Most games in the RPG genre require players to level their characters up in order to make actual progress. A majority of the time, this requires going out and looking battles, through either random encounters like most Final Fantasies or scripted encounters like Earthbound. Nothing is ever really said about those monsters that players slay on their quest to get stronger, just letting the ends justify the means (unless they’re trying to get some rare gear for bragging rights.)
Undertale, however, is different from most games of the genre, even deconstructing various aspects. Dubbed “The friendly RPG where nobody has to die,” this crowd-funded Indie game encourages players to peacefully resolve conflicts through listening to monsters’ dialog and acting accordingly. Solving a conflict with violence is still an option, but getting too carried away may result in players having a bad time in the end.
A child falls into a cave located in Mount Ebbot, which is a home and prison to a group of monsters. The child must make their way back to the surface, traveling through landscapes that wouldn’t be out-of-place if it weren’t for the fact it was the interior of a cave. Along the way, they encounter many of the cave’s colorful inhabitants like the kindhearted Toriel, the Bone Bros. Sans and Papyrus, and the hotblooded Leader-of-the-Guard Undyne. At the end of their journey awaits Asgore, the King of the Monsters who wishes to take the child’s soul in order to free his people from their prison.
Undertale is done in the style of a Retraux RPG with the simplistic-yet-appealing graphics similar to games of the 8- and 16-Bit eras. The music is a blend of chiptune tracks, instrumentals, or a combination of both, which create one of the best soundtracks. The quirky characters and heartfelt story are inspired by the Earthbound/Mother series, with the in-battle dialog system inspired by the Shin Megami Tensei series. The battle system is fairly standard for a turn-based RPG, though it opts to replace the concept of evasion and agility with something inspired by, of all things, the Bullet Hell genre. There are many homages to other games, the most notable being the parody of the famous Final Fantasy VI opera scene.
The plot seems fairly simple at first as you’re simply playing as a child determined to return to the surface world, making friends along the way. The initial atmosphere feels fairly lighthearted at first with the occasional serious moment or difficult confrontation which changes the further you get. The game reaches level of darkness that wouldn’t be out-of-place is an Earthbound/Mother game, which culminates in a very tragic revelation of the monsters’ leaders backed with melancholy song that fits the scene. Of course, Undertale gets much darker if you’re playing like a psycho and killing everything in your path, which results in friendly characters becoming fearful and desperate.
Another one of Undertale‘s strong suits is its characters. The child themself is actually pretty bland, with a fairly generic appearance and no real personality or history since they are meant as a blank slate for the player. A number of the reoccurring characters are fleshed out well, with Toriel wanted nothing more than to keep the child safe, Papyrus having a rather huge ego and yet still very likable, Sans being lazy and having a love for bad puns, and so on. The monsters that are encountered are also pretty unique, each having a set of actions and dialog, with some having fairly humorous (and memetic) ways of pacifying them.
Despite having number of interesting concepts, Undertale isn’t a perfect game. Its rather short and fairly linear its genre, taking maybe 5 to 7 hours to complete depending on how you play. Sidequests are minimal and are usually focused around befriended a few of the major characters, though one sidequest doesn’t become available until after you beat the game. There is some replay value to the game when it comes whether you play pacifist or psychopath, though the outcome can potentially lock you out of one of the endings.
Undertale was an entertaining little gem, playing on themes that seem to be rarely considering in most games. While its far from the best, it still manages to homage many of the classics. I’d honestly love to see many of the concepts used expanded on somehow, possibly with a longer story, a more open world, and maybe even with different viewpoints. It is currently available for download on Steam, though you can find a demo of the game on the official site. It may also become available on a Nintendo console in the future as well.
