Secret Stage evaluation: a hole anthology of online game cutscenes

Ever since it was introduced, there was some confusion over simply what Secret Stage truly is. The video game-themed anthology streaming on Prime Video — helmed by Love, Loss of life & Robots creator Tim Miller — is a group of animated shorts, every primarily based on a distinct gaming property. So there’s a Mega Man episode that explores the character’s origin and a Spelunky episode that makes an attempt to create a metanarrative across the idea of a roguelike. 

It’s an fascinating thought let down by an absence of fascinating concepts. The 15 shorts are nearly universally uninteresting and handle to neither make their supply materials appear compelling nor present new insights for current followers. The actual confusion is who that is truly for.

The principle drawback is how homogenous Secret Stage is. Working immediately with recreation publishers, the present pulls from an oddball but additionally impressively international record, with titles like Chinese language megahit Honor of Kings and Korean shooter Crossfire. However regardless of that includes a big number of video video games, its episodes all really feel very samey. It’s form of the other of Love, Loss of life & Robots, which featured numerous completely different types and tones because it explored horror and sci-fi. That’s how we acquired stunning episodes just like the trippy “The Very Pulse of the Machine.”

Secret Stage, then again, principally makes use of a gritty, hyperrealistic fashion that makes nearly all of its episodes look an identical. It’s type of like watching a nonstop barrage of cutscenes at E3 and never having the ability to inform the video games aside.

This works for some tales. The Warhammer 40,000 episode is appropriately grimdark. However I can’t say I actually wanted a hyperviolent tackle Pac-Man. I’m not kidding: the Pac-Man episode might be the goriest in your complete sequence, turning a traditional arcade recreation right into a brutal survivor story with copious blood and demise. (The episode’s huge twist can also be the stupidest factor I’ve seen all 12 months, and I sat by way of all of Megalopolis.) There are a handful of deviations that try so as to add some shade and vibrancy, however all of them find yourself wanting like Arcane. The worst offender is the Mega Man episode, which tries to merge a sensible fashion with an anime aesthetic and simply comes off as an ungainly, ugly mixture of the 2.

It’s extra than simply how Secret Stage appears, although. The sequence can also be dreadfully uninteresting. Nearly all of episodes really feel just like the opening scene of a a lot larger story, ending proper when issues appear to be getting fascinating. Concepts repeat themselves so much. There are at least three episodes — primarily based on Spelunky, New World, and Sifu — that each one attempt to inform a metastory in regards to the idea of dying in a online game. And when the present does try some artistic liberties, like with Pac-Man, it devolves right into a bland try at edgy violence.

Two of the strangest episodes are primarily based on video games you may’t truly play proper now. One is about on the planet of the now-infamous multiplayer shooter Harmony, which was essentially the most disastrous launch in PlayStation historical past, leading to the abrupt closure of each the sport and its growth studio. The opposite episode relies on Exodus, an upcoming roleplaying recreation revealed by Magic: the Gathering firm Wizards of the Coast. In one other timeline, these Secret Stage episodes could be the perfect alternative to point out what makes these futuristic worlds distinctive and value exploring additional in a recreation. In actuality, they make each Harmony and Exodus appear to be essentially the most generic science fiction tales possible. I’m struggling to provide you with a single distinct factor to say about both.

Actually, Secret Stage is greatest summed up by its last episode. Referred to as “Playtime,” it follows a motorcycle courier in a close to future world that appears like an AR-infested hellscape. In a short time, she’s handed a mysterious package deal that pulls her into what can solely be described as a PlayStation industrial. She’s chased by Helldivers troopers, avoids assaults from Kratos, and has a candy second with Sackboy. There’s no story. It’s a group of Easter eggs tied to a model, an opportunity to identify belongings you acknowledge from enjoying the video games.

Throughout its 15 episodes, Secret Stage fails to elucidate why any of those worlds are price exploring, whereas on the identical time failing to supply something new for these already within the know. It sits in an ungainly, empty center floor. After watching all of it, I’m someway extra confused than earlier than I began.

Secret Stage begins streaming on Prime Video on December tenth.