September 15 marked the 10 year anniversary of the cult classic and critically acclaimed indie game, Undertale. 

When I played and finished Undertale for the first time, I was in shock for the whole of my playthrough. Even with having known what was coming and when, nothing could have prepared me for experiencing the game for myself. Starting out the playthrough with (not so good) puzzles and dumb jokes, the game ultimately culminated into a heart-string-pulling ending that left me speechless. The game was more than worth the first play and continues to draw me in for 

Without further adieu, here is your spoiler free review of Undertale.

Story

Undertale is a story-heavy role playing game that focuses around a child, Frisk, that’s fallen down into a mountain. The mountain is filled with monsters that were sealed underground behind a magical barrier after a war between humans and monsters. 

Following Frisk, players have to navigate through the winding underground society that has sprung up since the monster race’s sealing. The overarching goal of Undertale is the players return to the surface to live their life as normal. Throughout the whole of the game you’re faced with difficult choices on whether you want to end the monster race once and for all, giving into that violent urge, or to free the monsters and reintroduce them to the surface world. 

Unlike other games, Undertale doesn’t necessarily have a main villain, instead opting for a multitude of differing antagonists that the player (depending on the choices they make) can befriend. 

Gameplay 

My playthrough for the game was about 6-8 hours, with my 100% playthrough taking 20-24 hours.

The gameplay of Undertale is quite simple, all things considered. It’s a top-down isometric role playing game that mixes turn-based and bullet-hell aspects where the player has to physically dodge the enemies attacks, with the ability to either fight or show mercy to the enemy. Choosing the fight option attacks, dealing damage to it with the intent to reduce its hit points to zero, while choosing the mercy option spares the enemy without harming them.

The player is presented with four buttons: Fight, Act, Item, Mercy. There is also a box in the center of the screen just below the enemy, which contains the player, forcing the player to conserve space and find the best way to navigate attacks. Each button does something different and unique. The fight button allows you to attack the monster, the act button lets you analyze the monster, the item button lets you use items, and the mercy button allows you to spare monsters.

Overall the gameplay feels very smooth, there are some moments where the solution to some puzzles aren’t clear at first but after some walking and messing around the solutions are easy to find. Now for the only aspect of the game that doesn’t hit as hard for me as the other parts, the random encounters with monsters. For every monster other than the ones with unique names and plot lines all of the monster encounters/fights are all random. However this doesn’t mean the non-unique monsters don’t drive the plot in an important way, depending on whether you choose the violent or pacifist route they determine what ending you get. 

Graphics/Music

Created by Toby Fox, who handled the writing, coding and music, the production of the game was a largely independent project. The art for the game is very rudimentary and simple due to the games pixelated nature, the art still gets its meaning across with little to no problems.

The music for Undertale is arguably the most iconic part of the game. Whether you know it or not you’ve most likely heard songs from Undertale (things like Megalovania). But even the lesser spotlighted songs of the game are sometimes much better than the ones most well known. The music of Undertales makes the atmosphere of the game feel like no other that I’ve played, and is a major reason I’ve come back to Undertale so much.

Final thoughts

Undertale is an amazing game, while not groundbreaking in its graphics or gameplay, its story is where it shines. With tear-jerking moments and some serious mind blowing twists, the story really makes the player get attached to the characters and makes them feel like they’ve known them forever, along with the music and how certain encounters act under certain conditions creates a really immersive gameplay experience. All in all if you’re thinking about buying Undertale or already have it but haven’t played it, do it.