A large part of a game's appeal comes from the world in which it is set, and more often than not the developers hide secrets that only the most dedicated of players will be able to find and enjoy. Occasionally they hint at future sequel possibilities; sometimes they can supply the player with a special item. Whatever their purpose, they are a delight to diehard fans.
But which secret rooms are the most difficult or the most frustrating to find? Which make the player keep exploring simply to have the satisfaction of discovering a hidden world?
Mario's Portrait Room - Ocarina of Time
With the release of the very first Zelda title to be in 3D, Nintendo was bound to pack their game with Easter eggs and hidden details. Most famous among these is this hidden portrait room in Hyrule castle.
When the player first meets Princess Zelda as Young Link they can stop in the courtyard and look through a high window off to the right where a handful of portraits of the world's favorite plumber and other Mario characters can be seen.
Mario in Zombieland - Dying Light
The last place anyone would expect to see Mario would be in a world overrun by the undead, but in 2015's Dying Light players are able to access a well-hidden portal into Nintendo's world.
The entrance can be found in the southwest corner of Old Town, about halfway through the main story. At the very top of a brick house, the player can find a chimney with a green pipe inside. This will transport the player to a first-person POV version (albeit with zombies) of a level straight from Super Mario.
Map 31 - Doom II
The Doom franchise is no stranger to hidden rooms. In the second installment, while traversing the fifteenth map of the game, the player can find the hidden entrance to a recreation of the first map from id Software's earlier title, Wolfenstein 3D.
The secret is an entertaining callback to the pre-Doom series, and fans old and new will enjoy the change in atmosphere.
To The Moon - Just Cause 4
The Just Cause franchise is well known for its bizarre humor and massive open-world maps. In the fourth game, in the Qachas region of the Solis, players can find a small mountain.
To get there is a tough journey if the player has not completed the mission, "Operation Illapa," but once there players will find an area on the mountainside with a red X on it. If destroyed, players will find a tunnel that leads into the earth and into a secret underground facility with its very own moon.
Under the Sphinx - Assassin's Creed: Origins
Although technically marked on the player's map with a tempting question mark, this underground maze of crypts and tunnels is well-hidden and does not appear to be very important.
First, players must head to the Sphinx's backside. There they will find a small crawlspace that will start them on their journey into the earth to discover a stunning planetarium and much more.
The Mutant - Red Dead Redemption 2
Other than cannibals, aliens, and vampires, Rockstar's follow-up to their hit western includes a bizarre and extremely off-putting secret room in an abandoned house west of the Van Horn Trading Post. I
n order to explore these hidden rooms of the house the player must climb through a second-story window (as the front door is barred). Inside they will find an array of strange experiments, unnerving letters, and, worst of all, a man-made mutant that resembles something straight out of a horror film.
The Painted World of Ariamis - Dark Souls
Entering this magical world takes a fair amount of time and energy. After returning to the Undead Asylum where players start out and retrieving the Peculiar Doll, they can inspect a large painting on the bottom floor of the chapel in Anor Londo.
Doing so will bring the player to a difficult trial complete with its own boss (which does not have to be fought in order to escape). Some fans have likened the enchanted painting to a similar quest in Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
The Warden's Plans - Batman: Arkham Asylum
With Riddler trophies and other hidden secrets throughout the titular Asylum, fans scoured the game's map countless times, yet none of them discovered this hidden room without help from Rocksteady.
In the Warden's office, Batman can use his explosive gel multiple times on one of the office walls to detonate it, revealing a wall of blueprints for what seems to be Quincy's future plans of creating a city-wide prison. Any fans of Batman: Arkham City will realize that the developers were planing the sequel far in advance.
The Forgotten Crypt - World of Warcraft
In the early days of this MMORPG, players could only access this disturbing secret by dying close to the site and then reviving behind the barrier. What they found was a crypt filled with bones and dismembered bodies seemingly without purpose.
It has been rumored that it was not fully included in the game due to its disturbing content (such as the sight of the upside-down bodies), but Blizzard developers have commented and stated that they simply did not want to use it for the finished product. These days players can access it by solving a horrifically difficult puzzle.
Hidden Yoda - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
After scaling walls and impaling countless stormtroopers for every lost relic and decorative poncho, players were shocked to hear that there was one secret in Fallen Order that they did not even come close to noticing.
To access the secrets of this room, in the Temple of Eilram on the planet Zeffo, the player must have a moveable ball in a specific location and execute a difficult jump off of a ramp. Only then they will find a number of low polygon models, one of which is Jedi Master Yoda. Perhaps this hints at a possible sequel.