Sometimes when going back to your favorite games, you discover things you never knew about. If you happen to discover a hidden room or area, it’s always an awesome feeling. These hidden rooms are often in two camps. They can be of the Easter Egg variety, often including neat or funny references.
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Alternatively, they can simply be hidden rooms filled with a lot of goodies. The items can be so beneficial that you’ll likely go out of your way to get them. Not all hidden rooms are easy to get to, though, as some require you to go the extra mile and do some pretty challenging tasks.
10Adventure: Where Credit Is Due
This first hidden room is the most famous and iconic in all of gaming. For a long time, it was generally regarded as the first video game Easter Egg until several preceding ones were discovered. Getting to it is a bit obtuse, with you needing to pick up an invisible dot in a secret area of the map. After carrying it to the right of the golden castle, drop it along with two other items on the ground, and you can head straight through the barrier.
You’ll arrive in the hidden room with the Warren Robinett developer credit. This was put in because, at the time, Atari and many other video game companies did not credit individual developers. The room is embedded into pop culture, with it being referenced in several media, including Ready Player One.
9Resident Evil 2 Classic: Hidden Lab Room
Resident Evil 2is a two-campaign experience. After your first run, you load up the B scenario for the other character. Due to this system, several things you did in your first run affect what happens in the second. One of the more notable choices is the fingerprint scanner room. In the famous area with the Giant Moth, you can go onto the computer and register your fingerprint.
There’s a room higher up that you can only unlock with two different fingerprint scans. If you scanned it in the first scenario, you could unlock it with a second scan in the B scenario. It’s a cool area, especially in the N64 port, with a dead Hunter inside. You get either a Submachine Gun or ammo for it, which is a nice reward.
8Rage: Quake Room
One of themore underrated FPS gameshas to be the first Rage. With excellent shooting, it’s a lot of fun, but the game also offers many secret rooms. There’s a developer room andWolfensteinandDoomareas. But the best has to go toQuake. After the shooting level in the garage, head right back into the now vacant area. Many hidden buttons are found inside, and once you press all of them, a portal will appear on top of a stairwell.
This drops you into the opening room of Quake. It’s a sweet Easter Egg, but what really kills it is the lava section. In the Hard difficulty walkway, there’s a lava pit; if you drop in, you will die. That’s awesome attention to detail, making this room a cut above the rest in Rage.
7Duke Nukem 3D: Star Trek Room
In episode two, level three ofDuke Nukem 3Dexists, possibly the best secret in the title. Near the end, you’ll come across a button that seemingly doesn’t do anything. In reality, it opens an area on the other side of the structure that leads to the bridge of the Enterprise. What makes this secret area so good is how far Levelord and Allen Blum took it.
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There’s not only the bridge but the ready room and “really” ready room. By pressing on Picard’s computer, you open up another secret area and find out what Picard actually does in his spare time. It’s quite funny and one of the best secrets in the game, for sure.
6Halo Reach: Tribute Room
TheHalofranchise might be the greatest of all time when it comes to quality secrets. Every game, includingHalo Infinite,has stellar Easter Eggs, but the best is undeniably fromHalo Reach. Thankfully, getting to the Tribute Room in the Package mission isn’t too difficult, but you will have to play on Legendary and have another player.
There are definitely much harder Halo secrets. Inside the Tribute Room is a whole love letter to the entire Halo community. This is the best Halo egg and will likely stay that way due to how important it means to the Halo fanbase and also considering that this was Bungie’s last Halo game.
TheHouse of the Deadgames are some of thebest rail shooters ever made. Their raw fun factor and multiple pathways make them highly replayable. What’s cool about the second and fourth games is that they both end at the same spot, Goldman’s headquarters. It’s nostalgic with the new graphics and remixed music, but one secret stays the same.
In both the second and fourth games, if you go through all of it without using a single continue, you open up a secret room right before Goldman’s office. This room has so many goodies that you’re able to’t get all of them within the limited time frame. It feels great to be rewarded for a one-credit run, plus it’s a nice parallel.
4Serious Sam: Crate Pyramid
It sounds weird that the firstSerious Samgame got released due to a website known for its essay on crates, but it’s true. Old Man Murray was a popular gaming website back in the early 2000s. Due to its praise of Serious Sam, Croteam finally found a publisher for it.
The game doesn’t have any crates on it, except for one secret area. In the second secret level, Sacred Yards, there’s a whole extra pyramid section filled with lots of enemies. Eventually, you go inside and flip a switch to reveal the structure is actually a pyramid of crates. Due to the large scale, it’s rather funny, although you do need the context to fully enjoy it.
3Alan Wake: Huge Typewriter
The DLC forAlan Wakewas phenomenal and featured surreal imagery not found in the core game. The second add-on, The Writer, continues Wake’s story. In the chapter, you find a wrecked plane, and upon touching the floor, you need to fight several Taken.
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In this arena is a small passageway that leads you to a huge typewriter with massive pieces of paper. It’s fascinating to see, and if you use the typewriter, you get some goodies. Very helpful if you’re going for the no-death run achievement.
2Batman Arkham Asylum: Arkham City Tease
A lot of games have sequel teases at the end, but most of those titles were bound to get sequels anyway.Batman: Arkham Asylumwas not a guaranteed hit, and nobody expected it to be the game-changer it ended up being. The title has a hidden room with a sequel tease, and it was only revealed a year after release and by the developers themselves.
In the Warden’s office, you can access this secret room if you plant three explosive gels towards a wall on the left and blow them up. It’s amazing that Rocksteady had so much confidence for this game to succeed they included a hidden sequel tease that would only be found long after release.
1Portal 2: Borealis
Even in 2011,Half-Life 3was a running joke in gaming. Valve remained silent but still made many great games, includingPortal 2. At the end of chapter six, you’ll come across an office area. In it is a metal door that surprisingly opens up when you get right near it. Venture down the pathway to find a dry dock with a few life preservers carrying the Borealis ship name.
For those unaware, the Borealis was supposed to be the setting for the next Half-Life title, being teased at the end of Half-Life 2: Episode Two. Valve couldn’t help but mess with Half-Life fans, even in other games. InHalf-Life: Alyx, there’s still no sign of the ship, so it remains a mystery.
