Ever since it was introduced, there was some confusion over simply what Secret Stage really is. The video game-themed anthology streaming on Prime Video — helmed by Love, Loss of life & Robots creator Tim Miller — is a set of animated shorts, every primarily based on a unique 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 attention-grabbing concept let down by a scarcity of attention-grabbing concepts. The 15 shorts are nearly universally boring and handle to neither make their supply materials appear compelling nor present new insights for present followers. The actual confusion is who that is really for.

The principle downside is how homogenous Secret Stage is. Working immediately with recreation publishers, the present pulls from an oddball but additionally impressively international checklist, 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 sort of the other of Love, Loss of life & Robots, which featured plenty of totally different kinds and tones because it explored horror and sci-fi. That’s how we bought stunning episodes just like the trippy “The Very Pulse of the Machine.”

Secret Stage, however, largely makes use of a gritty, hyperrealistic fashion that makes nearly all of its episodes look similar. It’s type of like watching a nonstop barrage of cutscenes at E3 and never with 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 the complete collection, turning a traditional arcade recreation right into a brutal survivor story with copious blood and loss of life. (The episode’s massive twist can also be the stupidest factor I’ve seen all 12 months, and I sat via all of Megalopolis.) There are a handful of deviations that try so as to add some coloration and vibrancy, however all of them find yourself trying like Arcane. The worst offender is the Mega Man episode, which tries to merge a practical 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 seems, although. The collection can also be dreadfully boring. 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 attention-grabbing. Concepts repeat themselves rather a lot. There are a minimum of three episodes — primarily based on Spelunky, New World, and Sifu — that every one attempt to inform a metastory in regards to the idea of dying in a online game. And when the present does try some inventive 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 possibly can’t really play proper now. One is ready 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 improvement studio. The opposite episode relies on Exodus, an upcoming roleplaying recreation printed by Magic: the Gathering firm Wizards of the Coast. In one other timeline, these Secret Stage episodes could be the perfect alternative to indicate what makes these futuristic worlds distinctive and price exploring additional in a recreation. In actuality, they make each Harmony and Exodus appear to be essentially the most generic science fiction tales conceivable. I’m struggling to provide you with a single distinct factor to say about both.

Actually, Secret Stage is greatest summed up by its closing 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 set of Easter eggs tied to a model, an opportunity to identify stuff you acknowledge from enjoying the video games.

Throughout its 15 episodes, Secret Stage fails to clarify why any of those worlds are value exploring, whereas on the similar 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 one way or the other extra confused than earlier than I began.

Secret Stage begins streaming on Prime Video on December tenth.