Borderlands 4 All Secret Locations & Easter Eggs Revealed

I've spent an embarrassing amount of time hugging walls and shooting suspicious textures in Borderlands 4. Gearbox loves hiding things - it's tradition at this point. Here's everything I've found across all four regions of Kairos plus the Eridian Rift secret areas.

Some of these are well-known. Some I've never seen mentioned anywhere else. If you know one I missed, genuinely - tell me in the comments. I want to find them.

Ironhold Secrets

The Claptrap Memorial Shrine: In the Ironhold slums, there's a narrow alley behind the ammo vendor near Elena's safehouse. At the end, a small shrine with candles, a framed photo of Claptrap, and a lootable chest that always drops a blue-rarity grenade mod called "Claptrap's Last Favor." It's a bouncing grenade that plays a Claptrap voice line on each bounce. Annoying but effective.

The photo frame is a reference to the "Farewell, Claptrap" poster from the Borderlands 2 credits. Whether this means Claptrap is actually dead in BL4's timeline is unclear - the game never addresses it directly.

The Ninja Turtles Sewer: Underneath Ironhold's market district, there's a sewer entrance hidden behind a dumpster. Inside, four humanoid rat enemies named Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael. They drop unique melee weapons themed after the turtles. Leo drops a katana (highest damage), Mikey drops nunchucks (fastest attack speed), Donnie drops a bo staff (longest reach), and Raph drops sais (armor penetration).

This is a reference to Borderlands 2's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles easter egg (the "Splinter Group" mission). The pizza boxes scattered around the sewer confirm it's intentional.

The "You Wouldn't Steal a Car" Poster: In the Resistance garage, there's a poster on the wall that reads "YOU WOULDN'T DOWNLOAD A GUN." It's a reference to the old anti-piracy PSA. Shooting the poster 50 times causes a lootsplosion of white-rarity pistols. It's not useful, but it's the kind of dumb joke Gearbox has been making for 15 years.

Verdant Expanse Secrets

The Shrek Shack: In the northwestern part of the expanse, there's a small hut built into the base of a giant tree. Inside, an ogre NPC named "Brog" who speaks entirely in movie quotes. He gives a side mission to collect "onion layers" (actually a type of glowing mushroom) scattered around the swamp. Completing the mission gives you a unique shield called "My Swamp" that creates a pool of slowing mud when your shield breaks.

The Minecraft Cave: A square tunnel dug into a cliff face near the eastern border of the map. Inside, everything is rendered in a low-res, blocky art style that mimics Minecraft. The enemies are cube-shaped spiderants. At the end of the cave, you find a Diamond Pickaxe - a legendary melee weapon that does bonus damage to "blocky" enemies and makes the Minecraft damage sound on hit.

The Jurassic Park Reference: Near the Eridian ruins in the southern expanse, there's a broken fence with a power transformer. Examining the transformer plays a brief audio clip: "I spared no expense." A lootable amber rock nearby sometimes drops a legendary artifact shaped like a mosquito in amber. The artifact gives bonus damage against "ancient" enemies (the Vault Beasts and Eridian guardians).

The Forge Secrets

The Developer Graffiti Room: In the Bolt manufacturing plant, there's a break-room on the third floor that's locked behind a keycard door. The keycard is on the body of a named Order engineer on the second floor. Inside, the walls are covered in developer signatures, messages, and drawings. It's Gearbox's tradition - every Borderlands game has one of these. The messages range from heartfelt ("Thanks for playing our game") to ridiculous ("I spent 3 weeks animating this door").

The Breakdancing Robot: In the Forge's assembly line section, there's a deactivated robot in a corner. If you melee it exactly 10 times (count them), it activates and does a 30-second breakdance routine before exploding. The explosion drops purple Eridium shards. I honestly don't know why this exists. Nobody knows. It's just in the game.

The Portal 2 Reference: In the Forge's R&D wing, there's a testing chamber with orange and blue portal decals on the walls. A voice log plays: "Testing chamber 426. Subject has been... unwilling." The room contains an Eridian Glyph and a chest. The log is clearly a GLaDOS impression - Gearbox and Valve have a history (Gearbox made the Half-Life expansions back in the day).

The Spire Secrets

The Timekeeper's Trophy Room: After the final boss, you can backtrack through the Spire. In a previously locked room off the Inner Sanctum, you'll find the Timekeeper's personal quarters with a trophy room. The trophies include weapons and gear from previous Borderlands villains - Handsome Jack's pocket watch, Commandant Steele's siren marking data, and the Calypso Twins' masks. No gameplay benefit, just cool lore.

The Claptrap Web Series Reference: In the same room, there's a computer terminal that plays a clip from the Claptrap Web Series - the short-lived animated show from 2015. It's the scene where Claptrap tries to order a pizza. Why this is in the Timekeeper's personal files is never explained. Maybe the Timekeeper appreciates classic content.

The Secret Ending Trigger: In the Spire's Outer Ring, before the final boss, there's a hidden room accessed by grappling hook (or double jump from a specific crate stack). Inside, you find the "Eridian Recorder" artifact. If you have this artifact equipped when you beat the Timekeeper, you get an additional 30-second post-credits scene that hints at the DLC storyline. It's cryptic - shows a new planet, a shadowy figure, and text that reads "The Seer Awakens." The first Story Pack DLC is rumored to be about the Eridians' creators returning.

Eridian Rift Secrets

The Developer Room 2.0: In Rift level 30+, there's a 2% chance for a level layout to include a door labeled "EMPLOYEES ONLY." Opening it leads to another developer message room with updated signatures and a chest that contains a guaranteed legendary. Once per account - you can't farm it.

The "Final" Boss: At Rift level 100, after beating the final Rift boss, you get teleported to a small arena with one enemy: a level 120 version of the tutorial boss (the Order Enforcer) named "The Tutorial Boss: Max Level." Killing it gives an achievement and a cosmetic helmet shaped like a dunce cap. Gearbox's sense of humor never changes.