ALL references from "Lock Me Up"

Here comes the official™ list of references from the quarantine song "Lock Me Up"! References in the artwork are presented on the image below, and here are references in the lyrics:

References in the lyrics:

“Clicking sounds from the nearby alley”, “Soldiers blocked my district”:

The guy clearly lives in The Last of Us world, surrounded by horrible clickers, zombie-like creatures who used to be humans before they got infected by the cordyceps fungus. Or at least he thinks so.

“Still gonna pack things up and sneak out to Hyrule,

I’ll explore the Great Plateau with my mask off,

Beedle’s store’s raking in profits like Tesco”

This section is a Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild reference. The Great Plateau is the first location in the game, and Beedle is everybody’s favourite Hyrule merchant whose business is sure booming during the quarantine.

“I’m gonna hit the pubs

Down the streets of Novigrad.

Nothing’s changing under quarantine orders,

Redania’s never closing its borders”

This is a reference to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s locations. Some people in the comments mentioned that Redania’s borders actually are closed in the game and you even need to complete the quest to find papers allowing to enter the realm. I played the game about 3 years ago and honestly forgot about it, and I find it kinda ironic :D

“And while we hide, bloodflies might swarm the city spreading

The Tyrant virus outside, trust me, I’ve already seen that”

The bloodflies are dangerous insects that infested the lovely Karnaca city in Dishonored 2. And the Tyrant virus is the T-Virus from Resident Evil series, a biological weapon developed by the Umbrella corporation that turns people into zombie-like creatures.

Yeah, those lines don’t really make sense, but they are not random at all. The emerging panic all around led the protagonist to mix up events from different games; it’s hard to stay sane in the same room for such a long time being locked up in video game worlds. 

“Think I should move to Greenland”

The hardcore “Plague, Inc.” players know very well, that Greenland is one of the hardest places to infect. If you succeeded to get your disease there, you basically won the game.

“So lick me barnacle, hug me, my buddy headcrab

I’m safe and sound hanging ‘round with my City 17 friends”

This is, of course, the Half Life series reference. Many of us remember those barnacle tongues hanging from the ceiling, some of us were lucky enough to see them in glorious VR during the Half Life: Alyx playthrough. When I was playing Half Life 1 as a kid those things scared the crap out of me when I got caught in their trap.

“Then to Skyrim, maybe even to Lordran

Dying right after respawning is so fun”

Skyrim is pretty obvious, and Lordran is the world from the first instalment of the Dark Souls series. We’ve been dying and respawning a lot there, that’s for sure.

“Bullies won’t beat me up

Kronika will instead

Netherrealm’s not under quarantine orders

I kept the distance but still ended up quartered”

Kronika is the Keeper of Time, the main antagonist of Mortal Kombat 11 and, needless to say, she’s extremely hard to beat; and Netherrealm is Mortal Kombat universe’s version of Hell.

The protagonist used to adore the nature of Hyrule and have fun in Novigrad. But the song has grown darker over time, now he’s even okay with dying in a lot of unpleasant ways in games... does it mean something? You have to decide that for yourself. 

“I might spend decades in this shelter before escaping

To post apocalyptic lands”

This is a not-so-obvious nod to the Fallout series, in which the population of the Earth literally spent decades in the Vaults avoiding coming out to the nuclear wastelands.

“So bring me pizza, Mr Bridges, and some toilet paper

Don’t worry, I won’t shake your hand!”

This is a Death Stranding reference. Sam Bridges, the deliverer that works for the “Bridges” corporation, delivers supplies to inhabitants of the former United States, who locked themselves in their bunker-like houses not being able to meet other people due to dangerous BT monsters that flooded the country. Also there’s a famous pizza delivery questline, which is very crucial to the plot. Don’t miss it.

As you can see, “Lock Me Up” isn’t just about game references and being okay with the whole lockdown situation. If you deep dive into the lyrics, you’ll find that the protagonist is actually really anxious about the coronavirus crisis despite saying that “it’s alright” all the time. It’s easy to develop mental problems in such situation, and the protagonist is really not alright, even though he may honestly think that he is.

I hope that you guys are staying safe and sane during the lockdown and that our lives will get back to normal soon! See ya :)