Easter Eggs You Missed In Black Ops 4
This year's iteration of Call of Duty is upon us, and that means the hunt for Easter eggs is on! The developers of the series, especially of the Black Ops games, love to hide all sorts of fun nods and references for players to keep an eye out for. Since there is no single-player campaign in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 — which was replaced with the series' take on the battle royale genre, Blackout — it seems highly probable that developer Treyarch would include even more secrets than normal in order to tie the events of Black Ops 4 to the rest of the series.
That's what we're taking a look at today: those hidden little details that all but the most eagle-eyed fans miss. The aforementioned Blackout mode houses an awful lot of them, with plenty of winks and nods to events of Black Ops past. And you can't talk about Easter eggs in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 without bringing up Zombies, which is practically built on small secrets and cryptic solutions. These are some of the best we've come across so far. Reznov would be impressed.
Blackout has one of the original secret songs from Zombies mode
Black Ops 4's Blackout mode contains a lovely throwback to what is probably the most famous song ever included in Zombies mode: "Lullaby of a Dead Man." The song comes from "Nacht der Untoten," the very first Zombies map ever released in Call of Duty: World at War. The map served, essentially, as a tutorial for the Zombies mode, and did not fit into the overall Zombie storyline. The song also featured as an Easter egg in "Verruckt," a fan-favorite Zombies map.
In Blackout mode, you can turn on a little soundtrack to add to your killing. If you venture to the Asylum area of the map, which itself is a callback to the original Zombies maps included in World at War, you can unlock the song the same way you did back in Verruckt. Head to the bathroom on the second floor of the asylum, and "interact" with the left most toilet three times. It will flush each time, and the Lullaby will start playing almost immediately. A soothing song for putting your enemies to bed.
You can see how many players are on Nuketown Island
One of the scariest aspects of Blackout mode is that you don't know where your enemies are going to be coming from. Far too many rounds have come to an abrupt end due to a sniper shot from an unseen enemy. That goes doubly in areas with premium loot, and few landing zones are packed with as many goodies as Nuketown Island. If only there was a way to know how many enemies you were dealing with in that tiny space ...
If you keep your eyes peeled, you can know exactly that. If you find the "Welcome to Nuketown" sign on the outskirts of the city, you may have noticed that the "Population" of the town has two rolling numbers on it. Those numbers will change throughout the match, and will always reflect the number of players that are on Nuketown Island. The higher the number, the more wary you need to be of checking your corners.
Art enthusiasts can find an iconic painting of Zombies past
To the casual Zombies player, the struggle to assess threats and stay alive leaves little time for discovering the mysteries hidden in each map. However, players who master the maps and delve into the secrets therein have dug up all manner of interesting lore hidden in the background. One of those fascinating tales involves the "Wolf King," a character that helps you unlock the mythical Wolf Bow weapon on the Zombies map Der Eisendrache. If you're an art lover, you can locate an Easter egg in Black Ops 4's Blackout mode that references the legendary king.
To unlock the Wolf Bow on Der Eisendrache, you had to locate four different paintings that told the story of the Wolf King. In Blackout mode of Black Ops 4, if you venture into the underground bunker beneath Nuketown, you can find the first painting. It shows a regal man seated on a throne and surrounded by his loyal hounds. The four paintings from the original map tell the story of the king's defeat. As of this writing, only the first in the series have been found in Blackout. Maybe the other three are out there somewhere?
The numbers from the original Black Ops make an appearance
The original Call of Duty: Black Ops single player campaign featured a Cold War-era tale of madness, full of twists and turns and featuring an extremely unreliable narrator. The central MacGuffin was the "numbers," a code that was being broadcast to awaken brainwashed sleeper agents to carry out their orders. By the end of that game, Mason was able to break his mind control and help rejoin the fight against the Soviets.
