Undertale, a game that needs zero introduction. On one hand, I have absolutely zero idea what I could bring to the table at this point, Undertale is far and away one of the most talked about and analyzed games of the last 10 years. On the other hand, I think the culture around Undertale has ballooned so much that it often tends to overshadow the game itself, so I want to really dig into the more small-scale reasons that made Undertale such an impactful experience for me personally.
When I think of Undertale, my mind always goes to a singular moment early on in the game.
The first chunk of Undertale takes place in the ruins, an incredibly easy tutorial area where your new motherly figure Toriel carefully walks you through the game's mechanics, encouraging you to try to go for the pacifistic route within the battle system. However, once you reach Toriel's home, she asks you to stay and not venture further into the dangerous underground. Of course, seeing as this is a video game, you head off regardless and get blocked by Toriel, who proceeds to start up a battle with you. During the battle, she urges you to fight her back and show off your strength, so that's what I did. I whittled down her health, expect her to just give up, but I ended up killing her. Not getting the outcome I wanted, I did what any gamer would do. I reloaded my old save, and let her live this time... only to see this:
Learning that your actions have consequences in a game is always a bit of a shock. There's another game slightly further up the list that has a similar moment, but I was barely a teenager when I played Undertale for the first time. This moment shook me to my core, I felt legitimately guilt from killing a video game character. The way in which this moment is executed is just so perfect. It doesn't force you to kill Toriel if you really don't want to, you can recall the prior tutorial and defy her demand to fight her, it's really all up to the player. And I love how the game gives you a moment to let you think you got away with it. Flowey doesn't pop up right after you reload your save, he shows up after you save Toriel. For many, the Sans fight was the moment that defined Undertale. For me, it was the Toriel fight, it perfectly encapsulates the game's themes and general unique qualities.
When most people think of Undertale's writing, they tend to immediately fixate on the game's quirky sense of humor, and that's not at all unfounded. I've said before that I don't find the Earthbound series especially funny, but Undertale? That's a completely different story, the sheer quantity of memorable lines and surreal gags flying at you at any given moment always leaves me in hysterics. People also tend to mention how well-realized a lot of the characters are and that's also definitely a point in Undertale's favor. The Undertale cast is so likable and collectively fleshed-out, there isn't a single major character I find myself disliking. The serious but dorky Undyne is easily my favorite of the bunch, but that's stiff competition when characters like Papyrus, Toriel, and Mettaton also exist. A big part of this is Undertale's unique battle system which blends standard turn-based combat with a visual novel element where you can ask characters questions and learn more about them to try to end fights in a pacifistic fashion, which in turn gives the characters you encounter even more development and depth.
However, even with all these amazing characters, one of my favorite aspects of Undertale has always been that sense of isolation it can offer. While about half the game is spent interacting with these funny and charming NPCs, the other half has you wander around the overworld completely alone, discovering its many secrets all by yourself. There's a really engaging juxtaposition between these two halves, and wandering into a more populated area like Snowdin Town or Temmie Village creates a unique brand of comfort. This is a big part of why I prefer Undertale over Deltarune, which has more colorful environments and gives you a party with a more defined group dynamic. I'm not against having a party or anything and I love Ralsei and Susie to bits, but something hits different about the eerie emptiness of some of Undertale's areas. I think isolation is a really important theme in Undertale too, and it's especially woven into the routes you take. As everyone knows, there are pacifist and genocidal routes depending on whether or not you choose to kill enemies and characters. If you go pacifist, you'll eventually come to befriend most of the major characters and end up not feeling so lonely by the end. If you go genocide, that isolation will only get increasingly worse as the game goes on. It's really compelling stuff.
