The Tribute Easter Egg You Probably Missed In Immortals Fenyx Rising
Immortals Fenyx Rising is the latest expansive, open world game by Ubisoft, and you know what they say about open world games: The bigger the game world, the more developers have to put in it. Okay, Fenyx Rising doesn't have quite as much digital land as Assassin's Creed Valhalla, but there's still plenty to find in the game. It's no wonder why critics love Fenyx Rising.
During your 20 to 50 hour campaign, you will come across everything gamers have come to expect from Greek mythology, including cyclopses, treasure chests, and pop culture references. Some are out in the open, while others require a bit more digging. One of the most deviously hidden — but heartfelt — of inclusions is a tribute Easter egg to the king of inspirational ASMR painting videos, Bob Ross.
The Easter egg is far from obvious. It isn't an errant art easel tucked away in a dungeon, and it certainly isn't a happy little cloud. You could comb the entire game island looking for the reference and still miss it, so read this article to easily find the tribute. You are not here by mistake — you finding this article was a happy accident.
Happy little hands for happy little tree friends
If you climb to the top of Hephaistos' statue, the game will ask you to investigate a noise, and if you follow it to the source, you will find the smithing god Hephaistos ... or at least an amnesiac robot that bears his name. He also doesn't have any hands. They apparently scurried off somewhere, and he wants you to get them back.
After you accept the mission to give "Hephaistos" a hand — well, his hands to be precise — he will start to think out loud about the items he could sculpt with his hands. If you leave immediately after agreeing to aid him, you will miss out on the robot talking about creating a tree with "happy little tree friends" and asking if trees have friends. This is an obvious reference to Bob Ross, although it isn't a direct quote. Instead, it is an amalgamation of his famous lines about "happy trees," "a happy little mountain," and "everybody needs a friend."
That's about the long and short of it. A robot that bears the name of the Greek god of art paraphrases a world-famous artist. Pretty fitting.