Video games, as an interactive medium, are truly an art form unlike any other. Developers have the ability to reward active players who dig deep and try to discover every little detail they have incorporated into their game. easter eggs, those hidden secrets within games, are a true joy for curious and adventurous players who venture off the beaten path to discover something that players following the main path will never see. However, not all easter eggs are created equal, and some of them still remain to be discovered. In this article, we will explore the 10 most mysterious and unexplored easter eggs in the world of video games.
1. Sega Live Singing – Sonic Mania
When Sonic Mania was first announced at Sega's 25th anniversary event for Sonic, a memorable event occurred. The crowd recorded a version of Sega's iconic jingle to be included in the game as an easter egg. Two recordings were made as a safety precaution. More than six years after Sonic Mania's supposed release, Sega's live vocals remain undiscovered. Players have searched the game high and low, even thoroughly examined it, but nothing. Some have speculated that the easter egg may have been removed due to its poor sound quality. Yet, to this day, no one has provided any specific information about this enigmatic easter egg.
2. The 15th Wish – Destiny 2
The Destiny 2 Forsaken expansion introduced a new raid mission called “Last Wish,” which featured a puzzle room that allowed players to enter a sequence of symbols to make a series of wishes. To date, 14 wishes have been discovered, but the 15th remains a complete mystery. Players have racked their brains for nearly five years to crack this code and figure out the 15th wish. Despite the hype surrounding this theory, Bungie has yet to confirm the truth. Perhaps they are suggesting that it is purely speculation.
3. Box 2113 – Trials Evolution
Trials Evolution contains one of the biggest Easter eggs in video games, and remains unsolved to this day. Shortly after its release in 2012, players discovered that a series of boards across the physics-based platform formed a code, which required players to perform a specific maneuver on a motorcycle. This unlocked a hidden song containing a secret Morse code. The code led players to a website with picture puzzles and an equation. The answer to this equation revealed coordinates in four cities: Helsinki, Sydney, Bath, and San Francisco. Fans around the world visited these coordinates, discovering a key and plaque at each location, reading "Noon and the year 2113, the first Saturday in August, one of five keys will open the box under the Eiffel Tower." Incredibly, everyone involved in creating this easter egg, as well as those who discovered the keys, will likely be long dead by 2113, leaving only future generations with the hope of discovering what lies inside this box.
4. The Secret Terminal by Todd Howard – Fallout 4
Shortly after Fallout 4's release in 2016, game director Todd Howard revealed that there were still undiscovered Easter eggs hidden in one of the game's many computer terminals. In 2018, Bethesda's VP of publishing Pete Hines tweeted that he knew some players had discovered the secret on social media, but hadn't made the connection to the Easter egg. Over the years, players have continued to search, even using cheat commands to explore each terminal. In 2020, a popular YouTuber claimed that the secret would reveal that the player was actually a synth all along. However, this remains a theory with no concrete evidence. Nearly eight years after Fallout 4's release, the mystery of the terminal remains unsolved.
5. The Aloha Ice Jam Shortcut – SSX Tricky
In 2014, a Reddit user claimed to have worked on the popular 2001 snowboarding game SSX Tricky as a level designer. He revealed that there was a secret shortcut on the Aloha Ice Jam track, but he couldn't remember exactly how to trigger it. He thought it was connected to an invisible wall. Eight years of intensive research and digging have yet to find this shortcut. Some speculate that it may have been removed from the game during development. The designer himself has hinted at this possibility, leaving the mystery of this Easter egg unsolved.
6. The Startup Easter Egg – Original Xbox
In 2021, an anonymous developer who worked on the original Xbox revealed the existence of an Easter egg hidden in the Xbox dashboard. By renaming a music CD to "Timmy" with a bunch of "y's," players could unlock a secret credits screen for the Xbox dashboard team. This was initially thought to be the last of the secrets discovered about the Xbox over the years, but console designer Seamus Blackley tweeted that another undiscovered Easter egg was still waiting to be found. Blackley didn't give many details, but revealed that it was related to the console's boot animation and curiously didn't require any controller input. Hopefully this secret will be solved one day, especially since Blackley is active on social media.
7. The Mystery of Endless Mode – Mega Man 9
Shortly after Mega Man 9's release in 2008, Capcom's then-Community Manager Seth Killian posted on the company's forums, announcing that there was a secret in the game that had yet to be discovered. Fans of the series embarked on a quest to find it, but despite numerous discoveries, none were the enigmatic secret Killian was hinting at. Capcom later hinted that the easter egg could be found in Mega Man 9's "Infinite Attack" mode. Unfortunately, years passed without any significant discovery, and some fans even accused Killian of making up the mystery to keep interest in the game. To this day, the truth remains unknown, nearly 15 years after Mega Man 9's release.
8. The Super Easter egg – Amplitude
In 2016, well after Amplitude's release, the game's official Twitter account asked a player who had achieved the Platinum trophy if they had discovered the super easter egg. The player responded negatively and asked if other players had reported its discovery. The Twitter account responded that it had yet to be discovered. In 2020, Harmonix hinted that players were well on their way to finding it, but declined to elaborate further so as not to spoil the surprise. Since then, a small group of dedicated fans have continued to scour Amplitude for the easter egg, but it remains unknown to this day. The game's Twitter account has also gone silent in recent years, making it unlikely that this mystery will be solved.
9. FF06B5 – Cyberpunk 2077
Unlike most of the Easter eggs on this list, Cyberpunk 2077’s undiscovered secret even has its own dedicated subreddit. Players noticed a sequence of letters and numbers displayed on a robotic statue on Union Street in the Corpo Plaza area: ff06b5. This sequence was worshiped by a group of monks, but even after datamining and examining every bit of text players could interact with, the sequence didn’t seem to signify anything. While the game’s quest designer Pawel Sasko confirmed that players were on the trail of a secret, he didn’t reveal any more information so as not to spoil the fun. Players have come up with many theories, but none have led to a solution. While the mystery has deepened, there is still hope for a future discovery.
10. The Mystery of Mount Chiliad – Grand Theft Auto 5
Finally, we come to what is probably the most infuriating unsolved mystery in video game history: Mount Chiliad in Grand Theft Auto 5. At the top of the Mount Chiliad cable car station, players find a bizarre and distinctive mural on the wall, depicting a map of Mount Chiliad filled with strange symbols, including a UFO, a broken egg, and a man wearing a jetpack. An object resembling a large eye is mounted at the very top of the mountain. Since the mural was discovered shortly after the game's release in 2013, fans have been racking their brains to figure out its meaning and what it could reveal. Some optimistic theories suggest that it could unlock a demo for Grand Theft Auto 6 one day, while others simply believe that it indicates the requirements for reaching 100 % completion of the game, which would trigger UFOs to appear over Mount Chiliad. However, there is no consensus on what the mural actually represents. It is entirely possible that Rockstar included this easter egg simply to tease players, or perhaps it is related to content cut from the game. Either way, it will be interesting to see if GTA 6 can pull off such a captivating mystery when it releases.
In conclusion, Easter eggs in video games continue to intrigue and captivate players around the world. These 10 examples illustrate how the world of video games is full of unsolved secrets waiting to be discovered. Developers are sometimes the masters of mystery, hiding clues and puzzles for players to search for for years. For those who love a challenge, these mysteries remain a source of endless excitement and adventure, and the hope of solving them one day remains intact.