In Black Ops 4, those mysterious numbers make a return in Blackout mode. However, if you're doing things right, you may never encounter them. Just like every battle royale game, an ever-shrinking circle forces players into tighter and tighter quarters until just one person or team remains. If you fall outside the circle, you will start to take damage, and in Blackout, your character's vision will start to be overtaken by some weird symbols. Eagle-eyed players have identified these symbols as the same broadcast as the brainwashing code from Black Ops, including the Nova 6 logo from the Zombies map Five. Maybe players who die outside the circle turn into the mindless undead?
Blood of the Dead has a throwback jump scare
Despite the subject matter, Zombies mode isn't very scary. There's that creeping dread and feeling of panic when you see the massive wave of undead approaching, but the constant chatter of your team and tongue-in-cheek approach of the mode keeps things from ever venturing into true horror. Unless, of course, you happen to point your gun scope in the wrong direction on the Blood of the Dead map. If you do, you might need to find a clean pair of underwear. Or ... not. It's not that scary, but it's a fairly nice callback.
If you think you've steeled yourself enough to experience the scare, here's how you activate it. On Blood of the Dead, head towards the Recreation Yard. If you've got a scoped weapon, pause before moving off the catwalk that connects to the yard. See that brown house off in the distance? Aim down your sights toward the darkened window in that building. Just don't say we didn't warn you. You can watch the video of it here, just in case you're too scared to try it yourself. It's not that bad, honest.
Unlock secret songs on every Zombies map
We've already discussed how to add some special music to your Blackout fragfests, but what about Zombies mode? It just wouldn't be a Zombies map if there weren't special songs to unlock as you headshot the undead, and there are hidden songs to rock out to on each Zombies map.
On Voyage of Despair, you will need to find and shoot four different coins. They are located in the Forecastle, Poop Deck, Lower Grand Staircase, and Sun Deck areas. Once you shoot the fourth, the song will begin.
On IX, there are more coins to find. Ra Tower's Burial Chamber, Odin Tower's Entrance, Zeus Tower's Altar Room, and Danu Tower's Entrance are the four locations. Finding the coins will trigger the song "Mad Hatter" by Avenged Sevenfold.
On Blood of the Dead, you need to have a charged Spectral Shield and head to the bottom of the Citadel Tunnel steps. Unlock the cage, and use the shield to charge the panel and enter the number "115" to start the song.
Finally, on the Classified map, there are three hidden vodka bottles to find. They need to be interacted with; there is no prompt to do so, but they will make a sound when you do. They are found in the War Room: Lower Level, Central Filing, and Porcine Research areas. Interacting with all three will begin the song "Shockwave."
Element 115 makes a few cameos in Blackout
In the (extremely convoluted) lore of Call of Duty Zombies, Element 115 is the powerful material that reanimates dead cells and raises the zombies from the dead. It was discovered by Germany in the early 20th century, who used the zombies as super soldiers. It also powers many of the iconic weapons and items throughout Zombies history. Of course Treyarch couldn't resist sneaking some references to Element 115 into Blackout.
If you head to Nuketown Island, all the clocks are frozen at the same time, indicating the moment the bomb was detonated on the island. That time? 3:47.
Kidding. They're frozen at 1:15.
Yet another Element 115 reference is found if you head over to the factory area. Like many areas that feature heavy machinery, the factory proudly displays how long it has been since their last accident. Of course, it has been 115 days. Mr. Burns would be very impressed with his safety inspector.
There are a ton of references to the ambitious TranZit map
TranZit is one of the most complicated Zombies maps ever made. Featured in Black Ops 2, it featured a massive, sprawling group of areas, all linked together by an armored bus that transports players from place to place. There are a huge amount of references to TranZit all over Black Ops 4. Maybe Treyarch is hinting about a reimagining in future DLC?
In Blackout, there are multiple locations inspired by TranZit. The bunker underneath Nuketown Island is filled with references to the map, and, if you head north of Nuketown Island across the bridge, you can also find the diner that was in TranZit. Inside, you can also interact with the jukebox to play four secret songs, including "Carrion" from the original TranZit map.
Finally, if Blackout isn't your speed, you can also find a reference to TranZit in the Blood of the Dead map. In Richtofen's laboratory, the four cryochambers house the bodies of the Black Ops 2 Zombies crew. There are probably even more references out there somewhere; it's something we're sure Reddit is working on.
