Outside the Game is the chance for Player2’s writers to inform our readers on what is happening with video game properties in the world of movies, TV, books and music. If it is game-related in a different form of media, you will find it here.
Outside the Game - Arcane, Secret Level and Kratos
Arcane Gets Physical Before Season 2
The critically acclaimed animated series Arcane has two exciting bits of news for its viewers. Based on League of Legends, Arcane was a hit for Netflix when it debuted in 2021. After a long wait, the series has finally received a physical release in Australia, with a host of special features on the Blu-ray for fans. I am currently watching the series for the first time on this physical release and I will have my thoughts on Player 2 soon.
The second bit of Arcane news is a new trailer for Season 2 has dropped. Sadly this will be the final season of the show. You can check it out below and get ready for its release on the 9th of November.
Kratos Starts Again at Prime
Since 2022, Sony Pictures and Amazon have been working on a God of War TV series, aiming to bring Kratos to life on Amazon’s Prime streaming service. That series has hit a bit of a stumbling block with the creative team and Amazon parting ways. According to Deadline showrunner/executive producer Rafe Judkins, along with EPs Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus, have jumped ship with the studio looking to go in a different direction from what this team was presenting.
This will no doubt mean the the TV series is still a very long way away so don’t expect to see any casting or plot details anytime soon. It still hasn’t even been confirmed if the show will cover Kratos’ Greek era or his adventures in Midgard. I suspect that Sony, much as they did with The Last of Us, will be very active in the development of this series, they know just how important the franchise is for them.
Secret Level's Cast Revealed
Secret Level, the animated video game anthology series that was revealed at Gamescom has announced the full voice cast at New York’s Comicon. With names like Arnie, Keanu and Kevin Hart, it is hard to not get even more excited about this enticing new show. Here is the full list for those that are interested.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator Franchise)
- Kevin Hart (Jumanji)
- Keanu Reeves (John Wick)
- Temuera Morrison (The Book of Boba Fett, Chief of War)
- Ariana Greenblatt (Barbie)
- Heaven Hart
- Emily Swallow (The Mandalorian)
- Gabriel Luna (The Last of Us, Terminator: Dark Fate)
- Ricky Whittle (American Gods, Land of Bad)
- Patrick Schwarzenegger (The White Lotus)
- Merle Dandridge (The Last of Us)
- Claudia Doumit (The Boys)
- Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Lost, The Union)
- Clive Standen (Vikings, The Morning Show)
- Laura Bailey (The Legend of Vox Machina)
- Michael Beach (The Perfect Couple, Tulsa King)
For those who don’t know, Secret Level will feature 15 episodes, each based on a different game. Each episode will have a different style and tell a standalone story. Secret Level arrives on Amazon Prime on December 10. The full list of games included is as follows.
- PAC-MAN
- Warhammer 40,000
- Concord
- Mega Man
- Unreal Tournament
- New World: Aeternum
- Armored Core
- Spelunky
- Honor of Kings
- Sifu
- Dungeons & Dragons
- The Outer Worlds
- Crossfire
- Exodus
- PlayStation (which will feature a number of PS games and characters)
Outside the Game Recommendation - Halo: The Fall of Reach
In honor of the recent news that Halo would be switching to Unreal for future games, I thought it would be a good time to let those that don’t know about the absolute best piece of Halo extended fiction available and that is The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund.
This novel tells the story of the beginnings of the Spartan program and follows the experiments, technology and psychology used to take children from small colonies and turn them into Humanity’s ultimate soldiers. Of course, the main character is Spartan 117, aka The Master Chief and the story follows his training, his introduction to Cortana and just how he ended up at the Halo at the start of the first game.
The book moves at a cracking pace and, Nylund brings the characters to life with a quality of writing rarely seen in these sorts of video game adaptations. I can’t recommend this novel enough for anyone who is keen to find out more about the world of Halo.
That’s it for the first edition of Outside the Game. Join us in a fortnight for another edition and if you want to see us cover anything or let us know about something we missed, please feel free to let us know on our socials.
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