This review contains spoilers
Where it Shines:
Music - 8/10
Quirkyness - 7/10
Humour - 7/10
The Good:
So Undertale is definitely an achievement for such as mall team. The throwback to weird SNES era JRPGs like Earthbound is apparent, as well as all the references to other things.
The humour, world, and music are probably what the game does best. It also has a very interesting cast of characters, though some can get pretty annoying pretty quickly.
The Bad:
Hoo boy. Where to start. I wanted to like this more than I did. But this game is a little too "look at me I'm an indie game" if you catch my drift.
What starts as a deliberate, well paced adventure, quickly becomes a slog in the last couple of hours. Obtuse puzzles, annoying bosses, and a story almost entirely exposition dumped onto you like you're some kind of exposition flushing toilet.
I went pacifist route, and I think that's part of the issue. The pacifist route has become so proliferous in this game that even going in to this knowing almost nothing, I knew I was supposed to do that route to get the good ending. But the weird ass flower battle at the end is such a fucking insane choice, it looks like garbage and plays like garbage.
So then I realized oh, you're supposed to befriend some characters, and I missed Undyne because you'd have to go back and talk to her if you want to befriend her; it's not linear.
This game wants you to play it multiple times. I have no desire to play it multiple times. I don't think the story, the endings, or the gameplay are good enough for that.
It also tried to break the fourth wall a bunch but it's really obvious and not very well integrated into the story. The game really feels like it's 3edgy5me and uses literal rage faces and memes. I don't think that makes it subversive or meta, it just makes it obnoxious, which explains it's fanbase.
This game is overrated as heck.
Summary:
I don't regret playing it, but I would not go out of my way to recommend it to anyone. It has a lot of good things going for it, and I can see some people loving it (clearly many do), but this game is just not as good as people make it out to be. I think something like One Shot does a much better job of being evocative and quirky.
TL;DR - As Peter Griffin would say "It insists upon itself".
Note on my ratings:
Treat my stars like Michelin Stars - just having one means the game is worth playing in some way.
1/2 ⭐: hot trash garbage, since you can't do zero stars here
⭐: below average, needs work
⭐⭐: average
⭐⭐⭐: pretty good
⭐⭐⭐⭐: excellent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: all time favourite
Music - 8/10
Quirkyness - 7/10
Humour - 7/10
The Good:
So Undertale is definitely an achievement for such as mall team. The throwback to weird SNES era JRPGs like Earthbound is apparent, as well as all the references to other things.
The humour, world, and music are probably what the game does best. It also has a very interesting cast of characters, though some can get pretty annoying pretty quickly.
The Bad:
Hoo boy. Where to start. I wanted to like this more than I did. But this game is a little too "look at me I'm an indie game" if you catch my drift.
What starts as a deliberate, well paced adventure, quickly becomes a slog in the last couple of hours. Obtuse puzzles, annoying bosses, and a story almost entirely exposition dumped onto you like you're some kind of exposition flushing toilet.
I went pacifist route, and I think that's part of the issue. The pacifist route has become so proliferous in this game that even going in to this knowing almost nothing, I knew I was supposed to do that route to get the good ending. But the weird ass flower battle at the end is such a fucking insane choice, it looks like garbage and plays like garbage.
So then I realized oh, you're supposed to befriend some characters, and I missed Undyne because you'd have to go back and talk to her if you want to befriend her; it's not linear.
This game wants you to play it multiple times. I have no desire to play it multiple times. I don't think the story, the endings, or the gameplay are good enough for that.
It also tried to break the fourth wall a bunch but it's really obvious and not very well integrated into the story. The game really feels like it's 3edgy5me and uses literal rage faces and memes. I don't think that makes it subversive or meta, it just makes it obnoxious, which explains it's fanbase.
This game is overrated as heck.
Summary:
I don't regret playing it, but I would not go out of my way to recommend it to anyone. It has a lot of good things going for it, and I can see some people loving it (clearly many do), but this game is just not as good as people make it out to be. I think something like One Shot does a much better job of being evocative and quirky.
TL;DR - As Peter Griffin would say "It insists upon itself".
Note on my ratings:
Treat my stars like Michelin Stars - just having one means the game is worth playing in some way.
1/2 ⭐: hot trash garbage, since you can't do zero stars here
⭐: below average, needs work
⭐⭐: average
⭐⭐⭐: pretty good
⭐⭐⭐⭐: excellent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: all time favourite