Jack... you're in Wireland.note
"W-wait a minute... this is kind of a c-crazy question but... are you Jack?"
— Alphys
"The BOSS" is a fan game created for Let's Player Jacksepticeye and his community, by his community. Directed by Katie Pedneau, creator of Sarcastic Pasta Games—initially founded to create this game—it took nine months to complete with 48 team members in total from all over the world.
Set in a seemingly average day in the Youtuber's life, the game follows Jack as he discovers not everything is as it should be. A news report brings word that millions of individuals who were on social media have gone unconscious. Determined to see if his friends are all right, he heads back to his computer, where he finds countless messages saying "SAVE US" and an email from a mysterious person named SCYOBI. He clicks the email, only to find himself now stuck inside his own computer. Will he be able to find his subscribers and return to the world he belongs in?
The game itself is a top-down adventure game created in RPG Maker VX Ace. Some of its notable features include:
- An original soundtrack
- Original artwork and assets
- An abundance of flavor text
- Cameos from a plethora of characters
The game and its soundtrack are both available for free on Gamejolt
.
This game provides examples of:
- Actor/Role Confusion: Despite the fact that the game characters featured in Jack's computer are all actors who seem to be friends with each other, some game villains remain villains in their own game. Alphys explains that Jack's opinions affect canon, but if he doesn't have any opinion on a villain, they don't stray from their canon.
- Adaptational Villainy: Lampshaded. Billy is based on the kid on the back of the bike in Happy Wheels. His original character is neither a hero nor a villain. Multiple fan games have made him the villain, to the point where Jack instantly assumes the worst of him. However, Billy turns out to be a nice kid, if a bit snarky. Despite this, his adaptational villainy is brought up multiple times.
- Animated Actors: Everyone in Wireland. Play time is more important than Jack's actions, and characters who die in their own games remain alive. After all, you can't play again if they die permanently!
- The Ageless: Due to the fact that the residents of Jack's computer are all made up of sprites and code, they do not age.
- Anti-Frustration Features: Should players find they are having too much difficulty with some of the puzzles, the developers included an option to make things easier:
- In The Escapists section, the characters don't have to memorize all the numbers on the wall when it comes time to figure out the clue, nor do they need to know the prison guard's name. Both pieces of information can be obtained at any time by calling Jack.
- Jack can also be called during The Escapists to simplify the key clues, should the player be confused by the poem.
- In the Five Nights at Freddy's section, 2 deaths will result in the blueprints being changed to show the correct path.
- In the Fran Bow part of the game, the lights turn on to illuminate your path if you die more than three times in the Mabuka maze.
- The ability to move diagonally is disabled in the Mabuka maze and again during the Sean battle because accidental diagonal movements can mean instant death in those puzzles.
- The game also auto-saves before initiating and during the fight with Sean, so that you don't have to go too far back should you lose the fight.
- Arc Symbol: The blue septic eye graffiti, which turns out to be Sean's symbol.
- Arc Words: "The BOSS is nothing."
- Bittersweet Ending: Jack's computer may be fixed and he may be able to go home with his subscribers, but having to say goodbye to all the characters in his computer, as well as the friends he made with his subscribers, is definitely not the happiest ending. It's not permanently goodbye, however, as he meets up with Cliff and Jenny at a convention, and his characters remind him that they'll always be there, waiting for him to replay their games.
- Black Comedy:
- Given that Billy from Happy Wheels is involved, expect some humor about video game death.
- Much of the Portal section is filled with this kind of humor.
- Blatant Lies: Employee 207 in The Stanley Parable outright lies to you about everything, as you find out when GLaDOS makes an appearance and the level shifts to the Portal section. In fact, he's not even really the Narrator!
- Body Horror: The list of possible side effects given when GLaDOS says test subjects can opt out sick and take Aperture Science's pharmaceutical trial instead.
- Book Ends: The game begins and ends in Jack's apartment, as well as with Jack's signature video outro and intro.
- Born as an Adult: All adults in Wireland spawned that way since characters never age.
