‘Fallout 4:’ Five Hidden Movie Easter Eggs For The Dedicated Film Buff

It’s been little over a month since Fallout 4 was released to critical acclaim across the globe, and the latest game in the Fallout universe sold 12 million copies in less than 24 hours, grossing $750 million in sales. It’s no surprise the game has become a huge success; after all, the fans have been waiting for a successor to Fallout 3 since 2008. True, Fallout: New Vegas was released two years later, and the game stood as a solid instalment in the franchise, but dedicated fans of the series have been waiting patiently for a true sequel. On November 10, their waiting and patience was rewarded.

As with any new game, Fallout 4 received its fair share of complaints, mainly concerning frame rates, glitches, and broken code, a story covered by Wired. However, the game has also received critical acclaim for several added features, a wonderfully addictive world, stunning scenery, extensive creativity, and modification options — the detail and diversity on these are staggering — and an excellent story to boot. However, one thing that Bethesda kept in the final game was the slew of Easter Eggs: little morsels of information, homage, nostalgia, and cultural reference that seasoned explorers of the game will discover on their travels. Fallout 4 has it all, from movies to TV, to music lyrics and quotes from popular culture, there’s something for everyone.

This little addition to the franchise has been keeping players hooked for many years, and nothing changed when the latest game dropped in November. So, on that note, here are five of the best movie-related references in Fallout 4 for the true film buffs out there. Location spoilers are included below.

Deathtrap Maze (Saw, 2003)

Location: Below Fairline Hill Estates, across from Fallon’s Department Store. Look for the multi-storey car park (the entrance is marked with plenty of white arrows).

The first Easter Egg on the list is one of the most dedicated to the cause. Taking place in a dark, dilapidated multi-storey parking structure, one that looks terribly foreboding before you even step through the door, the maze is one of the most tense, horrifying segments of the entire Commonwealth.

As you venture into the brooding darkness — bring Stimpaks and Radaways to prevent certain death and radiation poisoning — you start to notice something isn’t quite right. Before long you discover rigged traps, explosives, landmines, sentry turrets, hand grenades strapped to ropes that swing into your face (think Home Alone, but deadlier), mutilated heads impaled on spikes, dead bodies — the horror never ends.

The homage is obvious — it’s referencing Jigsaw’s domain from the infamous Saw franchise. It’s a faithful homage, one that can be easily missed by the average explorer, but it’s definitely worth checking out. Just be careful — your nerves will be shredded by the time you finish traversing the winding, spooky rooms within.

Rooftop Showdown (Blade Runner, 1982)

Location: Mass Fusion Containment Shed. On the rooftop, get there by jumping up the side of the building.

Few ’80s films are as iconic as Blade Runner, Ridley Scott’s humans vs robots neo-noir, sci-fi classic, and there was little surprise when a homage to the movie made it into the game. In fact, Fallout 4 actually contains multiple references, but this one is probably the most recognizable.

The scene is lifted directly from the finale of Blade Runner. In the scene, free-thinking replicant Roy (Rutger Hauer) is delivering his final monologue to Deckard (Harrison Ford), who is there to “retire” him. The speech is one of the more iconic in ’80s cinema. If you look at the image above — this one was caught on a sunny day, but for full effect you can wait until it rains — you can clearly see a corpse positioned like Deckard (left), who is leaning on a machine, and a Synth kneeling before him, like Roy. Synths play a huge part in Fallout 4, and the ever-engaging discussion of humans vs robots, and if they can co-exist, is woven into the main storyline — which makes this hidden secret even more poignant.

Its a heartfelt Easter Egg, and not easy to find, but well worth the discovery. For a game that fondly remembers classic science fiction movies, and even allows you to call your character Deckard from the outset, this is a loving touch added to the game. A true moment for the film fans.

“We’re gonna need a bigger boat…” (Jaws, 1975)

Location: Below Cambridge Police Station, East of Oberland Station in the small river.

Fallout 4‘s links to horror exist in many forms, from the eerie Dunwich Borers, a location that derives its name from the work of H.P. Lovecraft, to the terrifying halls of The Museum of Witchcraft, the interior of which plays straight from the blood-soaked pages of horror scares 101. However, explore a little deeper in the Commonwealth and you’ll find this stunning nod to one of the original horror movies of the modern generation, Jaws.

Jaws was released in 1975, and was practically responsible for creating the summer blockbuster. It also opened up the canvas for a whole generation of horror movies; some doubt many horror films would have succeeded or saw the light of day without Jaws to open the eyes of the masses. This homage is staggering for two reasons: One, you can miss it completely, it takes a bit of exploring along the shores of radiated water to find it. Two, the “shark” in this picture is a mutated dolphin, someone not previously seen in a Fallout game, but the mutated features lend the eerie scene a whole other element of terror. Then, we have a skeletal Quint, complete with blue shirt, machete, and trademark bandana. Even a bigger boat probably wouldn’t have helped matters here.

It’s a great reference to Jaws, and just another in a long line of faithful movie secrets in the game.

Cymbal-Banging Monkey (Toy Story 3, 2010)

Location: Various

This Easter Egg is more of a subtle secret, and one that will be more recently remembered from the Call of Duty franchise zombie mode. As you wander around the wasteland, and explore various locations, you will find the cymbal-banging monkey toy. As with Call of Duty and Toy Story 3, the device is used as both an explosive device and a deadly sentry respectively. Step too close, and the eyes light up red. This results in it banging two cymbals together to either alert enemies or to simply explode a few seconds later.

These devices can be found all over the Commonwealth, usually in Raider hideouts, and more times than not you won’t realize they are there. Shadows are not your friend here, so keep an eye out. The device is as eerie as it was in Toy Story 3; those wide eyes are unsettling and weird at the best of times, the gaze notching up the terror with each passing second. The noise is also unnerving, especially when you’re trying to sneak your way through Fallout 4, and you know several deadly enemies are nearby.

It’s a small Easter Egg, but one that could seriously affect your game play. Tread with caution.

Trapped In A Fridge (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, 2008)

Location: The fridge is next to a ruined house, south of University Point, east of Jamaica Plain

The fourth Indiana Jones movie was met with ridicule for several scenes, but none more so than when Doctor Jones climbs into a lead-lined fridge on a nuclear detonation site, in an attempt to survive a nuclear explosion. He survives, of course, but the nonchalant way in which he climbs from the fridge, one that survived a nuclear blast and the following propulsion miles into the air, were pure exaggerated fiction. Naturally, Fallout 4 have featured this Easter Egg, which is now the second time they’ve done this — you could also find Indiana’s skeleton buried under a fedora in a burnt out fridge in Fallout: New Vegas.

The discovery will lead you on a high-level quest — the only Easter Egg here to do so — but it smirks with a tongue firmly in cheek for this one. Basically, no spoilers, but you find a boy trapped in a fridge. He’s been locked in for 200 years as a result of the nuclear war that allows Fallout to exist, and you have to liberate him so he can return home. What follows this is quite entertaining, but it’s still a wonderful secret to include — unless you stumble on the fridge, it will remain hidden and never discovered.

If anything, this Easter Egg confirms that even though the creators and workers at Bethesda are massive fans of cinema, they still haven’t forgiven certain people for certain movies. After all, you can save the kid, but you can also leave him in there to perish.

Fallout 4 is available on Xbox One, PS4 and PC now.

[Image via Bethesda Softworks]