Poster by ayy-imma-ninja and MrDinosaurous
"Hey Jack. Things aren't great here. In fact, they're terrible."
— Billy
"Glitch in the System" is a fan game created for Youtuber and Let's Player Jacksepticeye, as well as for his community. Created by Sarcastic Pasta Games, the game is a sequel to The BOSS: A Jacksepticeye Fan Game.
Approximately one year after the events of "The BOSS", Jack once again finds himself pulled into Wireland. But things have changed since his last visit: characters keep disappearing, games are stitched together haphazardly and weird glitches can be found around almost every corner. The person behind all of this seems to be Jack's villainous alter ego Antisepticeye (Anti for short), but what does he hope to achieve with this madness? And can Jack, Billy, Jenny and Cliff stop him, before all of Wireland is destroyed?
Like its predecessor, "Glitch in the System" is a top-down adventure game created in RPG Maker VX Ace, with several features such as:
- An entirely original soundtrack
- A variety of cameos and shout-outs
- Original artwork and assets
- Fan-art in spades
The game's first two chapters and soundtrack are available for free on Gamejolt
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Not to be confused with Metal Arms: Glitch in the System.
This Game provides examples of:
- Adaptational Heroism: Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club, who in her own game was the Big Bad. Here she's an important member of the Anti-resistance group and is motivated by a genuine concern for her fellow Wireland citizens and missing club members.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Unlike in his original game, Baldi actually gives you proper math questions to solve instead of indecipherable Black Speech and even the option to calm him down if he gets too angry while you're solving them.
- The Ageless: No one in Wireland ages, due to being made up of sprites and code.
- Animated Actors: Once again, everyone in Wireland is this.
- Anti-Frustration Features: In the Five Nights at Freddy's area, the player has the ability to both scale difficulty and change the colors of the torch's lights so that the puzzle isn't impossible for colorblind players.
- Arc Symbol: The negative colored Sam as seen on the game's title screen.
- Ascended Fanon: In-universe. When Billy lists Robbie the Zombie as one of the Wirelanders who have gone missing, Jack is confused, due to Robbie being a fan-made Ego. Billy then explains that Jack's fandom has some say over who does and doesn't end up in Wireland and since Robbie's really popular, he's gained citizenship.
- Big Bad: Anti, Jack's Evil Counterpart has seemingly set out to destroy Wireland. No one knows why and Anti isn't willing to answer when Mack asks him.
- Big Good: Maintenance Jack (known as Mack) who is Jack's representative and the leader of Wireland.
- Bilingual Bonus: There are several Easter eggs for those familiar with Japanese:
- The nurses refer to a "Doctor Isha." Isha means "doctor" in Japanese, meaning his name is essentially Doctor Doctor.
- When the group is searching for six men in trenchcoats, Sayori informs them that their search has, unfortunately, coincided with the International Trenchcoat Appreciation Invitational, so everyone will be wearing trenchcoats, thus making their search much more difficult. Chase verbalizes the acronym (ITAI) to which Sayori apologizes for the painful news. "Itai" is a verbal expression of pain in Japanese, not unlike "ouch" in English.
- "Septic eye" can be seen in Japanese on one of the walls in the Fran Bow section of the game.
- Black Comedy: And a lot of it, too. The hospital-section in particular is filled with this, which should come as no surprise, considering Schneeplestein of all people is in charge there.
- Body Horror: The hospital section has tons of this. Highlights include: Schneeps very loose understanding of human anatomy, some of the pills you prescribe to patients literally causing their skin to crawl and the general state of the operating room.
- Born as an Adult: The Wireland citizens come into the world fully grown, since they're programs and not actual humans.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall:
- Billy in particular is very fond of doing fourth wall-breaking humor and references.
- Monika doesn't just break the fourth wall, she tears it into tiny little pieces and throws it around like confetti. Given her abilities in her own game, that comes as no surprise.
- But Thou Must!: Trying to explore Monika's apartments will prompt Cliff to state that you really shouldn't do that while Monika is just one room away, since you could get in trouble.
