7 Call of Duty Easter Eggs You May Not Know About

With 21 years under its belt, the Call of Duty franchise has made a name for itself in the realm of first-person shooters, inspiring other titles and leading the genre with several talented studios working on its many installments.

With Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 set to release later this year, the franchise has seen its share of ups and downs but has remained in the hearts and minds of its loyal fanbase with several innovative additions to many of its titles.

Among those innovations is the inclusion of hidden details that have had players astounded due to their ingenuity and even delighted at the unique rewards they bestow upon finding them. We take a look back at some of the best Easter eggs that the Call of Duty franchise has managed to hide away in its titles that perhaps eluded even its most eagle-eyed players.

7. The Thundergun

While the Ray Gun from 2008’s World at War campaign was very well hidden, Treyarch’s first Black Ops title took its players by surprise with the inclusion of the Thundergun in one of its levels.

A well-hidden but powerful weapon, the Thundergun slipped under the radar for most Black Ops players considering how elaborate the process to obtain it was at the time.

6. The Friendly Fire Achievement

Yuri’s tryst with Makarov in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was quite the twist in the game’s plot. However, an addition to Modern Warfare Remastered allowed players to take a shot at the character while he is in a conversation with Makarov, which triggered an achievement and a message about friendly fire not being tolerated.

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It was an interaction that only the most creative players may have discovered and Raven Software’s ingenuity was very much in play with this Easter egg.

5. Alien Snowmen

Call of Duty: Ghosts included a humorous twist in its Extinction mode in which players could shoot electric boxes on the ground in a particular order to make aliens explode in snow once they were killed.

They even left snowman heads behind after players were able to figure out how to activate this Easter egg – a detail that is sure to have had Infinity Ward’s developers grinning to themselves when they included it in the game.

4. Permanent Buffs for Zombies Mode

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 was where Treyarch began to get creative with its in-game secrets. With a plethora of hidden buffs being unlocked by obscure challenges for players to unlock, the game’s Zombies mode was made even better considering that these buffs worked in addition to any power-ups players could obtain from the use of items found during their fights against the Undead.

With the Super Easter Egg set to make a return in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, players are excited to see what the upcoming title has in store for its Zombies mode.

3. Nuketown’s Mannequins

Black Ops 3 took its Easter eggs up a notch with the inclusion of a subtly hidden Doctor Who reference that most players would not even have thought was a possibility. Shooting a set of mannequins a certain way would get them to follow the player around on the map.

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It’s a testament to Treyarch’s talent at creating memorable Easter eggs for its Call of Duty titles, considering that despite being able to hear them following along, the mannequins would immediately freeze in weird poses if the player turned around in an attempt to catch them in action.

2. Releasing Mason

Black Ops features again on this list with an ingenious Easter egg hidden right under its players’ noses. Moving Mason’s arms on its main menu screen allowed only the most diligent of players to discover a hidden computer in the back of the room that contained a few lore drops in addition to an entire map for Zombies mode – the Dead Ops Arcade.

It was certainly an ingenious place to hide such a rewarding Easter egg and is among our favorite instances of Treyarch’s genius at creating hidden secrets for its players.

1. The Sign at St. Petrograd

Perhaps the most wholesome among Call of Duty’s Easter eggs was a sign from Infinity Ward hidden in the St. Petrograd map of its Modern Warfare reboot from 2019.

Hidden away in an obscure corner of the map’s train station, translating the sign from Russian to English showed an amusing way for the developers to acknowledge each other’s efforts in making the game while also thanking their players for their support over the years.

Fans of the franchise will hope to see more of these ingenious ideas come to fruition in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 when it releases later this year. There are certain to be excellent additions to a long list of Easter eggs that the franchise is known for if Treyarch and Raven Software’s past work is any indication!