(logo beeping) - [Falcon] We all know
there are secret levels in video games, but some are better than others. Hi folks, it's Falcon, and today on Gameranx, 10 of the best secret
levels in video games. Starting off with number 10, it's "Stellar Blade's" Eidos 9. Honestly, this game is refreshingly old-school in a lot of ways, up to and including
the entire secret area. Sure, there's a few optional paths, to take in dungeons and some easy to miss optional areas in the two open world zones, but if you manage to
fill up the Lily meter, an easy to miss little bar that fills up when you complete quests or find collectibles, then before heading off
to the final mission, you make a pit stop on Eidos 9. I cannot overstate how
easy this can be to miss. The final mission doesn't
feel like an end at all, but if you go there
without taking the time to fill out that secret
meter, you're just locked out. No Eidos 9, no true final ending for you. Yeah, the whole thing is
related to the true ending too, but the level stands on its own. It's a pretty unique location
as far as this game goes. A bunch of sunken
skyscrapers, broken highways, a giant rollercoaster on
the far end of the place, it's surprisingly big,
lots of rewards to find, including new costumes. So this place is as fully featured as any other major area of the game. There's a lot of fun very
large scale fights here, including a tricky fight
against two horse things. (creature roaring) (metal clashing, dramatic music) That probably would be a problem if you weren't so
overpowered at this point. Hey, and you get to ride down the rollercoaster like a slide too. It may be a recent one, but looking at the long
history of secret areas, this really is a very, very good one. (upbeat music) At number nine is "God of
War Ragnarok's" crater. This is about the last game I'd expect to find a secret area in, especially something
as large as the crater. Usually AAA games like
this one wants players to access as much of the content
they created as possible. So even optional stuff
is rarely hidden away or kept secret from the player. This place absolutely is though. To find it, you have to complete a completely inconsequential quest that most players at
this point in the game would probably overlook. The game has plenty of go nowhere quests that don't amount to much. So it seems like following a dog, might lead to a little treasure at best, but if you follow it, you'll actually find the single largest area in the game. Seriously, absolutely massive area. It's high level, it's full of
puzzles, optional boss fights. (Kratos grunting) (metal clashing) It may be my single
favorite area in Ragnarok. But I do get why some people
might find the existence of this place frustrating. If you're just playing the game normally, you're gonna miss it, and therefore you're gonna miss out on a ton of high level resources you need to fully upgrade your equipment before the end of the game. The timing that you
find this place is also, it totally messes up
the pacing of the story. Just as things are
building towards a climax, going to this place grinds
everything to a halt where you spend five to
eight hours exploring. I get the complaints. They could have paced it out better or put it somewhere better or something, but I don't really care. It's a great area, expansive, it's fun as hell, and it's
pretty easy to overlook any of the flaws surrounding
it for me, anyways. (dramatic music) (explosions boom) - [Atreus] That signal, Birgir's alive! - [Mimir] Not for long if
that dragon has its way. - It will not. - Do you see what I'm seeing? - A lightning bolt, except it's frozen. - [Falcon] At number eight is "Borderlands Two's" Caustic Caverns. Not super secret, it's more
just extremely optional, but it stands for being
one of the most atmospheric and interesting locations
in any Borderlands game. It's also really easy to miss. Finding this place, it's not exactly hard, but if you're not the curious type, it can be very easy to overlook. All you have to do is go back to the place where Sanctuary was after the part where it transforms into a floating city. Now there's a big hole to go down in and it leads to this area,
a colossal cave made up of glowing green goo and
abandoned industrial equipment. (player grunts, dramatic music) It is about the size of a
standard Borderlands 2 zone. So it's pretty big. And while there's nothing essential here, it's really a joy to explore. It's got a different vibe than pretty much any
other zone in the game. It's definitely not essential or anything. It's not a place you have
to go or you're missing out, but it's an entertaining and
visually interesting zone that's definitely worth spending time in. (dramatic music) At number seven is
"Balder's Gate 3's" jungle. There are many locations in this game that could be considered
secret, especially in act three, where like half the quest
and locations you can go are completely optional, but
this is probably my favorite. It's a one-two punch of
being both very obscure and completely unique with assets you will see nowhere else in this game. You know also, it's hiding
one of the best weapons that you can find anywhere. To reach the jungle,
you have to find a way to win the crooked wheel game in the circus of the last days. It's obvious that this genie's
pulling a trick on you, but to beat him, you
either need to distract him while playing the game or just steal the ring
off him before starting. If you do that, the
genie will get so pissed that he'll teleport whatever character that's talking to him,
