Undertale

Undertale employs a bullet hell/turn-based combat system in which the player controls the heart, avoiding attacks from enemies in between fighting, acting and sparing enemies, or healing.

Undertale is a role-playing game that uses a top-down perspective.[3] In the game, the player controls a child and completes objectives in order to progress through the story.[4] Players explore an underground world filled with towns and caves, and are required to solve numerous puzzles on their journey.[4][5] The underground world is the home of monsters, many of whom challenge the player in combat;[5] players decide whether to kill, flee, or befriend them.[4][6] Choices made by the player radically affect the plot and general progression of the game, with the player's morality acting as the cornerstone for the game's development.

When players encounter enemies in either scripted events or random encounters, they enter a battle mode. During battles, players control a small heart which represents their soul, and must avoid attacks unleashed by the opposing monster similar to a bullet hell shooter.[4][5] As the game progresses, new elements are introduced, such as colored obstacles, and boss battles which change the way players control the heart.[7] Players may choose to attack the enemy, which involves timed button presses. Killing enemies will cause the player to earn EXP (in turn increasing their LOVE) and gold.[8] They can use the ACT option to check an enemy's attacking and defending attributes as well as perform various other actions, which vary depending on the enemy.[4] If the player uses the right actions to respond to the enemy, or attacks them until they have low HP (but still alive), they can then choose to spare them and end the fight without killing them.[9] For some boss encounters to be completed peacefully, the player is required to survive until the character they are facing has finished their dialogue. The game features multiple story branches and endings depending on whether players choose to kill or spare their enemies; and as such, it is possible to clear the game without killing a single enemy.[10]

Monsters will talk to the player during the battle, and the game will tell the players what the monster's feelings and actions are.[11] Enemy attacks change based on how players interact with them: should players choose non-violent options, enemy attacks are easy, whereas they become less easy if players choose violent options.[5][11] The game relies on a number of metafictional elements in both its gameplay and story.[12] When players participate in a boss battle on a second playthrough, the dialogue will be altered depending on actions in previous playthroughs.[13]

Undertale is set in the Underground, a realm where monsters were banished after war broke out with humans. The Underground is sealed from the surface by a magic barrier with a singular gap at Mount Ebott.[14] In the year 201X, a human child falls into the Underground from Mount Ebott and encounters Flowey, a sentient flower who teaches the player the game's mechanics and lies about "LV", or "LOVE", in an attempt to kill them. The human is rescued by Toriel, a motherly goat-like monster, who teaches them how to survive conflict in the Underground without killing. She intends to adopt the human, wanting to protect them from Asgore, the king of the Underground.

The human eventually leaves Toriel to search for Asgore's castle, which contains the barrier to the surface world. They encounter several monsters, such as the skeletons Sans and Papyrus, two brothers who act as sentries for the Snowdin forest; Undyne, the head of the royal guard; Alphys, the kingdom's royal scientist; and Mettaton, a robotic television host Alphys created. Most of the monsters are fought, with the human choosing whether to kill them or to spare and possibly befriend the monster. During their travels, the human learns that many years ago, Asriel, the son of Asgore and Toriel, befriended the first human who fell into the Underground. When the child abruptly died, Asriel used the child's soul to pass through the barrier, intending to return the body to the surface. The humans living there attacked and killed Asriel, causing Asgore to declare war. In the present day, Asgore has collected six souls from fallen humans, of which he needs one more to destroy the barrier.

The game's ending depends on how the player handles encounters with monsters.[15][10][lower-alpha 4] If the player completes a playthrough without killing any monsters (or killed some but not all of the monsters) they experience the "Neutral" ending. The human arrives at Asgore's castle and is forced to fight him. Sans stops the human before their confrontation, revealing that the human's "LOVE" and "EXP" are acronyms for "level of violence" and "execution points", respectively.[lower-alpha 5] Sans judges the human based on their accumulated "LOVE" and "EXP". The human then fights Asgore, but Flowey interrupts, killing Asgore and stealing the human souls. With the help of the souls, the human defeats Flowey and leaves the Underground. They then receive a phone call from Sans, detailing the state of the Underground after the human's departure, with the specifics depending on who was killed or spared.

