This review contains spoilers
I highly RECOMMEND reading this review after you've beaten at least one run, or probably worth two different runs (or even all, there's so much to play), because this game has SO MUCH to offer.
GO PLAY IT.
NOW.
Or well... if you say so, you can just read this review...
...but you might know what you don't want to know! Hahahahahahaha!
Ok, here it goes.
( Feeling inspired to read this review gives you determination. )
One of the most wonderful indie games ever done that surprisingly manages to go beyond the RPG genre and make it a meta.
And it is made by a music composer who started learning GameMaker after learning about arrays.
Seriously.
The game started out as "UnderBound 2", sequel to a non-existing game of the same title and was originally introduced in the Starmen.net forums (a popular EarthBound fanbase forums, also a home to the famous Mother 3 fantranslation), although nowadays its original thread has been deleted by Toby Fox after the huge (unexpected) success.
It is meant to be a tribute to the JRPG game genre as a whole and features an incredibly crafted story and gameplay that deconstructs it. You're introduced to a quite atypical JRPG world where humans and monsters have fought against themselves, only for the humans to have won the war and seal the monsters inside the underground. The very first minutes of the game seem quite innocent, but then as you work through your first run, you may don't realize quite soon that you're missing something, that the world you've been exploring and diving into may not seem as bad than you'd think.
As you move through, you can partake the usual JRPG grindfest or basically engage with friendly actions towards monsters you encounter in your path. But the battle system is where the actual fun begins. You don't basically just press a button and smash the enemy, but when the enemy attacks you, you are presented with a bullet hell dodging pattern where your SOUL (a heart shaped hitbox) has to dodge white shaped projectiles on a white cornered box. Sometimes certain battle encounters go beyond their scope. Whenever the game puts judgement on you depends on your actions as there are quite a number of different endings you can achieve. The main ones are 3, the Neutral, Pacifist and Genocide routes, which alter significantly the whole game and provide a different experience.
And it brutally works.
We talk about how the final bosses have their own story to tell, such as Asgore and how he intends to break the barrier by taking your SOUL, only for Flowey to come and ruin the scene and get you to fight him as he transforms into a mess of photomashed parts that completely breaks the limits of the game's overall art style (after all, i'd consider Undertale an 'art' game because of this and the fact that art and sound styles tend to clash each other, but done in a well intented manner).
Then...
[SPOILERS FOR GENOCIDE RUN BELOW]
[ YEAH ]
[ * I WARNED YOU ]
Then there's a particular skeleton who goes against you, for being a maniac killer who has nearly killed the whole underground. And the boss fight is the most hardest of all the game, intended to push the player at a difficulty curve and urging you to "give up". The game basically mocks you, but let me tell you what, if you're a player who is well intent on trial-and-error gameplay, the final boss of the Genocide Route may be quite good stuff for you and unironically IS THE BEST BOSS FIGHTS OF THE GAME after Flowey.
( Papyrus: HOWDY THERE, HUMAN! IF YOU'VE READ THIS REVIEW HERE WITHOUT CONSIDERING TO PLAY UNDERTALE, HAVE YOU THOUGHT THAT IT WAS QUITE A SHAME FOR YOU TO HAVE ANTICIPATED DETAILS OF WHAT IS TO COME? NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH! )
( sans: eh, too bad... because the game's quite good. is it 29,99 dollars? no, it's just affordable at a good price. really good price, i say. could it be 19,99 dollars? no. let's make it 9,99 dollars, at least. )
( Papyrus: BUT WHY NOT MAKE IT 1,99? )
( sans: uhh... we don't want it to feel like a barebones game. )
( sans: make sure to not become a cluster of trouble for us, okay? )
( sans: or i shall break your clock. )
GO PLAY IT.
NOW.
Or well... if you say so, you can just read this review...
...but you might know what you don't want to know! Hahahahahahaha!
Ok, here it goes.
( Feeling inspired to read this review gives you determination. )
One of the most wonderful indie games ever done that surprisingly manages to go beyond the RPG genre and make it a meta.
And it is made by a music composer who started learning GameMaker after learning about arrays.
Seriously.
The game started out as "UnderBound 2", sequel to a non-existing game of the same title and was originally introduced in the Starmen.net forums (a popular EarthBound fanbase forums, also a home to the famous Mother 3 fantranslation), although nowadays its original thread has been deleted by Toby Fox after the huge (unexpected) success.
It is meant to be a tribute to the JRPG game genre as a whole and features an incredibly crafted story and gameplay that deconstructs it. You're introduced to a quite atypical JRPG world where humans and monsters have fought against themselves, only for the humans to have won the war and seal the monsters inside the underground. The very first minutes of the game seem quite innocent, but then as you work through your first run, you may don't realize quite soon that you're missing something, that the world you've been exploring and diving into may not seem as bad than you'd think.
As you move through, you can partake the usual JRPG grindfest or basically engage with friendly actions towards monsters you encounter in your path. But the battle system is where the actual fun begins. You don't basically just press a button and smash the enemy, but when the enemy attacks you, you are presented with a bullet hell dodging pattern where your SOUL (a heart shaped hitbox) has to dodge white shaped projectiles on a white cornered box. Sometimes certain battle encounters go beyond their scope. Whenever the game puts judgement on you depends on your actions as there are quite a number of different endings you can achieve. The main ones are 3, the Neutral, Pacifist and Genocide routes, which alter significantly the whole game and provide a different experience.
And it brutally works.
We talk about how the final bosses have their own story to tell, such as Asgore and how he intends to break the barrier by taking your SOUL, only for Flowey to come and ruin the scene and get you to fight him as he transforms into a mess of photomashed parts that completely breaks the limits of the game's overall art style (after all, i'd consider Undertale an 'art' game because of this and the fact that art and sound styles tend to clash each other, but done in a well intented manner).
Then...
[SPOILERS FOR GENOCIDE RUN BELOW]
[ YEAH ]
[ * I WARNED YOU ]
Then there's a particular skeleton who goes against you, for being a maniac killer who has nearly killed the whole underground. And the boss fight is the most hardest of all the game, intended to push the player at a difficulty curve and urging you to "give up". The game basically mocks you, but let me tell you what, if you're a player who is well intent on trial-and-error gameplay, the final boss of the Genocide Route may be quite good stuff for you and unironically IS THE BEST BOSS FIGHTS OF THE GAME after Flowey.
( Papyrus: HOWDY THERE, HUMAN! IF YOU'VE READ THIS REVIEW HERE WITHOUT CONSIDERING TO PLAY UNDERTALE, HAVE YOU THOUGHT THAT IT WAS QUITE A SHAME FOR YOU TO HAVE ANTICIPATED DETAILS OF WHAT IS TO COME? NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH! )
( sans: eh, too bad... because the game's quite good. is it 29,99 dollars? no, it's just affordable at a good price. really good price, i say. could it be 19,99 dollars? no. let's make it 9,99 dollars, at least. )
( Papyrus: BUT WHY NOT MAKE IT 1,99? )
( sans: uhh... we don't want it to feel like a barebones game. )
( sans: make sure to not become a cluster of trouble for us, okay? )
( sans: or i shall break your clock. )