- Boss Banter: Sean and, in a humorous vein, Felix.
- Boss Battle: Sean.
- Boss Remix: "The BOSS," as it is Sean's theme but much more intense than other versions in the game.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Seán argues that Jack's subscribers only care about his on-screen persona and are Loving a Shadow. The subscribers express their love for the Jacksepticeye videos, which does prove his point to an extent. However, it could be argued that the subscribers couldn't possibly know Jack or Seán if they hadn't seen the videos. The developers' intentions were to prove that the viewers care about both sides, but it could have been explained better. Ultimately, both sides do have legitimate points.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Twice in the list of potential side effects GLaDOS gives when talking about Aperture Science's pharmaceutical trial:
- "...Ebola, swine flu, ebola AND swine flu..."
- "...Loss of vision, loss of hearing, loss of vision AND hearing..."
- Break the Haughty: GLaDOS is turned into a potato once more at the end of the Portal portion of the game. Does this remind you of anything?
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Many times. In fact, Billy is actually aware of the fact that he is in a fan game. The merchants Red and Blue from Jacksepticeye's Paradox are aware of this as well.
- British Stuffiness: The "Narrator" in the The Stanley Parable section of the game.
- Made humorous by the fact that it is not even the actual Narrator in the first place, and that Employee 207 and his voice actor aren't even British.
- But Thou Must!:
- During the quiz show, all branches of questions lead to the merchants asking who Billy has a crush on, and the second time around the answers all point to Fran Bow.
- Despite being given two different doors to choose between in the The Stanley Parable section of the game, both ultimately lead to the Freedom Ending.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: Cliff in particular. A number of his comments during the Fran Bow section qualify as this. He even seems to have no problem performing a dark ritual as if it were just like setting the table for dinner!
- Color-Coded Characters:
- Jack and, later, Sean= Blue
- Billy = Yellow
- Jenny = Purple
- Cliff = Green
- Comedic Sociopathy:
- The merchants Red and Blue from the fan game Jacksepticeye's Paradox.
- GLaDOS, but to those who have played Portal, this comes as no surprise.
- Continue Your Mission, Dammit!: With as off the beaten path as you're allowed to get in the The Stanley Parable section of the game, it's no wonder that Employee 207 is prone to throwing fits.
- Creative Closing Credits: The credits feature colorful artwork, music written just for the game, and the Wireland National Anthem at the end, fully voiced. Seeing as the credits clock in at about nine minutes long, this is a good way to keep people's attention.
- Creator Cameo: A number of people who worked on the game make cameos in the game.
- The game's director and head, Katie Pedneau, lent her voice to a number of roles: the female news reporter, Alphys, a disappointed audience member, most of the turrets in the Portal level, and Mae.
- The game's "assistant everything," Jessica Zimmerman, really lived up to her name, as she even assisted in the voice acting, lending her voice to Undyne, Napstablook, Billy, and even GLaDOS.
- Jay Ikalima, who did sound design and video editing for the game, appears as the male news reporter at the start, one of the guards from The Escapists, Rhys, one of the turrets in the Portal section, Bigby Wolf, and Potato Man.
- One of the game's writers, Amy Huntzinger, can be heard as a disappointed audience member and one of the people who shout encouragements to Jack and Sean at the end.
- Curse of The Ancients: Evie forces this upon all characters surrounding Billy. In an amusing twist, her censorship doesn't even work on him!
- Cute Machines: The turrets from Portal are just so dang cute, even if stepping in their line of fire will kill you instantly.
- Damned by Faint Praise: GLaDOS when she says she'll kill you in an explosion, but promises to write nice things about you in your test subject file.
- "Tried hard. Did their best. Showed promising signs of near intelligence."
- Dark Is Not Evil: Sean. While he wears a darker color scheme than Jack and lacks his bright colors, Sean is not evil at all.
- Darkest Hour: Just after the battle with Sean, Jack is knocked down and powerless. It seems, even for only a moment, that Sean will be leaving without him.
