After being introduced to the hype around the show by a friend, I had high hopes going into “Secret Level.”

“Secret Level” is an anthology-based show that has short episodes that take place in the world of infamous board games and video games such as “Dungeons and Dragons” and “Mega-Man.” The show was produced by Amazon Prime Video which heightened my expectations, especially with the success of their other animated adaptations.

Leading up to the release of the show, it was constantly compared to “Love, Death & Robots” and “Black Mirror” — two shows I enjoyed immensely. I didn’t have insane expectations going into the show, as anthology series often have their fair share of hits and misses. Unlike the aforementioned shows, “Secret Level” was miss after miss.

The pilot was based on a “D&D” storyline I was hyped for, but so many things about it threw me off. To start, the show doesn’t offer any explanations or introductory material. It throws you into this fantasy world where a cursed boy is trapped in a cage and saved by a search party seeking to cure him by taking him to a dragon. The plot didn’t seem tangible, and the insane budgeting was wasted on visuals and score – both of which were surprisingly intense. 

The first episode was a cliffhanger, ending just before a boss battle I was looking forward to because of the huge budget. To see the episode go to a black screen as two minutes of credits played (of the 15 minute episode) was disappointing. Going into the remaining episodes, I knew this would be a painful watch.

The next episode was animated, unlike the first, despite the show description claiming all episodes would be animated. This next addition was based on “Sifu,” a roguelike beat‘em up video game. The setting and acting improved, but there was still so much off. The animation was better, but not where it counted, as the fight scenes used a lot of shortcuts in things like motion capture and ragdoll animations. 

The show went from lackluster to awful with the next episode, taking inspiration from “New World,” a game I’m sure was only used because it was also made by Amazon. With all the mediocre scenes building up to nothing, even Arnold Schwarzenegger acting as a guest star couldn’t save the episode.

Keeping with the theme of niche games, the next two episodes were “Unreal Tournament” and “Warhammer 40,000,” the former being a first-person shooter from the 90s and the latter being a board game that would take an hour to explain. Both episodes keep the same issues running, with aesthetics being all there is to offer.

Finally, moving on to something mainstream again, the “PAC-MAN” episode wasn’t even related to the arcade game everyone loves. The episode starts with a weird-looking alien hanging from his neck after being suspended in a vat of goop, which has never been in any “PAC-MAN” game nor has anything in this episode ever been associated with “PAC-MAN.” The animation was better than the previous episodes, but I struggled to figure out why PAC-MAN is helping a martian escape a barren wasteland, and what that has to do with the arcade game.

The next two episodes blend together and are just as lackluster as the rest, with “Crossfire,” the board game, getting its own 15 minutes of runtime -– completely filled with mercenaries shooting other people. In the final episode, I got to another game I’ve never heard of with it drawing its story from “Armored Core.” This episode was yet again a budget flex with no real bones to the storyline.

Having a passion for shows, cinema and video games, this was a stiff reminder that when making something, the backbone and storyline are key for a piece of media being worth watching or playing. Aesthetics, visuals, guest stars, motion capture and score make a show cooler, but they don’t make the show good. For those seeking a great adaptation, there’s so much more to indulge in, such as “Invincible” and “Arcane.”

For the incredibly passionate fans of ultra-niche games looking to see any long-lost representation, the episodes will do just fine, but don’t expect to be impressed with the performance.