Valve is an iconic part of the gaming industry, creating unforge🌟ttable gameꦇs, changing the way the industry operates, and becoming notorious for not releasing the third installment in beloved series. Because of its place in the hearts of developers and gamers alike, it’s a name that stays relevant to this day.

Related: Hilarious Hal🐻f-Life 2 Memes Only True Fans Understand

With its role in the gaming community, gamers know to keep a lookout for little Valve references here and there. Be it a major triple-A title or an indie game, there’s a good chance one of the Easter eggs you can find is about Valve, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Half-Life, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Left 4 Dead, Portal, or one ♉of the other products Valve has released throughout the years. Take a look at some of the Valve jokes and references that other develope🀅rs put in their games.

10 Stray

Left: Crowbar hanging on a valve; Right: Crowbar on a subway seat

There are 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:plenty of pop culture references in Stray, and eagle-eyed felines will notice two crowbars peculiarly placed in the world. There is some debate on whether the crowbar in the subway is a reference or not, but considering how the crowbar has beco💜me a symbol for Half-L🌊ife as Freeman’s iconic weapon, it’s a safe bet.

A more obvious and indisputable occurrence in the game is a crowbar hanging on a literal valve. The crowbar is unusable, but it’s a n🐷ice lit💯tle homage.

9 💝 The Stanley Parable 🤡

A single light is on at the end of a long dark hallway

Considering the fact that 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Stanley Parable started development as ♛a mod for Half-Life 2, it kind of feels like the entire game in itself is a reference. That said, there 😼is a specific ending you can trigger that lets you visit other games, including the original Half-Life mod version of the game.

It is implied that you came upon this by accident and aren’t actually allowed to traverse these levels as the Narrator cannot follow you here. It features parts of the old levels with everything turned off, seemingly because th💖e version has been “abandoned.”

8 Payday 2

left - a stock ticker has different stocks; center - a locker has graffiti and a crowbar inside; right - a RED turret

Payday 2 has quite a few references to Valve games, particularly Half-Life and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Team Fortress 2. There are a couple of Half-Life🅷 references, with one being a locker with a crowbar inside of it and graffiti that says “Freeman was here.” There is also a stock ticker that shows “HL3 Confirmation Services” plummeting, which is a cheeky little nod to Half-Life 3 seemingly never happening.

The game also has a much more direct reference to the company too. You can find a sentry gun during the Train Heist mission that looks exactly like the Engineer's Sentry Turret from Team Fortress 2.

7 Cyberpunk 2077 🍒

left - a review of "No Life 3"; right - a rogue Delamain car gets three people to attack the player

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Cyberpunk 2077 has a pretty vast open world, so it’s no wonder that it’s littered with Easter Eggs. In one of your Delamain missions, you can come across a rogue (and murderoꦍus) AI that is a nice little nod to GlaDOS from Portal. The initial dialogue and voice are enough to make the implication, but it just seals the deal when she says “all the cake is gone.”

Related: Cyberpunk 2077 Easterও Eggs and References You Probably Missed

The game also has a clear Half-Life 3 reference by way of a shard that contains a review of a fake game called “No Life 3”🤪. In the review, it is mentioned that players had to wait fifty years for the third installment to be released. Who knows if we’ll have to wait that long for HL3?

6 ဣ The Henry Stick🌳min Collection

left - an image of Gary mann standing with a suitcase; right - Headcrabs jump down next to a displayed crowbar

Considering how The Henry Stickmin Collection handles its own humor, it makes sense that the developers would insert plenty of Valve references. One neat two-in-one reference features Gary Mann, whose name and appearance are a combination of Half-Life’s G-Man and TF2🌠&👍rsquo;s Mann Co.

On top of this, if you try to grab a specific crowbar in the game, you get attacked by Headcrabs. There are also multiple nods to Gabe Newell, the much joked-about head of Valve and Steam, that are easy to miss. Look for a loading sequence and a fail state that both mention “Gꦑaben” and “HL3.”

5 ꧋ Plague,♋ Inc.

a news update on Valve Time appears in front of a top view of the globe

In 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Plague Inc., you are tasked with causing the demise of the world via a plague of your choosing. One of the ways you 💙can track your progress is by checking the news updates that post major events in the world.

One easy-to-miss news update references Valve's tendency for its games to spend extremely long periods of time in development by mentioning how “Valve Time” is much slower than researchers anticipated, even talking about how fluids have a half-life of three years.

4 Emily Is Away 🌟 🍃

a Windows XP interface shows a folder of icons with just the Half Life icon visible

In Emily is Away, you can unlock different ic✨ons by inputting specific screen names. If you type Half-Life, you unlock the Half-Life icon and start a chat with Gabe Newell. In the chat, he tells you that you are actually part of an “elaborate ruse to get players” to join the Half-Life 3 beta test.

3 Viscera𒊎 🅺Cleanup Detail

left - a PDA with a log from Dr. Friedmann; right - A crowbar and glasses on the floor

In th𝔉e Cryogenesis map of Viscera Cleanup Detail, you can find a Gordon Freeman reference that you really have to seek out. Near one of 📖the corpses you need to clean up, you can find a PDA that belongs to Dr. Jordan Friedmann. In his log, he talks about a ‘prying bar’ and his missing glasses.

Related: 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Extremely Satisfying Cleaning Games

If you bring this ꧒data log to the console in the control room, it unloc😼ks a hidden compartment in the wall that contains his glasses and the quintessential crowbar.

2 🤡 Metro 2033 ও

left - a skeleton holding a crowbar under rubble; right - a hand missing a thumb rises above water

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Metro 2033 is another 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:dystopian title with a mix of different Valve games it references. During the mission Trolley Combat, you can find a skeleton under some rubble that is holding a crowbar. There a🦂re also gla🅷sses on the ground nearby, pretty much referencing the corpse of Gordon Freeman.

If you get past a demon in the Dead City, you can also find a corpse's hand sticking out of the water with a thumb missing. The way it looks mimics the iconic cover of the first Left 4 Dead game.

1 ꦍ Dea๊d Rising 2

Bloody graffiti on the wall warns about the witch

It’s always fun w💞hen zombie games reference other equally great zombie games. Dead Rising 2 features some graffiti written in blood from a seemingly confused victim that is warning about a ‘witch’. Once you see this warning, listen intently, and you’ll actually hear audio of the witch crying.

In🌠terestingly, Le𝔍ft 4 Dead actually makes some references to Dead Rising 2’s protagonist as well in one of its comic books.

Next: 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Best Video Game Easter Eggs o▨f All 𓃲Time