You're standing in the rain. Mud is everywhere. The atmosphere in Call of Duty: WWII Zombies—specifically on the "The Final Reich" map—is arguably the peak of Sledgehammer Games' horror aesthetic. But most people aren't there for the scenery. They are there for the zombies easter egg citadelle steps, or more accurately, the "Testament of Bureau" and the grueling quest for the "Unsinkable" or "Dark Reunion" trophies.
Honestly? It's a mess. A beautiful, frustrating, overly engineered mess.
If you’ve spent any time in the salt mines or the laboratory, you know the drill. You start by turning on the power, then you’re redirected to the command room, and suddenly you’re tasked with defending lightning rods while being chased by a Pests-wave that feels like it’ll never end. The Citadelle—or the bunker and surrounding ruins—is where the lore actually starts to make sense, provided you can survive long enough to look at the wall markings.
The Reality of the Citadelle Steps
The term "Citadelle" often refers to the fortified heart of the map, and let's be real, it's a deathtrap. When you're trying to complete the zombies easter egg citadelle requirements for the "Hardcore" version of the Easter Egg, you aren't just doing the "Casual" quest that the game literally puts on your HUD. You have to ignore the game's prompts. That is the first mistake everyone makes. They follow the white notebook icons.
Stop doing that.
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The hardcore path requires a level of coordination that most random lobbies simply can't handle. You need the Tesla Gun variants. All four of them. We’re talking about the Midnight, the Bloodthirst, the Hurricane, and the Reaper. Each one of these is its own mini-quest tucked inside the larger Citadelle framework. For example, getting the Reaper variant requires you to lead two Wüstlings (the big, club-armed brutes) into the sewers to hit a specific locker. It’s tedious. It's annoying. It’s peak Zombies.
Why the Tesla Gun Variants Matter
You can't finish the real Citadelle-linked ending without these. The Midnight variant is usually the easiest—just find the statue, get the head, and use the battery. But the Hurricane? That involves a well-timed trap kill with a Bomber zombie that usually ends in someone screaming into their mic because the bomb went off too early.
The complexity here isn't just "shoot things." It's "shoot things in a very specific order while a clock is ticking and three different types of undead are trying to eat your liver."
Breaking the "Casual" Barrier
Most players get stuck on the "Voice of God" step. This is the part of the zombies easter egg citadelle journey where you have to input a sequence of numbers into a machine in the Salt Mine. If you're doing the casual path, Klaus—the NPC you're trying to save—ends up in a pretty grim spot. If you want the "good" ending, you have to go further.
You need to find the hidden records. There are three of them.
- The first is often hidden in a locker near the laboratory that you have to blow open.
- Another requires you to shoot a specific green light on a lamp post outside the map boundaries.
- The third is tucked away in the pub area, usually behind a painting.
Once you have these, you have to play them on the gramophone. But it's not just listening to music. You have to count the clicks. Yes, actual clicks. These clicks translate to numbers for the God King’s device. It’s this kind of detail that made WWII Zombies feel different from the Treyarch "Aether" storyline. It felt more like a Resident Evil puzzle than a high-octane shooter.
The Problem With the Lighting Rods
Let’s talk about the defense step. This is where most runs die. You're in the middle of the Citadelle ruins, defending a metal pole while the game throws everything at you.
Pro tip: use the "Frontline" special ability with the "Determination" mod. If you don't have a teammate running "Camo" to revive people in secret, you’re basically asking for a Game Over screen. The sheer density of the horde in the later stages of the zombies easter egg citadelle quest is staggering. It doesn’t matter how many perks (Blitz) you have if you get cornered by a Wüstling and a group of Pests simultaneously.
The Panzermörder Encounter
The "Final Boss" isn't just a big guy with a hammer. It's a literal mountain of stitched-together flesh. To beat the Panzermörder during the zombies easter egg citadelle hardcore run, you have to stun him using the battery packs from the zeppelin.
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But wait. There's a catch.
In the hardcore version, you can't just shoot the zeppelin lights. You have to hit them in a specific order based on the lights flashing in the bunker. If you mess up the order, the zeppelin just leaves. It’s punishing. If you miss your window, you’re stuck playing another three rounds just to get the zeppelin to come back, and by then, the round count is so high that the regular zombies are basically tanks.
Common Myths About the Citadelle Easter Egg
People love to invent stuff. I've heard rumors that you can "save" characters who aren't actually savable, or that there’s a secret weapon beyond the upgraded Tesla guns.
- The "Hidden Room" Myth: No, there is no secret room behind the laboratory fireplace that opens after round 50. People have spent hours trying to glitch through walls to find it. It doesn't exist.
- The "Red Talon" Sword: You can actually get a better version of the shovel, the Red Talon. It involves a code in the morgue, but it’s not a "super-weapon" that kills the boss in one hit. It’s just very good for points.
- The Klaus Survival: People think Klaus can join your team as an AI bot. He doesn't. He’s a plot device.
How to Actually Succeed
If you're serious about finishing the zombies easter egg citadelle quest, you need a dedicated four-man crew. Doing this solo is a nightmare, though technically possible if you have the patience of a saint and the reflexes of a pro-athlete.
- Priority 1: Get the Tesla Gun before round 6. If you're slower than that, the zombies get too strong for the defense steps.
- Priority 2: Don't waste money on the Mystery Box. Buy your specific wall-buy weapons and upgrade them. The "M1928" or the "Bar" are reliable.
- Priority 3: Communication. If one person shoots a battery at the wrong time, the whole step resets.
The Call of Duty: WWII zombies experience was polarizing because it was "too dark" or "too hard," but the Citadelle quest remains one of the most mechanically dense pieces of content in the franchise. It forces you to actually learn the map, not just run in circles.
What to do next
Start by mastering the "Midnight" Tesla variant first. It’s the most powerful for crowd control and will give you the breathing room you need to solve the gramophone puzzle. Once you can consistently get the record player working without dying, you're ready to attempt the full hardcore run. Make sure your team has a designated "distraction" player whose only job is to lead the last zombie of the round away from the players working on the puzzles. Without a "crawler" or a "runner" being managed, you'll never have the peace of mind to input the codes correctly.
Double-check your "Raven Research" mods before you load in. Taking "Specialist" mods that increase your ammo capacity is usually better than trying to boost your damage, as the Tesla Gun variants run out of juice faster than you’d think during the final boss fight. Focus on survival first; the Easter Egg steps will follow once you control the map's flow.