Blood of the Dead's final Easter egg takes an absurd amount of work
Black Ops 4 is packed with content for Zombies mode: three maps are available for everyone, and players who have purchased the Season Pass or a special edition of the game have access to a fourth. Each map has its fair share of secrets and objectives, but none seem quite as convoluted as the battle with the Warden in the "Blood of the Dead" map. For Zombies newbies, the things that need to be completed in order to unlock this Easter egg seem absolutely impossible.
To "complete" the Blood of the Dead map, here's what you have to do: unlock the pack-a-punch machine and obtain the Spectral Shield, then obtain the spoon or the golden spork. Head to the Warden's office and use a melee attack on the wall. Enter a code into the number pad, then allow an enemy to attack near the wall to open the ritual room. Then enter another code, find a bird, and hit the bird with a special attack. Three times. You'll then spawn a special item called the Kronorium. Take that back to the ritual room, and you're done.
Just kidding. You're only about halfway there. Meanwhile, ever-stronger zombies will be spawning and trying to murder you. You can read a full guide for the map here. Good luck.
IX has the most straightforward Zombies Easter egg - which isn't saying much
Of all the Zombies Easter Eggs, the one in the IX map is probably the most straightforward. There're still a lot of steps, but unlocking the ending cinematic in this Roman arena seems a little more doable than the others. Here is how you do things:
Go to each tower and hit the gongs, opening up the four different champions to defeat. Then head to the Ra Altar room and have each character hit the symbol on the obelisk. This will transport you to a new location.
Watch for symbols that indicate the order of special zombies to kill. Then shoot four special poles until they rise out of the ground. The team must then move to the pit, where they all must interact with the special grate until it opens and transports each character to their own special area.
Each player must kill bosses and zombies on their own until a special key spawns, which will allow them to move to the final arena and fight Fury and Wrath. Good luck! If you can't quite make it this far with your team, you can just watch the cinematic here.
Voyage of Despair's Easter egg is a titanic undertaking
Sometimes, Zombies can be just plain stupid. Unlocking the Easter egg cinematic in Voyage of Despair is one of those times. Uninitiated players may think that obtaining the Sentinel Artifact is the central goal of the map.
For chumps, maybe.
Here's what else you need to do to unlock the Easter Egg cinematic on the Titanic-themed map, after you've unlocked the Pack-a-Punch and Sentinel Artifact.
Find all six clocks, and take note of their time and the symbol near them. Use the dials found on the Bridge and Poop Deck to match up all the times and symbols.
Find the four sparking electrical outlets, and kill the corresponding Elemental Catalyst near each one. Players will then have to stand on the symbol that appears and complete the trial therein.
Upgrade the Kraken weapon three times. Patch the leaky pipes. Use Pack-a-Punch on the Sentinel Artifact. Locate the symbols for all the planets. Are you taking notes?
Rebuild the solar system model, which will trigger infinite zombies. You're then ready to face the final boss: a giant, floating eye. Don't die now. It seems unlikely you'll reach this point again. You can just watch the cutscene here.
Classified's Easter egg is simple, but incredibly difficult
You thought all these other Zombies Easter eggs were ridiculous? Have yourself a seat, child. You ain't seen nothing until you get a load of what it takes to unlock the hidden cinematic in Classified, based off the map Five from the original Black Ops.
In Five, you played as a bizarre Cold War quartet: John F. Kennedy, Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon, and Robert McNamara. Classified features the same map, but a more traditional Zombies crew. It takes place in the Pentagon at the height of the Cold War, and it has all manner of crazy objectives to achieve.
You may expect some crazy walkthrough to unlock the Easter egg cinematic. It's not complicated; it's also not easy. All you have to do is reach Round 150.
That's right: Round 150.
To the uninitiated, Zombies mode is played over a set number of rounds, with things getting more and more difficult every round increase. Even serious Zombies players will have trouble pushing the round counter into triple digits. Casual fans of the mode need not apply.
You can watch the cinematic here if you're just not clutch enough to achieve it yourself.