D&D General A Quick Peek At Tiamat In Amazon's 'Secret Level' Anthology TV Show

Secret Level, a new TV show coming to Amazon, is an anthology animated series which features various video games--and one or two tabletop games! While Dungeons & Dragons doesn't get much of a mention in the article, there is a screenshot which shows Tiamat.

The show features 15 different IPs--mainly video games--and launches on December 10th on Amazon Prime.

Other properties showcased include Pac-Man, Mega Man, Spelunky, Sifu, Amored Core, The Outer Worlds, Exodus, and Warhammer.

 

[dave2008]

Okay I've watched all of them.

The D&D Episode started great, had some character development for several characters, some cool fight scenes, then ended abruptly when naughty word got interesting. I feel ripped off by that. It feels incompete, but was good enough to make that frustrating.

Sifu was simular issue, just skipped the boss fight.

New World was funniest episode, love Arnie, good character growth.

I did not expect it, but Unreal Tournment: Xan was the best IMHO, this one actually had a very satisfying ending.

So did Warhammer. Great fighting, creepy end villian.

Crossfire was confusing, no clue who to root for, good action at least, everybody thinks their the good guy, but I know nothing about what any of them stand for so...

Armored Core was alot of fun, cool action. I liked this character for Keenu, some of his best acting honestly.

Packman had the most artistic license by far, the game had some very broad thematic influences, but took them in a vastly different direction. It felt very Heavy Metal Magazine to me.

I agree with a lot of what you said here, except I didn't really care for Warhammer or Unreal Tournament (the worst two of the bunch for me) and really liked Crossfire (in the top three for me).

 

[dave2008]

Are all the episodes out yet, or do they release one per week?

Season one is out, 7 episodes in total.

We know there is another season as we have seen clips from some of the other episodes (like the Metroid base episode). The 3 mintue behind the scenes extra show some other scenes from other, so far unseen, episodes.

 

[Parmandur]

Are all the episodes out yet, or do they release one per week?

First half dropped 12/10, the second half of the episodes drips 12/17.

 

[dave2008]

I thought the pac man episode was the most interesting, presenting another interpretation of what the game is about. The WH40K one was pointless and dull. In a way it was the opposite of the D&D episode. D&D got us to care about the characters, without showing the big fight. WH40K showed us the fight without giving us any reason to care about the outcome.

I generally agree. I also liked crossfire and its discussion of the nebulous nature of good-bad / right-wrong. I have no idea what game it was about though. Actually, not being a gamer, that was an issue for a lot of these for me.

 

[dave2008]

First half dropped 12/10, the second half of the episodes drips 12/17.

OK, so this a first half of season 1. I though it might be 2 seasons, but dropping the 2nd so fast it is more like Season 1a and 1b. Thank you for the clarification.

 

[Superchunk77]

I thought the pac man episode was the most interesting, presenting another interpretation of what the game is about. The WH40K one was pointless and dull. In a way it was the opposite of the D&D episode. D&D got us to care about the characters, without showing the big fight. WH40K showed us the fight without giving us any reason to care about the outcome.

The only one who got any kind of exposition was the goliath. The other 4 were barely shown outside of the bridge combat. I can't even remember what they looked like beyond the freakishly large head of the gnome.

Not sure if you are familiar with WH40k lore then. Titus is kind of a big deal in that universe.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The only one who got any kind of exposition was the goliath. The other 4 were barely shown outside of the bridge combat. I can't even remember what they looked like beyond the freakishly large head of the gnome.

It was enough to focus on one in the time available. The others were appealing enough that I would have been happy to spend a series getting to know them.

D&D gnomes and halflings do have proportionally large heads, so that they are not less intelligent than larger species. Very consistent with the way gnomes are depicted in Vox Machina.

Not sure if you are familiar with WH40k lore then. Titus is kind of a big deal in that universe.

Sure, and Titus got nothing interesting to do or say. And if he wasn’t interesting to someone who was familiar with the franchise, how much less interesting must he be to someone who is not? They clearly missed the memo about Warhammer being black comedy. Frankly it makes me dread, rather than look forward to the upcoming 40K show.

 

[Superchunk77]

It was enough to focus on one in the time available. The others were appealing enough that I would have been happy to spend a series getting to know them.

D&D gnomes and halflings do have proportionally large heads, so that they are not less intelligent than larger species. Very consistent with the way gnomes are depicted in Vox Machina.

Sure, and Titus got nothing interesting to do or say. And if he wasn’t interesting to someone who was familiar with the franchise, how much less interesting must he be to someone who is not? They clearly missed the memo about Warhammer being black comedy. Frankly it makes me dread, rather than look forward to the upcoming 40K show.

Well thankfully we won't be subjected to that since D&D isn't doing any more tv or movies.

D&D gnomes have large heads yes, but most of the past art hasn't been this bad. This one was just weird. And Halflings never had large heads, that was a stupid 5e art decision that most people didn't like.

Titus taking out a tank of cultists as well as the demon at the end wasn't interesting to you? Warhammer's orks are black comedy, the rest is very much not. And I'm looking forward to Cavill's show, just as long as Amazon isn't able to water it down like so many of their other bad shows.

 

[Parmandur]

Packman had the most artistic license by far, the game had some very broad thematic influences, but took them in a vastly different direction. It felt very Heavy Metal Magazine to me.

So, turns out there is a newly announced gritty Pac-Man Metroidvania, called Shadow Labyrinth, that this was apparently a stealth tie-in

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Titus taking out a tank of cultists as well as the demon at the end wasn't interesting to you

No, we just saw some figures in armour brute-forcing their way though opposition that posed no challenge whatsoever for no apparent reason.

Warhammer's orks are black comedy, the rest is very much not.

I expect you think the humans in Starship Troopers are the good guys too.

The trouble with satire is the target is oblivious.