- Dark Reprise: The final boss theme is a dark reprise of the theme that plays when Jack first enters Wireland.
- Deadpan Snarker: Billy. Oh so much.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: As the game autosaves, dying does not set the player back very far.
- Death Is Cheap: If you're inside your own video game, that is. Much like in Wreck-It Ralph, game characters die permanently if outside their games. However, there is an additional rule that states if the character in question is under the control of the player, any death outside their game would also not matter.
- They even call this the "Law of Death Permanence" and have it written in a rulebook.
- Developer's Room: There's a gallery after the game, filled with artwork, information, and team members with their own personal messages for Jack. There is also a room for Patreon members.
- Dimensional Traveler: All the game characters can travel to each other's games and common areas.
- Distressed Dude: Jack has to be rescued three times over the course of the game.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- In the Portal portion of the game, GLaDOS is turned into a potato battery, much like what happened in Portal 2.
- Much like what happened in real life, in the The Escapists section of the game, Jack and Felix engage in a roast battle.
- Easily Forgiven:
- Jack instantly forgives Billy for sending millions of people to his hard drive, even explaining his good intentions to Jenny and Cliff at the end of the game.
- Despite the fact that Jack is nearly trapped in Wireland forever by Sean, he forgives him immediately. The two then combine into the same person right afterward.
- Easter Egg:
- There are many cameos and references to creative projects made by members of the team themselves.
- The game also boasts seven literal Easter eggs to find.
- Enraged by Idiocy: Flavor text during the The Stanley Parable portion of the game results in a very bad pun and Billy absolutely losing it.
- Exact Time to Failure: Twice:
- In the Five Nights at Freddy's section where you have 20 seconds to find a way out of the security office.
- In the Portal section when the countdown timer gives you two minutes to shut down the self-destruct sequence before your part of the facility explodes.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Many of the soundtrack titles qualify as this (which is why the creators have said to download the soundtrack after playing the game to avoid spoilers).
- Extremely Short Time Span: The events of the game appear to take place in a few hours.
- Fetch Quest: Jack is sent off to find a handful of parts to fix his broken computer in order to get home.
- Foreshadowing: LOTS of this, be it with the Arc Words or the Arc Symbol, and, lest we forget, Jenny mentioning that something feels "off" about Jack.
- From Beyond the Fourth Wall: The "Narrator" of the The Stanley Parable level attempts to guide Jack by giving him and his party hints.
- Gamer Chick: Jenny is clearly a gamer herself in addition to being a Jacksepticeye fan.
- Good Versus Good: Neither Jack nor Sean are the villain, but the finale pits the two of them against each other.
- Great Escape: The entire The Escapists section of the game is this.
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: Alphys explains that many characters do this because they get so much attention from Jack. 207 is a completely blank NPC who actually leaves his own game to hang around Portal and The Stanley Parable out of frustration because Jack almost didn't notice him in his level. But Billy exemplifies this trope, as he develops an entire personality outside of even Jack's opinions thanks to all the attention he received from the community.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: "LOOK! A DECOY!!"
- And the guard fell for it, too!
- Heartbeat Soundtrack: The song that plays while escaping from the mansion in the Layers of Fear section of the game features a heartbeat in the background.
- Hurricane of Puns: In The Stanley Parable, look at all the doors and potted palm trees for an absolute avalanche of increasingly cheesy, door related puns.
- Improv: David Z., the voice of Employee 207, improvised a lot of his lines, especially at the beginning of the section.
- Improvised Weapon: The cup of molten chocolate in the The Escapists section. Definitely counts as a weapon when the characters mention it is way hotter than it should be.
- Inn Between the Worlds: Wireland has several instances of this, usually colorful areas with code floating in the background.
- Interactive Narrator: The "Narrator" of the The Stanley Parable level, later revealed as Employee 207.
- Intercontinuity Crossover: Wireland is full of these, since it's an area where all of the games Jack has ever played mesh together.
