The most interesting and unusual Cyberpunk 2077 Easter eggs: references to video games, movies, music and books
Cyberpunk 2077 has enough interesting content: story quests, side activities, the search for new types of weapons, vehicles, clothing, implants. But in addition to the obvious content, there is also secret content in Night City: in this material you will find the most detailed list of the best Easter eggs and references that can be found in the game.
Batman
If you travel north from the Sunset Motel Fast Travel in the Wastelands (Badlands), you will find a tunnel in the mountain. Move deeper into the tunnel and about halfway you will see a container with a Batmobile (in the game it is called “Caliburn”). The car will automatically appear in the list of V’s transport equipment: as you approach, you will even see a white marker with the image of a “car” – exactly the same as any transport available to you. There is also a flash drive on the table inside the container with many references to Batman. True, the local hero, who lost his parents in childhood, calls himself Gloomy, not a bat-man.
Blade Runner
Roy Batty’s iconic monologue
Well, a cyberpunk game could not do without references to the most significant and cult film about a gloomy future. The most famous and touching scene from Blade Runner is the monologue of Roy Batty, the hero of Rutger Hauer, known as Tears in the Rain. At the end of the monologue, a white dove flies up on the roof. In Cyberpunk 2077, a reference to this scene can be found on the rooftop of the Advocet Hotel, located in Vista Del Rey. Climb up and find a character strikingly similar to Betty. There will be a bird in his hands.
Another reference to Blade Runner can be found in one of the many endings of the game. There will be spoilers now, so if you’re afraid, stop reading this paragraph. During the ending of the Hanako route, Arasaki Vi will undergo a series of repeated tests. One of them is the Voight-Kampf empathic test, created specifically for the Blade Runner universe (in addition to films, there are comics). The main task of this test is to distinguish a person from replicants (androids, which outwardly and in many other ways are almost identical to humans).
Breaking Bad
As you cruise West Watson, you will receive a call from Regina who will issue the Heisenberg Principle order. In addition to the obvious reference to the hero of Brian Cranston, during the mission you will have to destroy the laboratory that was used to produce the fictional drug “shine”. Stay away from equipment when detonating …
Popular streamers
Right in front of Misty’s esoteric shop and Vic’s clinic is the “prophet” Gary. Urban Madman got the look and voice of popular streamer CohhCarnage.
Cyberpunk 2077 also features Jessie Cox, a YouTube and Twitch blogger and streamer who boasts nearly a million subscribers. The hero Cox had an unpleasant problem: there was some kind of short circuit in the implant with which he modified his penis, so he urgently needs the help of a ripper dock.
Death stranding
There is also Hideo Kojima in the game. Arriving at the Arasaki hotel on the quest “Pass to the Major League”, V and Jackie will stop in front of the bar. Tell Jackie you’d like to look inside. Go to the bar and to the right of the counter you will see Kojima telling something to his new friends. You can listen to the monologue of a genius.
There were also references to Kojima’s games. To locate the Bridge Baby capsule, you must complete the Guardians of Chaos side quest, in which you first meet Detective River Ward. Some time after the completion of this mission and the next quest “Bunraku”, River will call you and ask for help in finding his nephew, who has become a victim of a serial maniac. This will begin the quest “Hunting the Hunter”. During the first part, you will be taken to a clinic where dreams are examined. Inside there is a room with giant manipulators positioned around the Bridge Baby capsule stand. If you scan this device, you will find out that it simulates the intrauterine process of a child’s development, and the main function is aimed at “keeping the BB alive and detecting BT.”
Destroyer with Stallone
Vee’s apartment has an unremarkable toilet. But if you look closely, instead of toilet paper, you can find three shells on the shelf. Many people will ignore this detail, but those who have seen the action movie “Destruction” with Sylvester Stallone will surely recognize the reference to the film. It also used shells instead of toilet paper. How exactly? We won’t tell you here.
Fallout
In the lower Wasteland (Badlands), approximately 650 meters east of the border and 750 meters southwest of the Regional Airport fast travel point, several corpses can be found around a circular disc labeled “101”. If you study the archived dialogue between Albert Cole and Gary Epps, you can find out that LARP was played out here, a live-action role-playing game focused on the post-apocalyptic scenario in which people leave Vault 101 for the first time after a nuclear war.
Grand Theft Auto
Not an obvious reference, but Coronado Ranch has a road that resembles Grove Street. Around the corner from the fast travel point “Almunker and Jerez” will be a familiar dead end with many bandits. However, the street looks more like a version from GTA 5 than the original from San Andreas.
