Several gaming developers took to social media to discuss their favorite Easter eggs during Easter weekend which included games such asAmnesia: Rebirth,Pokemon GO,Hitman,Halo, and evenHomefront: The Revolution.
Easter eggs are typically hidden references to other franchises that are methodically placed in our favorite video games to add humor and fun to the game or change things up how it plays. Matt Phillips was among the countless gaming developers to share their favorite Easter eggs on Twitter over the weekend, sharing hisTimeSplitters 2arcade machine from Dambuster Studios’Homefront: The Revolution.
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Matt Phillips included an arcade cabinet inHomefront: The Revolutionwhich apparently included a fully playable, native 4K port ofTimeSplitters 2at one point, but the unlock code has been lost over time. When activated, the arcade cabinet could activate a multiplayer menu if placed in the same map as a second activated arcade machine, making 4KTimeSplitters 2multiplayer playable. This is Phillips' proudest moment not only in developingHomefront: The Revolutionbut in his gaming dev career as a whole. Sadly, the unlock code to this arcade cabinet has been lost to time, with its last remnants being leaked on Discord years ago.
“The unlock code has been lost to time, I don’t have the notebook with it in any more,” said Matt Phillips on Twitter. “I once gave it to a friend to leak in some Discord channel and they called him a liar and banned his account ahahah.”
Dambuster Studios began asTimeSplitterscreator Free Radical and it retained the source code over the years, allowing Matt Phillips to create this impressive Easter egg. Matt Phillips not only created the 4K port ofTimeSplitters 2inserted into Homefront: The Revolution, but he also specially designed the in-game arcade cabinet that it plays on.SinceHomefront: The Revolutionreleasedfans knew that the fullTimeSplitters 2game files were hidden in the game, but now they know why. Since leaving Dambuster Studios, Matt Phillips has lost the notebook that included the unlock code for theTimeSplitters 2arcade cabinet inHomefront: The Revolution, leaving hackers to figure out how to unlock the 4K port of the classic Free Radical shooter.
“I ported the network stack to ride on top of [Homefront: The Revolution’s] co-op mode,” continued Matt Phillips. “If, and that’s a big if, anyone was able to hack two or more arcades into one of the co-op maps, it’ll boot to the [multiplayer] menu.”
While severalTimeSplittersfans are hopingfor hackers to crack the arcade cabinet’s unlock code inHomefront: The Revolution, Matt Phillips allowed a friend to leak the code on Discord several years ago to no avail.TimeSplitters 2released way back in 2002 and many fans have been clambering for a remake since then, and lots of them just want the 4K portincluded inHomefront: The Revolutionto be fleshed out and released as a stand-alone title. Considering Dambuster Studios was built on the remnants of Free Radical, it’s entirely possible that more games from the studio will include references toTimeSplitters 2.
Homefront: The Revolutionis available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
