And here we go! Gamescom, the games industry's other big expo, starts tomorrow in Cologne, Germany. We're going to have a bigger GR+ contingent than ever before out on the show floor, scrambling for demos and nodding sagely through press conferences, and even more of us covering the show from our respective offices all over the damn planet. It is, without doubt, going to be a big deal.

But enough about us. You know what's more important? The actual games. And oh boy, are there a lot of them this year. To help you stay focused, as Gamescom news starts hurtling into your face at a rate of knots over the next week, we've compiled this handy and delightful list, running down the biggest and best titles getting a fresh showing this year, alongside what we reckon we're specifically likely to see. So without further ado, click on to start with probably this year's biggest game of all, and then proceed to hype yourself silly over the following pages too.

Developer Bungie has a long history of sneaking secrets into their games, and their latest project they’d included, presumably to check they hadn’t slipped anything too naughty in there.

I’ve been scouring the planets in search of hidden details, and listed my findings over the following slides. Hopefully you’ll find some new information in here, to enhance your enjoyment of Destiny’s world(s)!

Want to read more on Destiny? Then pick up a copy of the GamesRadar+ Presents Bookazine .

Amazingly, the first Destiny Easter egg actually appeared in Halo 3: ODST, way back in 2009. An advertising board with the seemingly innocuous title “Destiny Awaits” could be found in that game, complete with a shot of the Earth... but wait, is that the Traveler hovering over it?

Bungie had suggested for some time that there was still a final secret to be discovered in Halo 3: ODST, and when eagle-eyed players noted this display after the first Destiny details were announced, series digital artist Vic Deleon confirmed it by tweeting “IT’S FINALLY BEEN FOUND!”

IT#39;S FINALLY BEEN FOUND!

In the game itself, the first Easter egg appears during the opening cinematic sequence, as a group of astronauts land on Mars and begin exploring the planet. Look closely at the spaceman’s boot as they descend from their craft, and you’ll notice what looks like the Destiny logo embedded in the tread. This can also be seen in the dusty footprint they leave behind as they set off across the planet’s surface towards the Traveler.

On your visits to the Tower you'll no doubt have noticed various ships buzzing around the place, and probably dismissed them as little more than background furniture. However, rather than just being randomly generated to make things look busy, these are the actual transport belonging to the guardians currently visiting this location.

To confirm this, as soon as you warp into the Tower Plaza, turn right and sprint into the Tower Hangar. Get inside quickly enough and you’ll spot your ship being flown in and docked, before it gets lowered into the subterranean parking lot.

A giant football first appeared in Halo 2, and made several appearances in subsequent games in the series. As a possible homage to this a football can be found in the Tower Plaza, which normally spawns on the left hand side under the stairs. By running or sliding into it you can kick it around, and perhaps get a little game going with your fellow guardians.

Also in the Tower Plaza is a large purple ball, which is much more lightweight and floaty than the football. This normally appears on top of the crates next to Bounty Tracker Xander 99-40, although it can also be found on the table by the Cryptarch’s tent. Knock it into the air, then see how long you can keep it up for... or, like me, spend an age trying to balance on top of it before some sod immediately kicks it away. Cheers, mate.

The trees in the Tower Plaza may help to brighten the place up, but the one near Gunsmith Banshee-44 can also be scaled to take in the view over the whole area. A few carefully placed jumps will get you most of the way up the trunk, then a final sprint jump will launch you into the branches. Have a little boogie up here and lord it over the guardians collecting their bounties below.

Here’s a secret feature of the Tower Plaza that requires at least two people to experience. On top of the Postmaster’s building is a large fan, and this rooftop can be accessed by sprint jumping from the nearby steps.

Once you’re on top of the fan, you need a second player to head up the steps at the side of the Plaza and onto the balcony overlooking the area. At the far end there are some panels on the floor, which provide an ‘Activate Fan’ prompt when stood on--hold down the button here and anyone stood on the fan will be launched high into the air. Get the timing right, and combined with a jump you can reach the top of the flagpoles or even the pillars above the Vault terminals.

While exploring the final planet Mars, fans of the Halo series may spot a building which bears more than a passing resemblance to a familiar character. This can be found in the Trenchworks area of the map used in several missions, though it can also be accessed during the Mars Patrol--head straight forwards from the start and follow the valley to the Scablands, go straight across it and through the next valley to Giants’ Pass and the Valley of the Kings, then down the tunnel at the far end until you reach the Trenchworks.

Here you’ll find this building, which thanks to its glowing golden window and central green banner looks an awful lot like the Master Chief himself. Purely coincidental, I’m sure...

Destiny’s developers have obviously been using their lunchtimes to play other games, and you can find a number of references to what’s been on the office machines hidden away in some of the armour descriptions. The first is a piece of Exotic chest armour called Heart of the Praxic Fire, which comes with the description, “In that last moment she seemed as wholly luminescent as the Sun, and I wished to be so brave.” Dark Souls players should pick up on the nod to the cheerful and powerful Knight ‘Solaire of Astora’ – who can be summoned to help players with many of the bosses in the game – but if they didn’t the ‘Praise the Sun’ perk carried by the armour should hammer home the reference.

And if you’re really looking to complete the Dark Souls look, try equipping the Ghost Angel Cloak for your Hunter. The tagline is, “We are an army of the chosen dead.” So get out there and round up some more recruits. By shooting ’em in the head.