There are train tracks near Trailer Park fast travel in the Red Peaks area. Follow them to the tunnel to find two corpses and a broken motorcycle outside. Take the flash drive from one of the dead. It will be a recording of a dialogue between a certain JC and Little Smoke, who were trying to catch the train.
Anime Hidan no Aria
So far, the only, at the same time, completely non-obvious reference for anime fans. One of the streets of Japan Town is named after Aria H. Kanzaki – the main character of Hidan no Aria and a descendant of Sherlock Holmes (H – Holmes). The Russian-language version of the anime series is called Aria nicknamed Scarlet Bullet.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Many should be familiar with the scene from the movie “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” in which he escapes an explosion by hiding in a refrigerator. Over the past decades, who only did not refer to it (for example, there is a refrigerator with a dead Indy in Fallout New Vegas). The Cyberpunk 2077 developers decided not to bypass the popular image. Travel to the Badlands (Wasteland) along the road north of the Medeski Gas Station fast travel point. There will be a refrigerator with a corpse right in front of the intersection, with a cowboy hat lying nearby. There is also a note on the corpse. According to some foreign sites, it contains the time that coincides with the date when “Mythbusters” reproduced this scene on their TV show.
John Wick
When ordering the Olive Branch, you will be asked to meet a man named Sergei. During the conversation, he will tell about the killer “with a beard, in brown shoes …”, with whom there was also a dog. Keanu Reeves (who played Johnny Silverhand) played the hitman John Wick, fitting this description. Sergei also says there is nothing “breathtaking” about it, which is a reference to the situation that happened with Keanu Reeves at E3 2019 .
Matrix
The first time you let Johnny take control of V’s body, Silverhand will have a good time at the Afterlife Club. At some point, you’ll see a man in a black coat offering Johnny a choice of blue and red pills. This is the first reference to The Matrix, a trilogy in which Keanu Reeves starred.
In addition, by watching various promotional videos (for example, in the Megatower elevator H10), you will be able to see ads for a clothing store that starts with the words “What do you need?” Then comes the answer: “Clothes. A lot of clothes”. After that, we see a man standing in an endless space of numerous racks of clothes. This is another nod to “The Matrix” and the episode in which Neo asks for “weapons, lots of weapons.”
Michael Pondsmith
Mike Pondsmith is the creator of the original desktop Cyberpunk 2020. He has partnered with CD Projekt Red and was directly involved in the development of the video game. To commemorate his achievements, the developers added Pondsmith Street to Japan Town.
Mortal kombat
There will now be minor spoilers related to the Panam Palmer storyline. At the end of the “Road to Heaven” quest, which can be taken from Mitch immediately after the quest chain to Panam, Mitch will give V a statuette. It can be placed on the coffee table in V’s apartment. This is a Scorpion figurine that simultaneously resembles a Cyberpunk board character and the famous warrior from Mortal Kombat. If you scan the statuette, you will get information about the manufacturer – KO Kombat.
Portal
During the Reintegration side mission, you are asked to hunt down and return 7 missing Delamane AI vehicles. One of them will have an eerily familiar voice. And everyone who has once traveled through the corridors and rooms of the fictional Aperture Science complex will recognize him. When you approach the car on the coast (quest “Reintegration: Coast”), you will hear the voice of GLaDOS. During the conversation, AI will say the phrase about the missing cake.
Rihanna
There are many compositions from famous artists in the game, but Rihanna’s Disturbia (2008) is presented as an easter egg. When you find the talking gun “Skippy” (voiced by Alexander Gudkov), listen to the tune that the weapon constantly hums.
Radiance
During one of the first story missions in Cyberpunk 2077, The Last Lifeguard Game, Vee and Jackie travel to the Animal Shelter. The room to enter – 1237 – a reference to the movie The Shining (if you remember, Danny Torrance was tormented by room 237). The film also featured a dead woman in the bathtub. Guess where is Sandra Dorsett, who must be saved by the mercenaries? That’s right – in the bath.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
There is a concrete canal on the Coronado Ranch, next to the Arasaki Industrial Park (the fast travel point of the same name). In it you can find a wrecked truck and a motorcycle with two corpses. One body belongs to a person and the other to a robot. This is a reference to the famous pursuit scene from Terminator 2: Judgment Day. An archival dialogue between Arnold Blake and Tex can also be found nearby, stating that they need to save Jimmy O’Connor’s life.
The Witcher 3
As you explore Knight City, you can stumble across a variety of arcade machines with different games. One of these games is called Roach Race, which translates as “Roach Race”. In it, you really need to control the horse.
