There is a well-known motorcycle available for purchase on Cyberpunk 2077 called Yaiba Kusanagi CT-3X. You can obtain it from the repairer Wakako Okada after obtaining a street credit level of 12 in the Westbrook district, and will cost 22,000 whirlpools.
Even at first glance its impressive red chassis, the 1988 anime classic Akira cannot fail to jump into the minds of anyone familiar with it, but Kusanagi is not treated with the same stealth that video games often offer such references to the real world. . It has been pasted into several of the pre-release images and the option to purchase it is sent to your phone, just like many of Cyberpunk’s original in-universe vehicles. Instead of making a subtle nod to a seminal dystopian anime piece, CD Projekt Red placed it in the front and center. This is how most so-called ‘Easter eggs’ from Cyberpunk 2077 are, and it’s weird.
The use of the term ‘easter egg’ to describe game secrets was popularized in 1980 by Steve Wright of Atari, after programmer Warren Robinett hid his own credit in Adventure. Traditionally, they have been very difficult to find, hidden by developers as references to things they love or as jokes unbeknownst to their superiors, which means that they often share a personal or intimate touch. Many deliberately break the fourth wall and speak directly to the players.
From finding the head of John Romero in Doom 2 to the sign on a bridge in GTA San Andreas that says “there is no easter egg here, go away”, they provide us with special moments of discovery to share with our friends. Some players enjoy hunting them so much that entire communities have come together to track the game’s final secrets, even those they invented, such as the endless hunt for the Bigfoot of San Andreas, which the developer insisted does not exist.
Cyberpunk 2077 easter eggs have none of these qualities. Even the inclusions that make you think twice about a dizzying excitement out. Whether Hideo Kojima making a cameo in the middle of Konpeki Plaza or a Batmobile-like vehicle hidden in a cave next to a fragment of a superhero story, these references don’t deliver the savvy, authentic and spontaneous developer -player wink which is the essence of an easter egg. They feel planned, as much a part of the world as the monolithic neon buildings that swarm the horizon, instead of tertiary features that we only discover if we are lucky or diligent.
Cyberpunk is redirecting the Easter egg into the social media era
From bikes to detailed characters with multiple lines of dialogue, the work required to add these references means they are meant to be seen, which creates this strange sense of stolen value – calling them easter eggs is as fake as calling the skin of Iron Man in Fortnite a ‘subtle’ nod to the Marvel Avengers. This does not mean that they are not worth adding, but that they are not Easter eggs in the traditional sense. These are meetings designed with effort that serve a unique purpose: to keep the conversation going.
There was certainly no lack of discussion on Cyberpunk 2077, and although part of it was certainly not intentional – the last point of the conversation is CD Projekt Red’s response to a second class action – everything serves to keep us talking about the game. Cyberpunk is not a service game and, although it receives DLC, it is not as favorable to such expansions as, say, a strategy game, where new factions can easily enter. It’s an epic single-player RPG, made at a huge cost, and CDPR needs to keep it in our minds. To that end, Cyberpunk is at the forefront of redirecting the Easter egg into the era of social media.
There are famous influencers in in-game ads and even as mission promoters; GLaDOS do Portal expresses an AI character on a side mission, complete with a ‘the cake is over’ line; and you can launch a ‘Praise the Sun’ emote in photo mode. Half-Life 3, Demolition Man, The Witcher 3, we could continue. These references can spark a smile, but are as subtle as a billboard ad and cost authenticity.
Recognizing that the street preacher outside V’s building is played by a famous streamer immediately makes you ignore the character completely. It is not a person raving about their true thoughts and feelings about cyber software, it is CohhCarnage. Cyberpunk 2077 is a Swiss metaphysical cheese: structurally compromised by its many stunning portals to the real world.
Related: Here are the best cyberpunk games on the PC
While the conversation should be ongoing, we inevitably saw the highest expression of that strategy at launch. The 2077 release of Cyberpunk was built around fear of losing, and within hours of going live on social media it exploded with clips of references in the game of everything from The Office to Blade Runner. Seen from the outside, Cyberpunk seemed to be full of pop culture secrets to discover, but within the game they were barely hidden. Perhaps this is a glimpse into the future of the Easter egg: marketing, memes, and Fortnite’s erosion of integrity even from the single-player game worlds.
You can read Rich’s Cyberpunk 2077 review here or check out our lists of the best open world games and the best RPG games if you’re looking for something a little different.