Now that Secret Level is out, there is a lot of discussion about it. Including from Peter Watts, who wrote the original story for the Armored Core segment.
Peter Watts is a fascinating creative figure. He is a wonderfully talented author and, if you are a regular reader of his blog, a genuinely funny individual. He is probably most known for his science fiction novel Blindsight, which is very much worth a read.
As for Secret Level, Watts was hired to come up with the original story for the Armored Core episode. This is something he’s finally talked about in detail in a new post on his blog.
The interesting point for me is that this episode was meant as a direct tie-in to Armored Core VI, originally and overtly referencing Handler Walter and Coral. This was later pulled back and made more ambiguous, but still, the setting and enemy mecha do pretty much squarely place it before the game even if the story elements are now less specific.
I also like the fact the name of armored core Keanu Reeves pilots was originally meant to be called CHICXULUB, but I can also see why they changed it to Shrieker from a dialogue standpoint. That said, having a proper author pen the story means you get thoughtful names for things like the mecha, so I enjoyed having him reveal that.
Watts also called out a pretty big plot hole about why the enemy pilots didn’t contact Keanu’s character to communicate their intent, which is a also very good point. Especially as this is something that happens a lot in the games, even in Armored Core VI, but I get that this episode was meant to be more visceral eye-candy.
It’s also fun to see that Watts has been reading Reddit, specifically the Armored Core subreddit (where I am also a moderator), as he picked up the cockroach/beetle reference from the opening to Armored Core Last Raven. Obviously, he didn’t know about that, but it’s fun to see that he’s reading what longtime fans are saying about the episode.
It’s clear he’s not really a mecha gamer or even interested in mecha, and that’s entirely fine. He clearly tried to do right by the source material and I respect that. While he may not dig modern mecha combat, that wasn’t his remit, and the team at Blur managed that well, I thought.
Like I said in my initial review, it was a decent attempt at depicting the world of Armored Core in a more overt narrative way than what we have previously seen in the games. It would have been great if the episode had been longer and if they’d bothered to hire someone like Shoji Kawamori to do the mecha design, but it was still decently done.
In any case, as someone that has played and finished every Armored Core game since the 1997 original, the fact that this episode exists is still momentous and wonderful for me.
Secret Level is now available to watch on Prime Video, and Armored Core VI is available to play on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbone One, and PC.
Thanks to teslawhaleshark for the heads up on this.
Follow me on X, Facebook and YouTube. I also manage Mecha Damashii and am currently featured in the Giant Robots exhibition currently touring Japan.
