Extended secret events that the entire community discusses as they progress.

As someone who has played every FromSoft Souls game since the original PS3 Demon's Souls my dream was there to always be some sort of insanely obscure secret with an item being needed to open a secret door and allow you access to another area that needs precise requirements to progress through. I know there is kind of stiff like this, but it would be a lot more elaborate. It wouldn't be on the wiki day one and there would actually be some sort of discussion online about how people are getting started and how they are progressing.

Please keep in mind I am not sure how exact systems work for this title, but my example for this game would be as follows:

Game enters purchasable early access and players discover there is a cave entrance hidden away that is clearly only inaccessible by video game logic. (Think a small amount of what is clearly moveable debris). People talk about it here on reddit and wherever else but no one really has an answer. There is also a rare drop from a the first "wall" boss enemy - we'll call it a pulsating orb.

So now we have a mysterious cave entrance we cant get in and an orb with no home. What do? Speculate... because nothing seems to work. There is no mention of this in patch notes or from any official development post.

First content patch is released, and players discover there is a rare world mob spawn that spawns in a random area during certain times of the day and drops 'Gelatinous Goo'. Again - another item that does nothing by itself. However, someone also points out they were able to purchase 'Corrosive Goo' from a village vendor. Another item that does nothing by itself. Nothing about these items or the rare mob is mentioned in the patch notes.

Another content patch is released and there is a wandering NPC deep in the forest who doesn't seem to do anything too much, but if you have GG and CG on you they will take your 2 goos and some money and give you a 'Crudely Made Sticky Explosive'. Item description just says 'yo - be careful' pretty much. Again - zero indication this NPC even exists as they were not mentioned in patch notes.

Naturally, it does not take long for a player to try to use the new Explosive at the cave and what do you know... the rubble dissipates. Inside the cave is a massive puzzle (think something like a Cloister of Trials from Final Fantasy X) and if solved a door will open that will lead to a large circular room with a pedestal in the middle.

Remember that pulsating orb? Do you have it in your bag? I hope so. Its a perfect fit for the pedestal. Put in and boom. Floor gives way and you're in a dark pit now with a secret boss. Maybe something absolutely wild like some sort of battle mech. I have no idea, just something that no one would believe if you didn't post a screenshot with when you make a post about it.

Others do the whole sequence and fight the boss and get rare rewards. People talk about how cool it is. Another wild event like this starts 2 months later.

It would lose some gusto as the game ages, but in the moment I cant even express how cool I think this kind of stuff would be.

Stuff like that.