My relationship with Undertale is kind of weird. For those of you who don’t know or have been sleeping under a rock for the last few years, Undertale is an RPG Maker game made by indie dev Toby Fox. He’s a great guy. He’s optimistic, has passion for his work, and enjoys expressing whatever crazy thoughts are going on in his mind through said work. Toby Fox has been working on video games for quite awhile now. Way before Undertale even came into existence. He loved making ROM hacks for Earthbound, gained interest in coding by reading a Wikipedia article, and is responsible for making some soundtracks for a webcomic series known as Homestuck. We are not gonna talk about it. Toby Fox loves video games and one day he decided to make one of his own. He combined all the knowledge he gained over the years, and put it into what was his ultimate dream project. He started a Kickstarter campaign and within a few weeks it managed to meet its goals. In fact, the Kickstarter exceeded its goals and Toby Fox was easily able to make his game. He did get help from others like Temmie Chang, who served as the lead artist. Still, it was very much him by himself cranking away at what would become one of the best indies ever. That game was Undertale and man did it take the world by storm. What do I even say? Do I really even need to?
If it’s one word I can easily use to describe Undertale it would be “memorable.” The writing, the humor, characters, moments, and how it manages to do so much within such a short runtime. It’s outstanding that a solo indie developer managed to make a game like Undertale, and it managed to do something a lot of video games struggle in. Make the player feel something. Whether that be through the heartwarming cast or feel bad by doing what many games condition players to do without realizing what’s wrong, kill. Undertale much like games like Spec Ops: The Line was a critique of the video game medium. It pointed out the realities of the situation and taught many players there was always an alternate solution out of a problem. No matter who you meet and what problems they face you can discover a conclusion where both sides stand equal. It inspired many people and I had friends who were emotionally touched by the game. Undertale is special, but with all special things in the world there comes people who’ll ruin it. I don’t want to get into too much detail, but Super Eyepatch Wolf’s video perfectly covers the issues. How the internet took such a humble game, twisted and contorted it, and painted a bad image. A toxic image that creates two divisions. On one hand you have a group of fans who think the game doesn’t deserve to be criticized for the message Undertale has to say. On the other hand you have people who think the game is overrated. That there are plenty of games out there that do what Undertale does better or have more meaningful things to say. I was one of those individuals.
I knew a lot about Undertale growing up. One of my close friends talked to me about it during middle school. I watched a relative play a bit of the game, and watched a playthrough online so I could see the whole story. I mainly had Nintendo consoles growing up and didn’t know much about PC gaming. I thought Undertale was extraordinary from what I’ve seen, but eventually I grew up and with it came more exposure to video games. For the past few years you’ve seen me cover dozens of games and with it my love for video games grew. I discovered new favorites and my tastes began to change. My concepts of reality changed with them, and slowly I began to ask myself a question. Is Undertale overrated? That very question. Titles like Fallout: New Vegas, Bloodborne, and so on changed how I saw the world. That sometimes there really is no choice. That sometimes doing what is best may mean harming others. Growing up you face many harsh realities of the real world and you outgrow beliefs you had as a child. One of those for being you should always be kind to others. “What if they’re an absolute asshole?” is what I wondered and quickly my beliefs changed. I saw Undertale is overrated and promised to never touch it.
As of the time of writing I am currently in my second year of college. Finished the first semester of my second year and boy was it stressful. Things aren’t going the way I need them to, I’m stressed out, and deeply disappointed in myself. Been trying to cheer myself up for the last few days and one thought that came to mind was possibly playing a game designed to cheer many individuals up. Lift them out of the gutter no matter what they are facing. I didn’t want to break that promise to myself, but then I said, “F*ck it. Why not?” Bought Undertale during a Steam sale, played it recently, and it felt magical. Like I know a ton of people are going to say this about the game, but that’s how I honestly felt. Not only was Undertale a reminder of my innocent youth, but it helped me confront some thoughts I was having. It didn’t make me cry or change me in the way Hades or Hollow Knight did, but during those moments I felt something special. Today we’re talking about Undertale and why it deserves your attention.