- It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: The entire catalyst for the game is Billy. Having sensed Jack feeling conflicted, he decided to create a situation where Jack would be a hero by saving his subscribers, thus giving him a much needed boost in self-esteem and motivation. Unfortunately, the computer read the conflicted Jack as two people instead of one. Even Billy Didn't See That Coming.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Billy is constantly mouthing off to Jack and complaining about the other characters, but he genuinely does care a lot about Jack, Jenny, Cliff, and even Wireland as a whole.
- Karma Houdini Billy kidnaps millions of people to make one guy feel better. He is never punished or called out for this.
- Killed Off for Real: If you die outside your game and you weren't being controlled by a player, you cannot respawn.
- The Leader: Jack. Lampshaded when Jack asks if he's the leader and Cliff reminds him that they're in his computer.
- Literal Split Personality: Jack was feeling so conflicted in reality that when he was uploaded to his computer, he registered as two completely different entities who went separate ways in Wireland.
- Laughing at Your Own Jokes: Cliff does this a few times.
- Lampshade Hanging: Jack marvels that his truly horrible excuse worked on one of the guards in The Escapists.
- Laser Sight: Whatever you do, don't walk into the turrets' lasers in the Portal section!
- Leitmotif:
- Jack's theme can be heard in the apartment and all throughout the end of the game. It also plays multiple times during the credits.
- Billy's theme is played when you first meet him and again at the very end, when you say goodbye to him. It is also audible in the credits when he appears.
- Jenny's theme can be heard when she appears, the [[Layers Of Fear]] section, a short motif during the cut scene when she encourages Jack and Sean, during her farewell, and when she appears in the credits.
- Cliff's theme plays when he's introduced, the Fran Bow section and in reverse during the Mabuka Maze, a short motif during the cut scene when he assures Sean that he does care about both him and Jack both, and during the credits.
- Wireland's theme is heard all over the game and a dark version of the theme is heard when fighting Sean.
- Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, and Sans each have their themes from the original Undertale played during their big moments of the game.
- Made of Iron: All of the protagonists fall a significant distance to arrive in Clustertruck and suffer no injuries whatsoever.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Wireland contains tons of characters from different games. Games even mash with each other to create weird hybrid games while Jack isn't playing.
- Meaningful Echo: "The BOSS is nothing" appears multiple times throughout Wireland and is finally echoed by Sean when he explains what it really means.
- Medium Awareness: Everyone knows that they are game characters. It's even implied that Billy and the Merchants from Jacksepticeye's Paradox know they're currently in a fan game!
- Midair Bobbing: Napstablook, if you're looking carefully.
- Mighty Roar: If you examine the hole in the ground during the The Sims 4 section...
- Mood Whiplash: The developers tried to soften this a bit by putting Billy's emotional farewell before the extremely emotional finale, but it's hard to ignore the fact that the entire game is upbeat and goofy until the finale, when it gets very real very fast.
- Mr. Exposition: Alphys, since she explains the mechanics of Wireland and what they need to fix the computer.
- Murder, Arson, and Jaywalking: Lampshaded. In the The Escapists level, Jack talks with one of the guards to find out why he was arrested. The list includes a number of serious crimes committed in other video games and ends with "wearing socks with sandals," which Jack takes issue with and is immediately called out for.
- No Fourth Wall: The characters in Wireland don't know they're in a fan game, with the exceptions of Billy and the Merchants from Jacksepticeye's Paradox, but they are fully aware that they are game characters.
- Nice Guy: Jenny and Cliff. Jenny in substance rather than name as she is a girl instead of a guy. Played straight with Cliff.
- Non-Standard Game Over: During the battle against Sean, any death here results in the game exiting.
- Not Good with Rejection: Employee 207 was originally an NPC from the tutorial level of Party Hard. Jack nearly doesn't notice him, which ticks him off that he not only leaves his game to become a minion of GLaDOS, but he also torments Jack as revenge.
- Not in Kansas Anymore: After checking his computer and finding the email from SCYOBI, Jack soon discovers that he is trapped inside his computer.
