How to find every hidden area in Dark Souls 3

GR:

"The Dark Souls series has always had an air of mystery, from its vague lore to its many Illusory Walls. Dark Souls 3 is no different, and there are four secret areas that you can totally miss if you aren't exploring thoroughly. There's a whole host of bosses and great items that you'll never find if you don't venture to these hidden locations, so you'll definitely want to give them a go. Fortunately, they're not so obtuse if you know where to look, so read on and all will be revealed."

[Goldby]

heres a sneak peak at the article.
How to find every hidden area in Dark Souls 3: Look and swing your sword

[Spurg]

Apart from Archdragon peak nothing on that list is a secret...The secret in this game were quite underwhelming TBH. Not saying the games a disappointing on the contrary it is excellent...but it doesn't quite give us as many secrets as DS1. Ash lake, dark arno Londo and the painted world of ariamis in dark souls 1 is the what we can call a secret....it had purpose unlike Archdragon peak...which was out of place. It felt like it was an extra area and a boss...dont worry I know very well who the identity of the boss was. This is also what makes it odd...why does the unkindled one have to go out of his way to do kill a big named character like that. I wished it was like pricilla where you have the option to leave the place at your own will.

[Summons75]

Archdragon Peak was easily one of the best areas in the game. Starting with an epic boss to start and to finish. Plus who doesn't want to turn into a dragon?

[Spurg]

It was a nice area there is no arguing that but lore wise....how does it relate to the rest of the story...plus the bigger question is why did the unkindled one have to kill the nameless king... the nameless king didn't have any involvement in the grant scheme of things. As much as I liked the boss fight I didn't like that they made the son of Gywn a side boss.

If you look DS1 optional areas: Ash lake, dark arno Londo and the painted world of ariamis they were all part of the story and it was really unique connection which played well with the overall lore.

I think miazaki had this area made just so they can confirm who the son of gywn was...If this is the only thing they had then I think Miazaki has been taken too much liberties with the lore of the game...its not as solid as DS1.

[Master-H]

Ash Lake = Unentended graves + dark firelink
Pained World = Archdragon Peak
Dark Anor Londo = The eclipse

[Spurg]

What you on about???
More like:
Ash lake =smoldering lake
Thats the only connection you can make from this list you made. The only one that is a secret is archdragon peak.
"Dark anor londo=the eclipse"
Yeah no connection and its not even a secret.

The ones i posted from Ds1 are all secrets...like for example to access the painted world you have to go to the crow an curl and wait for a bit and then it takes you back to the asylum. Where you get a secret boss fight. You grab the peculiar doll and make you way to the painting in arno londo. Thats takes you to the painted world which has it a diverse types of enemies and a cool npc or boss fight. And on top of that it's xonnection to the worlds lore makes a lot of sense. That is what you call a secret.

[Master-H]

Unentended graves + dark firelink are secrets. hidden behind an illusory wall just like ash lake.

Smouldering lake is also a secret area with a boss and npc and stuff.

Archdragon peak is a hidden area behind a gesture with bosses and an npc.

Seems to me like there are plenty of secrets, so I don't know what you're complaining about.
Anyone who plays this game blindly, could very easily miss any and all of these areas.

There's also a secret ending with a secretive quest line to unlock it. DS1 didn't have that.

[Spurg]

No they werent too much if a secret.
Ash lake was behind 2 illusionally walls...it was as obvious to overlook. Though untended graves has the most lore out of all the secret places. Ash lake had a fricking everlasting dragon at the end of it...seeing that place for tbe first time was one of the thing i had seen i a game. Dark firelink shrine is pale in comparison...you cant even compare the feeling..it was pretty much old firelink but when no one linked tbe flame.

Getting to smoldering lake...you can see horace from the bridge....and then you see the ledge you can drop down to. I do have the habit to look around the environment a lot so i dont miss things...buts that just me people can miss those.
Smoldering lake sucked though....lake had only upgrade materials and a spell. The worm monsters and the boss had a pathetic lore behind them. Lizalith was a labyrinth...it was unexciting to explore...the only highlight was qualanas dead remains...i was expecting something big when i got to the large mechanism but it was dissapointing. Btw there were no npc there.

The secret ending wasnt hard to get....level up 5x from from the pilgrim and get yuria to show up. Anri you cant miss thoughout game..the devs made sure she could be seen. And when you get to arno londo you cant even miss that room. If you play dark souls deligently you cant miss the ending.

The dark lord ending in Ds1 is similar to the secret ending.....but i hope im wrong on this though.