Randomly stumbling across a hidden easter egg is always a fun moment in any CD Projekt RED game. I managed to find four easter eggs organically going through Phantom Liberty, which is impressive on its own. Well, turns out there’s a whole lot more that are worth tracking down — 14 to be exact — and we’re here to break them all down with a list of 14 best easter eggs in Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 and Phantom Liberty.
CD Projekt Red Founders in Dogtown
CD Projekt Red studio founders, Marcin Iwinski and Michal Kicinski, have their likenesses represented by some braindance vendors in Dogtown Stadium. Another cool detail? The CDPR rooster mascot is represented by the lit-up flamingo at the top of the store. They even speak Polish and sell the next easter egg presented on this list.
CD Projekt Red Milestones
The CDPR vendors sell braindances and some very useful skill shards. You can buy the braindances, and upon closer inspection, you’ll find that the names, descriptions, and dates for each refer to CDPR game releases.
Here’s each CDPR milestone and their BD equivalent:
- Dance of Brain of Lech Kiet.Basiewicz, which refers to Marcin’s game imports before CDPR (1989)
- Farmer’s Mate, which is a nod to the Baldur’s Gate Polish localization (1999)
- The Snitcher is rather clearly The Witcher (2007)
- Rent refers to Gwent (2017)
- Bonetweaker pays homage to Thronebreaker (2018)
- Retrotrunk is a nod to Cyberpunk (2020)
John Wick
Yes, there’s a John Wick reference in Phantom Liberty, and Keanu Reeves’ character Johnny Silverhand even responds to it!
In the back right corner of the Dogtown Stadium gun store rests a plaque on the ground that says “For Mr. Wick”. This is one of the more obvious easter eggs considering John Wick and Johnny Silverhand are both portrayed by Reaves.
Wedge and Biggs
Biggs and Wedge are one of the longest-standing easter eggs in gaming history. Final Fantasy VI from 1994 began its story with the magiteck soldiers of the same names trawling through the snow, and the names have since been assigned to characters throughout the RPG series’ history. Of course, this longstanding easter egg refers to Wedge Antilles and Biggs Darklighter from the very first Star Wars film.
Imagine my delight as I came across an email between Wedge and Biggs in Cyberpunk’s Phantom Liberty campaign. This longstanding easter egg tradition is being kept alive and well!
The Matrix Red Pill/Blue Pill Room
Finally, a Matrix easter egg in Cyberpunk! This easter egg is tricky to find since you have to take a very convoluted route to get to it. But rest assured that it’s worth the effort for big fans of Reeve’s more iconic film series.
The room is across from the Heavy Hearts pyramid building. Jump on top of the overpass and follow the path to the left awning.
At the dead end, jump through the open window and you’ll see the easter egg of a room. Just like the pivotal moment in The Matrix, there are two chairs and a table with two pills laid out. It’s a very cool easter egg, and congrats to anyone who found this one organically!
Phone Plays The Witcher Theme
CD Projekt Red’s breakout game, The Witcher, gets a cool musical nod in Phantom Liberty. Inside the Captain Caliente restaurant, there’s a landline phone that V must use to progress the story.
There are some numbers posted on the wall, and they actually work! If you input the phone number 9077555202 specifically, you’ll get to hear a cover of The Witcher theme song. Johnny even appears beside you and reminisces.
Here’s the full list of workable phone codes, each providing a cool easter egg of their own:
- 0931 – Reed’s secret phone number
- 5745552377 – The Witcher 3 Easter Egg
- 6175556277 or 9991674545 – Never Fade Away song
- 80018135 – Funny joke
- 911 – Emergency phone number
- 12102020 – Subscribe to a game review mailing list
Edgerunners Perks
Update 2.0 included three brand new perks themed around the popular Edgerunners anime. These three perks represent Rebecca, Lucy, and David. Rebecca’s Perk is called “Die! Die! Die!” and just gives some stat buffs. Lucy’s perk is a really cool livewire finisher, and David’s lets you overload on cyberware just like the “Built Different” protagonist.
