TL;DR
- Valve just released a new version of its Steam Controller earlier this month.
- New owners are discovering that the controller lets out a scream when dropped from high enough.
- The scream is recognizable as the classic “Wilhelm scream” from movies and TV.
Video games are lousy with Easter eggs. From the early days of Adventure on the VCS (or Atari 2600 to most of you), game developers have been packing their releases with hidden secrets only accessible to gamers who have worked out (or, more likely, been told by their friends) the trick to unlocking them. We’ve even seen a few Easter eggs in video game controllers over the years, like the hidden message in the Switch Pro Controller, or the PS5’s DualSense textured finish being made up of microscopic triangles, circles, crosses, and squares. But now this latest one might just take the cake as the coolest we’ve seen yet.
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Valve is in the middle of a big new hardware push, and the first release there has been the redesigned Steam Controller. The new gamepad takes heavy inspiration from the controls on the Steam Deck, and we’ve already seen some slick accessories announced for it, like that handy Basegrip mount.
As more and more gamers get their hands on the new Steam Controller, it was just a matter of time before someone spotted its surprising hidden Easter egg: the controller screams.
Specifically, it lets out a Wilhelm scream when dropped from sufficient height, a classic movie sound effect that you’ve no doubt heard dozens, if not hundreds of times over the years.
Reddit user RF3D19 spotted and help spread word of the find earlier this week. Initially, it looked like making the controller scream required being in Steam’s Big Picture Mode, but it’s since been confirmed that this is not a prerequisite.
Honestly, we love it. This hits all the great Easter egg notes: It’s fun, it’s recognizable, and it’s dead easy to show off for your friends. Would it be a little more impressive had it been hidden a tad better? Perhaps, but for as satisfying as it is to learn about the discovery of an Easter egg that successfully remained hidden for years, there’s also something great about one that’s so confident in the joy it brings that it’s barely trying to hide at all.
Valve is finally updating its 2015 Steam Controller with a new layout that mirrors the familiar button configuration of the Steam Deck. It supports Steam games on PC, the Steam Deck, and even Steam Link on Android.
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