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Secret Level is a 2024 Animated Anthology series developed for Prime Video by Tim Miller, and produced by Blur Studio.

The series comprises 15 episodes inspired by and remixing a number of beloved video game worlds, including Spelunky, Unreal Tournament, Pac-Man, and Mega Man. The series premiered with its first 8 episodes on December 10, 2024, with the remaining 7 releasing a week later on December 17. A second season has been ordered.

A game that served as the basis for the Pac-Man episode, Shadow Labyrinth, was announced at The Game Awards 2024 and was released in 2025.

Previews: Teaser, Trailer

Secret Level includes examples of the following:

• Ace Pilot: The unnamed pilot from the Armored Core segment proclaims at one point that nobody's better than he is. He is not kidding. In the mission proper, he takes down six Cores of various builds and sizes all by himself. The only ones to even come close to such a feat are The Lone Mercenary, Anatolia's Mercenary, Strayed and C4-621.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: The version of Mega Man presented in the series is a lot less goofy-looking and a lot more Bishōnen than in the games.
• Adaptational Species Change: While most adaptations portray the character as a more organic being, the series portrays Pac-Man as a floating robot.
• Adaptation Amalgamation: While the Armored Core episode is most reminiscent of the sixth game, it nevertheless draws inspiration from other works in the series liberally, particularly the fourth generation games.
  • The interface to pilot an AC is basically an interpretation of the AMS system from 4 and For Answer.
  • Shrieker's Laser Blade is pretty much the BU-TT/A from Fires of Rubicon, but the hilt is more akin to something from Armored Core: Silent Line.
  • Shrieker's design itself is a mix of old and new, being essentially a crossbreed of Balam's MELANDER frame with the Bernard and Felix Foundation's 063AN and the Omer TYPE-LAHIRE.
  • Combat is fast, definitely on the level of For Answer. He also enters battle in a Vanguard Over Boost unit.
  • The Pilot, while most obviously reminiscent of C4-621, is a common interpretation of the average Armored Core protagonist, particularly old gen ones: someone absolutely ruthless and bordering on the psychopathic, concerned only with the payday and being the best at getting it. Given the atrocities the player has to commit across the series (and the series' reputation for war crimes), The Pilot's personality is spot on as an answer to the question "who would commit so many vile acts for money?".
• Advertised Extra: God of War and Ghost of Tsushima were both heavily advertised as being part of the show. However, Kratos and Jin Sakai both only appear briefly in "Playtime: Fulfillment".
• Advertising by Association: The trailer boasts the series as being "from the visionaries behind Love, Death & Robots."
• Art Shift: Each of the preexisting games has its own art style and direction, whereas Secret Level has one of its own that is used in each episode and the change to the show's look is very striking when it is applied to more cartoony characters and worlds.
• Broken Pedestal: The Outer Worlds based episode, has this as the central theme of the story. Amos finds out a girl he fell in love with in the past, Felicity, is working for a powerful corporation and decides to work there as a test subject, hoping to meet her again. He does and all seems well, until Felicity reveals she wants the top spot at the company and is willing to be amoral and ruthless to get there. Like releasing products to the public without proper testing first, to maximize profits not caring for their lives. And while he has the proof to expose Felicity, he lets her manipulate him into giving up the recording, making her a Karma Houdini.. At least until The Outer Worlds 2, where Felicity's (as Auntie Cleo) fate is up to the player's hands.
• Casting Gag: In the Japanese dub, the Armored Core pilot is voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa, who previously voiced Shagia Frost, another talented but sociopathic Mecha pilot. The sole difference is, while Shagia is one of the main villains, the AC pilot is the "hero" instead.
• Central Theme: At the core of each short is a primary question that can be phrased in two ways: "Why does the protagonist keep moving forward?" is the more obvious one, but from the context of a celebration of gaming, it becomes "Why do we keep playing?"
• Composite Character: Keanu Reeves' Armored Core pilot in the preview borrows from the player character pilot from Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, being a highly talented but anti-social mercenary of an older generation human augmentation project with a mysterious voice in his head. In the episode, his extreme asocial behavior and brutality in combat is essentially a less charitable reading of Strayed from Armored Core for Answer.
• Corrupted Character Copy: "The Voice" is one of Ayre from Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon. Like Ayre, she's a bodiless companion of an augmented AC pilot and is voiced by Erin Yvette, but the Voice emotionally manipulates her partner and encourages his worst impulses. She also draws a lot from the more ruthless operators in the series, like Maggy Curtis and Serene Haze.
• Five-Man Band: The Dungeons and Dragons party in Episode 1 features a dwarven monk, gnome wizard, half-giant (or goliath) paladin, half-orc druid, and human cleric joining them at the end.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Close examination of "The Circle" reveals a number of tiny details that heavily imply that it has ties to the universes of both Xevious and Galaga - Eagle-eyed viewers will notice that The Chosen's cloak has the emblem of the UGSF on it, while the gate at the end has the words "Zop Gamp" written on it in Xevian, translating to "Zero Gamp" in English.
• Painted CGI: The Spelunky episode uses a CGI setting with painterly effects and 2D rendered smoke and fire.