The Misleading Video Game Code: A Gamer’s 15-Year-Old Prank Discovery

If developers do their best to finish the games they are working hard on, some have fun hiding small items, found only by the most curious or meticulous players. Known as Easter Eggs, this practice is well known to players who make it their real mission to find as many as possibleeven if sometimes it's just to make fun of them.

Discover One Step After Fall on Xbox Series

A trapped code

This is the exact case that happened to the reddit user @the_humeister, when he explains that he found what he thought was a real secret. It's in One Step After Fall that the latter discovered a QR code plastered on a wall. By examining it, the object is named “???”, therefore further piqued his curiosity. But it was once the code was scanned that he realized the deception. In fact, and while he expected to discover secret content, it actually led to… a rickroll.

Internet users who saw his post were quick to do the same, surprised, but also glad to see that the joke was still relevant. “I expected to be rickrolled and I was rickrolled, I am 100% satisfied” explains one of them in a comment. The practice is far from recent since dating back almost 15 years. This one, aimed at sending the link of the song Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley by making it seem like something else important. This joke, although it may appear rather dated, ultimately still seems to make some people laugh, who did not hide their pleasure under the original post.

Far from being the first

If some easter eggs make fun of the players, others directly make fun of the studios themselves. In fact, many little inside jokes are present in various major titles such as in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. In fact, during its presentation at E3 2015, the demonstration experienced a slight hiccup. The controller was having difficulty connecting, so the amused crowd was able to enjoy a Nathan Drake motionless in the middle of the crowd for almost 40 seconds. In the final game, players were able to discover a secret achievement, called “It’s stage fright”obtainable if Nathan remains still for 40 seconds from the start of the game.

If Guacamelee! is a very popular metroidvania, it's less so when it comes to its jokes. Indeed, during the game, players are regularly required to come across various billboards parodying many memes. Although most players did not take any particular interest in it, some still expressed their disgust, explaining that it was “dated and awkward jokes from not very funny developers”. From then on, in Guacamelee! 2, players can experience a secret cave listing all of the said panelsbut the path is strewn with warnings for players, warning them that they will only find annoying things there. An NPC is even present to recite the various derogatory comments left by Internet users.