10 Twisted Secret Levels In Video Games

Expansion packs were vastly different in the olden days, especially with shooters. There wasn’t this malarky with content being reserved as a pre-order bonus, or paid downloadable content.

Sometimes, small-named developers would ask for permission to make an expansion pack for a company. Others didn’t bother and compiled together some trashy ones for the internet.

Duke It Out In D.C. fell into the first category. Developed by Sunstorm Interactive, this was a nine-level add-on for Duke Nukem 3D. The aliens have assaulted Washington and have captured President Clinton (who’s almost as much of a womanizer as Duke is).

The expansion had a great eye for detail, with some excellent-quality maps. Top Secret is no exception.

Set in an underground military storage facility, there are a lot of crates, some of them with tasty bits of loot, like Shrink Rays and Freezethrowers. Further on in the mission, Duke stumbles across a locked up time machine. In order to find a missing key card, our hero leaps inside, sending himself back thousands of years, realizing that the invaders have inhabited ancient Aztec temples and pyramids.

Waterfalls, secret tunnels, and spacious corridors make this a fantastic piece of the level to explore and fight in.

Top Secret is a beast of a secret level; it’s large, it’s challenging, and it sends you back in time to battle the lizards and piggies. Not many shooters can boast that.