If the player kills no monsters before completing a "Neutral" ending, they can reload their saved game to complete the "Pacifist" ending.[17][15] Flowey is revealed to be a reincarnation of Asriel accidentally created by Alphys's experiments. During the fight with Asgore, Toriel stops the battle and is joined by the other monsters the human befriended. Flowey ambushes the group, absorbing the souls of all the humans and monsters in order to take an older Asriel's form. During the ensuing fight, the human manages to connect with the souls of their friends, and eventually defeats Asriel: He reverts to his child form, destroys the barrier, and expresses remorse for his actions before leaving. The human falls unconscious and is awoken to see their friends surrounding them. The monsters peacefully reintegrate with the humans, while the human has the option of accepting Toriel as their adoptive mother.

A third ending, known by fans as the "No Mercy" or "Genocide" ending, ensues if the player kills every single monster in the game that can be fought. This involves continuously triggering random encounters in each area until no more monsters remain. Going down this route changes many aspects of the game: the game's soundtrack becomes more ominous by playing at a lower speed and pitch, and most NPCs are absent from the Overworld as they evacuate to escape from the player's rampage. The few remaining characters that can be interacted with have changed dialogue, reflecting the impact the player's actions are having on the game's world.[13][19] When the human reaches Asgore's castle, Sans attempts to stop them, but fails and is slain. Flowey kills Asgore in an attempt to obtain mercy, but is killed by the human. Chara, the first fallen child who befriended Asriel, then appears and destroys the universe. To enable further replays of the game, the player must give their soul to Chara, restoring the universe and causing a permanent alteration to the Pacifist ending.[17]

Undertale was developed by Toby Fox across 32 months.[20] Development was financed through a crowdfunding campaign on the website Kickstarter. The campaign was launched on June 25, 2013, with a goal of US$5,000; it ended on July 25, 2013, with US$51,124 raised by 2,398 people.[21] Undertale's creation ensued after Fox created a battle system using the game creation system GameMaker: Studio.[22] He wanted to develop a role-playing game that was different from the traditional design, which he often found "boring to play".[23] He set out to develop a game with "interesting characters", and that "utilizes the medium as a storytelling device ... instead of having the story and gameplay abstractions be completely separate".[23]

Fox worked on the entire game independently, besides some of the art; he decided to work independently to avoid relying on others.[20] Fox had little experience with game development; he and his three brothers often used RPG Maker 2000 to make role-playing games, though few were ever completed. Fox also worked on several EarthBound ROM hacks while in high school.[23] Temmie Chang worked as the main artist for the game, providing most of the sprites and concept art.[24][25] Fox has said that the game's art style would likely remain the same if he had access to a larger team of artists. He found that "there's a psychological thread that says audiences become more attached to characters drawn simply rather than in detail", particularly benefiting from the use of visual gags within the art.[26]

The game was released on September 15, 2015, for OS X and Windows,[45] and on July 17, 2016, for Linux.[46] Fox expressed interest in releasing Undertale on other platforms, but was initially unable to port it to Nintendo platforms without reprogramming the game due to the engine's lack of support for these platforms.[20] A patch was released in January 2016, fixing bugs and altering the appearance of blue attacks to help colorblind players see them better.[47]

Sony Interactive Entertainment announced during E3 2017 that Undertale would get a release for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, and a retail version published by Fangamer. These versions were released on August 15, 2017.[48][49][50]

A Nintendo Switch version was revealed during a March 2018 Nintendo Direct, though no release date was given at the time;[51][52] Undertale's release on Switch highlighted a deal made between Nintendo and YoYo Games to allow users of GameMaker Studio 2 to directly export their games to the Switch.[53] The Switch version was released on September 15, 2018 in Japan,[54] and on September 18, 2018, worldwide.[55] All the console ports were developed and published by Japanese localizer 8-4 in all regions.[1][2]

The Xbox One version was released on March 16, 2021. As with the PlayStation 4 and Switch versions, the Xbox One version features unique content specific to that platform.[56]

