The original post: /r/television by /u/Codeaut on 2024-12-23 07:46:57.

Please note that the below may contain spoilers.

I watched all of Secret Level and am now wondering if it may have been better to familiarise myself with the relevant games. I wonder if there were themes/references to which I should have paid more attention. I wonder if the characters in the episodes were the in-game characters, or if they are just other fictional characters in the same universe. I wonder if the game mechanics played a part in the story telling and if I missed that.

  1. Dungeons and Dragons. I had the understanding that this was a real life game, not a video game. I thought that the story was that Blizzard had wanted to make a Dungeons and Dragons game, but hadn’t been granted the licence, and instead made World of Warcraft. Regardless, this episode was easy to understand.
  2. Sifu. I am unfamiliar with the game, however I assume that the gold coins were “lives” just like in a game and he used up all his chances to achieve his goal. Probably in the game you can get new coins, but reverse aging on screen may have come across as peculiar. I imagine that the game is a third person role-playing game where you have to collect items and kill henchmen and achieve tasks before you get to the boss at the end.
  3. New World. Again, I am unfamiliar, but am assuming that you have unlimited lives. Is the point of the game to become king of the island? Again, I’m imagining a similar mechanic to the game above.
  4. Unreal Tournament. I am unfamiliar with the game, but I assume that the game is tournament warfare as depicted in the episode. I do not know whether you play as the humans fighting robots, or as robots fighting humans (which is the more sympathetic position).
  5. Warhammer 40k. Again, this one confused me as WH40k is a real life game. I know that there are some video game adaptions over the years although the last one that I played was Final Liberation. However I am familiar enough with the lore that I do not believe that this episode requires explanation.
  6. Pac Man. I am familiar with this game. While I did not particularly enjoy it or agree with the depiction, I understand the conceit of attempting to add detail and narrative to the game for the purpose of the short movie, and therefore appreciate it.
  7. Crossfire. I am unfamiliar with the game, but I assume that it is fairly standard “two-teams fighting for the same goal” fare à la Call of Duty etc. I did not understand why the team smuggling the guy just gave up at the end. I know that their contract stated that they only had to deliver him, not the briefcase, and that they didn’t want to lose anyone else, but I wonder if game mechanics had anything to do with this situation.
  8. Armoured Core. I am unfamiliar with the game, but this one seemed fairly straight forward. You fly a mech and kill other mechs. I wonder if the moral ambiguity in the narrative was a reflection of game mechanics that we often see that involve collateral damage and unscrupulous destruction of the enemy without questioning who they are or why we’re doing it. I suspect that I am right in this regard.
  9. The Outer Worlds. I am unfamiliar with the game. I am unsure what the game here is. Does one have to perform tests on subjects and then change the recipes of the products until they work? Is it a role playing game with some other narrative and you have to use the finished versions of these products and the short movie is just asking the question of where they come from?
  10. Mega Man. I am unfamiliar with the game but I reckon that it’s fairly straight forward. You play as the boy and kill/pacify the giant robots.
  11. Exodus. I am unfamiliar with the game. However I liked the light speed time dilation mechanic. I wonder if this is present in the game. Maybe you have to travel between different destinations while leaving behind your businesses/whatever to either grow or collapse on their own over multiple years and then you come back to them and reap the rewards. Or maybe it is just a role playing game where you play as the daughter off on her adventures.
  12. Spelunky. I am unfamiliar with the game, but I imagine that it’s similar to Temple Run?
  13. Concord. Once more I am unfamiliar with the game. I imagine that you play as starship pilot going from one destination to another performing piracy. I imagine that the map is an in-game interface where you choose your next destination/mission.
  14. Honor of Kings. I am unfamiliar with the game, however I imagine it as an Age of Empires/Civilisation-esque city builder. I was confused by the city god seeing the past and the future, so I wonder if the game has a mechanic where you can fast forward/rewind time and the game uses its AI to either project a future path or go backwards, and you can choose to play at those different points to make different decisions.
  15. Playtime. I am unfamiliar with the game, but I assume that it’s some kind of race against the clock, make the delivery on time, and collect upgrades along the way type of game?

Do you believe the there is anything that I missed from these short movies due to unfamiliarity with the games?