to this hostile jungle. - Yes, you'll win the jackpot this time. I am sure of it. (wheel clanks) Impossible. You thief! You cheated! You dare! Enjoy the jackpot, mewing curd! (tense music) - Damn that djinni. Where am I? - [Falcon] This is a place
unlike any other in the game. It's got a unique enemy
called the Alioramus, which is the D&D version
of a velociraptor. Stop here. Let's reflect for a second. By doing something less
than 10% of players will even think to do,
the game will teleport you to a completely original area with its own special enemy
seen nowhere else in the game. It's not a joke area either. There's some good rewards here like this crazy, powerful trident that causes explosions
every time you throw it. So that alone makes this
place worth finding. It's really easy to miss,
but it's very worth it because where else are you going to see a jungle in "Baldur's Gate?" (creature snarls) (player grunts) (creature snarls) At number six is "Final
Fantasy 15's" Pitioss Ruins. Easily the most bizarre dungeon in the entire Final Fantasy series. This place is extremely tough, but it has no actual enemy encounters. Instead of just being
your usual secret dungeon, it's a gauntlet of tough enemies. It's a pure platforming
challenge in Final Fantasy 15. Just getting here isn't easy. You gotta unlock the flying car for one, which isn't even an obvious thing because it's totally optional
and only available post game. And to even reach this place, you have to land on a spot from far away that doesn't seem possible to land on. The thing about the flying car is that unlike other Final Fantasy games, where taking off and landing is as easy as pushing a button, in this game, you need a long,
flat, and unobstructed area, otherwise the car will crash. Even if you find the dungeon, then you need to find a way to get in. And the only way to do that is to overhear a random
conversation from some NPCs. To make a long story short,
getting into this place is not intuitive at all, and it only gets worse once you're inside. The dungeon has a nonsensical layout, it forces you to make tons of
annoying and awkward jumps. (mechanism clangs) (player grunts) And let's be real here. It's a huge pain in the ass, but it's so unique among RPG dungeons and so well hidden that I
have to at least respect it, even if trying to get
anywhere in this place is about as fun as a double root canal. (footsteps clack) At number five, "Castlevania: Dawn of
Sorrow," Silence Ruins. I could have put Symphony in the Night's famous inverted castle here, but come on, how secret is that anymore? Really, everyone and their mother knows about the inverted castle. It's been talked about to death. So for this one, I'm gonna focus on maybe a lesser known secret area, not quite as initially mind blowing as Symphony's ultimate secret,
but still pretty great. Hidden in the deepest part of the castle is an area aptly named Subterranean Hell. There's a strange room where time stops. To get through here,
you need a special soul that gets time moving again. And if you have it, an item that isn't
necessary to beat the game, you can fully enter these silenced ruins. Anything about this place look familiar? Yeah, it's a recreation to the first level from
Castlevania 1 on the NES with a newly arranged
version of Vampire Killer as the background music. It's pure nostalgia, hidden away in the darkest
corners of the game world. (upbeat music) There's even a repeat of the
first boss, the Vampire Bet. Going through this place maybe required for you
to get the secret ending, but if you're just
barreling through the game, it's super easy to miss out. (upbeat music) At number four is "Warcraft 3's" crossing. RTS games have a long history of some pretty memorable secret levels, and even compared to stuff
like the secret ant level in Red Alert, this level holds up. This secret chapter in
the Alliance campaign from the Warcraft 3 expansion, it's not too hard to find. You just need to press some
buttons in the right order. Is that a "Babe" reference? Yeah, it's been a long time since I thought about that movie. Hey, do you know that George Miller wrote the screenplay for it? You know the Mad Max guy? He wrote "Babe." Yeah, anyway, the level
you can unlock here is pretty unique. It's a tower defense mission
and this is well before the whole tower defense
game craze came and went. - Two plus three plus two. What do you want? I'm on the job. How did that get approved? You're interrupting my calculations. Yes, yes I'm already on it. No, no, no. Not like that. Let me do it. I'll have it up in no time. Job's done! - [Falcon] There's good
reason for that though, because Tower Defense started
off as a custom game type made by Warcraft three players. That along with Dota, were
just created by players. Now this is a pretty great mission and they even try to justify it in the campaign rather
than say it's non-canon. - I'll have it up in no time. Elf would've thought of something better. No, no, no, not like that. Let me do it. Two plus three plus five. What do you want? I'll have it up in no time. - [Falcon] At number three is "Donkey Kong Country Two's" Lost World. This one mostly gets by in
the strength of the visuals and soundtrack, but you gotta give it to Rare because that stuff goes hard. The optional bonus world is
kind of DKC Two's version of Mario's special stages. The extra hard bonus levels that push your platforming
skills to the limit. Getting here is not super hard compared to other secret worlds. You just need to spend
enough coins to get in. But getting all these things is not easy. And the actual hidden stages
