My top 10 gaming Easter eggs and references

A belated Happy Easter gamers!

I am slipping this in at the terminal Easter minute to celebrate some of gaming's greatest references! For those who exercise not know, an Easter egg (equally it pertains to games) is a hidden joke or reference to another piece of media. I've listed some of my favourite eggxamples from both Xbox and PC games below (I promise that is the last egg pun, peradventure).

10. Assassinator'southward Creed giant squids

This is a double whammy as the eggs in this basket are pretty like. By triggering Vizatione's Cloak-and-dagger fourth dimension trial in Assassins Creed 2 and peering over the ledge for 40 seconds right next to the starting lever will reveal an intensely creepy Lovecraftian behemothic squid, complete with green glowing eyes. Pulling the lever a second time will cause the animate being to lash his tentacles out of the h2o.

I'm a fan of cephalopods, and then here'south some other. In Assassinator's Creed 4: Black Flag, checking out a window in the underwater Antocha Wreck, will net you lot this little sequence showing a giant squid going toe to toe with a sperm whale. Giant squids have long been suspected to be the arch nemesis of sperm whales, owing to enormous sucker scars sperm whales often sport when seen in the wild.

nine. Some Minecraft in your Skyrim

This i's pretty famous, but it'd experience incorrect of me not to include Microsoft's newly acquired IP! Minecraft Easter Eggs are abundant, but perhaps the almost prolific of all is the Notched Pickaxe, located in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Found at the summit of The Pharynx of the World mount, the Notched Pickaxe provides the wielder with a bonus to Smithing, likewise as stupor damage on hit. Information technology can also be disenchanted to learn a unique enchant based on the same properties.

8. Resident Evil Revelations ii parodies itself

I establish Resident Evil Revelations 2 to be a relatively fun, if not flawed game. The dialogue won't win any Oscars, but there were a couple of chuckle-worthy references during the banter between characters. Although they are not really true Easter eggs as they occur in the central dialogue, they are fun nonetheless.

Afterward utilizing a swinging crane to bulldoze a locked gate, Barry remarks "Who'due south the master of unlocking now?!", a reference to his comically bad description of Jill Valentine'south power to use lock picks in Resident Evil 1's notoriously low budget voice acting. Additionally, Claire shakes off a near-death experience with an elaborate spiked press past proclaiming "I was nearly a Claire sandwich", another reference to Barry Burton's Resident Evil 1 phonation interim. At that place's a agglomeration of other references throughout, which are a bittersweet reminder of the journey the franchise has taken.

seven. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings assassinates Altair

Correct near the get-go of the game, The Witcher 2's Geralt of Rivia happens upon the familiar corpse of a robed assassin - a white-robed assassinator, who eerily resembles Altair/Ezio from the early Assassins Creed games. One might presume it was a mere coincidence, except the model is practically unique to this scene, the corpse is splayed out in a destroyed hay carrying cart (which serve to cushion your leaps in Assassin's Creed), and upon discovery, Geralt mutters: "They'll never learn." The Witcher two centres around the hunt for an assassin, so this reference is all the more than poignant.

6. Indiana Jones: Nuking the fridge

There's a bunch of Easter eggs which parody the infamous scene from Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull which sees Indiana escape a nuclear boom by hiding in a fridge. From subconscious fridges in Fallout: New Vegas and Zombie Regular army Trilogy, to a full blown quest in Globe of Warcraft, it seems that George Lucas' attempted Indiana Jones revival only couldn't catch a break (or a fridge).

