Summary
Whether it be visible in certain characters, story beats, or Easter eggs, developers often share their knowledge of cinema when crafting games. Completing achievements to platinum in a game is also a highlight of the experience, but even more fun is when a trophy’s name acts as a clever movie reference.
It could be a horror game, an RPG, an FPS, or an action-adventure title, where there’s bound to be a movie reference somewhere down the list of achievements. Here are some of the best and most surprising that should come as a delight to gamers and cinephiles alike.
10What Lies Beneath
The Callisto Protocol
The Callisto Protocol is set in a prison on Jupiter’s moon Callisto, where an infection causes prisoners to turn into Biophage monstrosities that you must survive. However, there are secrets buried underneath Black Iron Prison (literally, in this case), so when you venture down to the colony hidden below, you’ll uncover what was going on via the evidence of an alien lifeform and Dr. Mahler’s hologram.
Developer Striking Distance certainly knows its horror genre, as it also worked on Dead Space, which was inspired by Event Horizon. Therefore,discovering the truth of the colonyearns a story trophy aptly called ‘What Lies Beneath,’ and it’s a reference to a less-talked-about horror suspense-thriller from 2000 by Back to the Future and Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis.
9Mean Streets And V For Vendetta
Cyberpunk 2077
When your protagonist is also named V, as in the case of Cyberpunk 2077, it’s almost impossible not to mention the 2005 dystopian movie V for Vendetta. It’s based on the graphic novel written by Alan Moore, and the screenplay adaptation is written by The Wachowskis, directors of the sci-fi gem The Matrix, so that’s another cool Cyberpunk connection here.
For this trophy, you have to revive V with the Second Heart Cyberware after being killed by an enemy and then take your revenge by quickly eliminating that enemy within five seconds of being revived. Another one is Mean Streets, based on the 1973MartinScorsese movie. Once you do all the gigs and NCPD Scanner Hustles in the Heywood region of Night City, you’ll unlock it.
The achievement graphic for Cyberpunk 2077’s ‘V for Vendetta’ also has the Guy Fawkes mask.
8Fast And Furious
Alan Wake - The Signal DLC
Did you ever think that a campy horror game like Alan Wake, about a crime author being sent to another dimension and fighting literal shadow enemies called Taken, would reference the blockbuster Fast & Furious movies? Well, it wasn’t in the main game, but rather the first DLC installment, called The Signal.
For the ‘Fast and Furious’ trophy, you have to defeat the final enemy of the DLC, a poltergeist-type presence that joins various objects together, like a set of TVs, but must accomplish the task in under one minute and 30 seconds. It’s an intense feat to get the achievement, where you could probably use the help of Dominic Toretto and the Fast family.
7War Games
Control
Remedy dropped another movie reference for one of their achievements in the 2019 game, Control. This time, the movie was thematically closer to video games, as it was named after none other than 1983’s WarGames.
WarGames follows Broderick’s character, David Lightman, a gamer who hacks into a supercomputer linked to the US military’s nuclear arsenal,thinking he’s just playing a video game, but is now caught in a possible World War 3 scenario. The ‘War Games’ trophy in Control doesn’t come with as high stakes; you just have to complete five Board Countermeasures, which are side challenges.
6Austin Overpowered And How The West Was Won
Austin Powers is an iconic comedy film trilogy that riffs on James Bond and the secret agent trope, led by the wonderfully hilarious and entertaining Mike Myers, who not only plays the crude spy Austin Powers but also three other characters throughout the series, including antagonist Dr. Evil. It’s even influential enough that Red Dead Redemption, of all games, honored it with a trophy.
The trophy ‘Austin Overpowered’ is a clear reference to Mike Myers' character, and it’s earned when you complete Breach Hideouts in the designated areas (meaning eliminate the enemy gang presence in the areas). Red Dead’s ‘How the West Was Won’ achievement is based on the Oscar-winning 1962 Western, and is won when you reach the top rank in multiplayer, truly a worthy name.
