Posted on April 25, 2014, Mitchell Saltzman Top 10 Best Easter Eggs of All Time
Sure, little hidden bits of fun called Easter Eggs exist in other forms of media, but there’s something special about the Easter Eggs found in video games that make them stand out above the rest.
While it may be cool to be able to spot a reference to another Marvel character in the new Captain America movie, there’s nothing quite like being able to spot something that seems strange while playing one of your favorite games, following its trail of clues, and then being rewarded for your curiosity with an awesome Easter Egg. That sense of exploration and discovery for Easter Eggs is something unique to video games, and in celebration of that, here are my top 10 best Easter Eggs of all time.
10. Halo 4 – Conan O’Brien Easter Egg
During a segment on Conan O’Brien’s show, he and Andy Richter paid a visit to 343 Industries to record some pretty funny NPC dialogue for Halo 4. As it would turn out, those lines of dialogue could actually be found in the single-player campaign of Halo 4 by finding two specific guards hanging out in a hangar. While not all of the dialogue that was included in the segment made it into the final cut, what did end up in the game was still really funny and well worth seeking out.
9. Diablo 3 – Whimsyshire
A big question on many Diablo fans’ minds going into Diablo 3 was, “How is Blizzard going to top Diablo II’s Cow Level?” The answer? Whimsyshire. Gaining access to Whimsyshire was a gigantic Easter Egg hunt that spanned the entire game, as players needed to collect extremely rare items that were otherwise useless, combine them to create the “Staff of Herding,” and then take the staff to the Cow King in Act 1 in order to open up a portal into the wondrous land of Whimsyshire. What awaited players was a land of colorful rainbows, majestic unicorns, cuddly teddy bears, and smiling clouds. And its your job to murder them all in unspeakable ways.
8. Crysis 2 Elevator Dance Party Easter Egg
I don’t know why this Easter Egg exists, but I’m so glad that it does. In the Dead Man Walking mission of Crysis 2, once you take the elevator up, you can actually interact with a control panel that shows no actual prompt, then head back to the elevator and call it up. When the doors open once again, you’ll find to Cell Soliders have their own little dance party, complete with neon lights and a smoke machine. Why? Who cares, it’s awesome.
7. Batman: Arkham Asylum – Hidden Room that teases Arkham City
It’s pretty incredible in this day and age when a game manages to have a secret that goes undiscovered for a couple of days after release, let alone six months. But that’s how long it took players to find a secret room in Batman: Arkham Asylum that could only be entered by using three explosive gels on a normal looking wall in the Warden’s office. The explosion exposed a hidden room with clues that pointed toward the creation of Arkham City, the setting for the next game in the Arkham series.