Here are the top 10 secret levels in games.
10. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - Mile High Club
Mile High Club is the perfect exclamation point on the end of Call of Duty 4’s fantastic campaign. The brutally hard bonus mission unlocks after players complete the story, and drops players into a frantic firefight to clear out a double-decker airplane. It only lasts an insane 60 seconds on Veteran, requiring near-perfection to rescue the VIP and unlock that coveted Mile High Club achievement.
9. Wolfenstein: The New Order - Nightmare
The 2014 reboot of Wolfenstein was an awesome new take on the classic. And it scored points through its wonderful nods to the past. At multiple points in the game, your character could take a nap, only to find himself in the midst of a retro nightmare that played out just like id’s 1992 shooter, complete with all of the sights and sounds that made Wolfenstein 3D such a groundbreaking experience.8. Red Alert - Giant Ant Level
Almost 20 years after its release, Command & Conquer: Red Alert’s first expansion is more well known for its Giant Ant secret levels than it is for the expansion itself. And that’s how you know you’ve created an epic secret level. Unlocked by holding down the shift key and clicking the main menu’s speaker icon - how do people even discover this stuff?!? - the four-mission mini campaign tasks the allies with taking out an army of giant ants, eventually exterminating the mutant menace once and for all.
7. GoldenEye 007 - Aztec Temple
Few games are as synonymous with their console generation as as GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64, so it's no surprise that the awesome Aztec level made the list. Based on the classic Bond film Moonraker, Aztec delivers on two fronts. It’s the game’s toughest single-player level, culminating in a duel against the iconic villain Jaws. It’s also another multiplayer map to add to GoldenEye's stock of unforgettable deathmatch locations.
6. Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader - Triumph of the Empire
Tucked away deep inside the Gamecube’s awesome Rogue Leader is Triumph of the Empire, a level that allows you to replay A New Hope’s awesome Death Star battle from Darth Vader’s point of view. Flying around in the Sith Lord’s TIE Advanced and taking down Rebel pilots is only trumped by the fact that you can change the course of history and destroy the Rebellion before it even has a chance of rising up.
5. Diablo 2 - Cow Level
After rumors of a Secret Cow Level in the original Diablo proved false, cemented even with Starcraft’s “there is no cow level” cheat command, Diablo 2 actually did it. It took us to Moo Moo Farm, pit us against a horde of angry, armed cattle, and let us go head to head with The Cow King. Diablo 2’s Secret Cow Level would be quite the bizarre find to anyone who managed to coincidentally meet the right circ*mstances for it, but for most diehard Diablo fans, it was the long-awaited prize fueled by a few years worth of inside jokes.
4. Cave Story - Hell
Cave Story’s secret Hell Level is a vicious, narrow gauntlet of deathtraps and enemies that tests every platforming skill you’ve accumulated on your long underground odyssey. Contrary to most of the rest of Cave Story’s exploratory design, Hell is a single straightforward corridor culminating in a secret final boss. The cramped tunnels, swarms of foes, and insidiously-placed traps seem custom-made to test the mettle of speedrunners.
3. Dark Souls - The Painted World of Ariamis
Secrets are the lifeblood of Dark Souls, and the first game’s Painted World of Ariamis is as elusive and obscure as it gets. It’s an entire level, and a tough one too, complete with a miniboss and optional final boss, tons of valuable items, and one of the weirdest armor sets in the game. All of this and more is housed inside a painting about a third of the way into the game, accessible only with a doll you have to backtrack to the start of the game to find.2. Super Mario World - Star/Special World
Super Mario World doubled-down on the secret-rich legacy of its 8-bit forebearers, cramming its huge stages with concealed shortcuts and exits. Some stages contain cunningly-hidden portals to Star World, home of the mysterious Star Roads, a series of secret stages which themselves concealed even more secret exits. Finding these exits unlocked yet another layer of hidden stages, the Special Worlds, which in turn demanded tremendous platforming skills.
1. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Inverted Castle
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is arguably the most secret-rich of console games, so committed to rewarding explorers that it conceals half its content behind an obscure series of easily-overlooked gates. Only by using an obscure item in a certain key moment will the player reveal the immense Inverted Castle, an absolutely colossal structure hovering in the sky above the Dracula’s residence.
This is no mere reskinned second quest, either. It’s crammed with unique weapons, items, enemies, original music, and bosses all its own, including the Count himself and the game’s true ending. The sheer scale and grandeur of the Inverted Castle makes it an easy pick for the greatest hidden level of them all.
What are some of your favorite secret levels? Share them with us in the comments below!