Famous harmonica soloistTommy Morgan, who’s credited for his harmonica tracks across hundreds of movies and TV shows, provided the harmonica music for How the West Was Won as well as Red Dead Redemption, so the trophy has an even bigger connection there. Coincidentally, his harmonica soloing can also be heard in WarGames.
5Cliffhanger
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
You might know Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa or the iconic action hero Rambo, but one of his most underrated outings in cinema was 1993’s Cliffhanger. In Cliffhanger, Stallone plays mountain rescuer Gabe Walker, helping a group of survivors after their plane crashed in the Rocky Mountains, though they aren’t who they seem. You could totally see him joining Nate and Sully in the field.
The reference to this Stallone movie is usedfor the ‘Cliffhanger’ trophy in Uncharted 4, where you must take down 20 enemies from ledges. If you’re more stealthy, it can be achieved organically throughout the chapters, or you may find an easy checkpoint to throw an enemy off and keep restarting until it’s done 20 times.
4Gone In 360 Seconds!
Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 is a game inspired by Paul Verhoeven’s cult classic sci-fi film Starship Troopers, and the game carries on the legacy of that fascist military satire and hilarious bug-slaying on alien planets. In fact, one achievement here even references Starship Troopers directly; the ‘Doing Your Part’ trophy (earned after you complete 100 missions).
Then you have the trophy called ‘Gone In 360 Seconds!,’ which you get only if you complete a Blitz mission in Extreme difficulty in six minutes or less, hence “360 Seconds.” These are hard, especially within a set timeframe, almost as hard as the 50 carsNicolas Cagehas to steal within 72 hours in the action heist movie Gone in 60 Seconds, which is what this trophy references.
Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) is actually a loose remake of the 1974 film of the same name.
3Phased And Confused
Borderlands 2
Borderlands is well-known for its comedy vibe with sci-fi action-adventure gameplay. So, of course, it includes a clever nod to Richard Linklater’s ’90s stoner comedy Dazed and Confused with a trophy named ‘Phased and Confused’ in Borderlands 2. ‘Phased and Confused’ is tied to the Siren character, Maya, who has a Phaselock ability to trap enemies in a vortex to another dimension.
When you use Maya’s phase-locking to trap at least 100 enemies in that vortexual sphere, you will earn this achievement. Like the intended state implied by the film’s title, trapping enemies in a phase-lock leaves them with the same feeling (and also alludes to the name of the ability itself).
2Finlay Destination And Leviathan
Still Wakes The Deep
Still Wakes the Deep references two notable horror films in its achievements. First, there’s ‘Finlay Destination,’ a fitting play onthe Final Destination film series. Final swapped for ‘Finlay’ refers to an important side character in the game, and this achievement is rightfully earned when you die in all the different ways possible in the game (like drowning or falling), as is the theme of the films.
Since Still Wakes the Deep’s story is centered around a mysteriousunderwater Lovecraftian growthinfecting the Beira D oil rig, another trophy you may get is ‘Leviathan.’ It will automatically be collected during the story once you rebalance the rig by flooding the pontoons. Leviathan is a 1989 underwater horror film with a similar premise that stars iconic RoboCop actor Peter Weller.
1Plane, Train, And Submarine
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a French-made game about a fantasy version of Belle Époque France, where a team of adventurers ventures on an expedition to defeat a villain known as the Paintress. It’s visually striking, hasa satisfying JRPG-inspired turn-based structure, and is filled with great writing. What you don’t expect is a reference to the classic Thanksgiving comedy film, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
In Clair Obscur, the achievement name is changed to ‘Plane, Train, and Submarine.’ And all that’s required to earn it is to “Discover all of Esquie’s abilities.” The trophy name makes sense due to how Esquie’s abilities work, since this character can fly, swim, dive, as well as break through coral. Expedition 33 is already a masterpiece, but it has my respect even more for this remarkable film reference.
