In the two years since the release of Fallout 4, millions of players have scoured the Commonwealth wasteland for clues, hidden items, secrets, and easter eggs referencing other games, movies, and comic books. Some of these secrets are easy to find and meant to be discovered by the average player but some, like the ones listed below, are either so buried or hidden in plain sight that only the combined efforts of tons of players could have sniffed them out. Players using math, grid maps, long, complicated threads on Reddit, and hundreds of hours of YouTube videos have discovered a few devilishly hidden secrets, including one that, according to game director Todd Howard, still hasn't been located in over two years of searching. Add to this the extra complications added by the pieces of DLC that have been added over the last few years and there are likely a few things that will never be discovered. At least, not until Fallout 5 or The Elder Scrolls 6 or whatever the next giant, sprawling Bethesda open world game is that sparks the imagination of so many players.
A few of these definitely qualify as cheats, too, so if you're opposed to a little game breaking wizardry, beware. Also, this goes without saying, but if you want to find these on your own, maybe just read the titles and not the posts themselves, since I've pretty much blown the secrets right open for you. If you're like me, though, and have to work your way through your 2017 backlog, go ahead and dive right in!
25 A Secret Room With Every Item Ever
While Fallout has made a name for itself on consoles, it will always be a PC franchise first and that means there are a ton of hidden commands you can input using the developer console. While a lot of these are similar to old-school cheat codes, one is more of a one-stop-shop to every item in the game.
The developers of Fallout 4 have a secret room they used to test every single piece of armor, every weapon, and every item. It's got a spooky, place-out-of-time vibe to it that fits the 'something's not quite right here' vibe of the rest of the game. You can teleport there by typing "COCQASMOKE" in the console, then grab whatever you need. The room restocks every time you use it so go nuts!
24 Get Rich Quick
Fallout 4 is a complicated game with lots of system and there is only so much the developers can do to prevent bugs and glitches, especially once the game is released and millions of players get to work trying to break the game in any way possible. The developers do their best to patch these glitches out as they make mainstream attention, but especially as they add DLC, new things keep popping up.
One glitch that keeps getting fixed and rediscovered is the ability to 'dupe' the game into giving you unlimited copies of certain items. The process is pretty complex and requires lots of pictures so I won't get into it, but once you get a settlement you can basically make as many caps as you want by selling duplicates.
23 Get The Cryolater With Your Dog
Locked behind a door in Vault 111, where you wake up at the beginning of the game, is a ridiculously overpowered weapon for the early levels. The Cryolater works like a flamethrower in reverse in that it can freeze enemies solid so you can shatter them later. Compared the pistol and shotguns you've got access to that early, it's an absolute beast.
Luckily, the high-level lock on the door is no match for Dogmeat's ability to scrounge for items. Just ask your lil furry pal to look around while near the Cryolator and he'll dog his way right past that lock and deliver the Cryolator right to you. This works on pretty much anything behind locked doors, though you can't specify what you want him to get so it's not always this easy to get what you want.
22 Find Pieces Of The Ship From Alien
Scribe Haylen, the Quartermaster on the Brotherhood of Steel ship Prydwen, is looking for a few tiny, techy items in the Commonwealth. Two of them, the flux sensor and reflex capacitor, are obvious references to Back to the Future but the flex sensor has an extra easter egg if you look closely.
The serial number of the sensor is "CM-88B 180924609" which is the same as the registry number for the USCSS Nostromo, the ship carrying Ripley and pals when they arrive on LV-426 in the original Alien. Kudos to the extreme nerd that put this in here, this is a real deep pull that 99% of players would never spot since you rarely look closely at any items that aren't guns or armor.
21 Be Wolverine
The deadliest enemies in the Fallout series have always been the Deathclaws- armored, superfast, velociraptor crocodiles that can travel in groups. Their claws can tear through solid metal armor, so why not take them for yourself?
During the quest The Devil's Due, we learn that the Deathclaws are more reptilian than we thought- they lay eggs just like most lizards. Although your mission is to steal an egg and return it to Diamond City, you can return the egg to a Deathclaw nest and a friendly mama DC. The Deathclaw gauntlet is available to you after returning the claw to the nest. It also works its way into the rotation of enemy melee weapons and can be bought at shops after level 20 so a little patience pays off.
20 Don't Miss The Best Power Armor
Ever since the Enclave first appeared in the opening cutscene for Fallout 2, the X-01 Power Armor has been in a dead heat with the more iconic T-60 model for coolest design in the Fallout universe. While it's possible to find parts of the X-01 suit wherever power armor pieces can be found, you will occasionally come across full suits,
Your chances of the game spawning an X-01 suit are best the closer you are to level 30 so bear that in mind before you go looking. Near Faneuil Hall is a building with a sign that says "35 Court." Ride an elevator inside up to the roof and find a big red button- that will reveal the armor suit that, if you're lucky and your level is high enough, will be a set of X-01.
