Summary
Team Fortress 2, the self-proclaimed “war-themed hat simulator” by its developers at Valve, is rife with content. The community has kept the game going even longer with their creations that have been submitted to the official Steam Workshop in hopes of getting implemented.
Some of Valve’s maps, as well as the community’s many creations implemented into the multiplayer shooter, have secret easter eggs and messages hidden in places. These include pictures of animals on the walls, pop culture references, in-jokes, and even a particularly lucky and rich cactus who is surely the bane of any non-cactus who spots what valuable loot it’s holding.
10Hidden Text On Blood Vials
Mannyslvania
Released as part of the Scream Fortress 2023 update, “Mannsylvania” is a Halloween-themed Player Destruction game mode that puts the RED and BLU teams against one another to pick up vials of blood from dead enemies to offer to Dracula’s tomb.
It’s difficult to see in-game, but the vials of blood actually have readable text on them. The slogan reads: “The essence of biting into a metal spoon without the spine-tingling bite.” There’s a tongue-in-cheek lost child announcement on it featuring two images of the Scout, one with a beard drawn on him (it says “hadn’t/won’t hit puberty when he was last seen and now”). It also says “real merc blood! And alcohol…”, and that it’s “not for those who [are] faint of the sight of blood. Up to 3% Type-O blood per serving (we don’t [know] whose)".
9Disco Room
Pier Map
On “Pier,” there’s a secret room that cannot be accessed via legitimate means and is only available to those who pop in some cheats in the console commands during a private session. Thankfully, it doesn’t require much effort to access it beyond that.
In the BLU team spawn zone, there is a vent that cannot be opened. However, there’sa glamorous surprise behind it. Using a “noclip” cheat command, following the ventilation shaft behind it will lead players to a secret disco room! It’s a perfect place to bust out the game’s brilliant dancing taunts.
8Mine Cart Spy
Bigrock Map
In theMann Versus Machinelevel “Bigrock” from the 2012 Mecha Update, the cavern where the enemy robots enter has a mine cart separated by a lake. Empty mine carts can be seen rolling down the tracks and falling into the water time and time again.
On rare occasions, a RED team Spy can be seen inside one of them, screaming as he inevitably falls out of the cart and into the water. As uncommon as it is, it’s nothing short of absurd and hilarious to see while fending off waves of the mechanical menaces.
7Hidden Photos
Skirmish Map
“Skirmish” is one of the debut levels for the now-official Vs. Saxton Hale mode, where one player controls the super-powered Australian CEO of Mann Co. against a squad of mercenaries. The level has pools of lava, bloodstains, a café, and a secret room.
Located above the stairs in a small room is an area inaccessible to players without cheats. On the table is a picture of a Yeti Park card, a screenshot of the fan-favorite level “Selbyen” (which was released alongside this map as part of the 2023 Summer update), and a picture of a rodent held by a gloved hand – likely a reference to the “fat rat being grabbed” meme.
6Better Call Conagher
Distillery Map
“Distillery” is another map from the Vs. Saxton Hale mode that sneaks in another quirky easter egg that can be viewed through thescope of a sniper rifle. In the distance is a large billboard with an image of the Engineer on it, with the tagline “Better Call Conagher” (which is the aforementioned class’ surname).
5Spycrabs!
Selbyen Map
“Selbyen” hides quite a few funny easter eggs. Located behind a few empty rowboats underneath the yellow cabin close to the water in RED territory are a few crabs (they can be spotted if a player jumps while looking over the dumped boats). One of them has the RED team’s briefcase, while another is wearing a top hat and is aiming a revolver at a third crab.
This is a reference to the “Spycrab” meme that came to be when players noticed the crab-like shape the Spy would make when looking up with his Disguise Kit in hand. Valve even made the Spy perform a rare taunt where he would imitate a crab’s pincers with his hands when equipped with it.
4Secret Cat Room
Developers – especially from the community – love to slip into secret rooms unable to access without cheats, but sometimes these do serve a purpose for the game mode itself. In “Selbyen,” players must kill one another to collect fish to feed to a seal that pops out of a van and slowly makes its way toward the ocean. When it reaches the water, another will pop out of the van after 60 seconds.
According to one of the creators of the map, there’s a secret room where the seal goes when it’s not present on the map yet. Inside arepictures of cats and dogs, likely all belonging to the team who worked on the level. It’s cuteness overload.
3A Peculiar Wanted Poster
Slime Map
In the Halloween map “Slime,” there’s a wanted poster inside the RED team’s spawn zone that refers to an unknown figure. It says “Have You Seen This Man?”, “Brian”, and underneath it, “If so, who is he? We are all trying to find out who is Brian”.
Fans who read it were scratching their heads for a short while until it was revealed in a Reddit comment section that it’s an in-joke about one of the map developers getting teased for his pronunciation of the word “Brine” (the level that “Slime” is based on), which sounded like “Brian”. So, as a result, he created and implemented this poster.
2A Rich Cactus And A Friendly Fish Monster
“Slime” holds a few more secrets hidden from view, and, yet again, only a “noclip” cheat will let players see it for themselves. Peeping out of the map, a lone fish monster can be found standing behind the RED team’s spawn zone. He’ll be playing his idol animation.
Alongside this is a hidden, metallic cactus placed out-of-bounds. Not only does it have a pot on its head, but it’s also wielding an Australium Rocket Launcher. For those who are not aware, Australium-tier weapons are very rare and are oftensold by their owners to other players at high prices. Alas, even a cactus seems to have gotten one!
1Jerma Reference
Sandcastle Map
Eagle-eyed players noticed an interesting reference in the form of a wanted poster inside a shed in “Sandcastle.” According to the loading screen, this is a houseMerasmus the magician purchased recently, so he may be the reason why the mercenaries are shrunk down and fighting in a sandbox in his backyard.
When passing through the portal, a missing person poster can be seen of the YouTuber Jerma on the wall above the saw blades. It may be a bit of a reference to how Jerma used to stream himself playingTeam Fortress 2but stopped doing so for many years.