The icing on top is the custom portraits of the characters on the perk points, which cement their importance to the game’s second lease on life.
Edgerunners Murals
But that’s not the only easter egg paying homage to the Edgerunners show. Located in the Columbarium in North Oak, these murals act as memorial grave sites for those who passed in and around Night City. Below are the Edgerunners characters’ memorial messages:
- Kiwi: “You taught me to never trust anyone in NC.”
- David Martinez: “You didn’t take me to the moon, but you were there with me.”
- Gloria Martinez: “You were right. David reached the top Arasaka Tower.”
- Rebecca: “I regret not finishing our conversation.”
- Pilar, Dorio, and Maine: “You were the only family I ever had.”
Suzi “SphereHunter” Character Cameo
The popular content creator and Twitch streamer Suzi “TheSphereHunter” has a cameo in Phantom Liberty. She appears as the character Stella from the Gig titled “Waiting for Dodger.” The player meets up with Stella in her car as they figure out a way to get her police officer husband out of a tense situation.
As a fellow Cyberpunk fan, Suzi is fortunate to have her likeness and voice represented in Phantom Liberty, and it’s awesome for CDPR to continue the trend of character cameos!
Barghest Faction Named After Beast in The Witcher
This one doesn’t require any snooping to find. The name of the Dogtown faction, Barghest, is also the name of the mutated dogs causing mayhem from CD Projekt Red’s RPG The Witcher. Both dogs are mean and want you dead, but, at least you can negotiate with Dogtown’s Barghest.
Chimera, An Ode to Ghost in the Shell Spider Tank
Cyberpunk is a setting that shares many common traits with the classic anime film Ghost in the Shell. Both feature lots of Cyberware, rampant ai, and plenty of killer robots.
The Chimera robot tank in particular, though, is a pretty clear homage to the animated movie. The design of Chimera is straight from Ghost in the Shell, and both the Think Tank and Spider Tanks from Ghost in the Shell even get destroyed the same way Chimera does — through the hatch at the top.
The Wire Show Reference
The TV series, The Wire, is referenced in an email exchange between El Capitan and a character named Mike Sobatka. No doubt this is a reference to The Wire’s Frank Sobatka, especially because stevedores is mentioned in the email, which is a union that Frank is treasurer of in the 2nd season of The Wire.
Ken Block Tribute Car
The late rally car legend, Ken Block, gets his very own vehicle as part of Update 2.0.
The vehicle in question can be found and obtained for free northeast of Watson. Just head to an open warehouse and find the keys and the Type-66 “Hoon” weaponized vehicle is all yours. Hoon is a direct reference to Ken Block’s rally company Hoonigan. The Hoonicorn is a real-life beast of a car based on a Mustang, which is obviously what the Type-66 “Hoon” is inspired by.
We’ve also got a more detailed guide you can use to figure out how to get this awesome vehicle for yourself!
Arasaka Tower Doom Clone Arcade Game
This easter egg takes the form of a new arcade game, and it truly amazes me that people found this organically.
The location of the one-off arcade machine is way out in the middle of the labyrinthine Protein Farms. Here’s the church near the Protein Farm fast-travel point where the arcade machine is located in.
Arasaka Tower is the name of this cool ode to Doom. When you boot it up, a retro rendition of the Arasaka raid music plays and you play as a pixelated Johnny Silverhand. This arcade game is new to Update 2.0, and only has one location in all of Night City that we currently know of.
That wraps up our guide on all the easter eggs in Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 and Phantom Liberty. A grand total of 14 easter eggs have been discovered as part of Phantom Liberty and Update 2.0, and we’re hoping there’s even more to find. If you liked this comprehensive list, check out our other Cyberpunk 2077 coverage!
Published: Oct 9, 2023 01:00 pm