Story
Hundreds of years ago humans and monsters lived peacefully together. The humans lived on the surface and the monsters lived underground, but one day war broke out between the two species. The monsters were losing and forced to flee, and the humans took this as an opportunity to seal them away for good. Using their knowledge of magic the humans casted a magic barrier on the entrance of the underground. Only humans can walk through the barrier and any monster who’d try to cross would be pushed back. Monsters are immortal. They can maintain their memories no matter how much time passes, but they can’t age and can only die if fatally wounded. The barrier was basically a curse as the monsters would be forced to live underground for eternity. Several years have passed and what seemed like a legend transformed into a myth. Anyone who travels to Mount Ebott will find the entrance to the underground, but it is said no one who has journeyed there returned. You are one of these poor saps. You journey to Mount Ebott to see what is up and you fall into the depths below.
The fall should’ve killed you, but a flower bed managed to prevent the impact. You start walking along a path hoping it would lead you out, but run into a talking flower named Flowey. He seems nice at first, but quickly turns on you. Flowey is actually evil and states everyone in the world deserves to die. Before he can murder you a magical flame appears out of nowhere and you are then saved by Toriel. Guardian of the Ruins, the place where you are trapped. She then leads you to her home where she hopes to take care of you. It’s quite a perilous journey from where you are currently, and she says there’s some dangerous things out there. Monsters haven’t forgiven the humans no matter how much time has passed, and they most likely want to kill you upon being spotted. However, being the determined bastard you are, you decide to venture onward. Fighting Toriel, dealing with her in any way you want, and proving yourself capable enough of surviving the underground. She lets you go and from there your journey truly begins. Good luck. Let's hope you'll make some friends along the way.
Gameplay
Undertale is an RPG Maker game that takes a ton of inspiration from titles like Earthbound and the Mario & Luigi series if you know what those games are. If you want better comparisons then look at RPG Maker games like Omori or OFF. In Undertale you explore, fight monsters, and try to get closer to the surface. Occasionally you’ll run into some environmental puzzles and they’ll stand as a barrier between you and progression. They shouldn’t take too long and the mechanics are made pretty clear to the player. Whether that’s pressing the right button, lining up blocks so you can land a clear shot, activating light sources to see an invisible path, or the game deciding to automatically solve it for you. You can pick up some good loot during your journey like food items to refill health or equipment to boost your stats by a small number. What you’ll mainly be doing though is fighting and there’s quite a few things you can do during combat. You have up to four options when it comes to facing monsters. Fight, act, item, and mercy. Fight is explanatory. You choose an enemy and deal some damage to it. A meter appears where you have time your button presses correctly, and the better you time them the more damage you’ll deal.
When it’s the enemies turn you must dodge their attacks. A screen appears with a red heart and that heart represents you. Dozens of projectiles will fly around and it’s your job to avoid them. GEtting hit by one will deal damage to you, and if your health bar runs out it’s game over. You can technically win a fight without taking damage, but that’s if you are good at dodging attacks. It’s good that my experience with Furi and Nier: Automata made me good at bullet hell games. Your second option is to act. You have the choice to spare some if not all the monsters you run into. Say the right things or do something they favor and they won’t see you as a threat. They’ll lower their defenses and allow you to spare them. That’s where the mercy button comes into play as you spare them. You can also flee if a fight is proving to be too hard. Item allows you to use stuff in your inventory, so no comments there. Occasionally you’ll run into a boss and they are what stand between you and progression. They have multiple attacks and some will even change the mechanics of the fight. Your heart changes color and from there you must take on new rules. Whether that’s your heart being pulled down by gravity so now you must jump around attacks, you must block incoming projectiles, navigate along some strings, or blast away incoming shots. If you decide to kill monsters you gain experience points. These points will increase your max health and other stats. Good for later game areas. If you decide to spare you just get gold, but none of the experience points you’d normally gain. So if you are planning to do a pacifist route like I did you’ll want to play every battle almost flawlessly. For a game that’s really simple there are lots of choices, and you’ll have to decide carefully. Hopefully you can ascend to the light shining above the eternal darkness.