within can be brutally tough. That's not why we're here, though. We're here for all the Sinister
Health soundtrack stuff. (enemies screech) Glowing neon light coming out of a volcano with a crocodile face on it. Come on, if there's one place
that screams secret area, it is this one. It is iconic. The map intrigues you to progress, the music dares you to try. It's simple, but it's great. Easily one of the best secret
areas from the SNES era, just an all time classic. (tense music) At number two is "Elden
Ring," the Haligtree. Gotta put a Souls game
in here somewhere, right? If there's one series synonymous with secrets in the modern
era, it is this one. They somehow managed to top
themselves in "Elden Ring" with not just a secret area,
but an entire secret region. It's truly absurd just how much stuff in "Elden Ring" is hidden away. If we're being generous, you could describe half
the game as a secret, like they went truly
above and beyond here. Anyone who played the
game for the first time probably reached the
mountain of the giants, ran around for a while, started to wonder just how the hell you're supposed to reach this huge section of the map. Well, normally there is no way. The only way to get to this area known as the Consecrated Snow Field is to find two pieces
of a secret medallion. - I am Albus and
Albinauric, as you can see. We are finished. The whole village is finished. The curse mongers have
destroyed everything. No one that remains has
their wits about them. I beg you, would you look
after this medallion? You must keep it out of
the cursemonger's hands. - [Falcon] One of them
makes some kind of sense, but the other one, and good luck. Once you get here, you have to endure a vision obscuring snowstorm, a town filled with invisible
black knife assassins and archers that will make you
want to claw your eyes out, and finally, an entrance into
the main event, the Haligtree. An enormous multi-stage legacy dungeon, which starts you at the
top of a gigantic tree as you travel all the
way down to the bottom to find an infamously difficult boss. This place is one that
everyone has heard of. The boss is one that everyone knows about, even people who have never even
touched a Souls game before. But actually getting there is a huge challenge. When you're actually there, it's one of the most visually interesting and varied dungeons in the game on top of being absolutely massive. It's one of the highlights
of the entire experience. And to even find it, you need to go through
multiple layers of secrets. (dramatic music) And finally, at number one,
"La-Mulana," the Hell Temple. As far as Metroidvania circles, Hell Temple is spoken of
in hushed reverent tones. It's a place of pure evil and suffering, but also a place of
pilgrimage for the faithful. It's a place every true Metroid lover has to go at least once
if only to experience it. In an already obscure and difficult game, this place is a hundred times worse. Just finding the entrance of
this place is near impossible. There's just no way a human being could actually find this place naturally. Animal well is the kiddie pool. This is the deep end. The "La-Mulana" Wiki describes it best. It is difficult to unlock
and harder to complete, even with the aid of a guide. It is truly hell. I'm not gonna even bother describing all the unintuitive things
you have to do to get there. Just look at these instructions. There are a fricking mile long, and there's at least two parts you could permanently
lock yourself out of it. It's still the easy part though, because once you're inside, prepare for a nonstop gauntlet
of unfair platforming, gotcha tramps, and pure
troll like cruelty. (upbeat music, creatures screech) So what makes it such a good secret level? Well, you gotta respect the work and ingenuity it took to
even build this place. There's multiple unique events that trigger just to reach it. And once you're inside,
there's new bosses to fight if you manage to get that far anyways. It's all absurdly hard stuff that only a fraction of
the already small fan base is ever gonna see. But they put just as much work here as any other place in
the game, if not more. Even if I don't like it, I
have to at least respect it. (upbeat music) Also, I got a couple of bonuses for you. The first, "Diablo 2's" Secret Cow Level. It's been talked about a lot, but it's legendary and
we gotta mention it. It literally has secret
and level in the name. Also, cow. For me, cow really enhances the impulse to say something about it, but it's gotta go on here somewhere, even though we've already talked about it in multiple other lists. Combine Wurt's leg and a
town portal tome in the cube and boom, you're getting jumped
by an army of killer cows. It's silly as hell, but the
loot is absolutely top notch. And finally, all the Souls secrets. Let's just throw a catchall for all the great Souls
game secrets of the past. Stuff like Painted World, Great Hollow, Arch Dragon Peak from "Dark Souls 3," and Kain Hearst Castle from Bloodborne, all elaborate visually interesting areas that are mostly incredibly obscure to find without just giving up and looking up how to reach them online. For the handful of people who managed to reach Arch Dragon Peak
on their own, I salute you. Seriously, doing an emote in a totally random part
of an unrelated level, that's how you're gonna
hide your secret level with not one but two major bosses. I, just do you, I guess. And that's all for today. Leave us a comment, let
us know what you think. If you like this video, click like. If you're not subscribed,
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right here on "Gameranx."
