Prime Video’s new anthology collection Secret Stage, delivered to you by Love, Dying + Robots creators Tim Miller and Dave Wilson, consists of fifteen animated shorts all specializing in totally different online game properties. Episode 6, titled, “PAC-MAN: Circle,” provides us a glance into the yellow round character that has by no means been seen earlier than. The character, merely generally known as Swordsman (Aleks Le), is dropped from a tube and is greeted by a yellow floating orb named Puck (Emily Swallow) who says, “You have to be hungry.” The warrior has one sole goal: to eat or be eaten. The essential floor guidelines from the traditional online game are prevalent—our foremost character is caught in an enormous maze on the run from ghosts and creatures, and also you eat to progress and hopefully escape. Besides on this interpretation, Pac-Man is about in a dystopian hellscape, preventing Lovecraftian monsters, brutally devouring them.

Wait, This Is About Pac-Man!?

This entry of Secret Stage is essentially the most stunning of the bunch, taking probably the most colourful and easy video games of our time and twisting it on its head, giving the viewers a grotesque sci-fi feast. As an alternative of a vibrant Nineteen Eighties neon aesthetic, this episode has a muted and bleak coloration palette, one that completely matches the tone of this episode. The Swordsman faces numerous beasts along with his sword in tow. As he defeats them in bloody vogue, he devours the stays in a feral rage, and the extra he eats, the extra his starvation grows. Somewhat than consuming fruit and escaping ghosts (sure there are scarier variations of ghosts on this rendition), the Secret Stage interpretation of Pac-Man focuses on its title—circle, showcasing how our foremost character is caught in an countless loop, by no means actually meant to fulfill his objective of escaping.

On the similar time, the viewers will get to expertise the professionals and cons of repetition, seeing the Swordsman shortly develop stronger and fend off greater enemies whereas witnessing the considered the principle character’s finish objective devour his being. The Swordsman’s journey of countless starvation transforms him right into a bloodthirsty monster, similar to the creatures which were looking him this complete time. Ultimately, Puck reveals the traditional Pac-Man type, dealing with off in opposition to a really totally different model of the online game’s huge unhealthy—the pink ghost, giving followers of the sport a couple of nods to the traditional characters this darkish model was impressed by. Pac-Man’s true type additionally exposes the true nature of this journey — there isn’t a true victory, simply reside, eat, die, repeat. Whereas the protagonist is hailed as “the chosen one,” it merely means he was the one chosen for this similar journey into the maze, with everybody chosen after being doomed to the identical destiny.

“Pac-Man: Circle” Proves ‘Secret Stage’ Ought to Have Taken Extra Probabilities

When Collider’s Steve Weintraub spoke with the creators at New York Comedian Con this previous fall, they mentioned this incarnation of Pac-Man “disemboweled your childhood.” That assertion couldn’t be extra true, as “Pac-Man: Circle” defies the everyday nostalgic route and provides the viewers a real retelling of a traditional story, one which places a microscope on the monotony of some types of media. Pac-Man is a traditional online game, one celebrated for many years, however narrative video games like God of Warfare and The Final of Us revolutionized storytelling inside the medium, making repetitive video games like Pac-Man really feel outdated. The monotony additionally seeps by means of the cracks of Secret Stage as an entire, with some episodes blurring along with related premises and motion, leaving the Pac-Man-themed episode to face out above the remaining, buying and selling in a sword as a substitute of firearms and a brand new story relatively than a cinematic reduce scene gamers would expertise taking part in the video video games the collection tailored.

This episode is the one one in Secret Stage that strays away from its supply materials, with the opposite episodes including some new depth to their respective worlds, whereas others really feel extra like a glorified industrial. Secret Stage may have simply constructed on the model of Pac-Man from 2015’s Pixels, bringing a live-action traditional model of the character into one other real-world setting, however the collection took a daring swing. Another of the episodes ought to have adopted swimsuit, including some much-needed selection to the gathering of tales. Initially, “Pac-Man: Circle” feels very sudden, however as soon as the true nature of the story reveals itself, the episode delivers a retrospective think-piece on tedious points of life.

Regardless, Secret Stage offers lots for critics and audiences to speak about and is an idea that’s just about countless. Very like Love, Dying + Robots, this collection may simply span a number of seasons, protecting extra video video games and persevering with others launched in its debut season. If Secret Stage does proceed, hopefully, it can take extra probabilities, like “Pac-Man: Circle,” supplying new, darkest alternate timeline variations of traditional colourful video video games from years previous. Think about twisted variations of Centipede, Frogger, or Area Invaders. Once more, the chances are limitless.

Secret Stage‘s first batch of episodes are streaming now on Prime Video, with the second half popping out on December 17.

WATCH ON PRIME VIDEO