Gamespot Score: 9.0 (Editor's Choice)
My Score: 9.0
(+) Pros: - Simplistic gameplay that's easy to get hooked on, - Amazing world and characters, - Multiple story paths with a multitude of different endings, - Somehow manages to make you attached to almost every character, - Innovative and fun boss battles.
(-) Cons: - Some of the best boss battles are locked behind the most scummy route
Gameplay time: Less than 10 hours
There's really no need for me to say much here since "Undertale"'s pretty much one of the most popular and talked about games on the internet at the moment. It's a pixel RPG created by Toby Fox, the genius mind behind "Homestuck" and a certain "Earthbound" hack. I've never played his games before and "Undertale" is my first. Let's just say that I had no idea what the hype was all about in this little ass pixel RPG game that looks like something that could easily be made 20 years ago...of course, until I played it. It's one of the most emotional, character driven experiences I've ever played in a long time, coming from a game with no voices at all and only the text on the screen, that's saying something. "Undertale" is a game that'll tug at your heart strings and break your emotions at times, but its most certainly worth it. A game like this comes very rarely, and if by any chance you haven't played it, you owe it to yourself to get it, now. FFS this is only 10 f**king dollars on steam!
So you play as a human who fell into the underworld, a entire sanctum that's been ruled by monsters since a long long long LOOONG time ago. When you first enter the world, waking up from a flowerbed, you encounter a talking flower named Flowey. Flowey teaches you the basics of the game and instantly makes it apparent to you that this world infested with monsters...is not apparently the most fun place on the planet. However, a mother figure named Toriel opts to take you in and teaches you the way of surviving in the underworld: to always be nice to your enemies. That by itself, is the morale of of the game. Will you survive the underworld by killing all who stand in your way? Or will you try to get your opponents to open up and show mercy? The choice is yours, and it shall impact this world forever.
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| Reading isn't for everyone. |
"Undertale" is a very simple game with very simple rules. Its a standard JRPG styled adventure where you traverse a world filled with NPCs and random encounters. On the overworld side of things, there's not really much to compliment the game about. While its certainly quite varied in terms of environments, there's nothing special going on here. The main combat is where the game truly shines. Taking the form of a hybrid cross between a "bullet hell" game and a turn based RPG, "Undetale"'s battles mostly have you trying to dodge enemy attacks as this little heart that's floating around the screen. Getting hit damages you, and during the enemy's turn, you'll have to dodge their attacks for a pre-set amount of time. Given the game's large pool of varied enemies, and the fact that each one of them has different attacks of their own, the game can be quite challenging to newbies.
Either way, combat is split into multiple options. There's the "Fight" option, which lets you hit your opponents with the intent to kill. You can talk to them with "Talk", in hopes to learn more about your enemy to hopefully find some weaknesses or to spare them. There's "Item", which is self-explanatory, it lets you use an item to heal yourself. Finally, there's "Mercy", which either lets you flee from battle or SPARE your opponent, a huge deal in this game. Playing "Undertale" as the game encourages you to, by "sparing" your foes lets you discover a whole new side of JRPGs. You discover ways and methods for your enemy to slowly "like" you during a battle, to the point where they don't want to fight you anymore, then you spare them. Doing things this way gets you no EXP, but the game rewards you for this. Every opponent you choose to spare or kill...the game keeps count of them, and this greatly alters the path you're going on in the game.
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| Sugarcoating as its best... |
The world of "Undertale" itself is wonderful. There are a variety of locales for you to visit, ranging from the ruins to snowy mountains to waterfall caves to burning, fuming volcanic fields....or even luxury hotels and hi-tech science facilities. Also, I'll try not to spoil anything. but the lore behind the world is INTENSE, there's a whole lot to discover that you'll probably miss on your first couple of playthroughs. and believe me when I say there's a whole lot going down in this world. The characters play a huge part in making the world amazing. Almost everyone you meet is somehow likable, without spoiling too much, each character is somehow connected with one another and the game tries its hardest to make you love the shit out of them before making you try to kill-I mean *Ahem*, confront them.
"Undertale" has multiple endings which vary depending on how you play the game. Who you decided to kill or spare comes into play here. While the game sits mostly on 3 major ending paths, the neutral ending has a ton of varieties to it on its own. While its not exactly tough to go about getting these 3 major endings (except one of them, you'll need to be a monster at heart for that one), the differences in each route can be quite exquisite, and trust me when I say each ending is worth experiencing for yourself.
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| I'VE BEEN PET! |
What "Undertale" excels most in however, is its extremely innovative boss battles. If you don't choose to pointlessly just kill off the bosses in a straight out murder fest, then every fight just turns into a battle of attrition as you find out how to make the boss spare you. Sometimes its just a matter of dodging all their attacks until they give up, sometimes its something else. Either way, boss attack patterns are so fun and innovative, each one has a unique theme tacked on to them to make them extremely enjoyable. They break the rules of the game, instead of having you floating around to dodge attacks, they add all sorts of weird mechanics to make the battle fun and unique. One boss has you only be able to walk and jump, another one makes you stationery as you have to block incoming attacks instead of dodging...while another one has you become a plane in a shooter to shoot out its projectiles. Its crazy, wacky fun, unfortunately, there aren't too many bosses in the game.
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| Tems are vicious.... |
I can't really find any fault in "Undertale" at all. Despite it being almost a perfect little game of its own. If anything, the most "fun" route in the game, the "genocide" or "No Mercy" route, is practically the worst one morally. Its a little bit unfair how to fight the 2 toughest, most challenging and most enjoyable battles are locked behind a route that most people don't want to experience. I gritted myself past the route just to fight these 2 bosses. I felt that it was worth it, these 2 bosses were TOUGH, but its a damned shame that many people won't get the opportunity to fight them.
"Undertale" deserves all the hype that surrounds it and more. Its a wonderful little game that never fails to impress. It may not be the most visually impressive game, but it certainly has the heart that most modern games seem to lack. A top contender for one of the best games of the year, no doubt.
Happy Gaming!