19 Teddy Bear Private Time
Bethesda is famous for loading its games with so much random junk that adds atmosphere and story to the hundreds of environments explored by the player. The player is also free to pick up anything they wish, for no reason at all, and carry it around. (Or shoot it out of a cannon.)
One of the pieces of junk that seems innocuous at first is the ubiquitous teddy bear. While mostly found lying on the floor or on shelves, a few have been posed in fun little scenes that the player can stumble on, like one reading the newspaper on the toilet, or a few smoking cigars and playing pool. There is a theory that each teddy bear represents a child who's been ended by the raiders, but that doesn't really explain the cigars...
18 Survive A Maze Straight Out Of Saw
How many Saw movies did they make? 6, 7 dozen? Does Jigsaw count? Was it a reboot or what? Although the era of these films seems to be over, or at least dormant, the impact of the franchise on pop culture is undeniable. With the aesthetic of rusty chains, cages, blood, and saws, it's no wonder Bethesda worked a reference to the little indie horror film that spawn a major franchise.
The garage that connects Fallon's Department Store and the Hospital has been stuffed with a devilish death maze full of deadly traps and feral ghouls. At the end the player is given the choice of two crates full of rewards, one full of healing items and the other full of weapons and ammo. You can only pick one- in classic Saw fashion, the other explodes as soon as you open your first choice.
17 Explore Stonehenge Made With Cars
Who knew that the Super Mutants were actually followers of ancient english druid practices? Maybe that's not exactly canon, but the behemoth that lives in the centre of this car-based monument to one of ancient humanity's great mysteries sure seems to be protective of his little art project.
South of Walden Pond is this unmarked area, clearly meant to represent Stonehenge but constructed out of piles of rusty old burnt out cars. While the purpose of this post-apocalyptic Stonehenge is just as mysterious as the real one in England, the purpose of the super mutant behemoth inside definitely isn't. He'll come right at you as soon as you're spotted, even trashing the monument in the fight if he has to. "Wait," you'll say, "I just want to compliment your artistry!" And he'll answer with only pain.
16 Live An Edgar Allan Poe Story
While securing the old Minutemen headquarters, The Castle, for the ever-helpful Preston Garvey, players were probably too busy blasting their way through deadly robots to notice a reference to Boston's most famous pale, skinny, weirdo. If you head back down there to inspect the armory, though, be prepared for a scare.
In "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe, a rich Spanish man tricks his rival into sampling a rare sherry in his wine cellar. The tasting is all a ruse, however, and the ironically-named "Fortunato" is imprisoned behind a wall where his one-time-friend bricks over him to imprison him for all time. Under The Castle, we find a Minuteman who was left behind and trapped, but luckily he had some bottles of "Amontillado" and his good friend Skelly to keep him company.
15 Go Where Everybody Knows Your Name
I love this secret because it made me exclaim "Oh of course!" Out loud when I discovered it online. The city of Boston is a beautiful place full of history, both old and recent. Made famous by the sitcom, Cheers! Is a real bar in Beacon Hill, founded all the way back in 1895. Just like Fallout 3 and New Vegas, Fallout 4 has a number of real locations reproduced in its environments, and Cheers is no exception.
In the game, it's called 'Prost Bar' (Prost means 'cheers' in German) and it's a delightful little reproduction of the most famous bar in America, albeit its two hundred years after a nuclear holocaust, so it's not exactly as welcoming as it used to be. You can even find the skeletons of Norm and Cliff, the latter in his Post Office uniform!
14 Settle Down In The Cat Cabin
Fallout 4 isn't all gloom and doom and flesh-eating raiders- there's still time to appreciate the little things like adorable lil kitties who have the run of a cabin full of pictures of themselves.
Located near Walden Pond, which must have had 'put some cute hidden things near this if you don't have anywhere to put them' on the developer's whiteboard, the cat cabin is unmarked and pretty innocuous. There are no enemies to threaten you, which I was genuinely surprised by considering the game we're talking about here, and the cats just kind hang out. There is a trader on the property who will sell you things- including the meat of some of the kitties who just weren't adorable enough to keep around, or maybe tried to take on a radscorpion.
13 Are Fallout And Skyrim In The Same Universe?
Despite Skyrim and Fallout being set at a technological level thousands of years apart and Skyrim being, well, in an impossible fantasy world completely different from our own, there are occasional references to one another in each game (And some other Bethesda games like DOOM and Wolfenstein.)
Fallout 4 has some secret plants in a greenhouse that look and act exactly like the famous Nirnroot in the Elder Scrolls games. What is really cool is that there is enough lore in both TES and Fallout, but also enough holes in both, to make arguments not only that Fallout is he distant future of The Elder Scrolls, but that Skyrim is the distant future of Fallout! It's all pretty loose but fun to think about!
