Easter Eggs & References

The SteamWorld series features a wide range of easter eggs and references to other SteamWorld Games, as well as other franchises.

SteamWorld Dig

• The subtitle of SWD A Fistful of Dirt is a reference to the Eastwood movie A Fistful of Dollars.
• Rusty as a character and the story of SteamWorld Dig are based on the Eastwood movie Unforgiven, where the unnamed protagonist arrives in a small western town and needs to fix some problems. This is similar to how Rusty ended up in Tumbleton and caused an economic growth to help the town.
• Next to Biff's shop in Tumbleton, a signpost can be found. One arrow has El Machino written on it. This was included because the developers already had the basic outline of SWD2 established.
• In the Old World are three different easter eggs hidden and each of it is exclusive to a specific system/console.
  • In the Steam version of the game, an easter egg referencing Half-Life 3 can be found within the second upgrade cave in the Old World. There are skeletal remains that stand in a row in front of a store called "Game Go", suggesting that the game never came out.
  • The Xbox One version's easter egg can be found in the third upgrade cave. There's a small area containing a Halo Warthog that can be flipped three times to reveal a big orb. A base from the Bloodgulch map can also be seen in the background.
  • The Wii U and Switch versions of the game feature a Super Mario secret. It can be found within the first Old World upgrade cave. There is an iconic Mario castle with an area based on Level 1-2 from Super Mario Bros. inside. Rusty can collect Mario coins which can be sold to Dorothy. The coins also only exist in these versions of the game.
• Three achievements are direct references to the Eastwood movie "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly":
  • The Good - Defeat 10 Trilobites before they wake up.
  • The Bad - Defeat 10 Shiners before they wake up.
  • The Ugly - Defeat 10 Mecha Trilobites before they wake up.
• The boxart of the SteamWorld Dig IndieBox is based on a spanish poster of the Spaghetti Western movie Abilene Town by Edwin L. Marin.

SteamWorld Heist

• SteamWorld Heist features a lot of hats with references to other games and franchises.
  • Joe's Your Uncle is not only a reference to Rusty's uncle Joe from SWD, it also resembles Rusty's hat itself.
  • The Caw-Kaa! hat is a reference to the character of the same name from Zombie Vikings by Zoink Games.
  • The Coffee-Stained Simulator Hat is reference to the game Goat Simulator by Coffee Stain Studios.
  • The Funky Cap seems to be reference to the DC Batman character The Riddler.
  • The Justice Circlet ressembles the tiara of the DC character Wonder Woman.
  • The Oh C'mon hat is a reference to Ash Ketchum from the Pokémon Anime.
  • Both Red Cap and Green Cap are a reference to the Mario Bros. Mario & Luigi.
  • The Sparking Hair! is a reference to Son-Goku from Dragon Ball.
  • Three hats are referencing main characters from South Park:
    • Greasy Blue Hat -> Eric Cartman
    • Green Ushaka -> Kyle Broflovski
    • Red Poof Ball Hat -> Stan Marsh
  • The Shortest Straw hat is a reference to Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece.
  • The Not-so-square Hair a reference to the character Cloud from Final Fantasy. The name of the hat is also a reference to Square Enix.
  • The Gentleman's Memento is based on the hat of the Level-5 character Professor Hershel Layton.
  • The hat The Wizz is a direct reference to the character Rincewind from the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. Rincewind also appears in the movie "The Color of Magic" (2008) where he's portrayed by Sir David Jason.
  • The Mañana Cap is a reference to the hat of Marty McFly from Back To The Future Part II. The description also contains a reference to Marty McFly and his actor, Michael J. Fox.
  • The Maximilian hat is a reference to the character of the same name from Mutant Mudds by Renegade Kid.
  • The Junior's Hat is a reference to Indiana Jones (Outsider DLC).
  • The hat Shirogane Detective is a reference to Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4 (Outsider DLC).
  • The "Hat Full o' Heart" is a reference to Okosan from Hatoful Boyfriend (Outsider DLC).
  • The hat A Ray of Hope is a reference to the Helmets of X-Wing pilots from Star Wars (Hatful Eight + 2 DLC).
  • The Crustacean Grace resembles the head of Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama (Hatful Eight + 2 DLC).
  • The Lively, Long and Prosperous Hair is a reference to the character Spock from Star Trek. Its description is also a reference to one of his famous quotes: "It is not life as we know or understand it." (Hatful Eight + 2 DLC).
  • The Sorta Predictable Hat resembles the Sorting Hat from Harry Potter (Hatful Eight + 2 DLC).

• A binary code is displayed on various screens on Vectron ships and escape pods. If translated, it reads "old joe" - a reference to Rusty's uncle Joe, who became part of Vectron/Voltbot before the Events of SWD.
• There are several ships chained to the Royal Impound. While one of the chained ships seems to be the ship of Vectron, another one seems to resemble the house of the Moomins.
• The damaged Rusty Memorial can be seen in a cutscene as well as in the side-level "Locked up like Treasure". This is a reference to the ending of SWD.
• Rusty has a small cameo in the ending sequence, where he stands in a dark container while holding a water tank.

SteamWorld Dig 2

• The working title of SWD2 was "SteamWorld Quest", which was used to confuse the fans. It was later used for SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech.
• The working subtitle of SWD2 was For a Few Gallons More, which is a reference to the Eastwood movie For a Few Dollars More.
• Ty Nuzak is a reference to the mailmen of the wild west, who delivered letters even during the hardest times. Ironically, he has a fear of open spaces so that he always stays in El Machino.
• The Portal games by Valve are referenced two times:
  • The cake artifact is based on the cake of the end of the first Portal game. The description is also a small reference to the famous line "The cake is a lie".
  • The Trial of Buttons is a reference to the Portal test chambers.
• The presence of Vectron in SWH is explained in this game through small details:
  • [...]
  • A hexadecimal is visible when Dorothy gets teleported out of Vectron. It is also seen for a split second within the Trial of Buttons.

SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech

• Hand of Gilgamech is a reference to king Gilgamesh, who was a historical king of Uruk, a major hero in the Mesopotamian mythology, and the protagonist of the poem Epic of Gilgamesh.
• A small version of the Rusty Memorial is located on the shelf that acts as a secret passage in Gilgamech's Room (chapter 18).
• The elevator music at the beginning of chapter 19 in is actually part of the track "Call Of The Trail - Anthill Theme" from the Switch version of Anthill. It is worth to mention that SWQ was released before the Switch version of Anthill came out.
• There's a steambot kid holding a doll that represents Dorothy in the ending sequence.

SteamWorld easter eggs & references in other games

Zombie Vikings

• Rusty has a cameo in this game.

Goat Simulator

• A Minigame named Steamworld Goat can be found in a house near the spawn of the map Goat City Bay. The player is controlling a nyan cat based Goat to dig for gold bars (similar to as they look in Minecraft) with a pickace. The game is build up like the gameplay of SWD and there are even upgrades that can be bought with the collected gold.
  • If the player reaches depth level 200, an achievement called SteamWorld Goat can be unlocked.

The Gunk

TBA

Trivia

• Classic Spaghetti Western movies featuring Clint Eastwood are referenced multiple times, especially in the Dig titles.