If you have passed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to the end, then remember how painful the search for caches on Skellig was. Take at least those three barrels, drifting on the surface of the water and tantalizing the stored prey inside. If you go to the bridge connecting Haywood with the Pacific, you will find another barrel in the water. There is no legendary loot inside it, but a flash drive will be on a nearby corpse. You will learn that the poor fellow drowned while trying to get to the last cache of the smuggler. The obsession with finding all the hiding places exhausted the guy, and he simply dropped his hands. Sound familiar?
In different parts of Knight City, you can find magazines dedicated to retro games of the 2000s. Who do you think decorates the cover of one of them? That’s right – Ciri. You can find this magazine in the introductory assignment on the past “Korporat”, in a drawer inside the main character’s office.
Finally, if you follow the path of Beast and Johnny at the end of the game, you will find yourself on the roof of the Araska Tower in the jungle. Before going to the enemies at the long table (first opponents), look for a stone with a shovel on the hill to the right. Pick up this iconic hammer called the Keymaker’s Shovel. A weapon of the same name can be found in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Johnny Mnemonic
The following reference is hidden in yet another in-game promotional video for Revere Courier Services. The clip shows an x-ray of a human head with a device inside. The slogan says: “The first 80 gigabytes are free!” This is a reference to the movie Johnny Mnemonic starring Keanu Reeves. For those who did not watch: the brain of Johnny-mnemonic stored secret information weighing 80 gigabytes.
Poses from Photo Mode
Cyberpunk 2077 Photo Mode offers several photo poses that are references to contemporary pop culture:
- In the name of the moon I will punish you (Sailor Moon)
- V’s Incredible Pose (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga)
- You are amazing (Quote from Keanu Reeves)
- Joker Ladder (2019 Joker Movie)
- V means victory (Praise to the Sun pose from Dark Souls)
- My name is Vee. Just Wee (James Bond)
- Vee Shoots First (Han Solo)
- Oh my God, they killed V! (animated series “South Park”)
- Waiting for Godot (book of the same name)
- Like one of those French girls (Titanic)
- Run the Jewels (eponymous rap group)
- Roundhouse kick (Chuck Norris)
- All calm, this is a robbery (“Pulp Fiction”)
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (film of the same name)
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
Take a look at the icon Judy uses during phone calls (when V calls her or she tries to call the protagonist). It is a cute little ghost popping out of a shell. The exact same tattoo is on the girl’s left hand. An explicit reference to the Ghost in the Shell anime.
Radiohead and Red Hot Chili Peppers
Continuing to talk about Judy’s tattoos, it is worth noting that on her body there is a reference to two musical groups. On the right hand you can read the inscription Under water where thoughts can breathe easily, taken from the lyrics of the song Parallel Universe performed by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And on the left hand there will be the inscription There was nothing to fear, nothing to doubt from the Pyramid Song by Radiohead. By the way, one of Judy’s side quests has a similar name – Pyramid Song (but in Russian localization there is nothing in common – “Palace coup”).
Is Half-Life 3 finally out?
In Cyberpunk 2077, you can find out about the release of a game that has been in development for over 50 years. Its name is consonant with Half-Life 3. On the flash drive found in the Aldecaldo camp in the wastelands, there is a small review of the game called No Life 3. The main character is a silent character named Baron Freymensh (quite consonant with the name Gordon Freeman), which he joins a girl named Alice (Alyx?). Baron uses a crowbar to destroy the aliens. Let’s hope Half-Life 3 comes out at least a couple of years earlier …
Overwatch and Widowmaker
To find the next two Easter eggs, you will have to play the game in English. During one of the story missions, you will help Panam Palmer kill Nash, the leader of the rusty stilettos. He will drop a rifle called the Widowmaker (in Russian localization – “The Slayer”). In English, the Overwatch character Widowmaker is called Widowmaker. In addition, if you complete Panam Palmer’s first side quest, Riders of the Storm, she will give V the Observer sniper rifle. What do you think is its original name? Correct: Overwatch. In general, the connection is obvious. Yes, and Widowmaker uses a sniper rifle.
Cloverfield
There are many wind turbines to be found in the eastern part of the map, and there will be a bunker under one of them. Inside it can be found a corpse in a shirt similar to the one worn in the movie “Cloverfield” by the maniac played by John Goodman, huge food supplies, two large barrels of chemicals (which are also important in the film) and a note. It says that the man tried to protect the woman from the outside world, because of which she could die.
