The Battlefield series is renowned for intricate easter eggs. In the latest, a series of clues added in the recent They Shall Not Pass DLC allows players to summon a terrifying giant shark from the depths.
Before They Shall Not Pass, the game had already hidden a secret dog tag located by deciphering encrypted morse code message. This time, the answer was hidden in recorded music. It started with collecting vinyl records on the map ‘Fort de Vaux’ and taking them to a gramophone, which played a strange song. Transcribing the song’s notes, members of the Battlefield Easter Egg Discord discovered a hidden message after using the French musical cryptogram. It read as follows:
SO YOU ARE HERE FOR THE SECRET THAT LIES BELOW VAUX. MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY FOR THIS JOURNEY. DO NOT THINK IT WILL BE EASY, AND DO NOT EXPECT ANY REWARD. ALL YOU WILL FIND IS DEATH. A HINT; THAT IS ALL I HAVE FOR YOU, SO LISTEN CLOSELY: THE MEN THAT LIVED HERE KNEW ITS SECRETS. SEARCH WHERE THEY RESTED WHEN THEY DID NOT WORK
Community members initially speculated that this would mean finding something around the barracks. There wasn’t anything there, but an exhaustive search of the map revealed multiple valves hidden in around the map. The trickiest is uncovered by blowing up part of the terrain. Turning the valves creates a small puddle of blood near the capture zone at point C. There is also a additional pipe to be found that you have toss a grenade down to wake the beast. Killing players with melee attacks inside the puddle summons a mighty shark.
Finding the megalodon in Battlefield 1 seems to be a bit of trial and error. The meaning of the decipher message is still somewhat unclear. Some players initially deciphered the code to make reference to a “moat” that soldiers retreated to instead of a place where they rested. It is entirely possible that the deciphered music actually has nothing to do with the shark and may be tied to a larger ARG like Battlefield 4's Phantom Program, a multi-staged quest that allowed players to collect a unique bow.
They Shall Not Pass’ easter egg is similar to another that was found in Battlefield 4. After gathering ten players around a buoy on one of the game’s maps, a massive shark would leaps out of the water. It’s a welcome callback to a fan favorite secret. There are still a lot of mysteries left to solve, but one thing is certain: these easter egg hunters are going to need a bigger moat.