Of Course The New Borderlands Is Loaded With Secrets And References

Of Course The New Borderlands Is Loaded With Secrets And References

Continuing in the Borderlands series’ grand tradition of making sly winks at everything from Minecraft to Game of Thrones to a whole lot of internet memes, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is littered with secrets and references — some especially elaborate. Here are all the ones we know of so far.

As ever, beware of the over-9000-eyed spoiler beast from Zarcon VII.

It’s A-Me, Mario

Courtesy of GameFront, here’s a look at The Pre-Sequel‘s hidden Super Mario-themed room, complete with gigantic plumber pipes (albeit purple ones) and pixelated blocks as far as the eye can see. It can be found in the game’s final area, as per the video’s instructions.

Here are some pictures of the glimmering loot castle too:

Of Course The New Borderlands Is Loaded With Secrets And References
Of Course The New Borderlands Is Loaded With Secrets And References

Buzz Lightyear To The Rescue

Via deathmule, here’s a video of a quest line — called “No Such Thing As A Free Lunch”, itself likely a reference to classic Robert Heilein sci-fi novel The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress — that ends in a brief, bone-splintering encounter with Toy Story‘s Buzz Lightyear. Or, if not the tiny plastic man who believed he could fly, then a very convincing lookalike. This particular toy story, however, doesn’t have the, er, happiest ending.

3001: A Space Odyssey

This one might just be the most elaborate of all of The Pre-Sequel‘s references. In short, if you book it over to Stanton’s Liver, you can hop up some cliffs to find a cave with a silently terrifying monolith. If you step in, you’ll find yourself on a multi-place, multi-portal odyssey of references to… 2001: A Space Odyssey. I am beginning to suspect there might be some classic sci-fi fans at 2K Australia and Gearbox.

We’re Up All Night To Get Lucky

They probably won’t play Coachella until the Earth is naught but the universe’s biggest pile of ash and bone, but Daft Punk is playing the moon right now. Or, well, Pandora’s moon — and also they’re not really Daft Punk. Still though, as Somewhat Awesome Games points out, the reference here should be pretty obvious. You can find the duo spinning a set in Mad Moxxi’s bar in Concordia.

Of Course There Is A Star Wars Reference

It’s a Borderlands game set on the moon. What else were you expecting? And actually, it’s not just a reference. There’s more than one. In a quest called “These Are The Bots,” you can hang out with Borderlands-ified versions of R2-D2, C-3PO, Princess Leia, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Hint: they are all awful people/robots.

Meanwhile, if you’re a bigger fan of the Star Wars prequels than you are the originals (HAHAHAHA), there’s also the option to go pod racing. In this case it’s called “pop racing,” and also it’s… not much like pod racing at all. You get to embarrass the snot right out of a snot-nosed little brat, though, so it’s all good in the end.

Halo, There

Does the teddy bear hanging out in Mad Moxxi’s bar (yes, that happens) strike you as a bit… familiar? Hint: it’s because he’s Master Chief from Halo, but for some reason tiny, inanimate, and stuffed to the seams with moon fluff. And how about that rad Mjolnir armour, huh?

I’ll continue updating this post as I come across more references and easter eggs. Feel free to pass along any that you find!


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