Video games have had collectibles, secrets, and Easter Eggs in them since 1973, and some of them make more sense than others. Collecting feathers in Assassin's Creed 2 broke many a gamer, but do you think you have the stomach to find all "200 or so" trinkets Gearbox president Randy Pitchford says the Borderlands 4 team hid in the upcoming looter shooter?
In a new Twitter thread, Pitchford says Gearbox is committed to filling the world it created. With movement mechanics such as "Double-jumping, grappling, dashing, gliding," the team was "drawn to try to visit the amazing summits and see the beautiful vistas made by the incredible team of environment designers and artists," Pitchford writes.
When we set out to make a large, seamless world in Borderlands 4, we didn’t quite know what we were getting into. We designed a massive world and we committed ourselves to filling it! Thread: 1/12July 13, 2025
To that end, Gearbox CEO Andrew Reiner was issued a challenge: "Find those unreachable spots and, well, reach them," Pitchford explains. "The goal was to discover all the places that we never expected players to visit and, well, visit them."
Finding those spots as a developer is one thing, but how do you make sure we, the players, know we've found these locales, too? That's where the collectibles come in, and they've even got an in-universe backstory.
"Someone on the moon of Elpis had a crate, bought from their favorite local vendor," Pitchford divulges. "And, in the cataclysm, the crate, still full of collectibles, was hurtled towards Kairos. It broke apart and scattered the 200 or so of these things all over the place."
Just like sci-fi series Fallout, the collectibles you'll be able to gather in Borderlands 4 are bobbleheads. Specifically, Marcus Kincaid bobbleheads. He's the owner of all the weapon vending machines on Pandora.
"I expect most players will never see any of them," Pitchford concludes. "Some may find a few. A very, very small number of people will explore Kairos so completely that they might discover them all. Each has a story."
Will you be hunting them all? I won't be – I'm one of the gamers whose spirit was shattered trying to find all those darn feathers.
In the meantime, check out all the upcoming video games of 2025 that you still have to look forward to.
