An In-Depth Look At I Was A Teenage Exocolonist's Trigger Warnings

I Was A Teenage Exocolonist is a massive title, but not even it's 29 different endings are nearly as daunting as the game's trigger warning section. This little tidbit of information is left out of the store page (likely to avoid spoilers, as many of these are closely intertwined with narrative elements), but it can feel very frustrating to see 11 different trigger warning categories that you aren't privy to. As such, we felt it was important to depict these in an article to help you better gauge — with as few spoilers as possible — whether this game's trigger warnings are too much. Without further ado, let's start with the trigger warnings by list.

 

NOTE: I have not experienced every ending, and as such, some of my descriptions might not be as in-depth as I'd like them to be.

 

Major Character Death

 

I Was A Teenage Exocolonist is a ruthless title that will throw major character deaths your way like candy; this means that it's people you are interacting with closely and have grown fond of. Many of these deaths are technically avoidable (put a very flimsy and uncertain tone to "technically" for significant impact). You realistically will fail to save most characters on your first playthrough, some are straight-up impossible to save until you know more about the game, and others can never be saved.

 

This means that you will experience various funerals and character deaths with grief involved. Thankfully, although the grief can be hard-hitting at times, it wasn't as bad as I initially expected it to be, but tread with caution.

 

Mild Spoiler Territory

 

This is the nature of I Was A Teenage Exocolonist, as there are various character deaths throughout the game. There are depictions of child grief, graphic descriptions of some character deaths, and even the capability to witness some deaths first-hand. Although there isn't graphic imagery, and the depictions aren't as bad as they could be, it can still be pretty intense in several areas of the game — death is an omnipresent being in Vertumna.

 

Children In Peril/Dying

 

Much like the above, you will take control of a young 10-year-old child that explores a dangerous alien planet, and you will be helpless in many areas. Additionally, several scenes imply danger is tormenting children and there are even depictions of child death among civilian casualties.

 

Mild Spoiler Territory

 

Child death is inevitable in your first playthrough, and even in subsequent playthroughs, depictions of child death and danger will occur, but once you have passed the first death, it will be significantly less present than the first experience you'll have with it.

 

Animal Cruelty and Death

 

Vertumna is home to many dangerous species of creatures, including the fearsome manticore. These creatures are repeatedly depicted in suffering or dying in later years of your playthrough and more so in runs where you will explore Vertumna on expeditions or hunts. Going on hunts and following a soldier route for your colony will lead to many animal cruelty and death depictions — this is also one of the most important routes, as Physical skills and attributes can oftentimes be imperative for special endings.

 

Mild Spoiler Territory

 

During various situations in the game, you will be hunting animals or be hunted by animals. These will also be used to train soldiers and can be depicted hurting, chained, and dying. There are no images and barely any graphic depictions, but there are mentions of the cruelty occurring.

 

Likely the worst two situations in the game that involve this are the xenofauna events in Vertumnalia, oftentimes depicting animals that were starved or captured for the entertainment of an audience or the soldier training random event where you will have to inspect a chained and extremely hurt manticore to learn its weaknesses.

 

In expeditions, you are often tasked with fending against Vertumna’s xenofauna, also oftentimes involving passive and herbivore creatures.

 

Bodily Harm and Grossness

 

Combat sequences can lead to your character getting hurt, digested, ripped apart, and other events that can be disturbing for audiences. This isn't overly present in successful soldier routes, but I cannot say the same for losing routes (I have not experienced that yet — I will update the article once I do).

 

Additionally, several depictions of some of the xenofauna can be disturbing and gross for audiences, including disgusting descriptions of their overall physique. Nothing too explicit and graphic, but it's still worth mentioning.

 

Implied Sexual Content

 

You can romance various characters in I Was A Teenage Exocolonist, and when hanging out with them, you will have several implied sexual scenes with them, none of which become explicit and instead fade to black.

 

Mild Spoiler Territory

 

Sexual implications occur after the age of 16 and are all consensual, though there is one intimate scene that can avoid conflict, which can be seen as duress.

 

You may also convince a romanceable character to cheat on their partner with you.

 

One of the underage characters can enter a relationship with a being that is thousands of years old but has really only been in its physical form for the duration of the game at that time (maximum 10 years by the end of the game). This is entirely avoidable if you do not witness the events that lead to it.

 

Drugs and Alcohol

 

There are some hallucinogen items in the game and several alcohol depictions, including a barista job that your character can take to serve others alcohol. Your character may be offered substances, but accepting them is entirely optional.

 

Violence In Text

 

I Was A Teenage Exocolonist is abundant with violence in text. With a large number of deaths, several aggressive scenes between underage colonists, acts of terrorism that can lead to mass casualties, physical aggression, character death, and public displays of power.

 

This is very abundant in the game at varying levels of intensity. There are no graphic images to see, so the only violence is strictly text-based.

 

Mild Spoiler Territory

 

Teenage colonists can get in fistfights and attack each other, and your character can be harmed, but aside from character deaths, none of the depictions were extremely gory (as far as I've gotten to see). 

 

Mental Health and Trauma

 

There are various depictions of in-game mental health declining, including several instances of PTSD, survivor's guilt, and even depression. As far as I've seen, no scenes have explicitly mentioned self-harm.

 

Mild Spoiler Territory

 

Your character can be institutionalised and forced to take medicine to cure them if you mention your dreams too many times to other characters.

 

You can also learn while working on some jobs (nurse or barista) that one of the characters' mother took her own life due to suffering from depression.

 

Domestic Abuse

 

Two of the romanceable characters in the game will get into a relationship after you turn 17, after which you will learn that the male character engages in verbal abuse consistently, and physical abuse is also implied. These relationships can be broken off, but if you choose to not break them up, you will learn more about the unfolding of the relationship in the epilogue.

 

This is entirely avoidable if you limit interaction once you learn about the couple.

 

Traumatic Global Events

 

Various depictions of traumatic global events occur throughout I Was A Teenage Exocolonist, including topics of colonialism, genocide, pandemics, famine, terrorism, and climate change.

The characters will talk about the happenings of Earth once the colonists have left the planet and the state of unrest it was left in. The player character may also learn about various cult-like indoctrination that the colony has partaken in.

 

There are events of terrorism which can be avoided but are heavily unlikely.

 

Mild Spoiler Territory

 

You can partake in some of the aforementioned terrorist activities or witness them second-hand.

There are fascist characters that you'll meet and interact with.

 

There are explicit events of both famine and plague, both of which can lead to many deaths, including major character deaths.

 

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That's it for all of the content warnings that I Was A Teenage Exocolonist has! If you are unsure about whether you want to experience these first-hand, I'd recommend watching online videos to better familiarise yourself with some of the themes present in the game — namely after the age of 17.