If I have to pick a favorite video game of all time it would definitely be Portal 2. To my mind there has simply never been a more perfect mixture of inventive play, storyline, voice acting, graphics, and humor. Every day I open up Google and ask it what it knows about Portal 3 and every day it says "Please ask me something else, Jef. You need help."
Well, since I apparently have to wait until the stars align and bring me more GLaDOS sometime in the indeterminate future I guess I'll have to get my fix with other games. Unfortunately, even those games mock my pain since apparently the people who make them leave Portal
Shadow of the Damned Shadow of the Damned might be one of the few great horror-comedy works of art in any medium because that is a really hard genre to perfect. Case in point, the game parodies the information posters in Portal with a twist. Instead of humans using portals on random walls for instant movement between them, demons use them on random humans in order to break free.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadows The scrolls that you find in the off-shoot trilogy are often full of references to other games. In particular, the scrolls found on dead knights usually allude to characters outside the Castlevania universe. On scroll talks of meeting a fairy queen who served the most delicious cake, and the knight happily proclaims the cake is not a lie in a clear nod to the meme-iest part of the series.
Dishonored In Dishonored your supplier of gadgets and weaponry is Piero Joplin, who as it turns out may be an alternative-world version of Cave Johnson. On the wall of his workshop is the portal symbol, with a corresponding panel on the outside wall. If you read the note next to the symbol you'll see that it's part of Piero's magic door experiments which will enable people to cross great distances in single steps. The fact that currently the doorway opens on a sheer drop is a nod to the invention of the long-fall boots meant to keep test subjects from destroying Aperture equipment in fatal falls.
Saints Row: The Third More of a Half-Life reference, really, than a Portal one. Nonetheless, if you go into any cargo ship in Saints Row: The Third you will find a listing of missing ships. Among those are the Borealis, the Aperture research vessel that suffered a teleportation mishap mentioned in Half-Life 2. Other ships that appear on the list are the USG Ishimura from the Dead Space series, and the Heart of Gold from Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Fable 3 In a more subtle nod, behind some crates in the "Crime and Punishment" chapter you can find a Hobbe worshipping a small crate. Near him on a bench is a cake. This is likely an homage to Doug Rattman, the behind-the-scenes character who is responsible for the graffiti hidden in Portal and who is often focused in the companion cubes being real. Speaking of...
This story continues on the next page.
Alice: The Madness Returns In the fourth chapter Alice makes her way across floating blocks. You'll be forgiven if you thought they were just a further reference to the Queen of Hearts, but a closer look reveals that they are actuall massive companion cubes.
Bastion If you play New Game + on the PC release of Bastion one of your item options may be a gel canister. Bearing the Aperture Science logo it can be used to summon a talking sentry turret who can assist you with gunfire in battle. Note, it doesn't seem to appear in every New Game + file.
The Stanley Parable Easily one of the strangest and most brilliant games of the last several years is The Stanley Parable. So unique and genius in fact that I'm not sure if it's a game or an art installation about games. One path through the title will find you not only in a Portal Easter Egg, but an entire first level of the first game! The narrator is initially delighted with the game, but ultimately drops Stanley back into his own work.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine Woah, I'm sort of surprised anyone played this dog-turd of a licensed title through enough to actually find any Easter Eggs. In Chapter 3 clever use of a teleporter will drop Logan into a room with cake and "Surprise!" written on the wall. Finally, a reason to play through a tiny portion of the game... or just, you know, watch the video.
Dragon Age: Origins At the end of our list let's talk about the end of Dragon Age: Origins. If Sten is on your party and you agree to perform the ritual with Morrigan you will then attend the coronation of a new regent. Walk around and talk to your companions. Sten will bitterly remark that cake was promised and that there is none. The cake is a lie. No, that meme is never, ever going away.
Jef has a new story, a tale of headless strippers and The Rolling Stones, available now in Broken Mirrors, Fractured Minds. You can also connect with him on Facebook.