Thoughts
It has been eight years since Undertale originally came out and thankfully it has stood against the test of time. It is a magical experience everyone owes themselves to play at least once and if you feel discouraged because the fans are getting on your nerves or some other elements don’t fret. That’s why I’ve avoided this game for quite a long time, but I don’t think fans should determine your enjoyment. Just try to ignore them and enjoy the game at your own pace and leisure. I mean Souls fans can get pretty annoying at times, but personally I block out the obnoxious ones and try to surround myself with those who actually respect the franchise. My sibling came up with this phrase, “Curate your own experience,” and that’s what you should do too. How does this have to deal with the actual game and criticizing it? I don’t know. To be honest with you I don’t exactly know how to criticize this game because I can’t really think of any major problems with it. The runtime should be around five hours to seven if you decide to do a pacifist route like me. During those seven hours I noticed a lot of appreciable details about Undertale. The first being the text and dialogue. It’s easy to read and follow along with. No character speaks longer than they really should and I think it’s due to how brief conversations are that I ended up liking the characters more. They’re fun, witty, and seem to be cracking a lovable joke every few seconds. This helps keep the player’s attention and transform a narrative game into an engaging one.
Another thing about Undertale is that despite a short runtime, being a couple hours underneath the average shooter campaign, it seems to be doing the most it can during that time. Whether that be cracking several jokes, shoving in fun puzzles, minigames, side conversations, or straight up pulling out something random like sending you on a date with a skeleton. Reason why Undertale is able to switch up its gameplay and scenarios so often has to do with its character. This game has a wide cast of characters, and even minor enemies can offer something memorable. You can win a fight against a dog monster if you decide to treat it like an adorable dog. Sing along with a siren and cheer her sorrows away. Main characters like Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, and so on are likable not because of their silly designs but because of their personalities. Those moments you spend with them help you get to know them better and through that the player is able to connect to what are pixels on a screen. The game has heart, souls, and empathy and you’ll feel absolutely heartbroken when the game finally wraps up. Undertale has what is probably one of the most satisfying endings to a video game. It’s not one of my favorites, but it’s a rewarding ending to how much time and effort you put into a game. The best video game endings are the ones that reward you for sticking around even if you put thirty plus hours into it.
The soundtrack is great. It’s not one of my favorites either, but Toby Fox certainly knows when to set the mood to a scene. Whether that’s energizing you for a frenetic battle, calming you down during a character monologue, or when you step into areas that serve as safe zones. The combat system is great in how you can go through battles without taking damage if you are good at the bullet hell element. I’m personally not very good when it comes to bullet hell games. The only ones I’ve ever beaten are Furi, Cuphead, and Nier: Automata and those aren’t really bullet hells. There were a couple of boss fights that pulled my strings in Undertale mainly because of the mechanics they utilize and working around them. None of them I would say are too difficult or were unfair. Eventually I would pull through and survive enough attacks to move on. If anything, fights against normal enemies feel more like puzzles than fights. How you have to do or say the right thing to end fights quickly. The game is stupendous. It’s not perfect. I think we can admit that the pixel work isn’t the best, but again this is coming from a solo dev and one leading artist. In some ways I like the simplicity of its art direction, because it makes everything memorable.
The writing and morality is great, but I wouldn’t say it’s the best form of moral choice in a video game. Some people may not like how the game constantly insults you for doing a bad thing. Some may not like how it’s just kill or spare, when in reality scenarios can take on different forms like how Fallout: New Vegas does it. Some players, including myself, think railroading players to do specific actions are needed for the story to work like Spec Ops: The Line and more recently Ghost of Tsushima. However, I do feel like these statements are a bit unfair especially with how small of a game Undertale does. It does what it aims to do well, and for that I respect it for. I don’t like how Undertale is used as the pinnacle of indie games, but in some ways without it the indie scene probably wouldn’t have blown up. People wouldn’t have looked to indie devs as a source for artistic expression and inspiration, and we probably would have stuck to mainline Triple A titles. Undertale is a game I think anyone, no matter what their tastes are, can enjoy. I’m not gonna beg people to play it, but I will say it may be worth checking out at some point. This game is a masterpiece. In the end I am going to give Undertale a 10/10 for being incredible.
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