I have beaten Undertale three times, once neutrally, once true pacifist, and once genocide.
It could be easy for someone to say that Undertale is overrated. It became insanely popular, and as time has gone on it's sometimes been the cool thing to make fun of for some. A lot of its fans have said or done things to make others cringe, myself included. And whenever something gets popular, it becomes subject to more scrutiny, and oftentimes directed at the wrong areas to try to bring it down. And there are plenty of gaming's best that I haven't had the chance to play or complete yet. But I can confidently say that I'm not afraid to sound like an overenthusiastic fanboy when I say that Undertale is one of the best games I've ever played.
Part of the reason it's so appealing, and part of its success I'd say, is that it is a complete anomaly. A humble little indie release bursting with personality and fresh ideas, both a throwback to older games yet also entirely relevant with its style, that managed to become a mainstream success beyond many AAA titles? Market logic dictates that this shouldn't happen anymore. The big companies have convinced us it's all about multi-platform, multi-million dollar franchises you sell season passes and microtransactions and pre-order bonuses for, and many of them have been trounced by a relatively cheap release by someone who doesn't even know how to code. It's the type of game that shouldn't be this successful, and yet it feels completely relevant and almost necessary to this industry. To show that, while it is the exception more than the rule, a humble passion project coming from someplace genuine can come out and stand alongside the gigantic and heavily marketed big budget releases, sometimes even towering over them. Or at least it will remain as their releases quickly become forgotten or replaced. The Order: 1886 had a lot of people's attention when it was being developed, but how often do people talk about it now?
But moving on to the actual game itself, part of the reason I rank it so highly is that it does pretty much everything right. Granted, if it were released with a bit more of a development team behind it, maybe they could expand on the functionality of the game, but I don't really think the game needs that, and it would take away from the independent passion project charm the game has. Aspects like item limit and travel time don't really bother me in this game because it's not a lengthy experience like Final Fantasy VII. The game knows what its length is and the amount of content it has, and wisely caters the gameplay flow around it. The RPG mechanics don't need to be too complicated because that would defeat the purpose of the game. The game has a nice minimalistic approach that complements what the game is, and allows it to put more focus elsewhere, like on the story and the characters, and the importance of your philosophy on combat, whether to fight or not.
And that's something else great about the game, it's very smart in how to approach decision making. And the gameplay is designed around that very intelligently, and takes many brilliantly self-aware turns. Instead of bland good or bad choices, the gameplay becomes very different when you stray from neutral towards pacifist or genocide. Pacifist will probably make you feel better, but it's frustrating that you never become stronger, and it's tempting to give up. But when you start making friends, and save the day, it's really satisfying, and you get the good ending but you had to work for it to get there. It's not just making the right choice but being able to stick to it despite how frustrating it might be. And then genocide presents something different. Similar to how pacifist turns you into a hero that will persevere despite hardships to do the right thing, genocide turns you into an aggressive monster. Killing everyone becomes a calculated effort, where you try to maximize your rewards to become as strong as possible. You have to turn down offers of mercy and be unwavering in your cruelty. And when you face opposition, though you know they deserve victory more than you do, you need to become better and better until you can crush them. The world is scared and angry at you, changing your outlook on the world of Undertale, making you bitter and distant. Your only goal becomes destroying those in your way and getting through the increasingly barren areas. There is really nothing else to do besides this. Even though pacifist wasn't letting you get an easy victory, the world isn't just going to easily let you be a monster either, so being able to complete genocide requires you to avoid coming back to the light, being only devoted to becoming powerful enough to push back harder than those trying to stop you. The pacifist ending is what I'd call the "true ending" but completing both pacifist and genocide gives you some fascinating perspective, and the truly complete experience of the game.
The art design may seem a bit odd, especially at the beginning, but if you're like me, you'll really get into it. This game looks better to me than many of the high-polygon count yet visually uninspired AAA games that keep getting released. The art direction is creative and inspired, and full of unique style. You can see where inspiration may have come from, but it's also completely its own thing. The soundtrack is phenomenal, one of the best soundtracks to a game I've ever heard. I can remember pretty much every song in the game, and they've all been stuck in my head at some point or another. It's unbelievable how catchy and memorable they are.
While there may have been a joke or two that didn't work for me, they're isolated in a sea of brilliant comedy and gags. The game is designed in such a way that it's aware of what those who like to go off the beaten path and look around will do, and it's very clever in how it responds to that. It loves to play with convention and expectations. Its unique combination of mechanics, most specifically JRPG and bullet hell, work brilliantly. It's a great way to transform typical turn-based combat into something completely fresh and new. It's one of the most brilliant combat systems I've ever seen, and it does plenty to keep injecting new ideas into it. The characters all have great personalities and interesting quirks, and they make you wish you had even more time to spend with them than you get to, though that's a personal desire, not a flaw of the game. It's a sign the game has done its job. Plus, the story is the perfect length. It may seem short in content at first, but it perfectly pads out the length and gives you incentive to play again. Even if you've already gotten the main endings, it throws other small incentives to try to get you to play around more, and the experience is memorable enough that I could easily see players returning to the game in the future to experience it all over again.
For those of you who love it, it isn't news for me to say that Undertale is a brilliant game. And it probably isn't news to many that haven't played it that I, among many, many others, really liked it. But even if it's long been established the game is well-received, I don't think it really diminishes my personal, individual feelings on the game, and how much this game connected with me. If you haven't played it, I recommend doing so as soon as you can. More important than reading about it is experiencing it for yourself and what it has to offer.
