Easter eggs
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Easter eggs were intentional hidden extras found within games that were usually jokes or references. The Assassin's Creed games had their own Easter eggs, and many other games contained Easter eggs related to the series.
Carl Jung
Psychologist Carl Jung was referenced throughout the Assassin's Creed series:
- The Animus is named for Jung's anima and animus.
- Women in the series such as Eve, Maria Thorpe, Maria Auditore da Firenze and Sofia Sartor (mostly wives of the male Assassins) shared their names with stages of anima development, a male's inner feminine personality.
- Furthermore, in the Abstergo Files, it was stated they believed their research would put an end to the debate over the existence of Jung's collective unconsciousness.
Assassin's Creed
Jamal
Upon leaving Masyaf for the first time, one of the Assassins in the Kingdom, Jamal, could be silently assassinated with no consequences. However, openly attacking him will prompt the other Assassins to attack you.
Jamal was the traitor inside the order that, along with Masun, opened the gates for the Templar siege of Masyaf. He was originally featured to be a mission target to be assassinated, but the mission was cut and he remained as a minor Easter egg.
Transformers
An arrangement of windows seen on certain buildings formed the face of Optimus Prime, in his vehicle form (a truck) from the Transformers franchise.[1]
Assassin's Creed II
Batman
Occasionally, while freerunning or climbing a building, a male bystander could be heard saying "Another capering crusader." This was a reference to the DC Comics superhero Batman, who used stealth and had a tendency to run on rooftops. Batman was sometimes referred to as the Caped Crusader.
Dummy Keys
In the missions "Knowledge Is Power" and "Hunting the Hunter", the player could loot any of the dummy targets and find keys. The keys had no effect whatsoever in the game.
Ghosts of the past
thumb|200px|Ghosts of the Past. By downloading the Bonfire of the Vanities downloadable content, Ezio was briefly able to see a vision of his entire family. After meeting up with Niccolò Machiavelli, the player could return to the Palazzo Auditore and step into the center of the courtyard. Ezio would enter a mode similar to his Eagle Vision and be able to see the figures of his parents and all of his siblings around the palazzo. The vision would disappear and would not be able to seen again if Ezio left, however.
Giant Squid
A giant squid could be found within the Assassin's Tomb beneath Santa Maria Della Visitazione. To find the Giant Squid, first one pulled the lever that activated the swinging poles for progressing further into the Tomb but looked down into the water near the lever for one minute instead. Once a minute or so had passed, a cutscene played, showing a large squid swimming by. A second cutscene could be activated if the lever was pulled once more and Ezio looked down again. The cutscene showed Ezio narrowly dodging one of the squid's tentacles before it swam away.
Mario Auditore
200px|thumb|Mario greeting Ezio. When Ezio Auditore first met his uncle, Mario, his uncle said the phrase "It's-a-me! Mario!," which was a reference to the Super Mario Brothers franchise.
Motown
When throwing coins amongst the crowd, female bystanders might cry "Money! That's what I want!", which was a reference to the classic Motown song.
Palazzo Ducale
thumb|200px|Palazzo Ducale easter egg. After using the Super Jump or Fence glitch to get into the Palazzo Ducale, Ezio could access the Doge's quarters where Carlo Grimaldi assassinated the Doge. The candle that Carlo Grimaldi and Doge Mocenigo were playing under was unlit, but the chess pieces were in exactly the same position, though Ezio assassinated Grimaldi years ago. After going into these quarters, the sky and the building turn a blood red. However, this might not have been intentional but accidental, as scenery when entering other buildings such as the Villa Auditore lightened or darkened to match the interior of that building. In this case, the tone was changed to orange or red to match the interior of this specific room, thus changing the outside scenery and sky to orange and red respectively.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Castle Crashers
The first memory in the Castel Sant'Angelo was called "Castello Crasher." This was a reference to the PS3 and Xbox 360 downloadable game, Castle Crashers.
Grand Theft Auto
The achievement "Grand Theft Dressage" was a clear reference to the Grand Theft Auto series of games.
Machiavelli's Works
Shortly after Ezio successfully enlisted the help of the three other guilds, Niccolò Machiavelli asked Ezio how he had managed it. Ezio simply answered that it was "Virtù", a concept about the spirit of leadership that Machiavelli was later known to have theorized. Also, at the end of Sequence 7, Machiavelli stated "I intend to write a book about you one day." to Ezio, who responded with "If you do, make it short." This was clearly a reference to Machiavelli's famous (and brief) book, "The Prince." Finally, an achievement entitled "Il Principe" (which translated to "The Prince") could be unlocked by achieving 100% Synchronization for all the memories in Brotherhood, including The Da Vinci Disappearance memories.
Mario References
In the mission "Femme Fatale," after Ezio killed all the guards and dragged Lucrezia, she commented "Rescuing princesses from castles now?" This was a reference to the Super Mario Bros. games where Mario rescued Princess Peach from Bowser's castle. One of the Brotherhood achievements was entitled "Principessa in Another Castello." This translated to "Princess in Another Castle," which was what would be told to Mario in the original Mario games when he defeated Bowser's minions in their castles.
