Skyrim and Fallout devs talk about some fun secrets in their games

Severed legs, Blackreef and headless horse riders

I’m a sucker for well-hidden video game easter eggs, fromPsychonauts 2’sstrange mpreg cutsceneto the ability toplay as a babyinMount & Blade 2, they’re all great they’re great. But it’s all too easy to walk past easter eggs without knowing they were even there. I’ve probably waved off multiple fun secrets, mistaking them for lore I didn’t understand or a questline I haven’t gotten to. So, my pea-sized brain enjoyedthis videoof game designer Steve Lee interviewing the devs behindThe Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimandFalloutas they reveal some dev secrets behind those games - including a cool egg.

The group point to the jellyfish-filled Blackreach that was added toSkyrimin “very little time,” and the headless horse-riding ghost that treks through Skyrim to reach its grave. Lee mentions a fun bug fromDishonoured 2’s development that involved a group of severed legs that would chase after the player, but wouldn’t speak, as if the game thought “they can’t talk because they don’t have heads.”

But easily my favourite anecdote was the Easter egg that level designer Joel Burgess squeezed intoFallout 3. Burgess says that he created the game’s McClellan House as an homage to one of his favourite short stories in The Martian Chronicles - recreating an automated house after the homeowners have died. There are a ton of small, personal details in the house and the full video is definitely worth a watch.