- Captured on Purpose: After a long chase scene, Markus allows himself to be captured so that he can be interrogated. This is because he knows that the interrogation rooms are sound proof, so Anti cannot listen in on their conversation.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: Jack is remarkably calm while having to dodge the increasingly deadly defense ssystem of the Jack-personality core.
- Comedic Sociopathy: Dr. Schneeplestein tries to be a good doctor, but fails at his utter Lack of Empathy and general refusal to listen to his patients. Although, it's mentioned his hospital is still WAY better at providing health care than ''Surgeon Simulator.
- Cliffhanger: Chapter 1 ends with Monika deleting Team Possepticeye's character files after tricking them into becoming part of the Literature Club. She has a quick chat with the player, telling them that the only way to continue playing is to delete their own file. Doing so results in the point of view shifting back to Jack, who wakes up in a dark void where he is confronted by none other than Séan.
- Creator Cameo: Jessica Zimmerman, one of the game's directors, can be heard as the train announcer.
- Curse of The Ancients: Much to everyone's chagrin, Evie once again enforces a strict "No swearing"-policy in Billy's general vicinity. Though it seems she's steadily losing her grip, since characters gradually start swearing without getting censored around him later on. Needless to say no one is exactly unhappy about it.
- Cute Machines:
- Calculester appears as the vendor to the local inconvenience store and he's just as lovable as he is in his own game.
- Mack is basically a walking talking computer program and he's a nerd.
- Dead Pan Snarker: Billy snarks non-stop.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Thanks to the game's auto-save, dying is never really a setback, as you spawn relatively close to were you left off.
- Dimensional Traveler: Like in the first game, it is possible to travel between games for the game characters. As it turns out, this extends to game characters from Jack's PS4, as well as characters from different computers.
- Distressed Dude / Distressed Damsel:
- Both Cliff and Jenny have to be rescued when Jack finds them for the first time.
- Locating and freeing the members of the literature club becomes a side quest in chapter 2.
- Easter Egg:
- There's a number of cameos from and references to other video games, movies and youtubers.
- You can find a literal easter egg by opening the safe in the abandoned office.
- Exposition Beam: In the events of The BOSS Is Nothing, Sean downloaded all of the Wirish laws and procedures. Now that he and Jack have been reunited, Jack has access to all of that information.
- Faux Horrific: That King Slime is adorable, with its happy smile and bubblegum pink coloration. But after it eats Billy, Jack reacts with terror and does his best to keep his distance.
- Fetch Quest:
- Jack has to find specific items to feed to the King Slime in the Slime Rancher section of the game.
- Team Possepticeye has to buy a specific list of items from the inconvenience store in order to gain Monika's trust.
- Grew Beyond Their Programming:
- The majority of the characters in Wireland, due to Jack playing their games and sometimes giving them unique personalities.
- A villainous example with Anti, who has somehow acquired the power to damage and even destroy parts of Wireland, including Mack's office.
- Hurricane of Puns: Jack, Cliff and Jenny make puns and play them off of each other at several points in the game, much to Billy's frustration.
- Inn Between the Worlds: Basically all of Wireland's establishments count as this. Although many of them use assets from and reference certain games, they are not part of any specific game and every Wireland citizen can use them.
- Intercontinuity Cross Over: Wireland itself, since it's a mixture of every game Jack has ever played.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Billy is almost constantly in Sarcasm Mode, but he's a decent kid who tries to do his best.
- Killed Off for Real: What happens to every game character who dies outside of their game. Partially subverted, as Jack and Mack later point out that getting killed outside your own game is more comparable to a coma than it is to actual death and that bringing the afflicted character back to their game usually gets them right back up.
- La Résistance: Close to the end of chapter 1 it's revealed that several Wireland citizens have formed a secret resistance group against Anti, with notable members including Markus, Kara, Luther and Monika.
- The Leader: Jack, of the headstrong variety. He's the one who decides what Team Possepticeye's next course of action should be most of the time and once he's set his mind on something very little can deter him from it.
- Leitmotif:
- Doctor Schneeplestein's theme "The Good Doctor" is played in the hospital section.
- "Heartbyte of a city" is heard throughout Byte'on.
