Game Review: Undertale


(WARNING: THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SMALL SPOILERS)

I guess it would be fitting for my first review in a long time to be something that has greatly affected me over the last few days of 2015, ushering in the new year. That would be Undertale.

What is Undertale?  
Undertale is a game by Toby Fox and centers around a young human falling into a hole. In an Alice-in-Wonderland-esque style, the human discovers that the monsters that have been banished from the human world have thrived (or rather, survived) in this underground world. The child then interacts with the monsters and is destined to either be their saviour or the harbinger of doom.

My thoughts
I would have to break down my opinions of this game into multiple facets for the sake of simplicity as I will break down every aspect of the game and provide my opinion. However, I will leave a tl;dr note at the bottom to summarise my thoughts.

Gameplay
When you are playing a game, the first and foremost would be the gameplay itself. Undertale offers a rather different take on traditional roleplaying games (RPG). RPGs often focus on attacks, grinding, increasing levels and beating bosses. However, Undertale offers you the alternative of sparing the monsters you encounter by certain pacifying actions. These actions would include hugging, picking (or not picking) on, flirting (yes, you can flirt with a monster) and many more. Each monster has their own unique method of defeat via mercy. However, the game still allows you to take the traditionalist route of being a murderous badass at the cost of, well, you being a cold psychopathic killer. You monster.

Gameplay also consists of dodging bullets as the primary means of surviving combat. So, it isn't the traditional combat system of randomised damage counters based on multipliers and the like but rather the players dexterity as they bounce around dodging bullets. Different enemies have different attacks too so there may be some attacks which may be easy to dodge and some that are impossible to. Most of all, it shows that each monster, no matter how small and insignificant to the plot, provides a unique experience to the player.

Plot
If you are playing a game and it isn't for the gameplay itself, you are probably looking for  a plot or rather the writing in the game. This means that you are interested in how the creator expresses himself and his opinions and most of all, you would be asking if it is a good story.

Well, it could be said that Undertale has been one of the most well-written games I have ever played. The story extremely involves your character's decisions. Anything you do in the game will be remembered by the game even after you reset your save file. For example, killing certain characters will unleash a certain slew of dialogue berating you for doing so in the next run through. Furthermore, actions that you commit to in the playthrough itself would have consequences. If you chose to spare all the monsters you meet, you may actually get to meet them in neutral areas. It is pretty heartwarming.

The humour in the game was actually pretty funny. The usage of a lot of puns and extremely meta jokes. By meta, I mean fourth wall breaking and self-referential humour. There are a lot of jokes referring to real world phenomenon such as the anime craze that every teenagers seems to go through (imagine slashfictions and yaoi).

The game may be funny and all but it will tug at your heart strings. During my first playthrough, my blissfully unaware self decided to play it just like any other RPG. Little did I know, the boss monsters that I fought... well, all I can say is that I cried before the title even showed up (Then again, I do have mother-related attachment issues and would get emotional in such situations).

Soundtrack
If you are fond of traditional video game music from the eras of Pokemon, Zelda and the like, you would appreciate the nostalgic yet somehow modern tunes of Undertale. One of my favourite would be Megalovania (below). It is upbeat but at some points you feel the dread as you realise your sins crawling on your back (Yes, this soundtrack comes from a less than favourable outcome but it is well worth the heart wrenching murdering).



My other favourite sound track would be ASGORE. It is a battle of epic proportions but with a sense of duty and restraint.




TL;DR
So, in summary, the plot is well written as it is both heart wrenching and humorous. The soundtrack is extremely pleasing to the ear. The game is very unique in its approach to the combat system and puzzle solving in general. I would rate it 10 out of 10 would play.

Undertale is available on Steam for only $7.99 (Currently at 20% off) at this link

I hope you enjoyed reading and remember, sharing is caring. Share this with friends, encourage them to check out the game. If you liked reading, please give me some feedback so I can improve! Remember, every bit of your input will help me make better content for you to read.

Sharing is Caring,
Sean Wang
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5 comments:

  1. Excellent review. A friend showed me this in an attempt to explain the game to me and it convinced me to buy it! Thank you for the review!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your kind words. I am glad that you bought the game. I hope you continue to enjoy it!

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  2. Hey there! We talked on omegle and I read this! It is VERY well put together! I love this game so much and you of course brought about the details of the matter!

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  3. I completely agree with the comment you made on unique experiences. You could go the traditional RPG route and kill every monster, cos it is the norm of those games, without realizing what you've done. Or miss areas like Temmie village! An amazing review for an amazing game

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