It could be easy for someone to say that Undertale is overrated. It became insanely popular, and as time has gone on it's sometimes been the cool thing to make fun of for some. A lot of its fans have said or done things to make others cringe, myself included. And whenever something gets popular, it becomes subject to more scrutiny, and oftentimes directed at the wrong areas to try to bring it down. And there are plenty of gaming's best that I haven't had the chance to play or complete yet. But I can confidently say that I'm not afraid to sound like an overenthusiastic fanboy when I say that Undertale is one of the best games I've ever played.
Part of the reason it's so appealing, and part of its success I'd say, is that it is a complete anomaly. A humble little indie release bursting with personality and fresh ideas, both a throwback to older games yet also entirely relevant with its style, that managed to become a mainstream success beyond many AAA titles? Market logic dictates that this shouldn't happen anymore. The big companies have convinced us it's all about multi-platform, multi-million dollar franchises you sell season passes and microtransactions and pre-order bonuses for, and many of them have been trounced by a relatively cheap release by someone who doesn't even know how to code. It's the type of game that shouldn't be this successful, and yet it feels completely relevant and almost necessary to this industry. To show that, while it is the exception more than the rule, a humble passion project coming from someplace genuine can come out and stand alongside the gigantic and heavily marketed big budget releases, sometimes even towering over them. Or at least it will remain as their releases quickly become forgotten or replaced. The Order: 1886 had a lot of people's attention when it was being developed, but how often do people talk about it now?
But moving on to the actual game itself, part of the reason I rank it so highly is that it does pretty much everything right. Granted, if it were released with a bit more of a development team behind it, maybe they could expand on the functionality of the game, but I don't really think the game needs that, and it would take away from the independent passion project charm the game has. Aspects like item limit and travel time don't really bother me in this game because it's not a lengthy experience like Final Fantasy VII. The game knows what its length is and the amount of content it has, and wisely caters the gameplay flow around it. The RPG mechanics don't need to be too complicated because that would defeat the purpose of the game. The game has a nice minimalistic approach that complements what the game is, and allows it to put more focus elsewhere, like on the story and the characters, and the importance of your philosophy on combat, whether to fight or not.
And that's something else great about the game, it's very smart in how to approach decision making. And the gameplay is designed around that very intelligently, and takes many brilliantly self-aware turns. Instead of bland good or bad choices, the gameplay becomes very different when you stray from neutral towards pacifist or genocide. Pacifist will probably make you feel better, but it's frustrating that you never become stronger, and it's tempting to give up. But when you start making friends, and save the day, it's really satisfying, and you get the good ending but you had to work for it to get there. It's not just making the right choice but being able to stick to it despite how frustrating it might be. And then genocide presents something different. Similar to how pacifist turns you into a hero that will persevere despite hardships to do the right thing, genocide turns you into an aggressive monster. Killing everyone becomes a calculated effort, where you try to maximize your rewards to become as strong as possible. You have to turn down offers of mercy and be unwavering in your cruelty. And when you face opposition, though you know they deserve victory more than you do, you need to become better and better until you can crush them. The world is scared and angry at you, changing your outlook on the world of Undertale, making you bitter and distant. Your only goal becomes destroying those in your way and getting through the increasingly barren areas. There is really nothing else to do besides this. Even though pacifist wasn't letting you get an easy victory, the world isn't just going to easily let you be a monster either, so being able to complete genocide requires you to avoid coming back to the light, being only devoted to becoming powerful enough to push back harder than those trying to stop you. The pacifist ending is what I'd call the "true ending" but completing both pacifist and genocide gives you some fascinating perspective, and the truly complete experience of the game.
The art design may seem a bit odd, especially at the beginning, but if you're like me, you'll really get into it. This game looks better to me than many of the high-polygon count yet visually uninspired AAA games that keep getting released. The art direction is creative and inspired, and full of unique style. You can see where inspiration may have come from, but it's also completely its own thing. The soundtrack is phenomenal, one of the best soundtracks to a game I've ever heard. I can remember pretty much every song in the game, and they've all been stuck in my head at some point or another. It's unbelievable how catchy and memorable they are.
While there may have been a joke or two that didn't work for me, they're isolated in a sea of brilliant comedy and gags. The game is designed in such a way that it's aware of what those who like to go off the beaten path and look around will do, and it's very clever in how it responds to that. It loves to play with convention and expectations. Its unique combination of mechanics, most specifically JRPG and bullet hell, work brilliantly. It's a great way to transform typical turn-based combat into something completely fresh and new. It's one of the most brilliant combat systems I've ever seen, and it does plenty to keep injecting new ideas into it. The characters all have great personalities and interesting quirks, and they make you wish you had even more time to spend with them than you get to, though that's a personal desire, not a flaw of the game. It's a sign the game has done its job. Plus, the story is the perfect length. It may seem short in content at first, but it perfectly pads out the length and gives you incentive to play again. Even if you've already gotten the main endings, it throws other small incentives to try to get you to play around more, and the experience is memorable enough that I could easily see players returning to the game in the future to experience it all over again.
For those of you who love it, it isn't news for me to say that Undertale is a brilliant game. And it probably isn't news to many that haven't played it that I, among many, many others, really liked it. But even if it's long been established the game is well-received, I don't think it really diminishes my personal, individual feelings on the game, and how much this game connected with me. If you haven't played it, I recommend doing so as soon as you can. More important than reading about it is experiencing it for yourself and what it has to offer.