I do need to give Undertale's gameplay its praise though, particularly the battle system. I already praised how well it ties into the characters, but it's also just really fun and inventive from a gameplay standpoint. Enemy and boss attacks are essentially displayed as brief bullet hell sequences where you dodge a wide array of bizarre and inventive patterns, with some of the boss fights even completely changing your controls to that of a platformer or a shmup. They're not necessarily hard outside of a few bosses in the genocide route, but they remain fun and varied across the entire game. Toby Fox is known for being a massive Touhou fan, so it is really cool to see one of my favorite series seep into such an important indie title like this. The visual novel aspects are also a ton of fun, trying to figure how to defeat every enemy and boss nonviolently is a cool puzzle a lot of the time, and I love the "oh shit" moments whenever a boss purposefully tries to make it harder for you to talk it out. I will say that Deltarune's battle system is definitely a step-up from Undertale's in terms of mechanical complexity, but even this original incarnation is still a ton of fun to mess around with.
Undertale's visual style is a very interesting beast. I've seen a lot of people claim it has "bad graphics" but I feel that's doing the game a bit of a disservice. Of course some of the characters look a bit lopsided, it's purposefully trying to go for the more off-kilter look of SNES Earthbound and it nails that vibe perfectly. And even more, what Undertale lacks in graphical fidelity, it more than makes up for with art direction. The cold purple and blue hues for the environments really help give the underground its own unique feel, the backgrounds look categorically amazing, and the game likes to toss in some fun stylistic shifts like the monochromatic New Home and the silhouettes in the Judgement Hall. And of course, the character designs are pretty phenomenal across the board, that's another big reason why Undertale's cast is so iconic. Even side characters like Napstablook and Grillby have super memorable designs.
Undertale's soundtrack is obviously incredible and there's no shortage of praise that's gone towards its clever usage of its various leitmotifs, but my favorite thing about it is how much of a massive emotional and tonal rollercoaster in terms of tone. Of course, you have your banging boss themes that everyone raves about like Spear Of Justice, Spider Dance, Death By Glamour, Your Best Nightmare, and Hopes And Dreams. There's also a fair share of silly and quirky tracks like Dating Start, Spooktune, Temmie Village, and Hotel, many of which even utilize soundfonts from other games like Ace Attorney, Mega Man X, Final Fantasy VI, and of course Touhou. But Undertale also has a ton of grippingly melancholic pieces, especially in the overworld, tracks like Ruins, Another Medium, and Undertale. And even more, some of the boss themes can feel less like real emotional gut punches, like Heartache, ASGORE, and my favorite track in the game, Battle Against A True Hero. The more upbeat stuff is fun, but it really is the more melancholic and atmospheric Undertale tracks that really stick with me the most.
Now, if you've read this far, you probably noticed that there's a certain character and accompanying theme I've neglected to mention. I think Sans is a fun character, he gets some great jokes and his laid-back trollish nature can be a delight at times. However, his detached personality means I'm not anywhere near as connected to him as most of the rest of the Undertale cast. As for Megalovania, it's a fantastic all-timer vgm track... but you can tell it was just ported in from another game because it does not fit in with the tone that the rest of the soundtrack established. So instead, I want to single out the Smash remix instead which adds just enough extra embellishments and Undertale references to help it feel more like a part of the series. That's just my take though, I just thought it was worth explaining why arguably Undertale's most popular aspect is not a major factor in my love of it.
Over the last few months, I've been trying to figure out what exactly it was I loved about videogames. Freedom Planet 2 and the TTYD Remake made me realize how much I enjoyed spending time in weird fantasy worlds with a memorable cast of characters, and I think that's a big aspect of why Undertale struck such a strong chord with me. This was the first time I ever really got invested in a cast of video game characters like I would in a movie or TV show, and I think back on the time I spend in Undertale's surreal subterranean world incredibly fondly. On its own merits, it's a fun throwback RPG with an inventive battle system, charming writing, and a killer soundtrack, but it coalesces into a truly enthralling adventure that feels even greater than the sum of its parts. Shovel Knight was the game that introduced me to the wider indie scene, but Undertale was the game that showed me how good they could get.
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