Easter eggs might traditionally consist of chocolate and maybe some tasty filling, but here at Game-Enthusiast we immediately think of video games. In this article, we’ll chronicle a lifelong Easter egg hunt through our favorite medium. These are the 10 greatest Easter eggs in video games of all time (in a random order, we couldn’t decide). And of course, if we missed out on any, let us know in the comments or on Facebook!
Top 10 greatest video game Easter eggs
Getting nostalgic with Wolfenstein: The New Order
Wolfenstein is part of the foundation of shooter games, so this Easter egg really is an awesome nod to the legendary history of the Wolfenstein franchise. In Wolfenstein: The New Order, players can start the Nightmare level by sleeping in their hideout. This starts a sequence based on the first level of the O.G., Wolfenstein 3D.
The Witcher 3 & the Holy Grail
Video games don’t just have to reference themselves. In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, CD Projekt Red references the legendary comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Located in Velen, players can visit the location where King Arthur and his knights meet an unexpected enemy: a murderous, cute white rabbit. Lucky for Geralt, the Wild Hunt variant isn’t as tough.
Hideo Kojima in Cyberpunk 2077
A few years later CD Projekt Red gave a nod to an industry legend by adding Hideo Kojima to Cyberpunk 2077. This Easter egg can be spotted early on in the game. In the explosive mission The Heist, the player can spot Kojima sitting at a bar, philosophizing exactly like we’d expect him to.
GTA: San Andreas’ what Easter egg?
Now for some meta humor: in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, you won’t find any Easter eggs on its version of the Golden Gate Bridge. It literally reads ‘There are no Easter eggs up here. Go away’. Ironically, it made its way onto our Easter egg list almost two decades later.
Tortured Jar Jar in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
George Lucas might be a genius, but he might’ve missed the mark with Jar Jar Binks. Luckily, back in 2008 the devs of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed thought of a non-canon way of taking revenge on the Gungan. By freezing him in carbonite, Han-style. Take that you closeted Sith lord.
Gaben room in Half-Life
Easter eggs aren’t a thing of the last few years either, as a little game called Half-Life 1998 featured a hilarious nod to gaming god Gabe Newell. Players have to visit the map c1a1c, enable god mode and no clip to enter a shadow realm in another dimension. There, you’ll be locked in a room textured entirely with Gaben’s face.
Psycho Mantis reads minds in Metal Gear Solid
Speaking of old school Easter eggs, 1998 also saw the Metal Gear Solid villain Psycho Mantis read your mind. Or rather, your memory card. In a sequence revealing the power of Psycho Mantis, the telekinesis specialist first spouted some generalized facts about Solid Snake. Then, he went meta by naming all the (Konami) games saved on the current memory card.
Future game teaser in Batman: Arkham Asylum
This one is mind blowing. Back in Batman: Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady made a secret room in the Warden’s Office that basically revealed the upcoming sequel Batman: Arkham City. The Caped Crusader had to blow up a seemingly random wall, revealing the hidden room. In the room, a blueprint can be seen detailing a big chunk of Gotham being made into Arkham. This, of course, would be the plot of the upcoming game Arkham City.
Minecraft in Borderlands 2
Some of the previous Easter eggs were quite easy to find but this one in Borderlands 2 is a miracle to be uncovered at all. At the Caustic Caverns, players have to rush through the entire level. At the end of the map, somewhere way up in the corned there’s some familiar looking blocks hidden in what seems to be the edge of the map.
Punch through those blocks though, and you’ll find a secret dungeon inspired by Minecraft. And yes, Creepers come at you from all angles and explode when they get too close.
Applauding naked men in Hitman: Blood Money
Lastly today, we’ll take a look at what is probably the most Easter egg filled video game franchise in existence. Hitman has had a long history of semi-open environments with countless ways of executing a target. Therefor, in almost every map from any Hitman game, there will be references, Easter eggs or plain silly moments.
The last entry in our list falls on under the latter category. In Hitman 4: Blood Money, when Agent 47 shoots a hidden coin on the mission Till Death Do Us Part, a bunch of mostly naked men run at him while applauding. Yeah, we know. Weird!