Primal Planet Secret Areas Are Melting Minds—and It’s Brilliant Game Design

Most games give you flashing arrows and cutscenes yelling “GO THIS WAY”—but now and then, one dares you to look behind the waterfall. Primal Planet is that kind of game. A quietly launched, indie side-scrolling action adventure, it’s already turning heads thanks to its smart, nostalgic, and genuinely thrilling approach to one element most AAA titles mess up: the power of a secret area.

Developed by Tiny Gorilla, Primal Planet hit early access in late June on Steam and itch.io for PC, with full release slated for September 2025. No console plans yet, though given the buzz, we wouldn’t be surprised if a Switch or PS5 port creeps in later. But what’s making it blow up on gaming threads and TikTok is the joy of finding a secret area so beautifully placed that it feels like you’re the only person who discovered it, and now you’re part of something special.

Secret Areas in Games: A Lost Art?

Hidden areas in games used to be the highlight of a Saturday afternoon. Whether it was Super Metroid leaving you guessing with your missiles or Ori hiding shiny extras behind triple jumps, there was something magical about figuring it out on your own. Primal Planet brings that magic back. The game doesn’t bombard you with tutorials. Instead, it grants you tools and trusts you to piece things together. See a suspicious crack in the rock ceiling? Wall-jump, throw a spear mid-air, and maybe—just maybe—you’ll land in a cave filled with bioluminescent bats and an enzyme upgrade loot. It’s not handed to you. It’s earned.

Breaking Down the Secret Formula

Secret zones in Primal Planet gameplay aren’t just easter eggs. They’re micro-stages—mini ecosystems complete with unique creatures, collectables, and narrative clues to the planet’s history. One standout moment? A player on the r/gaming PC board shared a clip of discovering an off-map swamp temple hidden behind a destructible vine wall (that didn’t even look destructible). It led to a ghostly sub-boss, whose only weakness was a rarely-used environment-based acid bomb. The reward turned out to be a passive upgrade that hiccups time when you roll. Massive gameplay shift. Zero handholding.

Design that Dares You to Explore

The level design borrows heavily from Metroidvania-style exploration, with zones folding in on each other, encouraging backtracking once new tools are unlocked. Add in scattered audio logs and semi-randomised loot, and suddenly you’re incentivised to search not only for gear, but for story. It turns every patch of terrain into a potential breadcrumb. And that’s where the obsession with secret levels in games properly kicks in again.

This dynamic is even more rewarding in co-op, where players can accidentally spot things the other missed. Perfect for couch gamers or online explorers, but especially sweet if you end up leading a friend into a zone they’ve failed to find after hours of solo play. “How the hell did you see that?” moments abound.

No Fast Travel, No Mercy—and That’s Good

Bold design choice incoming: there’s minimal fast travel in Primal Planet. This means revisiting old zones is mandatory, but unlike older, grind-heavy titles, the world layout here is tight, vertical, and surprisingly digestible. Returning to old areas is rewarding, not tedious—new paths unlock, enemies behave differently, and old secret spaces might evolve depending on environmental changes or your current abilities. It’s a game philosophy rooted in trust. It assumes players aren’t idiots and will—if given subtle cues—stumble their way into phenomenal discoveries. This is how you make a 2D exploration game that actually sticks with people.

Sure, Primal Planet still has some rough patches (early reports cite occasional collision bugs, particularly in the acidic jungle biome). But overall? It’s one of the few new games that truly understands what secret game content should be. Surprise. Discovery. Risk. And the absolute rush of “did I just break the game… or win it?”

It’s a small reminder that, when executed right, there’s no better dopamine hit than finding something you weren’t supposed to. Not because you saw it on a map. But because that oddly textured wall just seemed a bit too out of place. If you’re chasing thrills in your digital escapades, Primal Planet’s secret areas are calling. Available now on PC via Steam Early Access and itch.io. Full release incoming September 2025. Priced at £18.99 with no regional restrictions. Pre-orders for the final version open next month. Don’t sleep on this one—it’s the game your discovery-loving brain’s been craving.