Give me money on patreon and you'll get access to secret content!... I mean it's not *that* secret but it still counts, okay? :www.patreon.com/ArchitectofGames You fools! you morons! you incalculable ignorami!- soon I shall reach one thousand twitter followers, and with it, ULTIMATE POWER! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!: twitter.com/Thefearalcarrot
I wish you actually put a decent reward there. Say a video on some more of your favorite secrets, or something personal like that. People who'd care would be able to find out and would love it. And this was so obvious it actually pissed me off when I got the result url. Didn't have to click it to know what it is...
Did you know that in Fez: 1. Monolith is probably still not solved correctly, as the relase date solution was debunked by the developer, and there is a high chance that no real solution exist. 2. You can find even more obscure secret with the hearts. You can make them disassemble by entering a special code while inspecring counting and writing artifacts in the inventory. After that there is one more "ending" sequence... and nothing more. It's unclear whether this is intentional or something left in the code by developers. 3. There are still some elements found in the game that nobody knows the purpose of: concentric squares, 4x2 code, soundtrack images. It's possible the intended solution for the Monolith is connected with one, or even all of them.
Yes, a good game will make you say "screw it, what if I..." And then shocks you into realising you totally CAN do that random thing you thought wouldn't even be considered to the Devs
I hate to be another RDR2 fan boy, but i only got it a few months ago and I've had a few of these moments even with the high expectations i had going into it. Just little things like all the doors to a house were locked, which traditionally means "nothing here", but i tried shooting the windows and they blew out, and it turned out i could climb through one to get inside anyway. Or doing a crime and dodging the officers heading to the scene by changing clothes quickly and playing it cool when you walk past them, (because they don't know its you theyre after, yet). The fact that dumping dead animals at people's feet is considered a hostile act by the public, or how your horse gets a bit pissed off when you make it walk through branches and plants. Weird little things that id never think to include in a game for the sake of immersion or realism but im so glad theyre there, regardless.
here is my example i only recently found out about. skyrim, 9 years old mind you, allows you to slaughter evrryone at the winterhold academy in your girst lesson. then if you survive the angry mages and pay your fine later you can rejoin them with a simple sorry, my bad response and the bonkers thing is, the tutor, tolfdir has a fully voice response for that situation. todd knew some of us are monsters inside..
the path itself is the secret, it's there specifically for people who enjoy punishing platforming challenges. the primary reason to do it is just for fun if you want to
@@itsaUSBline also the real ending of the game, fighting the radiance. I found the path of pain before I figured out I could dream nail myself in a reflective egg.
My fave of his is on Haunted houses, called "Control, Anatomy, and the Legacy of the Haunted House" but, I very much second that the soul of a library an excellent video, worth watching! :D
Okay so now real talk, the people who decoded the link should’ve been rewarded with the secret key, NOT the rickroll. The rickroll should’ve been a red herring troll where you then find the true secret when you realize that there is another sequence popping right out at you. The one the you used to find the link that you then decode back into letters and boom! It’s the true secret from the video.
Adam: "This secret was put here with an excellent thought and it creates this legendary moment which was a true masterpiece by the developers" Game dev who just put the secret in the game for fun while being drunk: "Uh... yeah, that was my intent all along."
The only secret that I can remember, that made me feel special as a player in the last 10 years, ist that Blue Heart in stage 2 in Celeste, where you have to learn about a mechanic I initially thought, was an unintended side-effect, but the devs actually completely accounted for it. It's incredibly rare, that my type of exploration is rewarded with anything more than a funky out of bounds or softlock - so that was really special to me Also yeah, go and check out Jacob Gellers video on Shadow of the Colossus. It's a really good one
Ratchet & Clank's Insomniac museum's always a fun secret to collect in almost all of the games. It's packed to the brim with content, and has different stuff each game. Plus in R&C2, once you've gotten the Magnet Boots you can go to one of the first levels and walk up this magnatised ramp to fight this giant slug boss. I thought it was cool :')
0:35 Adam I am scared for your well being. You have too many folders that are empty, you need to fill them asap. Don't underestimate the health risks. I know that most people today use the online solution but you gotta do what you gotta do. If you need help just ask. : ^)
Turning secrets into tutorial tips is actually quite ingenious thought! Especially for games that are supposed to be played over and over like rouge likes or platformers! Imagine you frustratingly dying from the first boss in the game and come back to the beginning of the level only to spot some crack in the wall you haven’t seen and blowing down that wall to find a tip that says: “The boss will die quicker if…” Of course the secret could be hidden better but you get my point…
It's nice to see secrets be catagorised at least on a basic level, because it helps narrow down a huge variety of possibilities! I am reminded in particular of DOOM (2016) and how for the most part, the game has "Secrets" which are all listed on the level completion screen and suchlike, which are of course very much intended to be found. But there are *also* much rarer secrets, which are not listed by the game at all as secrets, which fit into the final catagory of secret where the reward is knowing you found it at all.
your reward was a harder optional boss fight. YAY! I was the same way, but now that i know that method, i have found that it is even easier and more consistent than i first thought. find the spot where you can do a full jump without dying, then just keep slashing downward and it is revealed that the downward swing has a much larger hitbox than may be intuitive.
Also there are the secrets that give character to the story and depth to the game before you find them but you know they exist (because you feel the game isn't telling you everything and so there is this sense of mistery and general depth). And after you find them everything just comes together.
One game I would add to the mix of secret hunting approach is Anodyne. At some point, by the end game, a player is given a tool that allows to "break" the environment and wander off-screen and there's a number of locations and secrets reachable that way. That is an another level for me.
