The Last of Us 2: Every Easter Egg & Reference

Fans of The Last of Us franchise had to wait six years for the game’s release, and even though it’s been met with mixed reviews, the variety of Easter Eggs and references hidden in the game does not disappoint. The developers did an excellent job at incorporating many details that may be hard to uncover at first but add to the overall excellence of The Last of Us: Part 2.

The Last of Us: Part 2’s story picks up where the original game left off, as it sees Joel and Ellie trying to make a life for themselves at Jackson County. But after tragedy strikes, it sets the characters off on an elaborate quest for revenge, which of course doesn’t go the way anyone planned.

There are countless things to do while playing The Last of Us: Part 2, from seeking out infected to hunt or exploring the endless abandoned buildings for supplies. But if there’s one thing players should definitely do, it’s pay attention to all of the little references, Easter eggs, and hidden details sprinkled throughout the game for an even better playing experience.

TLOU2’s References To PlayStation

Given that The Last of Us: Part 2 debuted at the end of this console’s generation, it feels fitting that the game incorporated various nods to the PlayStation console itself, and there are plenty of them to be found in the game. Players can find PlayStation 3’s in various households across the game’s universe. In Chapter: Patrol, Ellie may even stumble across a PS3 that has several famous titles, including Uncharted 2 and Jak & Daxter, both Naughty Dog titles.

Later, when Ellie sneaks up and kills Whitney, players can observe the antagonist playing Hotline: Miami on a PlayStation Vita. Abby also addresses Whitney’s Hotline: Miami obsession in a different scene.

TLOU2’s References To Naughty Dog

The Last of Us 2 also includes many references to Naughty Dog, the company responsible for developing the franchise. Another Jak & Daxter item that Ellie can find is the Precursor Orb, located in Chapter: Hostile Territory, which is also a strange relic that can be collected in the Uncharted games, making it one of the few items which have appeared across all three franchises.

Similarly, there’s a Jak X: Combat Racing arcade game that players can find in Chapter: The Flooded City while walking through The Last of Us: Part 2’s abandoned arcade.

Crash Bandicoot is another Naughty Dog game that gets a shout-out in The Last of Us: Part 2. When Dina and Ellie stumble onto Eugene’s weed room, they find a collection of pornography. One of the videos is titles “Smash Brandi’s Cootch,” a clear reference to the classic franchise.

The other title is called “Dong of the Wolf,” which is a nod to a movie called “Dawn of the Wolf” that popped up multiple times in the original game and is likely related to the Native American story “Song Of The Wolf.”

One of the trading cards players can collect during The Last of Us: Part 2Chapter: Downtown is called Dr. Uckmann, a California-based scientist, but this seems to be a clear reference to Naughty Dog’s VP Neil Druckmann, who works at the company’s California location. While some of the other cards feature made-up names, others reference actual superheroes, including Hellboy, X-Men and the MCU.

There’s another reference to Naughty Dog’s Uncharted franchise when Ellie stumbles upon an engraved ring in Westlake Bank that says “Sic Parvis Magna.” This phrase translates to mean “greatness from small beginnings,” and is the catchphrase of Nathan Drake.

References To The Last Of Us

There are a few moments in which The Last of Us: Part 2 seems to be paying homage to its original title. One of the first scenes shows Ellie looking out her window to see a small rabbit in the snow. This seems to be a reference to The Last of Us’ Chapter: Winter in which players first got a chance to play as Ellie as she tries to provide for herself and Joel after his injuries.

While still in Joel’s house, players can also see the photo of him and Sarah that he originally told Tommy he didn’t want. Joel has the photo next to an image of him and Ellie, making it clear that he sees her as a daughter, too, after all these years.

Player will remember the touching scene in the original The Last of Us, in which Joel and Ellie get to pet giraffes that have escaped from the zoo. During Chapter: Patrol, Ellie finds a stuffed giraffe that seems to be hinting to the previous scene. Similarly, in the flashback scene where Ellie visits a museum with Joel, it’s reminiscent of the original giraffe scene when she pets the head of a long-necked dinosaur.

In a similar scene, while celebrating Ellie’s birthday, the teenager discovers a wooden plank while swimming in the water, reminiscent of the ones Joel would have to transport her on in the first game since she couldn’t swim. “Those days are long gone kiddo,” he says after she jokingly asks him to give her a ride.

Many of the fake movies or brands used in the first game have reappeared in its sequel. At the start of Chapter: Finding Strings, players can discover a Savage Starlight comic, a sci-fi series that kept popping up time and again in The Last of Us.

When Dina and Ellie stumble upon a toy shop in Seattle and discover Halloween decorations, one of the statues actually appeared in The Last of Us: Left Behind.

Miscellaneous References

There are countless other Easter Eggs to be discovered in the game, many of which are likely still being uncovered. If players take Ellie into the abandoned Seattle music shop, they’ll observe a 2013 poster from Pearl Jam’s album ‘Lightning Bolt,’ and the titular title from this song is actually the one Joel and Ellie always sing. But as Games Radar interestingly pointed out, this album was supposed to be released on October 15, 2013, but the outbreak in The Last of Us occurred on September 26, 2013, meaning this song isn’t supposed to exist in their world.

The code used to open Gate West 2 is actually an Easter eggs. 0451 is a common door code used in many video games, as it was used to belong to the door at Looking Glass Studios’ Cambridge Office, the developer responsible for games like System Shock.

Similarly, if players go into the Seattle bookshop, they’ll discover a copy of the 1922 book The Velveteen Rabbit, which may have special significance to one of the developers.

There are several references to real movies in The Last of Us 2. In the same scene Ellie finds the Sic Parvis Magna Ring, she and Dina will reference Point Break, a 1991 movie about a bank heist featuring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. Similarly, while exploring the museum with Joel in a flashback, he tells Ellie about the Jurassic Park franchise.

The Last of Us: Part 2 may be controversial, but its numerous Easter Eggs and references are sure to please any fans of the franchise, given just how many there are.

Source: GamesRadar

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