The Top 7... secret rooms in video games

The term 'secret room' is more than the sum of its parts. Secrets are always cool, but they work best when they make an otherwise normal-sounding word more intriguing. Secret Santa. Secret squirrel. Victoria's Secret.Videogames understand the worth of this like no other medium and use it to turn regular rooms into something irresistible. Secret rooms. Some are better than others, of course. So here areour Top 7 secret rooms in video games.

Despite being the inspiration for this very feature, PSone platformer SkullMonkeys' secret room has to be way down this list, primarily because it's only a room in the loosest, videogamey sense of the word. It has an entrance and an exit and clearly-defined parameters for movement, but it's also one of the most 'outside'-looking scenes in all of gaming. Oh, and it's not incredibly secret, as it's accessed through a regular bonus bubble with a little swirl on it, unlocked by collectingthree swirls in the regular level. BUT.

What it does have in its favour which makes it absolutely impossible to omit is a mind-meltingly awesome and downright creepy song all about how great it is. And if said song calls it a room, so who are we to argue? Have a listen:

It's a mix between They Might Be Giants and Tenacious D. Favourite line? Right at the end, whispered in a normal-sounding yet clearly psychotic voice. "I'll never leave you".The room itself is full of juicy goodies and there are no enemies to spoil your fun, so it's at least got most of the bases covered.

How secret is it?

How roomy is it?

Aah, le Puff-Puff room. Nothing to do with Amsterdam, this is actually a series regular. It's not part of the quest, and while it's freely accessible from the world map, it's still just a door set into a hillside.But we're getting ahead of ourselves here. What is the Puff-Puff room? Here's a clue:

(゚-゚)^o^(゚-゚)

Still no idea? Watch the following video and you'll understand:

Yes, what at first appears to be a seedy massage parlour with rather explicit connotations of... 'rudeness' actuallyturns out to be a simple head rub with two slimes. Awesome. Better still, it finally illuminates the blackouts of previous Dragon Quest games' Puff-Puff rooms. Yup, it was slimes all along. Why, what did you think was happening?


Above: To be honest, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. Mmmm... lovely warm puff-puff

How secret is it?

Not awfully secret. It's through an understandably discreet door in a hillside. There are some references to it being near the waterfall, but you still need to find it for yourself.

How roomy is it?

Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.