Mass Effect: 15 Easter Eggs, Secrets & References You Totally Missed

14. The Creepy Credit Cow Of Ontarom

Visiting Ontarom in the Kepler Verge? You may want to keep a close eye on your cash, as there's a significant chance your hard-earned credits might be pilfered by the notorious Shifty-Looking Cow! This Easter Egg, from the first Mass Effect, is one you probably wouldn't even notice. On Ontarom there's a unique member of a cow-like herd that has a dialogue option. When this is activated, nothing seemingly happens. But when you turn away, quite sneakily, the Shifty-Looking Cow will start to steal your credits. You can find this weird space-based bovine near the south-western corner of the map. If you go near him, he'll even try to follow you around, sneaking monies out of your wallet. The game's lead technical designer, Dusty Everman, took to the Bioware forums to explain this bizarre creature.
"I love the history of the Shifty Cow easter egg. When the character artists designed the space cow with two extra arms, Preston, our lead designer, was a little creeped out. His comment was "You can€™t trust any animal that can milk itself." Those extra little hands look so... grabby. So Preston came up with the idea of Shifty Cow. Turn your back on him, and those creepy little hands are going to go to work. Kiss those credits goodbye."
The Shifty Cow is also immortal. He'll die after a single shot, but will still always return.
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Dan Curtis is approximately one-half videogame knowledge, and the other half inexplicable Geordie accent. He's also one quarter of the Factory Sealed Retro Gaming podcast.