Spider-Man Easter Egg Returns With A Question

When Marvel's Spider-Man first hit the shelves in 2018, players had plenty of Easter eggs to enjoy: Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, a Nelson/Murdock business card, and even a cameo by the late, great Stan Lee, to name only a few. But one thing Insomniac Games likely didn't expect was just how popular one particular game "feature" would become — and fans probably didn't expect that feature to be revisited in the Marvel's Spider-Man remaster for PS5.

As players explored New York in the original Marvel's Spider-Man game, web-slinging their way from one building to the next and taking in the city's most famous landmarks and sights, they may have found their way to the Hudson River — and to an interesting discovery. Boats along the waterway are sailed by blocky, seemingly unfinished figures that resemble something out of the PS2 days. Whether this was intentional or not is anyone's guess, but it certainly made an impression on players.

It appears that Insomniac is not without a sense of humor, and when Marvel's Spider-Man was remastered for the PS5 launch, the friendly neighborhood NPC sailors made a reappearance, and they still have their awkwardly unrendered features. Only this time, as seen in a video posted by IGN, these NPCs have a special Easter egg attached: a sticky note that asks the question: "Did you miss us?"

Um, it's hard to say. Also according to IGN, the block-headed NPCs do not make an appearance in Spider-Man: Miles Morales, thanks to the game taking place during the winter and the harbors appear to be closed for the season.

There have been a number of theories swirling around online as to whether or not the boat NPCs from the PS4 Marvel's Spider-Man game were intentional or not. Some theorized, like in this article from The Gamer in 2018, that the peculiar "Boat People" were actually always meant to be an Easter egg, harkening back to the poorly rendered NPCs of the early Spider-Man 2 game from 2000. Some have disagreed with this theory, however, believing that it was simply an oversight and that players were never supposed to venture out that far on the map. No one from Insomniac Games has explicitly confirmed or denied whether or not these poor abominations were premeditated, so fans will have to keep on speculating for now.

Whether players find them terrifying or hilarious, the NPC Boat People have now become a staple for fans of the game, and are a must-see destination in both the original and remastered versions of Marvel's Spider-Man.