UNDERTALE: transforming gameplay as we know it

Don’t judge it by its graphics, its one of the best RPGs around.

A review by Write Owl

I’ve never thought of myself as being someone who would feel so emotionally attached and driven by a bunch of pixels on a computer screen, but here we are now.

The 2015 RPG computer game Undertale is the most detailed pixeled game I’ve ever come across and it was made by just one guy, Toby Fox.

It’s story dives into a range of different routes and forces you to become more concerned for your decisions. It’s almost upsetting that I took so long to experience it for myself.

Depending on which route you decide to take, whether it be Genocide, Pacifist or Neutral you can decide whether you want to massacre every monster or be the Undergrounds saviour.

Each play through has major differences from the last, some may need you to hack the coding of the game itself in order to experience hidden treasures within the game’s files. Often missed by the average player but is a major significance to the story.

Within the games you play as a child in a stripy jumper who has fallen into the underground where all the monsters reside. It never explains where you come from or how you got there, but instead throws into this upside-down world with no set narrative.

The first monster you meet is a yellow talking flower, he explains that the common acronym ‘LV’ that is usually used in games to symbolise your Level, actually stands for ‘LOVE’ i.e. ‘Level Of Violence.’

This number will only increase if you decide to kill any monsters you come across. Even if you do so by mistake, like the majority of players who play the game for the first time.

The game bombards you with multiple puzzles, story lines and decisions. Heck you can even date a skeleton if you wan to! The list is endless.

For every time you die within the game it will affect your relationship with the monsters in the underground. Some having distant memorise of how you died, some knowing the exact number of times you’ve died and others who are able to understand when you have reset the game completely.

It doesn’t follow the usually rules of a regular RPG. So, for all you usually RPG players you’ll need to head back to the drawing board with this one, because I guarantee you’ve never played a game like Undertale before.

The fallen child has been confirmed by Toby to not have a specified gender, which leaves the Undertale fans with the freedom to recreate them in any sex they’d prefer. Often causing heated debates at times.

The games love is globalised, and many fans have created Alternate Universes (AU), often with their own original characters and stories, in order to keep experiencing the world of Undertale.

This game has given me one of the best gaming experiences I have ever come across, not to mention the soundtrack that I play every day on a loop. Which is no surprise considering Toby Fox is also an amazing composer known for his music within the webcomic Homestruck by Andrew Hussie.

Undertale left me constantly on the edge of my seat, trying my hardest not to harm any of the characters I come across, not to mention getting a deep dive into the background of the story. Until it was time for me to reset and give the genocide route a try.

I wish I could explain how much of a significance the genocide route has on the story and on your gameplay, but you’ll have to experience that on your own. This is definitely not the type of game for those who want to play it by the rules, because you’d miss way too much.

To top it all of I needed to hack into the games files in order to come into contact with a character, that is only ever mentioned once by one other monster who acts as your means of transport throughout the game.

Undertale has been awarded various awards such as being nominated for the Innovation Award, Best Debut, Best Narrative at the Game Developers Choice Awards, and much more. It has sold over one million copies since its release, as well as several gaming publications and conventions listing Undertale as game of the year.

It can be purchased on Steam for as little as £6.99 for pc, £11.99 for PlayStation and £9.99 for Xbox on the Microsoft store.

I know that I’m a few years late to the amazing game that is Undertale, but I’m grateful I was able to experience it, nonetheless.