5. Picket Dogs lampoons Kinect spying fears

Spotter Dogs presents a near-time to come (nowadays solar day? thanks, NSA!) vision of a society permanently connected to centralised surveillance. At that place were elements of 2022's anti-Xbox movement that claimed the Xbox One's bundled Kinect sensor was to further the nefarious intentions of a government desperate to analyse neckbeards and Cheetos consumption. One of Watch Dogs' optional peekaboo sequences is viewed via "Kinekt" camera, and shows us how ridiculous the whole argument was:

4. Wolfenstein: The New Order escapes to Castle Wolfenstein 3D

Wolfenstein: The New Social club remains i of my favourite new-gen only games thus far. The surprisingly bulky game reboots the Wolfenstein franchise, injecting depth and emotion I would've personally thought impossible from a game almost killing Nazi cyborgs. It is non all doom and gloom though, the chaps at Automobile Games plant time to inject a pretty awesome nod to long-fourth dimension fans of the franchise. Jumping into bed at the beginning of chapter five will permit you to experience a 'nightmare', sending you directly to the first level of Wolfenstein 3D.

3. Mass Result meets Twin Peaks

This is a scrap of an obscure one, but Twin Peaks is my favourite TV show of all time, so to run into information technology referenced in i of my favourite games of all time was a memorable moment for me. In Mass Result ii'due south Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC (fantabulous past the way), Shepard and Liara travel through a hotel in pursuit of a avoiding. Liara remarks that the hotel has an 'exotic' edge, and if yous turn the corner yous can run across this vid playing, ready in the unmistakable ruddy room from Twin Peaks.

Alan Wake and Twin Peaks

This is not an Easter egg, but I felt like I could not mention Twin Peaks without discussing Alan Wake. The game features a boatload of Twin Peaks references and inspiration. From Alan Wake's setting, locations, characters and plot elements, Alan Wake plays equally a pretty faithful homage throughout. Jesters131 on YouTube created this pretty awesome Twin Peaks-like intro using footage from Alan Wake, fans should give information technology a expect!

two. Terrifying Robbie the Rabbit advent in Silent Loma 4: The Room

I may be an adult at present just, I still retain a kid-like phobia of Silent Hill. For reasons I am even so unsure of, I suffered through each game as a kid and to this twenty-four hour period Silent Hill 3's Robbie the Rabbit creeps me out. Silent Hill iv: The Room might not have been the nearly amazing game in the earth, only withal delivered heavily in the fear department. Throughout you are trapped in your own apartment, only able to escape through an ominous hole in the bath into the Silent Hill crazy world. Between levels, you return to your creepy room, which changes slightly every time. The previous tenant managed to dig a peephole through into the neighbouring apartment, and while your cries for help are not heard, you can witness everyday goings on.

During one sequence, a Robbie the Rabbit doll tin can be seen on the bed, while your neighbour chats on the telephone. If you lot look until she is washed, then take another expect. Robbie now glares at you accusatorially. Slenderman has zippo on this guy.

1. Lordaeron's ghosts in World of Warcraft

I would bet money that the impossibly huge Globe of Warcraft holds more Easter eggs and references than whatsoever other game available today, if merely because it's been nether perpetual development for the last 10 years. The more recent eggspansions could be criticised for taking the references a tad too far. Indiana Jones parody Harrison Jones and his Horde counterpart, Belloc Brightblade have get fairly significant in parts of the plot, especially in specific quest zones, and unabridged quest areas such equally Toshley's Station (Starship Troopers) have been dedicated to parody.

World of Warcraft's vanilla game hit the mark like no other with a fiendishly subtle reference to the events of Warcraft iii.

The entirety of Northern Lordaeron is plagued with undeath in World of Warcraft, following the betrayal and murder of King Terenas at the hands of Warcraft 3's playable antagonist, Arthas Menethil. The scene of that law-breaking remains in WoW and acts every bit a forgotten hallway for undead players on the fashion to their main urban center. The blood yet stains the floor and eerily, if you turn the ambience upwards loud plenty you can hear the ghostly echoes of the murder scene taken straight from Warcraft 3's audio. As a fan of Warcraft lore, the discovery was chilling and stands every bit a attestation to Blizzard'southward capacity for story telling.

And that is my listing!

I'd be intrigued to read nigh your favourite gaming Easter eggs in the comments below. For now though, I demand to go and stop off this pile of chocolate earlier succumbing to crushing guilt, strapping on the Microsoft Band and firing upwards Xbox Fitness.