- Nuke 'em: GLaDOS towards the end of the Portal level.
- One-Hit Kill:
- In some puzzles, walking into the walls/barriers will do this. Specifically, the snake barriers of the Mabuka maze, the turrets' laser sights in the Portal maze, and parts of the fight against Sean.
- While not technically a hit or hitting anything, the merchants Red and Blue from the fan game Jacksepticeye's Paradox will not hesitate to immediately drop Jack in the lava should you get a question wrong.
- Off the Rails: The "Narrator" in the The Stanley Parable level if you linger for too long in a room.
- Permadeath: If a game character, acting of their own volition, dies outside their game, that death is final with no respawns. Fortunately, the presence of a player overrides this. It's implied that this is why no death in The BOSS is permanent.
- Pint-Sized Kid: Billy is shown to be about half of Jack's height in the Sans line cut scene, despite the fact that he is nine years old. His size could be because he's playing a child young enough to have to ride on the back of a bike.
- Police Brutality: Coming out of The Sims, the police immediately beat Jack up. You don't see it happen but you can hear Jack's high pitched scream.
- Punny Name:
- Jack's computer is affectionately called "Wireland" by its residents. They even have their own anthem.
- Many of the bookshelves have flavor text with this when the player reads the books' titles.
- Puppy Love: Billy has a somewhat obvious crush on Fran Bow, which two devious individuals are more than happy to divulge.
- Red Herring: All of the "SAVE US" text is in Zalgo font, leading the player to possibly believe that Anti is behind the events of the game when, in actuality, he's nowhere to be found, save in the gallery at the very end of the game. And there, all he does is whine about not being included.
- Reset Button: Despite the world being plunged into chaos due to subscribers being uploaded to Jack's computer, they ultimately end up just fine when Billy returns them.
- Resurrective Immortality: Characters cannot die inside their own game or when controlled by a player. Sans even mentions that the Genocide Route in Undertale has no effect on whether the characters are alive or not.
- The Reveal: Turns out it was Sean who installed the firewall on Jack's computer in an effort to slow him down. This isn't revealed until the end of the game.
- Rule of Three: As Jack needs to find three hydrospersion keys, there are three areas of the game where he and his party must search.
- There are also three different games that are represented in the horror section of the game: Five Nights at Freddy's, Fran Bow, and Layers of Fear.
- Running Gag:
- The painting of Jack inspired by one seen in Manual Samuel.
- The ongoing destruction of Jack's house started by Undyne and Papyrus.
- Sans, his bathroom shop, and... we could've sworn this bathroom wasn't that big...
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Jack, when he's being arrested.
- Shout-Out: So many, we've made another page to contain them all.
- The Smurfette Principle: While Jenny is 50% of the subscribers who partner up with Jack, she ended up being the only female in the party.
- Split-Personality Merge: When Sean finally realizes how much his community cares about him and needs him, he rejoins with Jack to be a complete person again.
- Techno Babble: Alphys tells Jack he needs to find some "hydrospersion keys" in order to break through the firewall that has been put on his computer.
- Thermal Dissonance: The cup of molten chocolate used in the The Escapists section. A mere lighter wouldn't have gotten the chocolate that hot.
- Token Romance: Billy and Fran Bow, though their romance is rarely mentioned.
- Trap Door: Jack falls through one when he tries to take the cake in the Hello Neighbor house.
- Trapped in TV Land: Pretty much the entire game, but replacing the TV with a computer.
- True Companions: Jack and his party of Cliff, Jenny, and Billy grow to be close over the course of the adventure.
- Twist Ending: While the player has been led to believe that Billy was uninvolved in the incident and that some other entity like Anti was pulling the strings, the truth is that Jack has been dealing with the other half of himself, Sean, all because of a well-intentioned mishap on Billy's part.
- Vague Age: Jenny and Cliff's ages are never specified and they could pass for teenagers or early 20s.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Jack and Billy, unusual in fan works considering the fandom's usual portrayal of the latter.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: The whole message of the game.
