Ryan Reynolds’ Free Guy has met positive reception from critics and viewers alike, with the movie’s concept widely praised. The story about a nonplayable character named Guy reaching self-awareness was the perfect platform for the movie to make reference to real-world games that inspired it.
These range from classics like Pac-Man to newer, popular series’ like Fortnite, along with Easter eggs for games derived from Disney movie franchises. There are plenty of such references for both eagle-eyed viewers and casual moviegoers and all of them are worth recapping to appreciate the complete video gaming experience that Free Guy brings.
Star Wars Lightsaber Fight
Star Wars should be one of the movies to check out before watching Free Guy, mainly due to the fact that the climactic battle features a lightsaber. Of course, this also qualifies as a gaming reference since there are very popular games like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Star Wars: Battlefront.
Guy makes use of the lightsaber in the fight against Dude where the weapon proves to be one of the turning points of the battle. The moment is even made out to look like something of a Star Wars game, as the camera cuts in a way that the shot from the lightsaber appears as a critical hit.
The Open-World Atmosphere Of Grand Theft Auto
Free Guy did a great job in truly making viewers feel like part of the open-world game setting and that wouldn’t have been possible without tapping into the environment found in Grand Theft Auto. Although not stated out loud, the backdrop was clearly inspired by the game series.
This was seen when Guy walked around the city and witnessed things like carjacking, tanks, and bank robberies taking place, not to mention Guy's ability to claim money from dead characters and his use of health packs. The GTA aspect of things really set the stage for the film’s open-world quality and established that it was supposed to be a dangerous place.
Half-Life's Gravity Gun
The fight with the Dude evolves into Guy making use of more weapons, with the lightsaber transitioning into the Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator from Half-Life 2. This is more commonly known as the Gravity Gun and its use was featured in the battle.
As it happened, Guy flung Dude in the air and executed the Gravity Gun to manipulate Dude’s movement to throw him around. With the Half-Life series barely active in the last decade, this reference will no doubt please fans of the series for reminding them of the gun’s entertainment value.
Megaman's Mega Buster
Considered one of the most iconic items in the gaming landscape, the Mega Buster was doled out by Guy while defending Millie when she was extracting intel against Antwan. It was one of many weapons he used but definitely one of a kind.
The Mega Man series is synonymous with gaming itself and including it in Free Guy shows that the movie pointed toward one of the defining aspects of the industry. Its effectiveness was in full display as the Mega Buster more than did its job in blasting the enemies away.
The Fortnite Floss & Rainbow Smash
A frequent sight to see in Free City is players doing the floss dance that has been popular for a few years. This is a reference to Fortnite, which is among the games to play before watching Free Guy since the dance won’t make much sense to viewers otherwise.
Along with this, Guy uses a pickaxe in his fight against Dude and this is one of the most recognizable tools from Fortnite that players will instantly recognize. The references to this game in the movie go a long way in establishing that it is more than aware of current gaming trends.
Captain America's Shield And Hulk's Fist From The Avengers
Although he started out as an NPC, Guy became one of the smartest characters in Free Guy after becoming self-aware. In the fight against Dude, the turning point came when Guy brought out Captain America’s shield to block Dude’s attacks.
This was followed straight after, with Guy revealing the Hulk’s fist as his own, which he used to punch Dude to maximum effect. The Avengers video game was released not long ago and the use of the team’s weapons was a clever way for the movie to point out how powerful the superhero team is and that Marvel can technically be considered part of the same universe as Free Guy.
Portal Creations
The Portal games are relatively underrated, as they tend to be overshadowed by Valve’s Half-Life series, but Free Guy did the series justice. The aspect of opening up portals was vital to the story, as Millie made passageways to escape this way.
Guy also employed the use of the Portal gun in the fight against Dude, with the winning moment coming about when Buddy passed Guy the glasses he needed to distract Dude through the portal. It was a neat way to bring attention to the Portal series and why its escapist quality deserves credit.
The Sims Mannerisms From NPCs
The overall presentation of the open-world was similar to the ones found in the SimCity games, where players have to design a functioning economy. However, the greater reference was toward The Sims, as the NPCs behaved just like characters from the video game series.
The most obvious example was during Guy’s trip to the coffee shop, where the generic exchanges between him and the other characters there consisted of overly happy stock dialogue that can be found in The Sims games. Another reference was to the NPCs’ inability to want to be anything other than what they were programmed for.
Pac-Man Cameo
This was in the form of an Easter egg rather than being shown in use. The Pac-Man reference can be seen in Keys’ apartment in the form of a hologram light of Inky, the blue ghost that chases Pac-Man in the games.
It can very well be a blink-and-miss moment since the camera cuts away fairly quickly. However, it’s a fun Easter egg to find, as the Pac-Man series is among the original popular titles that have allowed the gaming industry to evolve to where it is today.
YouTube Streamers
The most relevant reference of gaming today in Free Guy has to the online gamers that turned up via cameos. Considering the most popular gaming YouTubers have millions of subscribers, there’s no doubt that fans were pleasantly surprised when a number of these celebrities showed up in the movie.
These included Jacksepticeye, Ninja, Pokimane, DanTDM, and LazarBeam, all of whom were shown reacting to Guy’s exploits in the game as if it were happening in the real world. Even viewers who aren’t familiar with YouTube personalities will have understood that their appearances were meant to show what a big deal Free City was.