Undertale: heartwarming snack – Inside.Gamer
Written by Luck Wilson on November 5, 2022
Gather all your insider knowledge about RPGs and throw it out of the nearest window with a smooth arc. We’re going to talk about Undertale, the instant cult classic from 2015 in which even the biggest villain has a small heart.
On Steam, the players are overwhelmingly positive (96 percent), from the press Undertale for the Switch gets a 93 on both Metacritic and OpenCritic. Did you miss it at the time? No problem: the less you know, the more you like Undertale.
I will try hard not to give spoilers in this article. What I can tell you: by definition everyone has their own memory of the Undertale, and that is exactly its strength. I’ll tell you how it is.
It’s Throwback Thursday again, welcome back!
Story underground
Undertale is set in the aftermath of a bloody war between monsters and humans. It’s the year 201X, a nod to Earthbound, set in 199X. When the humans win the war, they banish all monsters to the Underground. There they work on their return and all they need is one extra human soul.
CUT TO: There’s a kid lying on a bed of leaves, it’s the protagonist – so you. You just fell into a hole during a mountain hike on Mount Ebott, right through the barrier that separates the human world from the monster world.
As it turns out: the first monster – Toriel (sounds like: tutorial) – is really nice and helps you on your way. What you don’t know yet is that she is the ex of Asgore: ruler of the underground world.
Why did you end up here, and how do you get out? Undertale has begun.
Welcome to bullet hell
Both the story and gameplay in Undertale revolve around mercy, or ‘mercy’. You can kill any monster that comes your way, but you can also convince them to stop fighting or save them right before you deliver the final blow.
The battles are not classic turn-based battles like in Pokémon, but mainly revolve around bullet hell mini-games that are always different. Attacking enemies is relatively easy, but dodging them – that’s the art, and the fun.
Depending on the decisions you make in battles and conversations, the game’s conclusions are completely different. But also really, totally! That’s why I’ve decided not to say anything more about the content of the story, because I definitely don’t want to give spoilers.
Undertale has to be played openly, without too much foreknowledge and without prejudice.
Catfishing and evil intent
While playing, I suddenly think of Catfish, the TV show in which contestants want to find out whether their digital lat relationship is real or whether they are being framed. Often the latter: the person on the other end of the line turns out to be someone else, it was all a dream.
Reason for the viewer to immediately assume malicious intent: what a bad guy, he has to pay! In almost all cases, however, the reason for the deception turns out to be entirely human. The moral of almost every episode: Even the most monstrous catfish has a small heart.
With Undertale I feel the same emotion as with Catfish: compassion for the bad guy. By giving you a glimpse into the realm of enemies, the game makes it morally difficult for you to simply waltz to the finish line, slashing and slashing. Something you do without thinking twice in almost any conventional RPG: good is good and evil is evil.
Heartwarming solo project
Like games like Stardew Valley and Tunic, Undertale is largely a solo project. The seed money was raised by creator Toby Fox via Kickstarter. The target amount was $5,000, but was well exceeded with a good $50,000 on the counter.
Fox was inspired by the Mother games, in the sense that it has the same humor and heartwarming vibe. In one of his scarce video interviews, he quotes a quote from Earthbound creator Shigesato Itoi: “I just add funny and silly sentences so that one line is heartbreaking.”
The music supports that vibe perfectly. It is therefore entirely right that a full Japanese orchestra has performed the complete Undertale soundtrack in honor of the game’s five-year anniversary.
Snack
A playthrough in Undertale only takes 6 to 10 hours, depending on the choices you make. This makes it very different from the average rpg, and I dare to call it a snack.
The game does invite you to play it through several times, purely out of curiosity for the other scenarios. Mind you, choices from a previous playthrough can affect your future adventure: Undertale remembers.
Conclusion
Undertale plays with your emotions, because you have to make moral decisions yourself. Every choice you make affects the outcome of the game, which is not the case in the Mother games.
The game has become a cult classic over the past seven years. Why? Because it really makes you feel something. You don’t just experience the story of a fully written main character. Undertale regularly addresses you, the gamer behind the screen, personally about your choices. Something also known as metafiction.
That gives an intimate feeling. Moreover, the fact that it is designed in pixel art style offers a lot of space to project your own imagination onto the game. No wonder there is a huge fan art community.
Everything I say about the gamer now is a spoiler. Go into it with an open mind and don’t think too much about your choices, follow your gut feeling. Only then will you experience the Undertale magic.
PS: if you want more after Undertale? The first two chapters of successor Deltarune are free!