6:45 you forgot to mention the boss that spawns when picking up the orb, that is nigh-unkillable for anybody reaching that part of the game for the first time
@huebearsong in keeping with the theme of secrets being found by those with a love of the thing in question, the key is found at the very END of the video, last 5 seconds or so.
When I think of "secrets", the first thing that comes to mind are "hidden optionnal upgrades" in Zelda/Metroid games and hidden weapons or shortcuts in old school FPS and Immersive Sims. -Getting a Rocket Launcher in the first 20 seconds of Duke Nukem's 3D first level -Getting the chainsaw 5 seconds into Doom 2 -Unlocking the Chaingun and BFG early in Doom 3 buy finding a password to a safe -Finding the "secret" sniper rifle and rocket Launcher in Deus Ex Human Revolution -Getting some early Energy Tanks in a Metroid game etc Those are the kind of secret that rewards you the most : you feel like you're almost breaking the game by getting this stuff AND the fact that NOW you'll know where to find those means you "mastered" the game and you'll easily get your hands on those freebies on every next playthroughs, putting you at a clear advantage over first-time players.
When it comes to secrets all i can think of is Iji, a beautiful indie game with all kinds of secrets and challenges and trivias. Also reallyjoel's dad difficulty.
The secrets in Braid and The Witness, were the kind that made me go WTF with a smile on my face. (Though I do feel sad that I looked up some of the Braid ones)
on the flip side though, sometimes the secrets feel like a slap in the face. I didn't have the (dlc) ancient saddle in breath of the wild, so i largely went through the entire game feeling like horses were just a waste of time and not worth using, since I spent more time going back to get my horse than i did actually going places with it. So when I came accross this ancient super horse, and spent a while figuring out how to get it. The fact that the game wouldn't even let me register it genuinely infuriated me. Since the lord of the mountain had infinite stamina, it was probably the only horse worth using just for overall speed, and then it wouldn't let me keep it. The same thing for all of the koroks, i got to about 600 korok seeds without looking up anything, just scrabbling around the world looking for secrets. You are directly incentivised to find the korok seeds, as they add to additional inventory space, which is very important for players in a game where all your weapons wear out. And yet, the reward for getting all of them is... a literal piece of poo? I almost ragequit playing the game at that point, because it felt like the developers weren't giving me a little secret, it felt like they were literally shitting on all the hard work I put in. It felt like they were going "wait, you actually bothered to find all these things? well aren't you a shitter, here's your poo!!" The red cubes in fez are a little bit different, because you aren't basically told to go find them, but for me, anything that requires that much effort with no tangible reward whatsoever really makes me feel bad about the game, like it wasted my time. I understand that a game can't have infinite content, and it also feels really bad to have actual rewards that change up the game locked behind rediculous challenges, but I feel like some reward besides a literal piece of poo would have been nice. Maybe the ability to make a weapon not break down? i mean you've basically mastered every part of the game at that point, why not let the player break the rules a little bit
I'm sad there was no mention of Super Mario World in this video. SMW's layers upon layers of secrets has really stuck with me all my life and I seldom run into other games so devoted to rewarding players who are willing to push themselves and explore everywhere.
Definitely agree with the pitch for Jacob Geller at the end. Every single one of his videos have the emotional impact of a truck. I've never come away from one of his videos not feeling something.
My favourite secret is Archdragon Peak in DS3. To find it without wiki, you need to: -Pass through Irrythil dungeon (easy, it's a mandatory area, and the specific spot isn't hidden and serves as a shortcut), where you'll pick up the Dragon Torso Stone (which has a lore snippet about dragon worship. -Beat the quasi-optional boss Oceiros (he's mandatory for one ending, otherwise optional), who through itemization and his similarities to Seath from DS1, we are told is obsessed with dragons. -Past his boss area, there's a small hallway, at the end of which is a statue making a pose which you can learn, called 'Path of the dragon' -Backtrack to the area in Irrythil dungeon and perform the gesture next to all the statues and corpses, which you'll see are doing the same, but are all missing limbs (hence why you can't learn it here). This unlocks the optional area, including two boss fights, one of which is disputably the best boss fight in game, perhaps even the series, and it's cleverly hidden behind world-design (you can literally see the peaks from the area) and flavour text, creating a sense of immersion you couldn't get if the game held your hand with it. A similar, but less complex secret is in Bloodborne. You'll learn a gesture called 'make contact' on your way of clearing the upper cathedral ward. The interesting thing, is that the gesture changes if you maintain it (switching your stretched out arms). Performing gestures in front of the Doll has her usually respond (ranging from a polite curtsy to a quizzical head tilt). When you do the gesture, she won't respond, until the change, when she suddenly gives mild-mannered applause. Performing the gesture later, in front of the Brain of Mensis (a special 'enemy' in the last area of the game, which requires some secrecy of its own to dispatch and later find again) will reward the player with a Caryll rune. What's fun is that these runes are mentioned to be the 'language' of the great ones, and the rune given increase blood echoes from kills. The Brain of Mensis replies to you saying 'hi' with 'kill me'.
Best secrets were the secret narrative in the Black Ops zombie maps hands down. Damn I still remembers the chills of rushing to discover the next step before another team each new DLC
Another arkham city Easter egg for arkham knight: if you visit one of the boats in the bay next to amusement mile: then you can hack a hatch on one of them despite there not being any computer. The password is a pretty obvious scarecrow reference, and the inside even more so.
'You aren't supposed to be here' First time I read that was in Duke Nukem 3D. You could get to this cave if you jumped on the heads of some floating brain-monsters, and it was written on the wall there. Sadly I never made the jumps back.
