Prime Video has released the first episode of “Secret Level,” a new animated video game adaptation.

The announcement of “Secret Levels” was widely heralded as a “captivating” new anthology series with 15 episodes worth of “mind-blowing” animated “groundbreaking” original short stories set in various video game worlds.

After streaming the first eight episodes, I can't help but feel it was a bit overhyped. The truth is, Secret Level is visually impressive violent action... That's all.

“Secret Level” is an all-new adult animated series from the creative minds behind Netflix's “Love, Death and Robots.”

As mentioned above, each episode tells a story set within the universe of one of the many video game and entertainment properties. The list includes the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons, Unreal Tournament, Armored Core, Pac-Man, Warhammer, and PlayStation.

To bring these titles to life, the “Secret Level” team includes Arnold Schwarzenegger, Keanu Reeves, Kevin Hart, Temuera Morrison, Ariane Greenblatt, Emily Swallow, Gabrielle Luna, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Merle Dandridge, Adewale Akinnuoye-Abugaje, Clive Standen, Laura Bailey, Heaven Hart, Ricky Whittle, Claudia Dumit and Michael Beach, among other big stars.

From this first episode, it is hard to shake the feeling that “Secret Level” was almost entirely marketing first and making a TV show second.

By and large, “Secret Level” feels like it relies on a lot of brand guises to market itself. Aside from the odd re-imagining of Pac-Man, for the most part, these original stories feel very bland or inconsequential. Really, “Secret Level” is a vehicle for action sequences featuring Mech showdowns, powerful magic spells, and caustic gunfights.

The problem with this story may be due to the anthology format. Still, I feel that “Blur” could have developed things a bit more than, say, a story for a single match in “Crossfire.”

Much of what “Secret Level” has offered so far feels like extended, very pretty cutscenes and marketing materials, and it's not as if people are heading to the right storefront to buy Armored Core or the D&D sourcebook to find out who Tiamat is. more ingenious so that they will pick it up.

I have a feeling that most viewers probably already know these game universes, and those viewers probably feel that the “secret level” is a sort of forgotten exercise in bringing these franchises to life. [But an episode dedicated solely to PlayStation's ill-fated hero shooter “Concord” is not exactly appealing. Right now, I can't say I'm as enthusiastic about “Secret Level” as I once was.

If you want to see some gory action, give it a try, but if you don't, don't expect a must-see show.

“The Secret Level” will be delivered in two installments. The first installment, which includes episodes 1-8, appeared on Prime Video on December 10. The remaining installment will be released a week later on Tuesday, December 17.