The best secret level battles

What Love, Death + Robots is to Netflix, Secret Level is to Amazon Prime Video. After all, both shows were created by Tim Miller and his animation team at Blur studio. However, what sets Secret Level apart is that its stories are rooted in existing video game worlds, including the likes of Warhammer 40K and the PlayStation.

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Secret Level certainly delivers on the secret sauce with its well-written episodes.

With 15 video game IPs Secret Level has in store for you in its debut season alone, you should rightly expect plenty of action sequences with visual effects and animations that are some of the best in the medium. Here's how the fight scenes stack up against each other.

7

Pac Man

The Pac-Man episode featured Secret Level's most shocking combat moments, to say the least. After The Game Awards, it's now clear that this episode was framed as a sequel to the reimagined 2025 game, Shadow Labyrinth, so the killing is pretty gory and graphic. The main character has a montage of alien creatures that he has to kill and then eat their carcasses, but the final fight is the most amazing.

Humanoid swordsman and metallic sphere companion, Puck, reaches the end of the line to face his most ferocious and gigantic creature yet, a cross between Marvel's Rhino and King Kong. The swordsman suffers a brutal defeat, and then Puck disturbingly drills the hero's back to merge into one body and become a giant shadow of Pac-Man, completely engulfing the monster and also putting its host in distress.

6

Crossfire – Fitz Vs. Cross

Crossfire is a military shooter featured in the first season and really brought the action. Fighting takes place between two mercenary groups, starting with a shootout on the highway to secure a briefcase that turns out to be bait. There are lots of nice gunfight shots and bullets raining down along with the natural downpour of rain from the stormy weather.

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The climactic match is a duel in the docks between the two leaders of the rival factions, Fitz and Cross. A cargo container falls on Fitz's weapon, forcing him to abandon it and fend off Cross's gunfire unarmed. Through an intense struggle, Fitz removes Cross's magazine and smacks him in the face with it. They stagger through the storm and then Fitz grabs a knife to drive it into Cross's leg before he falls again. The music and sound design also help convey the intensity of the fight masterfully.

5

Armored Core

It wouldn't be a proper Armored Core story if there wasn't a mech battle sequence, and Secret Level has a long one in store. As the lead unnamed pilot, voiced by Keanu Reeves, sets out for his target across the majestic nightscape, several enemy armored cores are on his tail. Cue dramatic music, gunfire and explosions.

Reeves' alternate Shrieker unit, which you may want to recreate in Armored Core 6, features a glowing blue laser sword and shield that cut through mosses with ease. The movement of AC units closely matches how you'll see them maneuver in the actual game. The final sequence is Shrieker escaping the AC swarm and hitting Reeves with explosives until he manages to drag one through the sky like Superman before splitting it in half.

4

An incredible tournament

While the overall story of the Unreal Tournament episode was the highlight, which is an amazing achievement in itself, the main fight was also the star of the show. When you give robots weapons and make them fend for themselves in Gladiator's cyberpunk arena, a lot of cool things can happen. Xan, the green robot protagonist, grabs Ripper's gun and goes to town as a John Wick-esque action hero.

Some parts are super over the top, like Xan using another robot as a shield to get to an enemy and then launching a jump platform as the explosion propels the robot even faster to the next target. The Ripper weapon is straight out of a video game and sends out saw blades that hit with great precision. Then you have an excellent sequence where Xan switches cover, dodges bullets, and lines up the Ripper blade on the right trajectory to take out a hidden target.

3

Dungeons & Dragons

The central battle sequence in an episode of Dungeons & Dragons couldn't have taken place in a more stunning setting. The fight takes place along a bridge shaped like a giant stone sword over a waterfall. As Tally casts a spell to unlock the entrance to Oriel's chamber, dangerous enemies approach, the attacks begin with a barrage of ice shards raining down on the party and Solon takes a few in his back to save Tally.

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So Mega Man, Kratos, Commander Titus and the cast of Concord walk into the bar…

When the wind spell is in play, the black-clad armored archers start firing arrows at the protagonists, with Luzum catching the arrow and sending it straight back through the archer's face. Enemies are thrown from the bridge left and right. Luzum and Ahokal go hand in hand with the enemy warriors, culminating in them quickly dispatching a giant bat horse and turning the cryomancer leader into a slug before he can kill Tally.

2

Sifu

Just as Sifu is a continuous Soulslike ride of intense martial arts combat, so is his episode in Secret Level. The fight begins on the nightclub floor, where the MC confronts several thugs at the bar. The first one comes at the MC with a bottle of alcohol, which the MC quickly breaks and slams into the enemy's head. He then punches and breaks another's leg before slitting his own throat and returning as the older MC.

Now the fight continues to the upper level inside the enclosed clear glass bridge leading to the street. It's similar to the corridor game, inspired by Old Boy and Daredevil. Several enemies with melee weapons are present. Kicks, wall runs, punches and jabs follow. MC comes back to life, stronger. She thrusts a knife into his hand. He rams it back into the same enemy's throat. The camera angles and music pushed the fight scene over the edge.

1

Warhammer 40K

The toughest fight in Secret Level inevitably comes in the Warhammer 40K entry. The Ultramarines team will be stationed on a planet known as Zsah'uj, which is host to a desolate wasteland full of alien warriors on motorbikes and vehicles not too dissimilar to those seen in Mad Max. And you can imagine the fight sequence as next to Mad Max Fury Road but with Warhammer 40K weapons.

Enemy torsos fly off wheels, heads are crushed and chopped off by the mighty Power Ax along with several limbs between shots, and the whole thing is carnage. Then a tank comes mounted with a minigun and one of the marines plows through another enemy vehicle like out of nowhere to jump in slow motion on the tank, chainsword the enemy and toss a grenade inside to detonate it.

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