@@nintendude794 i found the witness kinda meh, I found the secret there like 20mins in, i'm probably not much of a puzzle game person since i didn't like the line puzzles that much. Hollow knight is cool. I'll definitely take a look at FEZ
MawilliX after 10 mins of playing I thought “there must be more to this game than just line puzzles on these panels” and is wasn’t long until I found one in the environment. The first one I found was the windmill. If that’s not it, I try it again.
One of my favorite secrets in a video game is in Shovel Knight. It’s in a hidden spot inside the Hall of Champions where you can dig in the corner and find a random scroll. After grabbing the scroll and finishing the level, on the Xbox/Steam version a new area will open up where you can fight the Battletoads, and defeating them gets you the Toad Gear. Also in the PlayStation version a cloaked figure will appear on the map, and walking to them begins a fight with Kratos from God of War, and beating them gives you the Grave Digger’s Shovel, which you can the give to the Armorer who will then give you the Armor of Chaos. I think PlayStation gets a better reward personally, but Xbox has a longer boss fight so I guess it’s great for both sides.
While working out the secret, I had this sneaking awful suspicion on what it was going to be. I hate the fact that I was right. I trusted you. I sat here for 20 minutes with two pieces of engineering paper working this out.
I spent too long working on that code and all I'm really going to say about it, Mr. Adam Millard- excellent secret. Very much enjoyed. 10/10 do recommend.
I know I'm not the only one not even well-versed in finding this kinda thing, and it took me less than a second to see the secret URL and understand where it lead. Nicely executed, though
I think that this lil game named wobbly life is a great example, it looks like a childish game with simple puzzles but it develops into a full world with tons of hidden areas
The recent destiny two secret was what I think is the gold standard for community puzzles. The basic puzzle was a mysterious corridor opened. After a day of exploring, people found that inputting a certain code by walking through rooms would get you a unique hexagon configuration. Each hexagon combined to form a map of over ten to a hundred thousand pieces. It allowed any player to contribute a meaningful amount, while showing am excitement building progression in the map.
DAMN THAT QR CODE, I saw de first video and laugh, after that was okay/meh, UNTIL THE MOMENT I SAW SANDRA ANNENBERG, WHY IS A BRAZILIAN VIDEO IN THAT PLAYLIST??? I wasn't expecting that, as a Brazilian watcher, thank you you made my day better with this dumb playlist
Your videos are so helpful for me to understand these game mechanics I know of and like, but never quite understood how to do it myself. I will definitely be using your videos to help build my games.
What about Remar's IJI? That game has a really satisfying Secret room that really shares that mutual appreciation for the game that the dev and player feel.
@@MrTylerNinja Pure luck. Vigenere is the only cipher I know and, being the theme of the video, I tried the key "secret". Also, he straight up gives away the key in the last 5 seconds of the video
In that hollow knight clip in the forgotten crossroads, you can actually down slash and skip up to that part within the first few minutes of starting the game, which just proves your point more
I think my favorite secret is W.D. Gaster in undertale, any clues of him are difficult to find in normal playthroughs, but possible. dataminers can quickly find his secrets and start theorizing, bo idea what the right answer is, a secret that people want to figure out, but cant, so make up their own version of the story which is incredible to me.
I think Ready Player One (The book, not the dumb movie lol) really follows the rule that the best Easter Eggs require an appreciation of the game. In the book, the creator of the virtual reality OASIS was an obsessive fanatic of 80s and 90s pop culture, and upon his death he created an Easter Egg that upon finding it would grant the player full ownership of the OASIS, but all the clues and challenges leading to it are buried in references that only one that has a love of the 80s as he did would be able to find them. I guess this is a bit different from what the video is saying in some details, but the core of it is that good Easter Eggs require great knowledge commitment.
When you used the monarch wings and mantis claw to do a platforming section that you can do by simply pogoing on the spikes made me wonder why you didn’t know how to spike pogo.
The code at the end is a Vigenere Cipher with the key being "SECRET". This was found since I saw the first 5 letters were likely "https" since this is a link and since their mapping spelled "SECRE" the word was likely completed by mapping that p after the // to T. This was further confirmed by the mapping of "tsf" which was most likely to map to something like ".com" or ".net". When mapped to .com, the corresponding key for those three letters is "RET" which is a substring of the key we found before further confirming my suspicion. In summary, the ciphertext maps to www.youtube.com/watch?... After this point I got kinda lost though, as no matter what I decided, it wouldnt lead to a proper video. Is this the right idea though?
That URL doesn't fool me. I thought it looked suspicious at first, and scrolling through the comments confirmed my suspicions. Good try, good Architect. Also nice QR code, you got me there with that one.
the moment i saw the :// in the secret code, i just knew what it would be. So i deciphered the thing by myself. I didn't even know what the code was called. I wish you followed what you mentioned in the video and maybe had a special unlisted video that only those who had solved the code could view...
3:27 That is easy to get without the wall jump. Just pogo up the spikes. The boss at the end though is quite difficult without the upgrades, however, so this is kind of a bad idea. I told my brother to do this and he lost all his Geo.
I scanned the qr code in 2:45 and after finding that secret, no joke, I said out loud "Was that even worth it?" I don't know if that question was directed at you for doing it, or me for following it.
This video reminded me that I reached the mawlurk after fighting the false knight and got super pissed when it murderized me after the brutal challenge I went through to get there in hopes of finding some secret upgrade.
