Oops, I meant to rate and review this earlier but I wanted to watch the bonus boss and the secret route first because I’m either bad at video games or too much of a weenie to be mean to fictional characters respectively. Also it feels like everything that can be said about this game has been, pretty much, but it probably actually hasn’t, since I tried to avoid the spoiler reviews.

Anyway, Toby Fox remains funny as heck. I found myself snort giggling pretty much constantly throughout the playthrough, and it’s great that the comedy is balanced by some unsettling stuff lurking under the surface. It’s more present in the secret route, of course, which almost feels like a creepypasta at times, but even in the more lighthearted standard route, there’s a lot… off. Dysfunctional family dynamics, familiar characters used in new ways… the protagonist themselves is a mystery in their own right, even. And of course there’s Spamton, whatever the fuck is going on with him!

Speaking of, god, I can’t believe there’s a weird little freak in this game who’s somehow weirdly tragic, unsettling, and hilarious with a banger theme song who’s based on spam email. What the heck.

Anyway, the gameplay’s really creative and interesting! It’s pretty cool to see the fundamentals established in Undertale expanded upon in new ways. I kind of hope to see the party system tweaked a little bit more in each chapter, because it’s fun to see it evolve and give you access to more strategies and options for how you play the game. I’m admittedly pretty bad at dodging the bullets and grazing, but I appreciate it for being different! I’m excited to see where this game goes in its next installments, no matter how long it takes. No matter what happens the soundtrack will be great. Even if everything else was actually bad instead of good, I would feel compelled to give this four stars for the inclusion of a sound test at the end of the game.