Another Mario reference was the achievement "Plumber", which showed the picture of a Mario World Warp Pipe.
Metal Gear Solid
Just before reuniting with Leonardo da Vinci, Ezio came across an anachronistic factory-made cardboard box, though he looked away when Leonardo comes around the corner. This was a reference to the Metal Gear Solid series, as the signature stealth move of Solid Snake (the series' protagonist) was to hide in a box or crate. A second tribute was the Raiden suit, available to all who completed every challenge in the Animus Virtual Training Program with at least a bronze medal, a reference to how the character Raiden was trained in only virtual simulations.
Montreal
During the memory "Trojan Horse," while escorting Bartolomeo d'Alviano and his Mercenaries disguised as French soldiers, a French guard asked Ezio Auditore which region of France he hailed from, to which he replied "Montréal." This was likely a reference to the location of Ubisoft Montreal, the main developers of the Assassin's Creed series. Montreal was also the largest city in the French-speaking province of Quebec in Canada. Alternatively, it could be a reference to the birth-place of Francisco Randez - the character model after whom Desmond Miles was designed.
Project Legacy
In the Sanctuary, on Lucy Stillman's computer monitors is the Memories menu of Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy, set to the memories of Mario Auditore.
Assassin's Creed: Revelations
Lingering enemy
In the first memory of Altaïr, Jamal could be seen, again viewed in red when in Eagle Vision. This first occurred in the original game, Assassin's Creed.
Hello World
In the very first sequence, Subject 16 talked to Desmond Miles about the place in the Animus that he was currently in, Animus Island, stating that it was the test world first created by Rebecca Crane to gain a feeling for the confines of the machine. Afterwards, he proclaimed "Hello World!", which was a reference to the common test program named a Hello World project. This project was often used to familiarize a programmer with the basics of a programming language.
Monty Python
In the mission The Brawler, after having been defeated three times in a row, the encountered citizen said "Ah... we will call it a draw, alright?" This was a reference to the movie Monty Python And The Holy Grail, in which the Black Knight challenged King Arthur to a fight and, after both his arms and legs were cut off, said "Alright. We'll call it a draw."
Muhammad Ali
Sometimes during fighting or after defeating guards, civilians yelled "Floats like a butterfly, stings like a scorpion!" This line also occurred when random civilians want to fistfight Ezio. This was a reference to the famous boxer, {{Wiki|Muhammad Ali]], who described his fighting style as "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."
Spider-Man
There was an achievement entitled "Spider Assassin" in which the player had to climb the top of the Hagia Sofia in under 25 seconds. The title and achievement was a reference to the popular Marvel Comics' superhero Spider-Man and his ability to scale up and around buildings at speed.
Superman
One title in the multiplayer was Man of Steel. This was an obvious reference to DC Comics' hero, Superman, as his nickname was the Man of Steel.
Assassin's Creed (French comic)
Prince of Persia
In the first tome of the novel, during Desmond's flashback, the Prince of Persia, the main protagonist of the famous Ubisoft series, appeared on the screen of the arcade game monitor at the "L'Horizon" bar.
Assassin's Creed in other media
The characters, gameplay elements, and plot of Assassin's Creed are also featured in various other media.
AdventureQuest
In AdventureQuest, the Assassin job class had a level 10 Guardian skill called "Finishing Blow." After clicking this, it had another button called "Assassin's Creed." Additionally, the armor "Whispering Raiment" had two hidden blades on the left arm.
In AdventureQuest Worlds, there were two outfits available for purchase at the suggestion shop in Yulgar's inn, which were the "Hashashin Armor," priced at 500,000 gold for free players, and the "Armored Hashashin Armor," priced at 300,000 gold for upgraded members of the game. The Hashashin Armor included two hidden blades, though they are located on top of the player's wrist, rather than on the bottom.
Dead Island
In Dead Island, there is a knife named "Assassin's Greed".
Dragon Age II
In Dragon Age II, Varric's crossbow was called Bianca, like Bartolomeo d'Alviano's sword. Also, the brothel in Hightown was called the "Blooming Rose," a direct translation of the Roman courtesan headquarters, the Rosa in Fiore.
Dungeon Defenders
In Dungeon Defenders, the character The Archer, the male version of The Huntress for the PC, can obtain a Halloween costume that resembles a black Master Assassin robe set.
Gaia Online
During the 2011 Halloween event in Gaia Online, Edmund, the shop owner for H & R Wesley, was dressed as Ezio.
