Borderlands 4: Meat is Murder walkthrough

Early in Borderlands 4, players will start picking up a variety of side quests, and one of the more interesting ones is Meat is Murder. Picked up in the Coastal Bonescape subsection of Fadefield, Byron will give you this one at Harper’s Hideaway. Before you can take the quest, you’ll need to head into the building where he is, and blow up the glowing object that’s keeping him where he is. After a bit of dialogue, you’ll start the quest.

After picking up the quest, you’ll follow Byron, and learn more about what you’re meant to do. It’s a worthwhile quest to pick up for the rewards, which include exp, a new weapon, some Eridium, and a new Vault Hunter Style. If you’re keen to sweep up some side quests, here’s how to complete Meat is Murder in Borderlands 4.

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How to start the Meat is Murder quest in Borderlands 4

Before you start the Meat is Murder quest, you'll have to clear out the enemies in Harper's Hideway (although more will spawn in later). Once you do that, you get the prompt to destroy the barricade. There's a known bug where a phantom barricade will remain, and block the sequence. If you encounter this, simply reload the game to reset the objects, and then start the quest as intended by talking to the NPC.

The following are the broader steps you have to do in order to beat Meat is Murder:

• Find four clues about the murderer
• Find Harper's body
• Destroy coolant regulators
• Release Harper's body to examine it
• Listen to Radio record
• Fend off Ripper attack
• Talk to Tool shop owner
• Travel to Plungeford
• Go to a cave behind a waterfall
• Eliminate killer and listen to radio

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All Clue locations during Meat is Murder quest in Borderlands 4

Byron will lead you to where you really start off the Meat is Murder side quest in Borderlands 4, where you’ll need to search the Barn for four clues. Trigger your ECHO Device, and you’ll see some parts of the room highlighted in green. Directly ahead of you, is a piece of metal with scratch marks on it, so head up the wood piles in this room, and interact with it to trigger a bit of dialogue.

The four objects in this room are very easy to spot thanks to your ECHO Device (Image via 2K Games)

Practically next to the board is a crashed Ripper Drill with some slain Rippers about. Interact with any one of the bodies to trigger another clue.

Second clue (Image via 2K)

The third clue during the Meat is Murder quest is a dead Wildhorn found to the left of the eastern exit from the barn. Like all other clues, interact with it once it glows green.

Third clue (Image via 2K)

Next, go to the giant grinder on the western end of the barn, and there's a table with some dismembered limbs on it. Interact with one of the limbs to get the final clue.

Fourth clue (Image via 2K)

To summarize, here are the objects that act as clues for the Meat is Murder quest in Borderlands 4:

• Corpses next to crashed Ripper drill
• Board with tally on the southern wall
• Dead widlhorn near the eastern exit
• Limbs on a table next to the grinder

Once you've found all four, go talk to Byron again to advance the quest.

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Stage 2: Find Harper

Just run up to the table in the middle of the room, and you'll get your next objective (Image via 2K Games/YouTube@WoWQuests)

Next, for the Meat is Murder side quest, you need to find Harper, and it turns out, they really aren’t that far away; just not in a state you’d like to find someone in. Head over to the table where you found the arm and blade, and interact with the radio, which will start the grinder ahead of you.

He’s hanging from the ceiling above the grinder, but there’s not much you can do about that right now. After listening to Byron’s woes during this BL4 side quest, you’ll need to activate the Kill Switch.

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Stage 3: Activate the Kill Switch, Destroy Coolant Regulators

If you head up to the platform on your immediate left, you’ll see the blue diamond that indicates a quest objective. Interact with the computer to try and activate the Kill Switch, but that sure didn’t work. The next step will be to Destroy the Coolant Regulators, which are found outside of the Barn.

Grapple these doors open, and then blast the regulators. Make sure you're ready for a fight though (Image via 2K Games/YouTube@WoWQuests)

This next step of the Borderlands 4 side quest is super short. Activate your ECHO Device, and follow the path outside, to the back of the Barn, where you’ll see a green glowing object almost immediately. Use your Grapple to pull the door open, and open fire on the regulator you find there. You’ll find the other door to grapple open on the other side of this one, so just run over, pull it open, and shoot.

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Stage 4: Release Harper, Examine Harper’s body, Examine radio

After you get through examining Harper's body, the rippers will show up (Image via 2K Games/YouTube@WoWQuests)

Once this has been done, head inside and shoot the target above you, where Harper’s body is hanging. This will release Harper for this part of the Borderlands 4 Meat is Murder side quest.

Walk down to where the body drops and examine it as well, and Byron will remark that the axe embedded in the body wasn’t Harper’s. After the conversation about expensive axes, you’ll need to examine the radio on the corpse.

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Stage 5: Defeat the Rippers

A few waves of Rippers shouldn't be any problem for a Vault Hunter (Image via 2K Games/YouTube@WoWQuests)

At this point in the quest, you’re going to get ambushed in the barn by some Rippers, so use whichever guns and Vault Hunter powers you have at your disposal to take them out. This shouldn’t be a difficult fight, even at this stage in the game.

At best, there’s probably a few Badasses that show up in the waves of foes. Difficulty for this fight is also likely connected to whatever difficulty you’re playing on. Kite the Rippers around the room if you need to, but take them all down to proceed into this Borderlands 4 quest.

Before you get out of the area, though, you might want to complete the Harper's Hideway Evocarium to tick off the collectibles in the area for good.

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Stage 6: Reach Tool Shop, Talk to Shop Owner, Reach Cave

As you get close to the waterfalls, look for this opening on the left; Zeke waits for you here (Image via 2K Games/YouTube@WoWQuests)

After clearing the enemies out for this Borderlands 4 quest, you’ll need to head east to the Tool Shop. It’s clearly marked on your map, so getting there won’t be difficult. You’ll find the shop owner nearby, so talk to them as well.

(In case you're wondering what's the undiscovered question mark nearby, it's the Timid Kyle's Neglected Opening Augur mine accessible from the lake down south.)

The shop owner clue you in to a cave hidden behind a waterfall. You’re going to need to follow the path the quest tracker leads you deeper on into Plungeford. Thankfully, the location line from your quest tracker/ECHO Device will lead you right to it.

When you’re ready, get to the cave, and knock down the boards that hide the cave itself. The cave isn’t a long walk from where you’re at. As you’re walking towards the waterfalls themselves, there’s a cave to your left, and that’s where you’ll find your target.

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Stage 7: Kill murderer, Listen to radio

Don't show this murderer any mercy (Image via 2K Games/YouTube@WoWQuests)

Break into this small cave, and you’ll confront Zeke, who is responsible for the death of Harper. Zeke appears to have gone mad, but that’s not going to stop us from delivering swift, violent justice.

His repeated gun shots can make light work of your shields, but he’s not very tough either. Defeat him, and then listen to the radio on the table. With that, the quest is wrapped up, and you can immediately pick up your rewards.

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Borderlands 4 Meat is Murder quest rewards

For completing the Meat is Murder quest, you get a reward cache containing the following:

• A blue or purple-rarity gun
• Tropic of Cairn Vault Hunter style unlock

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Check out our other Borderlands 4 guides and features

• Borderlands 4: Hangover Helper walkthrough
• Borderlands 4: Abduction Injuction walkthrough
• Borderlands 4 No Place Like Home walkthrough
• Borderlands 4 Finway's Cup walkthrough
• Borderlands 4 Boss loot table
• Borderlands 4 Vault Hunter tier list