Bungie's massively-anticipated "shared world shooter" Destiny has been out in the wild for over a week now, and critical response has been considerably more mixed than most gamers were expecting. Currently sitting at a decent yet not spectacular 77 on Metacritic, the consensus is that Destiny is a visually stunning, enjoyable hybrid of FPS and MMO, though falls far short of the expectations Bungie set us up for. So, it's not the masterpiece gamers were clamouring for, and the upcoming DLC probably isn't going to change that, but there's one aspect of the game nobody can fault Bungie for, and that's the ridiculous number of easter eggs and hidden references crammed into it, be it sly cameos, numerous pop-culture references, and a few sneaky, ludicrously addictive mini-games thrown in for good measure. Sure, there's the argument to be made that Bungie probably should have poured more time and effort into the core mechanics of the game rather than these silly little flourishes most players are never going to see, but at least they provide a temporary, amusing distraction from the fact that, as a whole, Destiny just didn't live up to the hype. Here are 17 awesome easter eggs and sneaky references the Internet sleuths have uncovered so far, though there's surely plenty more to come!
17. Dark Souls Armour
The various armours and weapons within Destiny hold a lot of the game's most amusing references, and unquestionably one of the best has to be two clear nods to the notoriously challenging Dark Souls series. Firstly, there's a piece of chest armour called Heart of the Praxic Fire, which not only resembles the sort of medieval knight attire gamers would expect to see in Dark Souls, but it comes with the tagline, "In that last moment she seemed as wholly luminescent as the Sun, and I wished to be so brave." This is a clear reference to the game's character Solaire of Astora, a Warrior of Sunlight who memorably quips the line, "If only I could be so grossly incandescent!" Then there's the Ghost Angel Cloak, which comes complete with the very Dark Souls-esque line, "We are an army of the chosen dead." What better way to make players feel like total bada**es than have them walking around dressed up like the toughest dude from one of the decade's most brutally difficult video game franchises?