Grand Theft Auto IV
In Grand Theft Auto IV, after completing a set of assassination missions for a mysterious figure called the Fixer, the player received an achievement called Assassin's Greed, which was a direct play on the Assassin's Creed name. Moreover, the requirement for the achievement was the completion of nine assassination missions, which paralleled the first Assassin's Creed game, in which Altaïr was tasked by Al Mualim to kill nine Templars in exchange for his reinstatement as a Master Assassin.
inFAMOUS 2
Located in the fictional city of New Marais, several cinemas and theaters in inFAMOUS 2 feature movie titles that are direct puns of popular video game names. Among the movie titles was "Assassin's Need (Love Too)", a parody on Assassin's Creed. These cinemas are located in the very first district of the city. Also, one of the negative karmic missions available in the game was named "Assassin's Greed", another play on the Assassin's Creed name.
Another Easter egg found in the game's downloadable content, inFamous 2: Festival of Blood, could be seen again on the cinemas' featured movie titles. The new parody title was "Assassin's Bleed", which was also a reference to the download content's central theme of vampires.
Invictus Games
In the iPhone games Froggy Jump and Froggy Launcher, a torso item called "Assassin armor" looked just like Ezio's armor in Assassins Creed II and could be bought for 2 Diamonds.
LittleBigPlanet
As a part of their promotion for Assassin's Creed II, Ubisoft released Ezio's Assassin Costume as a downloadable costume for the PS3 exclusive LittleBigPlanet on 8 December 2009.
On the day that Revelations was released, LittleBigPlanet released a new costume of Ezio, featuring Sackboy in the robes that Ezio starts out with in the game.
Metal Gear Solid 4
On April Fools' Day 2008, it was revealed that an Altaïr costume for Old Snake could be unlocked in the game Metal Gear Solid 4. Hideo Kojima, one of the game's creators, later announced that it was not a joke, and that the costume could really be unlocked if the player did "something special." In order to unlock the costume, the player must either acquire the "Assassin Emblem" (a nod to the game's title) or input a password in the Extras section. Specifically, the password has been revealed to be aottrykmyn.[2]
The costume could be used as an alternative disguise early in-game and worked exactly like the Middle East Militia costume. Unlike Altaïr's robes, the Militia costume was lost early in-game, prompting the player to find another set of the disguise and could cause the Middle Eastern faction to be friendly to the player as opposed to having to work to gain their trust. When the costume was worn, the protagonist would bend his ring finger back to his palm, which was maintained as long as he wore the costume, a reference to Altaïr's missing ring finger.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
- "Back in the time of the Crusades, members of the order of Assassins used what is called the Assassin's Straw Box to hide and get close to their enemies."
- ―Kazuhira Miller, commenting on the newly procured item.[src]
In one of Peace Walker's missions in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, namely Main Ops 16, a unique box made of straw dubbed the Assassin's Straw Box could be obtained. To do so, the player ensured there was a vacant slot in the equipment section, climbed onto the roof of the shack above where the straw box was, and then performed a "Leap of Faith" into it. The Leap was accompanied by an eagle's screech, similar to its mechanism in the Assassin's Creed series.
Right after obtaining the straw box, one of the main protagonists, Kazuhira Miller, mentioned its use during the Third Crusade (the time period of Assassin's Creed), and how it was used by the Assassins. After the aforementioned mission was completed, the Assassin's Straw Box was available in the inventory.
The box could hold two people simultaneously and included a special function not found in other box items: knocking out guards while hiding in the box and recruiting the knocked-out soldier using Fulton Recovery (if another player was present). Continued use could damage the item, to the point where the box would be destroyed completely.
Prince of Persia
In Prince of Persia (2008), Altaïr's costume was available as a free DLC for use by The Prince. Additionally, an achievement entitled "Assassin's View" can be unlocked by standing on a View Point upon the Martyr's Tower.
Similarly, in Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Ezio's costume could be purchased via Uplay for 30 points.
Altaïr's Costume also could be purchased in Prince of Persia: Prodigy, via Uplay.
Saints Row: The Third
In the sandbox game Saints Row: The Third, an achievement entitled "Everything is Permitted" was awarded when one eliminated all assassination targets.
Soul Calibur V
The character Dampierre used a hidden blade called "Hidden Edge" as his ultimate weapon.
The Saboteur
In The Saboteur, the main protagonist Sean Devlin earned a racing car with white stripes, named Altaïr, which is nicknamed "The Flying Eagle." {{-))
The Simpsons
In the fifth episode of season 23 of The Simpsons, "The Food Wife," a poster could be seen in the back of the fictional games convention E4, featuring a hippie with two hidden blades and the title "Assassin's Creed - Summer of Love," besides some other game parodies.
The Witcher 2
During one mission in The Witcher 2, Geralt could walk up to some haystacks underneath a structure resembling a view point and find the body of a white-robed man, who looked suspiciously like an Assassin that appeared to have died when his Leap of Faith failed.
If the player examined the body, Geralt said, "Hmm... Guess they'll never learn." From there, the player would be granted a hidden ability called "Assassin."
VG Cats
The VG Cats comic Stealth is required featured Leo (one of the main characters) wearing Altaïr's costume and shows him picking his nose. He stabbed himself with his hidden blade by accident.
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