Something you didn't mention that I like is how doom 2016 and I assume eternal will use secrets is they're fundamental to the pacing of the game. The arena to arena gameplay would be kind of exhausting with no break Inbetween but the secrets reward you to take a small break from the demanding combat to just explore the map and get your bearings
I really enjoy your content and I find your style to my liking and just want to say that I really appreciate your time and effort, so that you adam from the bottom of my heart thank you. We need more thoughtful people like you on this platform, please continue your great work. 👍😊
@@aricheeese1278 thanks I have watched everyone of his videos already Mark was the first channel like this that I found and I absolutely love it, the is another channel which is a bit different but still about gaming actually the psychology of games it's call daryl talks games and another one which is more technical called AI in games. Thank you for taking the time to tell me I appreciate it👍😊
the remaster of SotC thanks that secret finder for way more than just dedication to secret hunting. their efforts in reverse engineering the original game were so extensive that they were one of the first people to be able to emulate it, and the remaster team benefited immensely from the info the community discovered
The first red cube I got in Fez was by accident. I was just mashing the triggers at random. It wasn't until much later that I found the clue for the puzzle.
very good video! but SotC's new secret was not put in there by the original devs team ico, rather, the studio that was in charge of the remake BluePoint Games. Maybe you meant to say that, but it came across differently
I hate secrets you have to come back to to get, I always, ALWAYS, forget about them. I usually play games over at least a few weeks if not months or years. And I hate having to replay old levels just to do one part. Really sucks.
I agree with your definition of a bad secret, but like with anything, there are good secrets that don't follow your definition. Like, the head on a stick in Doom, or even the first secret ever.
Give me money on patreon and you'll get access to secret content!... I mean it's not *that* secret but it still counts, okay? :www.patreon.com/ArchitectofGames
You fools! you morons! you incalculable ignorami!- soon I shall reach one thousand twitter followers, and with it, ULTIMATE POWER! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!: twitter.com/Thefearalcarrot
Adam Millard - The Architect of Games nicotine
Thanks for the rolling rick...
How much for you not to misuse the phrase "begging the question"?
I wish you actually put a decent reward there. Say a video on some more of your favorite secrets, or something personal like that. People who'd care would be able to find out and would love it. And this was so obvious it actually pissed me off when I got the result url. Didn't have to click it to know what it is...
so, what if I got the secret but it said that the video was unavailable?
Ok I deciphered your secret. And I hate you. I really hate you.
I feel let down, you made me cry. You told me a lie, that it would be worth it.
This confirms my suspicions it was one of those things
simple Vignere, key wasn't even needed, because most of the link can be guessed
I did too... I'm not even mad!
... It’s a rickroll isn’t it?
I used Excel and all to figure out a pattern, get the offset, had a real high when I found a repeating offset of the letters and then...THAT.
Not gonna lie, “Special thanks to Nomad Colossus and the 79 Steps to Enlightenment” still makes me tear up a bit.
I thought I was retarded when that happened I’m glad I’m not the only one
@@skinnypete8928 ok boomer
Did you know that in Fez:
1. Monolith is probably still not solved correctly, as the relase date solution was debunked by the developer, and there is a high chance that no real solution exist.
2. You can find even more obscure secret with the hearts. You can make them disassemble by entering a special code while inspecring counting and writing artifacts in the inventory. After that there is one more "ending" sequence... and nothing more. It's unclear whether this is intentional or something left in the code by developers.
3. There are still some elements found in the game that nobody knows the purpose of: concentric squares, 4x2 code, soundtrack images. It's possible the intended solution for the Monolith is connected with one, or even all of them.
I think Disasterpeace said that there is still something yet to be uncovered about the soundtrack images. Man, those secrets threw me for a loop.
Fez is a masterpiece
thats so f ing cool
Insanely great game. 😍
Fez is absolutely insane
Look, I'm not going to get Rick Rolled.
Thanks for the vid!
Don't scan his QR code either lol
@@HandleDisliker lol
Yes, a good game will make you say "screw it, what if I..."
And then shocks you into realising you totally CAN do that random thing you thought wouldn't even be considered to the Devs
I hate to be another RDR2 fan boy, but i only got it a few months ago and I've had a few of these moments even with the high expectations i had going into it. Just little things like all the doors to a house were locked, which traditionally means "nothing here", but i tried shooting the windows and they blew out, and it turned out i could climb through one to get inside anyway. Or doing a crime and dodging the officers heading to the scene by changing clothes quickly and playing it cool when you walk past them, (because they don't know its you theyre after, yet). The fact that dumping dead animals at people's feet is considered a hostile act by the public, or how your horse gets a bit pissed off when you make it walk through branches and plants.
Weird little things that id never think to include in a game for the sake of immersion or realism but im so glad theyre there, regardless.
here is my example i only recently found out about. skyrim, 9 years old mind you, allows you to slaughter evrryone at the winterhold academy in your girst lesson. then if you survive the angry mages and pay your fine later you can rejoin them with a simple sorry, my bad response and the bonkers thing is, the tutor, tolfdir has a fully voice response for that situation.
todd knew some of us are monsters inside..
Yea these are some really cool examples.
MGS3 and BotW are some of the most immersive games due to that for me. So many tiny things interact with each other and every *makes sense*.
@@VijoPlays I gotta check that out now
13:49 Those numbers and capitals match just a bit too well to dQw4w9WgXcQ.......
that's cause they are :(
I know that link way too good
Well, You know the rules and so do I.
@@ronnycook3569 thank you for letting me know my guess was right
It did seem like a scam I'm not going to lie
I'm gonna be that guy. VVVVVV is just pronounced "V", confirmed by developer
Usually, I despise *_T H A T G U Y_*
But this is nice
I usually say "V six times" or "Hexa-V". Just calling it V feels weird.
Thanks, you just saved me 5 seconds!