- Literal Split Personality: Jack is once again split into Jack and Séan, due to Anti meddling with the deleting-process at the beginning of chapter 2. Monika manages to reunite the two through some emotional trickery after they arrive in the waiting area.
- Massive Multiplayer Cross Over: A lot of games either melt together or have cameos and shout-outs in Wireland.
- The Maze: Jack's house gets turned into one of the nondeterministic variety when he's pulled into Wireland.
- Medium Awareness: Every Wireland citizen knows they're a character in a video game. At several points it's even implied that Billy and a few others know that they're in a fan game.
- Mood Whiplash: During the climax of chapter 1. It goes from a comedic bit picturing team Possepticeye getting their IDs to Mack's office blowing up and Anti making himself known the second the team gets back.
- Mr. Exposition: Mack, once you finally meet him. He explains the details of the Anti-situation as well as how he and the Egos work.
- Mouthy Kid: Billy and later on Alice. Both of them have no problem mouthing off to adults and saying what's on their mind.
- Nice Guy:
- Jack, Jenny and Cliff, who are all very kind and approachable people.
- Mack who is a Reasonable Authority Figure and a very adorable nerd to boot.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Due to Billy repurposing the code he used to send Jack home in The Boss Jenny and Cliff end up getting brought back to Wireland as well.
- Non-Standard Game Over:
- Feeding the King Slime the wrong items too many times will result in Jack getting eaten.
- Eating Papyrus' spaghetti in the ruined apartment despite Séan's and the narration's warnings results in Jack dying instantly.
- Not in Kansas Anymore: Jack figures out pretty quickly that he's back in Wireland at the beginning of the game and is immediately disturbed by how off everything seems.
- Pint-Sized Kid: Billy is just as ridiculously short as he was in the first game. Justified, as he, just like every other Wireland character, doesn't age and is meant to fit on the back of a bike.
- Puppy Love: Billy's rather obvious crush on Fran Bow is carried over from the previous game.
- Resurrective Immortality: No characters in Wireland can die if they're in their own game or if a player controls them.
- Robotic Undead: The generic enemies of the Junkyard levels are "zombiebots," self-aware, hideous conglomerates of scrap metal and hate that "hunger for fresh oil."
- Rule of Three: Team Possepticeye needs to buy three specific items to prove their identity to Monika.
- Running Gag:
- Jack's previous adventures in Wireland, along with the resulting chaos are brought up a lot.
- A number of characters like to tease Billy for his Jerk with a Heart of Gold personality.
- The Smurfette Principle: Jenny is the only female member of Team Possepticeye, as in the first game. Justified, since she represents 50 % of Jack's subscribers.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Once Mack finds out about the Resistance and their less than legal activities, he's still willing to let them operate and do things without his knowledge, as that seems to be the only way to keep the movement safe from Anti.
- Schmuck Bait: There's a plate of Papyrus' spaghetti to be found in Jack's old ruined apartment during your trip to the recycling bin. You have the option to eat it. And die immediately afterwards.
- Spy Speak: [Almost every interaction with members of the resistance is very cryptic. Justified, as Anti has proven to be nigh omniscient and talking about their plans openly would most likely get them all killed or worse.
- Suddenly Voiced: Anti is heard, but not seen after the main characters arrive in Mack's destroyed office.
- Techno Babble: Both Mack and Bing speak a lot of techno jargon. Justified, since they're both basically living computers.
- Trust Password: In order to enter Monika's apartment, you have to tell her that Markus send you to do some grocery shopping for her.
- Token Romance: Billy and Fran Bow, though aside from a small side mention it has yet to actually play a bigger role in the story.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Jack and Billy bicker almost every time they interact, but they really do care about each other.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: After a very frenzied hoverpad chase, Xefros from Video Game/Hiveswap runs behind a pile of chicken nuggets to vomit. He's even polite enough to do so in complete silence!
- Would Hurt a Child:
- Several characters express a strong desire to hurt Billy, despite him being a little kid. The again, it's Billy.
- The adults in Kindergarten, as per usual, do not hesitate to brutally murder kindergartner Jack if he annoys them too much.