As we’ve already seen, Bungie loves to leave subtle nods to other games in their creations. But the studio doesn’t stop there: books and TV shows have every chance of appearing in Bungie’s works. Head to the Cosmodrome on Earth, pick up some Patrol missions and you’ll eventually come across one called ‘Four Arms Good, Two Arms Better’. Aside from the Vandals you fight in Old Russia having four arms, this is a knowing reference to Animal Farm (ask your parents) where the pigs eventually used the maxim, “Four legs good, two legs better!” as they became more human.

Showing that they can also riff off modern pop-culture, Bungie also included a Bounty called ‘All in the Game’. Which is eerily similar to the words Omar Little says in the final scene of the first season of HBO’s The Wire, “It’s all in the game, yo. All in the game.” That on its own might not convince everyone, so consider this: the Bounty also has you killing Fallen enemies and pick up Wire Wraps. Not just a coincidence after all, then.

Cortana may now be known to most people as Microsoft’s answer to Siri, but she started out life as the AI in the Halo series. Bungie was obviously keen to hang on to their iconic blue guide in some way, and although she doesn’t appear in physical form in Destiny you can hear Jen Taylor, the voice of Cortana, talking over the PA system in the Tower.

Listen long enough and you can ever hear her quit during an announcement – tired of being everyone’s personal assistant, we presume.

This next Easter egg comes direct from the internet detectives on Reddit. Take a look at the Director map screen and, around the edges, you’ll see a series of numbers on the top right, bottom left and left hand side. These are HEX codes. Reddit user Arukemos took these digits and changed them into ASCII code, then soon discovered the bottom numbers translate to “Alright OK”. alrightok.com takes you to a page for a User Interface artist who worked on the game. The left hand side numbers mean ‘Be Dave’, which Dave Candland, Lead UI designer for Destiny, confirmed was correct by tweeting ‘Reddit finds my egg’ and adding there are currently 32 Daves working at Bungie. The top sequence? That says ‘mackay’ – another UI artist, MacKay Clark.

When the House of Wolves expansion was added to Destiny in May 2015, players got access to a host of new areas and challenges. One of these was a new social space called the Vestian Outpost. Head here and look right as soon as you arrive and you’ll see the Postmaster. Next to him is a lamp you can turn on and off to your heart’s content. Light goes on, light goes off, light goes on, light goes off, light goes on, light goes off… Did somebody order a disco?

You can find this little treat every time you go to the Tower. As soon as you spawn in, look down at your feet and you’ll see the phrase ATRIVM PROPVGNATORVM. Translated from Latin this becomes Hall of Champions. So the Tower isn’t just a nice place to hang out, it’s a memorial to every Guardian fighting against the Darkness.

So we all remember the song called Breaking Benjamins that was written for Halo 2, right? Good. In that case you’ll remember the first line of the chorus was ,“Only the strongest will survive,” which is something you’ll hear a lot as you start matches in the Crucible. Coincidence? Maybe, but probably not knowing Bungie.

While tackling the Will of Crota Strike on Earth – released as part of The Dark Below DLC – you’ll hear Eris Morn giving you instructions as you make your way towards Omnigul. However, if you’re the first player to reach the sealed door in the Jovian Complex and use your Ghost before Eris has finished telling you about Omnigul’s purpose, she’ll inform you that, “In its dying breath the Traveler released the Ghosts… to open doors.” Poor Dinklebot. Will he never catch a break?

Look closely around in certain areas of the Tower – on the Speaker’s desk or at the top of the tree near the Gunsmith, for instance – and you should see some coins. There are seven of these (of course there are) located around the Tower, and the first person to find them all and send photographic evidence to Bungie received a special player emblem only available from the developer for their troubles.

But don’t give up. Players have since discovered that the House of Wolves DLC also had some hidden coins in the new areas. Only two have been found to date, so there’s still time, Guardian. Who’s guessing there’ll be five more?

The Beatles’ Sir Paul McCartney wrote the song ‘Hope For the Future’ specifically for Destiny, and it doesn’t contain the phrase, “Hey Jude,” even once! Want to listen to it? You’ll need to select the credits from the Director map screen once you’ve finished the main story missions. The song was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in the UK by a 120 piece orchestra.

During any mission you’ll notice enemies coming out of doors which close again once everyone is safely though and walking into your bullets. They won’t open again if you walk up to them, but summon your Ghost and they’ll slide apart. Apart from the isolated Strike strategy cheese it’s a useless trick, but worth seeing at least once all the same.

As you’ve probably gathered by now Destiny is full of references to TV shows, games, and popular culture. For example, there’s a Patrol mission on the Moon called ‘Power Underwhelming’, which also happens to be the code for activating God mode in Starcraft. Then there’s the Legendary sniper rifle ‘Final Boss’, named after a MLG Halo 3 team. And finally, a Legendary shotgun called the Comedian is a nod towards the gun-toting Watchmen character of the same name. He loves shotguns, too.

Win nine matches without a single loss in the Trials of Osiris and you’re granted access to the Lighthouse where you’ll find a chest full of goodies. But head to the left when you arrive and you’ll discover a secret room underground. It’s been suggested that this is Osiris’ room, and it looks like a bloody battle took place at some point – look around and you’ll find bullets and weapons on the ground, along with the bodies of those who didn’t make it through the fight.

So, those are the Destiny secrets we know about so far. But, as Bungie are the masters of Easter eggs, there’s undoubtedly still more to be discovered. Had you spotted any of them before, and are there any others you know of? Tell us in the comments below.

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