10 Video Game Developer In-Jokes You Totally Missed
Game developer secrets and easter eggs you need to see.
Developing a video game, especially with today's monumental technology, can be an incredibly arduous process. Can you really blame developers for trying to spice up a 9-5 by filling their pet projects with furtive factoids and self-aware satire?
There's plenty to make fun of and acknowledge in the video game industry - the Virtual Boy, Avengers, Superman 64, David Cage - but developers aren't only aware of these things, they embrace them by paying brilliant tribute in the titles they create.
Whether a response to consumer criticism, a callback to scrapped pre-release ideas or simply an unsubtle nod to the developers themselves, these games are a microcosm of the inner workings of the gaming world.
They allow us to share in jokes and references that would otherwise have been lost on us, delight in the new content that previous backlash has led to, or merely come across a strangely familiar face and go, "Hang on, I know that guy..."
Who's to say a video game needs to be all serious, all of the time?
10. Callback To Trapping Butler In The Freezer - Shadow Of The Tomb Raider (2018)
Even if you've forgotten the entire rest of Tomb Raider II, the one thing you're obligated to remember forever is the ability to lock the butler in the freezer. It's an unwritten rule.
The game starts in Lara Croft's fancy abode, Croft Manor, where you can freely explore the place to get the hang of Lara's acrobatic skills and agility. There's a catch, however, and that's that the family butler, Winston, will rattle along relentlessly behind you wherever you go.
So, then, you do the only reasonable thing you can think of in such a situation: lead him into the walk-in freezer, then slip out past him and slam the door in his face.
For years, this trick was just a nostalgic joke among players. But in 2018's Shadow of the Tomb Raider, a note from Winston to Lara's parents detailing this exact situation is found, making it very much canon - at least in the reboot series.
Obviously, the developers were in on this joke just as much as we were, and what better way to pay tribute to it than by having the reboot Winston share in his predecessor's frigid fate?