Favorite Secret Areas in Video Games? (Spoilers obviously)

[CenturionNami]

My personal favorite is Ash Lake from Dark Souls. It's buried behind two secret walls, an area that's really out of the way, a descent filled with some of the most annoying enemies in the game. What do you get from finding this super secret location? Some of the most atmospheric, beautiful visuals in the game, and get to experience the last vestiges of the Age of Fog.

The Painted World is another really great example, and in terms of gameplay, it blows Ash Lake out of the water, but damn the atmosphere is just so amazing.

 

[Deleted member 864]

Cainhurst Castle in Bloodborne. I still remember my first reaction upon discovering it.

 

[Strafer]

Ass Lake was really fun to reach when the Dragon Head soul glitch was working.

 

[hydruxo]

The Lost World from DKC 2

 

[Rommaz]

Pitioss Ruins is one of my favorite experiences this entire generation. On An island far separated from the main continent you find a messed up labyrinth designed with bizzare architecture based around platforming, it's grueling but it was such a different thing compared to the Other FFXV dungeons which were all already pretty good.

Other shouts are ArchDragon Peak from DS3 and Cainhurst Castle from BB. Cainhurst in particular makes me think of what a quality 3D Castlevania stage could look like.

 

[Ferrs]

Ash L.... shit.

I guess Hidden Palace in Sonic 2 remaster then. If only for finally having it in an official game

 

[Van Bur3n]

My favorite is the Ash Lake from Dark Souls, and it is solely my favorite because I am specia- OH GODDAMN IT.

 

[Morrigan]

Ash La--
Painted Worl--
Cainhu--
Archdragon P--
....

Oh goddammit, fine, THE LOST CITY in Legacy of Kain:

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Luap absolutely loves the great hollow

 

[Deleted member 61326]

I liked that hidden ship you could find in the last Tomb Raider

 

[MickZan]

I was going to say stealth from thread, but then everything was from.

 

[unholyFarmer]

The Lost World from DKC 2

Click to shrink...

This. One of the reasons why DKC2 is still the best DK game.

 

[Lucas M. Thomas]

The Chris Houlihan room!

 

[DragonKeeper]

In Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver the game was originally intended to be a bit bigger and have some mechanics that didn't make it into the final product, but those areas were still finished in the game and were a lot of fun to find and explore.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

Top Secret Area, Super Mario World

 

[NookSports]

Not my favorite, but SMW secret area was iconic as a kid

 

[doodlebob]

The Sendoff Spring which leads to Turnback Cave at Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.

You finish off the Elite Four, it's the postgame and you get the National Dex, and all of a sudden an area opens up east of Route 214.

First off, look at this place. Sinnoh has a lot of areas like this that just give off a different vibe from the rest of the game.

You go in the cave and you keep ending up in the same room somehow. You figure out the puzzle and end up seeing this guy.

Giratina is the equivalent of the devil in Pokémon, and everything about its design and what it took to get it just made it all the more interesting. I miss things like this in Pokémon games.

 

[hideousarmor]

Are hidden areas that common nowadays outside of fromsoft games?
And by that I mean places with actual content, not just tiny rooms with secret items

In most games I'd hesitate to even call them hidden, feels more like optional areas with the game even telling you so at times
Kinda sad sekiro didnt have any hidden area( outside of that second visit to that one place)

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Does Wutai in Final Fantasy VII count? You never have to go there, and the story is entirely dependent on you recruiting a secret character.

It's the only real indication in the original game of a pre-Shinra society that went to war against them and lost. It's expanded on in Before Crisis and Crisis Core, and the Wutai War is one of the most fascinating things in the VII universe. It's also basically feudal Japan in a game otherwise rooted in western inspirations.

 

[banter]

The Sendoff Spring which leads to Turnback Cave at Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.

You finish off the Elite Four, it's the postgame and you get the National Dex, and all of a sudden an area opens up east of Route 214.

First off, look at this place. Sinnoh has a lot of areas like this that just give off a different vibe from the rest of the game.

You go in the cave and you keep ending up in the same room somehow. You figure out the puzzle and end up seeing this guy.

Giratina is the equivalent of the devil in Pokémon, and everything about its design and what it took to get it just made it all the more interesting. I miss things like this in Pokémon games.

Click to shrink...

So when I was playing through Diamond the first time, I was just randomly exploring in the endgame. I hadn't looked anything up, I didn't know anything about post game legendaries, then I stumbled across Giratina. I was floored. 1) because it was level 70 and my party was just in the 70s themselves. 2) i mean, look at it... if you had no idea it existed and you stumbled across it... yeah, I was shocked and terrified. 3) it did not want to be caught. It kept fainting my team because it was at 1hp and just would not get caught. I went through so many revives to capture it just because it did not want to be caught. One of my top pokemon experiences for sure.

 

[Dogui]

Hell Temple in La-Mulana. It's really hard to find (Like at "would never find without help" levels), really big, and absurdly hard to complete.