Trigger Warning’ Review – A Bloody Power Fantasy That Pulls Too Many Punches

The Boys: Trigger Warning appears like a recreation caught between two priorities: delivering a brutal, irreverent VR adaptation of its supply materials, and serving as a well timed piece of franchise promotion. It nails simply sufficient of the present’s tone and spectacle to tug you in, however beneath the floor is a surprisingly shallow expertise that not often lives as much as the facility fantasy it guarantees.

Developer: ARVORE
Publisher: Sony Pictures Virtual Reality
Available On: questPSVR 2 coming quickly
Reviewed On: quest 3
Release Date: March twenty sixth, 2026
Price: $30

Gameplay

The Boys: Trigger Warning is a fairly acquainted revenge story. Just like how Hughie’s girlfriend is flagrantly mowed down by A-Train in season one of many present, tragedy strikes protagonist Lucas Costa throughout a fateful encounter with the Armstrongs, a household of low-level ‘Supes’.

On the brink of demise, The Boys juice you up with the superhero drug ‘Compound V’, each saving your life and placing you on the trail of vengeance, providing you with everlasting telekinetic powers so you’ll be able to infiltrate Vought and search out the Armstrongs one-by-one.

The narrative is comfortably acquainted, well-worn even, though the sport does serve up a considerably toned down model of the collection’ patented ‘WTF’ moments. Its cartoony (and generally glitchy) visuals appear to melt what would in any other case be far more stunning reveals.

Extreme violence and coarse language are on full show although, as you pop heads like bloody grapes, smash dudes to demise with Homelander-brand dildos (star and stripes eternally), and listen to Butcher name anybody and everybody a cunt. It is The Boys we’re speaking about right here, in any case.

As for powers, you’ll be able to seize and fly objects from afar to knock out baddies, teleport to shut areas, x-ray via partitions to see enemies, and pop heads by sneaking up behind them. Unfortunately, there of the sport’s AI enemies are as distressingly silly because the low-level guard seen beneath, however extra on that within the Immersion part.

It’s admittedly a really cool and appropriately-balanced set of talents, probably positioning The Boys: Trigger Warning as a fairly good stealth-action recreation. I say “potentially” as a result of I believe a cool recreation is below there someplace.

As it’s, it feels each rushed and curbed in service of turning into a model engagement automobile—as a result of let’s face it, the VR recreation is dropping simply days forward of The Boys’ remaining season coming subsequent month. The consequence: it does little or no to cease you from simply bulldozing via ranges, which appears to cheapen issues.

As far as I can inform, the one factor you’ll be able to ‘earn’ are nominal achievements in your end-mission report card. As it’s, there are not any upgrades, unlockables, or any technique to choose particular missions from the previous to replay them.

That stated, it isn’t all stalking via Vought’s workplace buildings and popping heads, though that could be a bulk of the sport. You’re additionally capable of quickly use three particular powers collected all through the course of the sport, which change into far more vital throughout its two boss fights (sure, solely two) and handful of one-off encounters with higher-level baddies that require brute drive techniques.

‘Bone Blades’ allow you to spawn large blades so you’ll be able to simply slice via dangerous guys, ‘Active Camouflage’ allows you to bypass safety cameras and guards, and ‘Laser Eyes’ allow you to blast lasers, nicely, out of your eyes, simply killing anybody in your path. They’re all actually sensible and funky editions, however I am unable to assist however really feel like they might be a little bit too over powered.

Realistically, this allows you to play in both stealth-action mode, or as a beat ’em up with no actual incentive to decide on both play type. As it’s, the three common enemy varieties are quite simple to kill, and no quantity of blaring safety klaxons can actually cease you.

Boss fights, of which there are solely two, spotlight a number of the flaws within the recreation’s fight system. Controls are pretty densely packed; you not solely need to jab your self with certainly one of three Temp V syringes in your belt holster, however you must activate these energy by holding down each he triggers and grip buttons, which basically restricts your capacity to teleport, because it additionally makes use of the set off to activate.

That stated, I might think about degree design to be excellent, because it presents loads of hidden areas to discover, a few of which comprise a lot wanted re-ups of Temp V, discovered notes, and audio logs. To be trustworthy, I by no means bothered a lot with the discovered notes or logs although, as you must bodily pause to learn or hear them.

With 4 hours of gameplay, I left feeling a bit confused total. As a story expertise, it feels proper at house with The Boys. As a recreation although, it feels considerably rushed, and possibly even toned down in issue to higher function a model engagement automobile.

Immersion

A particular spotlight for me is the sport’s narrative, which actually does the supply materials justice. Temp V is not good on your mind, and the extra you’re taking it, the extra you begin to see issues. Big Soldier Boy is not actual, and might’t damage you. Maybe…

I might have in any other case stated the cartoony vibe was additionally an ideal match for the VR adaptation, though some fairly robotic rigging places it at odds with a number of the extra premium and refined components on show.

Laz Alonso (Mother’s Milk), Jensen Ackles (Soldier Boy), Colby Minifie (Ashley Barrett), and PJ Byrne (Adam Bourke) have all reprized their roles within the recreation as voice actors. Although Butcher and Homelander are a giant a part of the sport too, notably neither Karl Urban nor Anthony Star took half, which I used to be very stunned to study when the credit lastly rolled. Seasoned voice actors Gary Furlong (Butcher) and Jake Green (Homelander) served up wonderful impressions, a lot so I needed to double take.

Still, characters really feel robotically animated, with mouths wanting extra like they’re chewing on peanut butter than truly speaking. It’s an odd factor to look at, particularly since exposition dumps largely occur while you’re simply sitting on a stool and MM and Butcher are providing you with a lecture, or prepping you for the subsequent mission.

Enemy AI can also be simply so dangerous it is humorous. Much like pigs, enemies cannot search for. They additionally apparently cannot see too far down an unobstructed hall both, making stealth hits means too straightforward. At one level, after I realized simply how a lot time I used to be losing creeping via air ducts, I simply determined to go ham and filter each degree by constantly juicing my Bone Blade Temp V. Who cares if an alarm goes off? Or if I’m caught on CC TV? It actually would not matter, as a result of there’s successfully no reward, no penalty, or a lot of something that may cease me from attending to that finish mission display.

As for object interplay, most of it’s performed through telekenisis, so you do not bodily decide up something. It’s in all probability for the very best, as your digital hand place is off by just a few inches, which makes popping out of VR a very unusual expertise for the primary jiffy. As a contact typist, I stored hitting the mistaken keys on my keyboard when jotting down my ideas after missions—completely throwing my physique’s proprioception out of whack.

In all, in case you’re a fan of The Boysyou will in all probability actually admire the extent of care relating to voice performing, basic artwork path, and narrative. Still, characters really feel too wood and robotic to be believed, and gameplay too dumbed all the way down to be actually participating.

consolation

While there’s the complete vary of consolation choices, I discovered that viewpoint would involuntarily transfer when inside air ducts, and even generally when standing nonetheless on strong floor, which could be uncomfortable since it isn’t managed by the consumer. Moving your stick corrects this conduct quickly, though I think about it is going to be the topic of a future replace.

Otherwise, the sport may be very comfy, offering you do not push previous your private limits for frenetic motion, such as you may want for boss fights or more-packed enemy encounters.