Yeah, but it’s more fun to just say VVVVVV
Nithing can stop me from calling it WWW or V6
IDK about them being great secrets, but the songs playing during the secrets in battleblock theatre definitely make them great.
oof
DEEEEYYOOOOOOBEEEDOOBEEDOOBEEDOO BABADOOBA DOOBADOOP DOOP BABADOOP IT'S A SECRET
13:45 I don't even need to open it, when you know you know
This secret never gonna let you down ;-)
@Benjamin McCann lmao how dumb are you the main comment alludes to that as well
Scan the qr code on 2:45 for a very important secret
Just tell me what it is, I have no way of scanning it
It's a rickroll, isnt it?
@@KittyLitterYT that's a secret
Yee
yee, very important secret shh don't say it
0:33 how embarrassing
he can't even spell folder right
they are all empty though sadly :(
the joke is that it's porn
f o l b o r
RIP the two guys in the comments who didn't see the folder.
The Path of Pain holds a secret cut scene for lore hounds
It’s not really a secret, cuz you have to see it at the end. The PoP itself is more of a secret, cuz it’s hard to find without a guide
@@Ismael-kc3ry it is a secret since no one ever beat that shit
Fireb0rn has entered the chat
the path itself is the secret, it's there specifically for people who enjoy punishing platforming challenges. the primary reason to do it is just for fun if you want to
@@itsaUSBline also the real ending of the game, fighting the radiance. I found the path of pain before I figured out I could dream nail myself in a reflective egg.
Also be sure to watch Jacob Geller's "The soul of a library" video, it's incredible
My fave of his is on Haunted houses, called "Control, Anatomy, and the Legacy of the Haunted House"
but, I very much second that the soul of a library an excellent video, worth watching! :D
all of his videos are great tbh
yeah I binged all of them
@@SunroseStudios yeah all of his videos are amazing
@@purpleghost106 that's a definite favorite of mine
9:01 "egglplant"..."intimacy" *snicker*
yeeaaa I noticed that too now lol
Really?😑
Even after all these years, working on brute forcing the monolith in Fez remains one of my best gaming memories.
10:50 I'd recognise that combination of capital letter anywhere
3:26 This secret path in Hollow Knight can be reached from the beginning of the game by using pogo jumps on the spikes.
Yes, but you need at least dashing to have an hope in the next section. Or be really gud.
@@GygasDistruttore wtf the next part is super easy without the dash
I even did this in my steelsoul run.
@@Batad0n same lol, im just starting but yeah i did it like that
@@lukadjordjevic2576 good luck over there :)
i spent way too long decoding that to be done like this
EDIT: WAIT HE GIVES YOU THE CIPHER AT THE END I AM CRYING
Okay so now real talk, the people who decoded the link should’ve been rewarded with the secret key, NOT the rickroll. The rickroll should’ve been a red herring troll where you then find the true secret when you realize that there is another sequence popping right out at you. The one the you used to find the link that you then decode back into letters and boom! It’s the true secret from the video.
i decoded it then just sighed because i knew that link too well and didnt even type it into google
Adam: "This secret was put here with an excellent thought and it creates this legendary moment which was a true masterpiece by the developers"
Game dev who just put the secret in the game for fun while being drunk: "Uh... yeah, that was my intent all along."
Hey if you find it while messing around after having too much to drink then it’s still true lol
The only secret that I can remember, that made me feel special as a player in the last 10 years, ist that Blue Heart in stage 2 in Celeste, where you have to learn about a mechanic I initially thought, was an unintended side-effect, but the devs actually completely accounted for it. It's incredibly rare, that my type of exploration is rewarded with anything more than a funky out of bounds or softlock - so that was really special to me
Also yeah, go and check out Jacob Gellers video on Shadow of the Colossus. It's a really good one
Ratchet & Clank's Insomniac museum's always a fun secret to collect in almost all of the games. It's packed to the brim with content, and has different stuff each game.
Plus in R&C2, once you've gotten the Magnet Boots you can go to one of the first levels and walk up this magnatised ramp to fight this giant slug boss. I thought it was cool :')
0:35 Adam I am scared for your well being. You have too many folders that are empty, you need to fill them asap. Don't underestimate the health risks. I know that most people today use the online solution but you gotta do what you gotta do. If you need help just ask.
: ^)
agreed
Turning secrets into tutorial tips is actually quite ingenious thought! Especially for games that are supposed to be played over and over like rouge likes or platformers!
Imagine you frustratingly dying from the first boss in the game and come back to the beginning of the level only to spot some crack in the wall you haven’t seen and blowing down that wall to find a tip that says: “The boss will die quicker if…”
Of course the secret could be hidden better but you get my point…
It's nice to see secrets be catagorised at least on a basic level, because it helps narrow down a huge variety of possibilities! I am reminded in particular of DOOM (2016) and how for the most part, the game has "Secrets" which are all listed on the level completion screen and suchlike, which are of course very much intended to be found. But there are *also* much rarer secrets, which are not listed by the game at all as secrets, which fit into the final catagory of secret where the reward is knowing you found it at all.
3:27 I didn't realise that you were meant to come back with the mantis claws so I spent ages parkouring up there with nail bounces
your reward was a harder optional boss fight. YAY!
I was the same way, but now that i know that method, i have found that it is even easier and more consistent than i first thought. find the spot where you can do a full jump without dying, then just keep slashing downward and it is revealed that the downward swing has a much larger hitbox than may be intuitive.
That’s awesome and you have my respect
I am 90 percent sure that “secret code” is a rickroll
Also there are the secrets that give character to the story and depth to the game before you find them but you know they exist (because you feel the game isn't telling you everything and so there is this sense of mistery and general depth). And after you find them everything just comes together.
Great that you shouted out Jacob Geller. His content is some of the best on this website right now
One game I would add to the mix of secret hunting approach is Anodyne. At some point, by the end game, a player is given a tool that allows to "break" the environment and wander off-screen and there's a number of locations and secrets reachable that way. That is an another level for me.
