I adore games that have a very specific and hard to define characteristic: beign built around rewarding going out of bounds. There are plenty of games with easter eggs or hidden areas, but that's not quite it: I want game sin which I will realize that if I jump just so, or use the right combination of abilities, I can go beyond the level/area/screen I'm in, and when I get there, there are rewards, new areas, cool stuff to see! Even Metroidvanias often don't live up to this kind of promise.
So far, Iv'e found three games that scratch that itch:
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Anodyne
https://www.gog.com/game/anodyne // https://store.steampowered.com/app/234900/Anodyne/
In this game, the second hact is all about glitching out of screens and going out of bounds: it's literally part of the story. I especially liked when cutting a bush at the border of a screen that seemed to only contain a story item revealed a whole hidden dungeon that led to hidden lore.
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Supraland
https://store.steampowered.com/app/813630/Supraland/
In this one, the out of bounds content is optional but plentiful, and almost always hidden behind navigation puzzles: I especially liked when I came near a giagantic barrel that had looked to be only part of the skybox thus far, and realized that I could use my grapple beam that worked only on wood to swing inside it. It took several tries, but finally I reached an hidden area with a power-up
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Caves of Qud
https://www.gog.com/game/caves_of_qud // https://store.steampowered.com/app/333640/Caves_of_Qud/
This game scratches the discovery itch in a different way: like all roguelikes there are a lot of things to encounter. Unlike a lot of games, some of the tools you need to break it are availeable from the start and you can easily cheat death by pressing Alt+F4 on your death screen, allowing you to actually explore the game instead of getting obliterated the first time you encounter something unexpected. One example of what I'm looking for is how you can skip most of a hand-made dungeon by making yourself more resistant to fall damage and jumping down a hole whih is only accessible if you break into a bunker.
Do you know any other games that can scratch that particular itch?