12 Find Conan's Axe And Loincloth
In my last Fallout list, I talked about the Silver Shroud outfit and the quest that leads you to it and the abandoned comic book shop, Hubris Comics. The Silver Shroud is referenced many times in Fallout 4 due to a radio broadcast that can be heard while exploring the Commonwealth, there's another item in Hubris that you may have missed.
In the 3d Fallout games, you can find books that increase your skills. The 'Grognak the Barbarian' comics increase the player's melee weapons skill and Hubris Comics has plenty of them stashed away. Like most comic books stores, Hubris doesn't just sell comics. They also sell accurate, expensive replicas of things from those comics- including Grognak's outfit and battleaxe. Running around the wasteland dressed like Conan The Barbarian, slicing up supermutants, is great fun and isn't really out of place considering some of the raider get-ups you'll come across.
11 Delve Deep Into The Earth, Lovecraft-style
New England's other famous pale, spooky, weirdo is H.P. Lovecraft and video games love their Lovecraftian scares. Fallout 3 has a famous location called the Dunwich Building, a reference to Lovecraft's story 'The Dunwich Horror.' In Fallout 4 there is a quarry that was, before the war, operated by Dunwich Borers which is hilarious.
In the quarry is a chained up door and behind it are… things. Visions of the past, innocuous at first, give way to scenes of cultists and human sacrifice. The remains of the cult are tough feral ghouls who still carry the names of those they used to be. At the bottom is a wicked ceremonial knife that you can use as a melee weapon, which bleeds and poisons the body as the quarry bleeds and poisons the mind.
10 There's A Ton Of Stuff Underwater
There's pretty much no reason to ever go in the water in Fallout, especially since all of it is irradiated. Although the aqua boy/girl perk nullifies the radiation and lets you breathe underwater indefinitely, your power armor will allow you to explore the bottom of the bay BioShock-style
While no quests will ever ask you go down there, there are some cool doodads under the waves, like crashed airliners and wrecked cars, some pretty red coral and some industrial objects that might be a kind of water treatment facility. There is a pipeline the player can follow that continues past the eastern boundary of the world, but you can't follow it very far. What is all this and why is it here? Who knows? But there's a pot in a car down there, so, that's something!
9 Visit Thoreau's Pond
Remember Walden Pond, the nexus for a ton of the references and easter eggs in Fallout 4? Philosophy students reading this may have already picked up on the fact that Walden's Pond is a reference itself: to Henry David Thoreau, another famous pale, skinny, weirdo from the Boston area.
Thoreau wrote many books and poems, his most famous of which is 'Walden' which was written at and about this very same pond. The location in F4 has a gift shop loaded with mines, which are triggered by a cymbal-clapping monkey suspiciously similar to the one in Toy Story 3. There are also two Raiders nearby in a drainpipe discussing Thoreau and the theory of 'transcendentalism.' The other one takes his word for it- he can't read, poor guy.
8 Launch Fireworks
Before we leave Walden Pond there is one more cool thing to try. This isn't a pop culture reference but it may be considered an easter egg, since it really doesn't serve any purpose other than to show off the game's physics engine.
In a tower northeast of Relay Tower 0BB-915 is someone's fireworks setup. The tower isn't marked on your map so you'll have to use your ol' mark 1 eyeballs to spot it. Up top is a shelf full of propane tanks and four ramps for launching them out into the air over the Commonwealth. You can shoot or bash the valves off them to send them flying, then use the item manipulation button to load up more ammo. Like I said, no real purpose, but give yourself a break from all the attacking and have some fun.
7 Find Both Blade Runner References
A major theme of Fallout 4 is a popular one is modern science fiction- androids who are indistinguishable from humans, some who don't know they're androids in the first place, and the distrust that humans have for them. This is also the theme of two of the best science fiction movies ever made, Blade Runner and its sequel Blade Runner 2049.
The noodle bar in Diamond City is a subtle nod to the noodle bar where we first meet Harrison Ford in the original movie, staffed as it is by a robot who only speaks Japanese, and who only ever asks what you want to eat. The other reference is to the end of the first film: on a rooftop you can find the dead bodies of a synth and a man in a trenchcoat slumped against a pipe, exactly the same poses as the finale of Blade Runner.
6 Nick Valentine Has A File On The Mysterious Stranger
Mysterious Stranger is a perk that has been in the Fallout series since the original game and has popped up in every main series title since. It results in a 10% chance an ally will spawn in a trenchcoat and fedora armed with a Magnum pistol who will finish off the last enemy in any combat encounter. I never used the perk because it seemed too weird and, apparently, Nick Valentine agrees.
A note under the synth detective's bed references the Stranger as being possibly an 'amoral lunatic' or a serial attacker. Nick assumes he may be a ghoul with minimal scarring, hence how far back the references to the Stranger are. A cute nod to the decades between the storylines of each Fallout game, the protagonists of whom the Stranger seems to have a fondness for.