6:45 you forgot to mention the boss that spawns when picking up the orb, that is nigh-unkillable for anybody reaching that part of the game for the first time
eeh they'll be fine.
probably.
3:30 you dont actually need monarch wings or mantis claw to get there xD
For the secret URL in the end... decode it using a Vigenere Cipher decoder and use the key "secret"
Its worth it! You wont be dissapointed.
yep
Rick roll lol
@HueBearSong you kinda know the form of the youtube url link, you can see that it's literally youtube.com/watch?v= and then something.
i dont want to know what the secret is because its probably a rickroll
@huebearsong in keeping with the theme of secrets being found by those with a love of the thing in question, the key is found at the very END of the video, last 5 seconds or so.
The schoolyard S on the halfpipe was a genius touch.
As a finn it took me embarrassingly long to realize that noita means witch in finnish
When I think of "secrets", the first thing that comes to mind are "hidden optionnal upgrades" in Zelda/Metroid games and hidden weapons or shortcuts in old school FPS and Immersive Sims.
-Getting a Rocket Launcher in the first 20 seconds of Duke Nukem's 3D first level
-Getting the chainsaw 5 seconds into Doom 2
-Unlocking the Chaingun and BFG early in Doom 3 buy finding a password to a safe
-Finding the "secret" sniper rifle and rocket Launcher in Deus Ex Human Revolution
-Getting some early Energy Tanks in a Metroid game
etc
Those are the kind of secret that rewards you the most : you feel like you're almost breaking the game by getting this stuff AND the fact that NOW you'll know where to find those means you "mastered" the game and you'll easily get your hands on those freebies on every next playthroughs, putting you at a clear advantage over first-time players.
When it comes to secrets all i can think of is Iji, a beautiful indie game with all kinds of secrets and challenges and trivias. Also reallyjoel's dad difficulty.
The secrets in Braid and The Witness, were the kind that made me go WTF with a smile on my face. (Though I do feel sad that I looked up some of the Braid ones)
on the flip side though, sometimes the secrets feel like a slap in the face.
I didn't have the (dlc) ancient saddle in breath of the wild, so i largely went through the entire game feeling like horses were just a waste of time and not worth using, since I spent more time going back to get my horse than i did actually going places with it. So when I came accross this ancient super horse, and spent a while figuring out how to get it. The fact that the game wouldn't even let me register it genuinely infuriated me. Since the lord of the mountain had infinite stamina, it was probably the only horse worth using just for overall speed, and then it wouldn't let me keep it.
The same thing for all of the koroks, i got to about 600 korok seeds without looking up anything, just scrabbling around the world looking for secrets. You are directly incentivised to find the korok seeds, as they add to additional inventory space, which is very important for players in a game where all your weapons wear out. And yet, the reward for getting all of them is... a literal piece of poo? I almost ragequit playing the game at that point, because it felt like the developers weren't giving me a little secret, it felt like they were literally shitting on all the hard work I put in. It felt like they were going "wait, you actually bothered to find all these things? well aren't you a shitter, here's your poo!!"
The red cubes in fez are a little bit different, because you aren't basically told to go find them, but for me, anything that requires that much effort with no tangible reward whatsoever really makes me feel bad about the game, like it wasted my time. I understand that a game can't have infinite content, and it also feels really bad to have actual rewards that change up the game locked behind rediculous challenges, but I feel like some reward besides a literal piece of poo would have been nice. Maybe the ability to make a weapon not break down? i mean you've basically mastered every part of the game at that point, why not let the player break the rules a little bit
I'm sad there was no mention of Super Mario World in this video. SMW's layers upon layers of secrets has really stuck with me all my life and I seldom run into other games so devoted to rewarding players who are willing to push themselves and explore everywhere.
12:33 and this is why I was really upset when in enter the gungeons tutorial after firing all 1000 bullets emptying the clip. Nothing happened.
I loved Fez, but I had to Google so many puzzles. I wanted to get everything.
Definitely agree with the pitch for Jacob Geller at the end. Every single one of his videos have the emotional impact of a truck. I've never come away from one of his videos not feeling something.
God damn it Adam, Secrets like this make me question my patreon
My favourite secret is Archdragon Peak in DS3.
To find it without wiki, you need to:
-Pass through Irrythil dungeon (easy, it's a mandatory area, and the specific spot isn't hidden and serves as a shortcut), where you'll pick up the Dragon Torso Stone (which has a lore snippet about dragon worship.
-Beat the quasi-optional boss Oceiros (he's mandatory for one ending, otherwise optional), who through itemization and his similarities to Seath from DS1, we are told is obsessed with dragons.
-Past his boss area, there's a small hallway, at the end of which is a statue making a pose which you can learn, called 'Path of the dragon'
-Backtrack to the area in Irrythil dungeon and perform the gesture next to all the statues and corpses, which you'll see are doing the same, but are all missing limbs (hence why you can't learn it here).
This unlocks the optional area, including two boss fights, one of which is disputably the best boss fight in game, perhaps even the series, and it's cleverly hidden behind world-design (you can literally see the peaks from the area) and flavour text, creating a sense of immersion you couldn't get if the game held your hand with it.
A similar, but less complex secret is in Bloodborne.
You'll learn a gesture called 'make contact' on your way of clearing the upper cathedral ward. The interesting thing, is that the gesture changes if you maintain it (switching your stretched out arms).
Performing gestures in front of the Doll has her usually respond (ranging from a polite curtsy to a quizzical head tilt). When you do the gesture, she won't respond, until the change, when she suddenly gives mild-mannered applause.