Other Undertale media and merchandise have been released, including toy figurines and plush toys based on characters from the game.[57] The game's official soundtrack, Undertale Soundtrack, was released by video game music label Materia Collective in 2015, simultaneously with the game's release.[58] Additionally, two official Undertale cover albums have been released: the 2015 metal/electronic album Determination by RichaadEB and Amie Waters,[59][60] and the 2016 jazz album Live at Grillby's by Carlos Eiene, better known as insaneintherainmusic.[61] Another album of jazz duets based on Undertale's songs, Prescription for Sleep, was performed and released in 2016 by saxophonist Norihiko Hibino and pianist Ayaki Sato.[62] A 2xLP vinyl edition of the Undertale soundtrack, produced by iam8bit, was also released in the same year.[63] Two official UNDERTALE Piano Collections sheet music books and digital albums, arranged by David Peacock and performed by Augustine Mayuga Gonzales, were released in 2017 and 2018[64][65] by Materia Collective. A Mii Fighter costume based on Sans was made available for download in the crossover title Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in September 2019, marking the character's official debut as a 3D model. This costume also adds a new arrangement of "Megalovania" by Fox as a music track.[66] Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai noted that Sans was a popular request to appear in the game.[67] Music from Undertale was also added to Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun! as downloadable content.[68]

Undertale received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic,[81][82][83] and quickly developed a cult following.[89][90] On Metacritic, it is the third-highest rated Windows game released in 2015,[81] and among the top 50 of all time.[91] Praise was particularly directed at the game's writing, unique characters, and combat system. GameSpot's Tyler Hicks declared it "one of the most progressive and innovative RPGs to come in a long time",[43] and IGN's Kallie Plagge called it "a masterfully crafted experience".[16] By the end of 2015, in a preliminary report by Steam Spy, Undertale was one of the best-selling games on Steam, with 530,343 copies sold.[92] By early February 2016, the game surpassed one million sales,[93] and by July 2018, the game had an estimated total of three and a half million players on Steam.[94] Japanese digital PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita sales surpassed 100,000 copies sold by February 2018.[95]

Daniel Tack of Game Informer called the game's combat system "incredibly nuanced", commenting on the uniqueness of each enemy encounter.[85] Giant Bomb's Austin Walker praised the complexity of the combat, commenting that it is "unconventional, clever, and occasionally really difficult".[86] Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw of The Escapist commended the game's ability to blend turn-based and live combat elements.[96] IGN's Plagge praised the ability to avoid combat, opting for friendly conversations instead.[16] Jesse Singal of The Boston Globe found the game's ability to make the player empathize with the monsters during combat if they opted for non-violent actions was "indicative of the broader, fundamental sweetness at the core" of Undertale.[97]

Reviewers praised the game's writing and narrative, with IGN's Plagge calling it "excellent".[16] The Escapist's Croshaw considered Undertale the best-written game of 2015, writing that it "is on the one hand hilarious... and is also, by the end, rather heartfelt".[96] Destructoid's Ben Davis praised the game's characters and use of comedy, and compared its tone, characters, and storytelling to Cave Story (2004).[4] PC Gamer's Richard Cobbett provided similar comments, writing that "even its weaker moments... just about work".[87] Undertale's absurd humor attracted praise; Game Rant found the Annoying Dog's frequent interruptions a standout,[98] and Kill Screen considered absurdity a signature quality of Fox's humor.[26]

The game's visuals received mixed reactions. Giant Bomb's Walker called it "simple, but communicative".[86] IGN's Plagge wrote that the game "isn't always pretty" and "often ugly", but felt that the music and animations compensate.[16] The Escapist's Croshaw remarked that "it wobbles between basic and functional to just plain bad".[96] Other reviewers liked the graphics: Daniel Tack of Game Informer felt that the visuals appropriately match the characters and settings,[85] while Richard Cobbett of PC Gamer commended the ability of the visuals to convey emotion.[87]

The character of Toriel has received attention from critics for her personality and atypical moral choice of her boss battle. Nathan Grayson of Kotaku stated that while he killed Toriel during his playthrough, his encounter with her made him cry due to her friendliness and relatability as a character.[99] He also praised the game for remembering this on his next playthrough.[100] Julie Muncy of Kill Screen criticized the encounter with Toriel as unintuitive, saying that she lost the ability to trust the game after seemingly having to kill her, which forced her onto the game's "Neutral" route.[101] Jess Joho from the same magazine called the character "relying on the inhumanly selfless portrait of motherhood", but doing so with a purpose, praising the boss encounter with her as respecting the player's ability to think through a problem, as well as their basic instincts as a human being. She stated that the game holds up a mirror to "patriarchal" game design that encourages players to impatiently "sacrifice their own mother and humanity" rather than engaging with the enemy on a "human level".[102]

• Official website