Retro Tower Defense Secret Maps: Dark Park and Baseplate

There are exactly two

Of the 26 maps in Retro Tower Defense, two never appear in the map selector. You unlock them by finding them in the lobby, and each one hands out a title once you have beaten it enough times.

Dark Park

A four-star map. It is Arch Park with half the terrain broken away, a dark sky and one of the cliffs missing — and where Arch Park has one path, Dark Park has two. Beating it 20 times awards the Dark title.

To find it, from the lobby:

1. Go to the tall purple building and touch the door.
2. Head to the dark grey building, reached by the black cable or by jumping. Go left and you will see a transparent truss — climb it.
3. On the rooftop, near the door, there is a statue. Get close and press E when the prompt appears.

The two paths both end at the same exit: the first curves around the fountain and passes under the arch, the second runs straight past a table before joining the first at the end. Two paths on a four-star map means your board has to cover both — this is not a map to bring a single high-damage tower to. See the Dark Park page for the full layout.

Baseplate

The game’s first five-star map, and one of only two at that rating. Three paths, all extremely short. Beating it 5 times awards the STUD title.

To find it, from the lobby:

1. Go to the skins shop.
2. To the left of the building there is a downpipe with a puddle beneath it. Walk into the puddle.
3. You drop into the sewer. There is only one way forward — complete the obby, then hold E on the floating mini-baseplate.

Three short paths on a five-star map is a brutal combination: enemies reach your base fast and from three directions at once. The first path runs straight to the end; the second and third are symmetrical and curve inward. Full notes on the Baseplate page.

Why they are worth unlocking

Neither map awards a completion badge, so there is no public clear count for either — the two “Beat ???” badges in the game hide their map names, and we are not going to assert which is which without the game confirming it.

What they do give you is difficulty at the top end. Baseplate is one of only two five-star maps alongside Doomspire, and if you are working towards the Insane clear that only 0.5% of players have managed, these are where you practise. Bring detections for everything — check the enemy table — and expect to lose a run learning the paths.

Everything else is in the picker

The other 24 maps are selectable normally. Four of them are new as of 21 August 2026 and arrived with the Forsaken collab: Classic Battlegrounds, c00l carnival, Pirate Bay and Reborn Family Abode. The full map list rates all 26 by stars and pairs each with how many players have actually cleared it.