Performing the gesture later, in front of the Brain of Mensis (a special 'enemy' in the last area of the game, which requires some secrecy of its own to dispatch and later find again) will reward the player with a Caryll rune.
What's fun is that these runes are mentioned to be the 'language' of the great ones, and the rune given increase blood echoes from kills.
The Brain of Mensis replies to you saying 'hi' with 'kill me'.
Best secrets were the secret narrative in the Black Ops zombie maps hands down. Damn I still remembers the chills of rushing to discover the next step before another team each new DLC
This code is called vigenere cipher; the passphrase is 6 letters long and can be figured out on its own, but you can also skip to 15:22 to get it 👍🏻
QR Code to the "Important Videos" playlist? I don't know how to feel.
I feel kind of bad, but that's because I watched the Terrible Mall Commercial.
You can tackle the hollow knight one sooner just with raw skill but a certain upgrade makes it easier, there are a few examples like that
4:53 Well, technically, that’s 30.
2:50 - Music from SteamWorld Dig.
Noone asked for that - but I still answered :-)
Another arkham city Easter egg for arkham knight: if you visit one of the boats in the bay next to amusement mile: then you can hack a hatch on one of them despite there not being any computer. The password is a pretty obvious scarecrow reference, and the inside even more so.
'You aren't supposed to be here' First time I read that was in Duke Nukem 3D. You could get to this cave if you jumped on the heads of some floating brain-monsters, and it was written on the wall there. Sadly I never made the jumps back.
It was a bad idea watching a video about secrets when up i don’t like having things spoilt in games I intend to play
I literally just started playing and found the noita lava lake secret both today
Please play FEZ. And (although not spoiled in this vid) play The Witness. Hollow Knight is good too.
@@nintendude794 i found the witness kinda meh, I found the secret there like 20mins in, i'm probably not much of a puzzle game person since i didn't like the line puzzles that much.
Hollow knight is cool.
I'll definitely take a look at FEZ
@@jasondads9509 You should probably play The Witness more if you think you found the secret 20 minutes in.
MawilliX after 10 mins of playing I thought “there must be more to this game than just line puzzles on these panels” and is wasn’t long until I found one in the environment. The first one I found was the windmill. If that’s not it, I try it again.
Is it bad that I can recognize a rick roll even when its a coded cypher?
The fact that I already know what your "secret" is is incredibly disappointing.
One of my favorite secrets in a video game is in Shovel Knight. It’s in a hidden spot inside the Hall of Champions where you can dig in the corner and find a random scroll.
After grabbing the scroll and finishing the level, on the Xbox/Steam version a new area will open up where you can fight the Battletoads, and defeating them gets you the Toad Gear. Also in the PlayStation version a cloaked figure will appear on the map, and walking to them begins a fight with Kratos from God of War, and beating them gives you the Grave Digger’s Shovel, which you can the give to the Armorer who will then give you the Armor of Chaos.
I think PlayStation gets a better reward personally, but Xbox has a longer boss fight so I guess it’s great for both sides.
While working out the secret, I had this sneaking awful suspicion on what it was going to be. I hate the fact that I was right. I trusted you. I sat here for 20 minutes with two pieces of engineering paper working this out.
Subtitles: lava is a shortcut to laser
I spent too long working on that code and all I'm really going to say about it, Mr. Adam Millard- excellent secret. Very much enjoyed. 10/10 do recommend.
is it a ceasar cipher? i cant figure it out
@@Jamie-zy8fp It's vigenere.
Was put off track by the enigma machine in the video and thought it was enigma, ignoring the special characters and numbers
It was easier when you watched to the last seconds of the video, but I'm glad you go it without the secret at the end.
"This video isn't available anymore" that wasn't worth it.
I know I'm not the only one not even well-versed in finding this kinda thing, and it took me less than a second to see the secret URL and understand where it lead.
Nicely executed, though
I watched a video about the 79 steps and i almost cried at the end for how much work really paid off in the end
I think that this lil game named wobbly life is a great example, it looks like a childish game with simple puzzles but it develops into a full world with tons of hidden areas
6:45 So THAT'S what that (seemingly-stupid) cloud is for!
That QR code sure was important
The recent destiny two secret was what I think is the gold standard for community puzzles. The basic puzzle was a mysterious corridor opened. After a day of exploring, people found that inputting a certain code by walking through rooms would get you a unique hexagon configuration. Each hexagon combined to form a map of over ten to a hundred thousand pieces. It allowed any player to contribute a meaningful amount, while showing am excitement building progression in the map.
DAMN THAT QR CODE, I saw de first video and laugh, after that was okay/meh, UNTIL THE MOMENT I SAW SANDRA ANNENBERG, WHY IS A BRAZILIAN VIDEO IN THAT PLAYLIST??? I wasn't expecting that, as a Brazilian watcher, thank you you made my day better with this dumb playlist
Your videos are so helpful for me to understand these game mechanics I know of and like, but never quite understood how to do it myself.
I will definitely be using your videos to help build my games.
6:00 I disagree. As soon as I saw that one night I tried my hardest to find the source
Duke Nukem still has some of the best secrets in video game history. Also shoutout to Dusk for having even better secrets than that.
This is a great video. Explained some stuff I knew, but couldn't explain. Great work :)
What about Remar's IJI?
That game has a really satisfying Secret room that really shares that mutual appreciation for the game that the dev and player feel.
13:50 its a youtube link lol decoded
Without even trying to type it out i can guess it's probably a rickroll or equivalent.
@@Zekiraeth You are absolutely right. Decode it with vigenere. The key is "secret"
@@techtonik25 how did you know it was a Vigenere Cipher
? and that the key is "secret".
