aeternum, Pac-Man, PlayStation, Sifu, Spelunky, The Outer Worlds, Unreal Tournament, and Warhammer 40K.
This is a bit of a weird list, since I’m not sure what the main plot is, beyond the need for a bit more advertising. But even with the lack of a theme, the addition of PlayStation is an exception, since instead of an actual game, it will be “highlighting various beloved PlayStation Studios entities,” according to the press release. I’m not sure what qualifies as an “entity,” but if it means we get an animated brief film by Astro, I’ll be joyful.
I was incredibly impressed with all three seasons of Love, Death + Robot , and while there were a few duds, most of the episodes were spot on. My personal favorite is Season 1’s Secret War , a brief film that I’ve always thought would make a great video game. So even though the roster of games is a strange mix, I’m confident that Blur Studio is capable of creating something great.
This harbinger that we saw at Opening Night Live seemed pretty spectacular, and it was nippy to see how each world was animated a little differently. But the scene that had fans foaming with rage only lasted a few seconds and it appears to be Keanu Reeves piloting the Armored Core.
A modern ARMORED CORE saga awaits. One of fifteen epic stories from Secret Level, a revolutionary modern anthology series coming to Prime Video on December 10. pic.twitter.com/SHm80ZWqwCAugust 20, 2024
It is not yet certain whether it is actually Reeves, but the first few seconds of the shot show at 0:52 doesn’t look like him, the character in the line almost seems to transform into a Reeves look-alike. Armored Core even he tweeted image more reminiscent of Reeves.
Unfortunately, the anthology series will premiere on December 10, 2024, so we’ll have to wait a little longer to get any confirmation on whether Reeves will expand his video game portfolio to include anything beyond Cyberpunk 2077 and The Matrix Awakens.
In addition to Secret Level, there were a number of other stimulating announcements, including more details on Indiana Jones and the Big Circle, a modern standalone Dying Light game, and a solid chunk of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 campaign.
