Since I was a kid, I have always wanted to be a superhero. Not Superman or an almighty, god-like entity, just a basic, run-of-the-mill dude with powers who can teleport instead of going down three flights of stairs to take the trash out. So when I learned a VR title would allow me to embrace that dream further than I could imagine and take up the cape of a Supe, I jumped in with both feet, and my VR headset.
The Boys: Trigger Warning lets that inner child play out a superhero power fantasy alongside the cast of the hit live-action series The Boys, and in return lets you become a full-fledged member of the superhero assassination squad while immersed in VR. The Boys: Trigger Warning plays like a lost episode of the hit TV series that started it all, for better or worse.
You are Lucas, a Vought employee and doting father who is taking his two daughters to Voughtland for entertainment and to see a superhero family, The Armstrongs. In The Boys: Trigger Warning, players are inserted into the canonical world made popular by the Prime Video series and are surrounded by easter eggs and other notable details that will make fans feel right at home. It is a healthy dose of fan service for the well-travelled, but a harsh onboarding experience for those unfamiliar with the source.
“The Boys: Trigger Warning unapologetically knows its audience.”
The Boys: Trigger Warning unapologetically knows its audience. If you have not watched the series yet, or tried watching The Boys and did not like it, here is the trigger warning: this game is not for you. The Boys: Trigger Warning adopts the show’s personality and tone, and director Ricardo Laganaro collaborated extensively with the showrunners and writers, including Eric Kripke, to flesh out the world of Trigger Warning. This is another mid-season episode of The Boys, disguised as a VR title, and it is not afraid to be one.
Because Lucas and his family arrive late to Voughtland, none of the rides are open for business. So he decides to do what any rational dad would do with upset young children around: break and enter. This sneaking session is disguised as a “how to VR” tutorial and uses many of the tried-and-true mechanics VR relies on for movement.
After wandering down an unsuspecting hallway, it becomes clear that all superheroes in this universe cannot keep it in their pants. As Lucas, I stumbled across a debaucherous scene that is hard to put into words, but for The Boys faithful, think Herogasm. A ball gag, a bed and someone tied up are all part of this scene, and because you walked in on it, The Armstrongs cannot risk you blabbing about it.
Like a good Lannister, The Armstrongs want to silence you and your family because of what was witnessed, but things go wrong, and you are left fighting for your life in front of The Boys themselves. Butcher, Mother’s Milk and Kimiko greet you and decide to save your life by injecting you with Compound V, a chemical created by Vought that turns normal humans into superheroes, or “Supes” as they are called in this universe.
After vengeance is promised and you are indoctrinated as one of The Boys, The Boys: Trigger Warning shoves you into the base that makes everything in this universe possible, Vought Tower. Your mission is to infiltrate and uncover the darkness behind Project Janus, another wicked secret Vought is keeping from the public. This is where the gameplay takes off the training wheels. There are many ways to approach missions, but they all boil down to hiding, running, killing and repeating.
Lucas has many powers at his disposal. At first, you are able to sneak around, teleport yourself into air vents, throw fire extinguishers and other objects at enemies, and basically play hide-and-seek with the NPCs to advance through the stages. While all the gameplay is based on already-been-done mechanics in VR, when tied all together, The Boys: Trigger Warning has surprising depth.
In a later mission called “A Little Arrangement,” Lucas’ abilities are put on full display. The Boys: Trigger Warning allows Lucas to use extra powers from Temp V, injected like BioShock’s plasmids directly into your arm, and each has a different use. Your basic telekinesis powers already do a good job of dispatching foes by throwing objects at them, but Temp V tops you off with even more anti-personnel destruction.
Active Camo shields Lucas from enemy gazes, chosen because The Boys universe uses invisibility without clothing. Blade Arms can deflect bullets and impale guards, and Laser Eyes are devastating. They also look really cool. Lucas can be controlled as a full-fledged Supe, and you do feel powerful when offloading a chain of particularly devastating powers to send Vought cronies packing.
But The Boys always reminds you that in the face of true power, Homelander, you are basically nobody. In one particularly tense scene, Homelander himself chases you across the rooftops in a heart-pounding sequence that makes you feel pathetic and completely outclassed. That feeling of powerlessness is pushed even further in Trigger Warning, as you are forced to watch Homelander’s, and other Supes’, atrocities and not be able to do anything about them.
To immerse players further into the universe of The Boys, Laz Alonso (Mother’s Milk), Colby Minifie (Ashley Barrett) and other voice actors, no spoilers here, from Prime Video reprise their roles for Trigger Warning, and that choice feels right. Ashley still speaks to Homelander in a shaky quiver, and Mother’s Milk roars at Butcher with the same fury pulled from a safehouse scene in the first season. Only Antony Starr as Homelander and Karl Urban as Butcher did not reprise their roles in the game, but their stand-ins, who are currently uncredited, fill in amicably.
The biggest issue with The Boys: Trigger Warning is the gameplay itself. While “VR jank” could be used as an excuse when things go awry for the first or second time while calibrating your surroundings in a headset, The Boys: Trigger Warning is riddled with it.
Telekinesis control is a mess. Often, I would attempt to pick something up with telekinesis, and it would grab something else entirely, which would usually mean death. While attempting to throw an office printer, or anything else, at enemies, the item would often clip into a wall or floor near me and just explode instead of being thrown, which also usually meant death. Accuracy while throwing is inconsistent and sometimes misses entirely instead of going where you want it to, which, again, usually means death.
“The Boys: Trigger Warning is a nice dose of fan service for diehard The Boys fans.”
These VR issues reach a boiling point with the way checkpoints are spaced out. There are often a dozen enemies between you and the next checkpoint, and if you miss a single printer throw, which happens often, you can find yourself dead before you get there. While there are numerous tricks and escapes to use, and you can slide, which feels neat, all of them feel like cheating because NPCs lose you the moment you go into a vent shaft, like the NPC forgot what they were doing because you got out of their sightline.
There is a TK assassination technique that involves sneaking up behind an enemy and killing them silently, and if you hit the “sweet spot,” it makes the enemy’s head explode, defeating the purpose of it being a stealth kill. While that decision does deploy an easter egg from the show, it is confusing as a game mechanic. The technique itself does not work often, and it will disengage when you take damage or if you look slightly away from the enemy you are assassinating. The TK assassination technique is one I skipped for my whole playthrough and did not look back.
The Boys: Trigger Warning is a nice dose of fan service for diehard The Boys fans. Injecting a fan into the universe of The Boys, and showing the corruption of capitalism through a fictionalized superhero world from a VR perspective, is a great idea, and it feels like the player is becoming part of the Prime Video series through prominent voice work and excellent writing. Trigger warning: the main issues with this title are gameplay-based.
ARVORE previously developed the Pixel Ripped VR series and Fabula Rasa VR. That experience does not show when the curtain is lifted on The Boys: Trigger Warning. Frustrations with the game mechanics often feel like the fault of the development rather than the player, especially with the way telekinesis works in-game, and it makes up nearly 70 per cent of the gameplay. The Boys: Trigger Warning is a good way to insert yourself into an episode of The Boys, but those who have not seen the show or are not fans can skip this title and not look back.