@@MrTylerNinja Pure luck. Vigenere is the only cipher I know and, being the theme of the video, I tried the key "secret".
Also, he straight up gives away the key in the last 5 seconds of the video
@@techtonik25 that's brillient. I was trying to figure out enigma settings that would spit out the right result 😂
In that hollow knight clip in the forgotten crossroads, you can actually down slash and skip up to that part within the first few minutes of starting the game, which just proves your point more
I think my favorite secret is W.D. Gaster in undertale, any clues of him are difficult to find in normal playthroughs, but possible. dataminers can quickly find his secrets and start theorizing, bo idea what the right answer is, a secret that people want to figure out, but cant, so make up their own version of the story which is incredible to me.
I think Ready Player One (The book, not the dumb movie lol) really follows the rule that the best Easter Eggs require an appreciation of the game. In the book, the creator of the virtual reality OASIS was an obsessive fanatic of 80s and 90s pop culture, and upon his death he created an Easter Egg that upon finding it would grant the player full ownership of the OASIS, but all the clues and challenges leading to it are buried in references that only one that has a love of the 80s as he did would be able to find them. I guess this is a bit different from what the video is saying in some details, but the core of it is that good Easter Eggs require great knowledge commitment.
When you used the monarch wings and mantis claw to do a platforming section that you can do by simply pogoing on the spikes made me wonder why you didn’t know how to spike pogo.
The code at the end is a Vigenere Cipher with the key being "SECRET". This was found since I saw the first 5 letters were likely "https" since this is a link and since their mapping spelled "SECRE" the word was likely completed by mapping that p after the // to T. This was further confirmed by the mapping of "tsf" which was most likely to map to something like ".com" or ".net". When mapped to .com, the corresponding key for those three letters is "RET" which is a substring of the key we found before further confirming my suspicion. In summary, the ciphertext maps to www.youtube.com/watch?...
After this point I got kinda lost though, as no matter what I decided, it wouldnt lead to a proper video. Is this the right idea though?
im guessing its a rick roll, since the capitalization at the end is the same as the url to it (the numbers also stay)
the rest of it is still a Vigenere, you can find an online decipherer. and yes it does resolve to a video ending with XcQ
That URL doesn't fool me. I thought it looked suspicious at first, and scrolling through the comments confirmed my suspicions. Good try, good Architect. Also nice QR code, you got me there with that one.
Hestu's gift is totally not worth the effort of collecting all 900 koroks. I'd call that a bad secret because it just feels like a slap in the face
the moment i saw the :// in the secret code, i just knew what it would be.
So i deciphered the thing by myself. I didn't even know what the code was called.
I wish you followed what you mentioned in the video and maybe had a special unlisted video that only those who had solved the code could view...
3:27 That is easy to get without the wall jump. Just pogo up the spikes. The boss at the end though is quite difficult without the upgrades, however, so this is kind of a bad idea. I told my brother to do this and he lost all his Geo.
3:26 you mean to tell me I spent ages bouncing off the spikes with the base skills, for their to be effectively *flight* your supposed to use...
I scanned the qr code in 2:45 and after finding that secret, no joke, I said out loud "Was that even worth it?"
I don't know if that question was directed at you for doing it, or me for following it.
Spelunky solo eggplant run was supposed to be impossible, VB according to the devs. It was supposed to be done with a coop partner
Fez and The Witness had the best secrets. In fact, Metroidvanias in general are best for secrets. They're built for them!
I truly searched "dat boi shadow of the colossus". I really hoped it
This video reminded me that I reached the mawlurk after fighting the false knight and got super pissed when it murderized me after the brutal challenge I went through to get there in hopes of finding some secret upgrade.
You made me put in time and effort on that cipher to 1) give away the key and 2) do me dirty like that with the answer??
Something you didn't mention that I like is how doom 2016 and I assume eternal will use secrets is they're fundamental to the pacing of the game. The arena to arena gameplay would be kind of exhausting with no break Inbetween but the secrets reward you to take a small break from the demanding combat to just explore the map and get your bearings
Heyy Supraland is filled to the brim with great secrets, you need to play it if you haven't
Your videos are the best video game training course, I find.
13:50 Y'know, I'd have been more disappointed if it hadn't been what I thought it was.
I really enjoy your content and I find your style to my liking and just want to say that I really appreciate your time and effort, so that you adam from the bottom of my heart thank you. We need more thoughtful people like you on this platform, please continue your great work. 👍😊
A good RUclips like him is game makers toolkit
@@aricheeese1278 thanks I have watched everyone of his videos already Mark was the first channel like this that I found and I absolutely love it, the is another channel which is a bit different but still about gaming actually the psychology of games it's call daryl talks games and another one which is more technical called AI in games. Thank you for taking the time to tell me I appreciate it👍😊
@@danielcalabrese5769 ur welcome and thanks for the recommendation
the remaster of SotC thanks that secret finder for way more than just dedication to secret hunting. their efforts in reverse engineering the original game were so extensive that they were one of the first people to be able to emulate it, and the remaster team benefited immensely from the info the community discovered
The first red cube I got in Fez was by accident. I was just mashing the triggers at random. It wasn't until much later that I found the clue for the puzzle.
very good video! but SotC's new secret was not put in there by the original devs team ico, rather, the studio that was in charge of the remake BluePoint Games. Maybe you meant to say that, but it came across differently
I hate secrets you have to come back to to get, I always, ALWAYS, forget about them. I usually play games over at least a few weeks if not months or years. And I hate having to replay old levels just to do one part. Really sucks.
I agree with your definition of a bad secret, but like with anything, there are good secrets that don't follow your definition. Like, the head on a stick in Doom, or even the first secret ever.