Secret Level Unlocked
Thoughts on Love, Death, & Killer Robots
Warning:
This post will contain spoilers for the Unreal Tournament episode from the Amazon Secret Level show.
Buckle Up
If you’re reading this you are almost certainly a hardcore Unreal Tournament fan. I myself have been a fan of the Unreal series of games for 25 years now, and as a developer on Open Tournament, a spiritual successor to Unreal Tournament, I have a lot to say on the topic.
I do want to start out by encouraging you to hit the “Subscribe” button below to sign up for Open Tournament development updates. We are working hard to bring you updates and get Open Tournament set up on Steam & Epic Games Store this month, and can’t wait to share more updates with you. So hit the button below, join us on Discord, or visit OpenTournamentGame.com.
With that said, if you’re looking for only for thoughts on the episode itself, jump down to "Episode Reaction".
Guarded Expectations
It’s been tough to be a UT fan. Aside from the years when Epic was chasing X-Box success with Gears of War, there was a 7-year gap of inactivity between UT3’s release and the announcement of UT4. After a short flurry of activity, we again hit a drought of more than 8 years, with only Open Tournament & other community-driven projects offering any hope in preserving the spark.
When I first learned the Amazon anthology series Secret Level would feature an Unreal Tournament-themed episode I was cautiously optimistic. Every fan wants more of something they enjoy. That being said, the series has unfortunately been a mixed bag in how it’s presented — Each game explored different artistic styles, a different tone, different characterizations. Very little has remained consistent between titles. I set my expectations low, immediately believing we would get something similar to the cinematics present in UT3 — Technically impressive, but with stilted writing and lacking the soul.
Building Hype
I assumed we’d probably get an episode focusing on long-time staple Malcolm, showcasing a match between one of the Necroid characters for the Tournament Championship. A cinematic short of between 7 to 20 minutes doesn’t leave much room for plot or characterization, so a simple one-on-one duel is the easiest way to create a conflict, and the motivation of becoming champion would add basic and easily-understood dramatic stakes.
Over the next few months we got drips of new preview content. People identified Malcolm in the trailers, a Necroid character, even a Skaarj-Hybrid. We also saw hints of other things — Environments that looked like renditions of classic maps, shots where characters were wielding classic weapons. Over time the excitement began to build, and then at Unreal Fest Seattle they dropped the trailer showcasing a recreation of the classic Unreal Tournament introductory cinematic.
It looked like we were getting something Unreal.
Episode Reaction
As you probably know by now, the episode features recurring character Xan as the protagonist. The Xan character presented here differs a bit from the game, but I’m willing to give the Secret Level rendition a pass simply for its thoughtful portrayal. We see Xan developing, through some twist of fate, his own identity and survival skills. He is given the backstory of participating in a deadly mining robot rebellion which leads to his crew of robots being sentenced to destruction in the Liandri Tournament.
Just a minute or two in we see Xan and his fellow mining robots thrust into a battle for their processors & power cells against ruthless veteran tournament combatants. A malicious corporate executive and her Necroid bodyguard are presented as the primary antagonists, but they lurk backstage as they plan the demise of the rebel robots in the arena.
At first the robots seem to be nothing more than hapless targets, but then Xan adapts to the brutal bloodsport. Xan leads his ragtag band into fighting back, improvising new fighting techniques and acquiring deadly weaponry. Xan is also seen controlling his fellow robots, seeming to spread his intellect to other robots in the arena. The action is frenetic and we see hardcore battles between Xan’s team and at least three other tournament teams of various compositions. Each battle is set in a recognizable rendition of a classic map, and the fights feature authentically-represented versions of the game weapons.
The final battle pits Xan against the Necroid bodyguard, who is sent to dispatch Xan once and for all. In the fight Xan is injured, but he uses his reprogramming capability to sacrifice the other robot-allies to buy himself just enough time to hack the central computer of the arena. The final moments of the show depict Xan rising triumphantly, seemingly using his powers to overthrow the tournament.
What Worked
Incredible production quality on visual quality, effects, mocap, sound design
Excellent characterization of Xan, characterizing his growth as a character entirely through body language and behaviors, without any dialogue
Non-stop action, showcasing the ruthless lethality of the Tournament and even incorporating some first-person perspective organically
Incredibly compelling renditions of the futuristic bloodsport feel with the presentation of classic arenas, weapons, even the sense of progression through matches
Callbacks and easter-eggs galore with the classic announcer, one-liners, and other elements of the UT setting
What Didn’t
Blink-and-you-miss-it pacing — The short covers a lot of ground in a short 18 minutes, showcasing an origin story, more than 3 matches, a slew of set-pieces and stunts, but aside from the climactic moment doesn’t give it any time to breathe
No exposition — I was fully expecting to see the city-flyby intro that was already created by Blur Studios incorporated into the episode, but it was bafflingly omitted. This leaves viewers in the dark about important worldbuilding — Fine for people who have history with the series, but confusing for anyone viewing this standalone
Virtually zero dialogue means the action blends together. Fans instinctively will recognize things like Flak Cannons, Rocket Launchers, Rippers, the Morpheus Towers, or Facing Worlds — But newcomers won’t catch these as fundamentally distinctive, so it all turns into a frenzy of undifferentiated action
Questionable character design choices in certain respects that don’t quite capture the spirit of the games — the more-or-less indistinguishable robot chassis for Xan, the protagonist of the piece, is a real problem
The Verdict
As a 25-year veteran of the UT franchise, viewing the episode myself I would rate it a solid 4/5 stars. This was a love-letter to the fans, beyond what many of us ever expected. It delivered almost every note you could wish for, lacking only in that it didn’t showcase a devastating Shock Combo or directly use the legendary music tracks from the game.
The downer is that I watched the episode with people who had never played the game and they found it baffling and underdeveloped. Extending the runtime by a few more minutes and giving us just a little bit of time for dialogue and pacing would have dramatically helped flesh out the world and helped convey the magic to others who haven’t spent years playing the game.
Towards New Generation
While we are all celebrating this amazing tribute to a game we love, for true fans the inevitable question is — What’s next? That's where we’re hoping Open Tournament comes in — We are looking to bring that spark to both old and new generations, creating something that honors its roots while pushing boundaries of what’s possible.
Cheers,
Wail