Michael Hatchett
A&E Editor
If you’re like me, you are a tad resistant to hype. Whenever someone recommends something to be “the greatest thing ever” I take that with more than a grain of salt. So I was pretty skeptical when an indie RPG named Undertale won GameFAQs “Best. Game. Ever.” poll, beating out games like Ocarina of Time, Bioshock and you know, every other game ever made. Now obviously this is an open, online poll, so it’s not going to be perfectly accurate (see my Sports column for more comments on Internet polls) but I figured that Undertale had to have something. So I bought it, and I can now say that it is definitely not the best game ever.
But it’s pretty damn good. First, a brief summary of the game. You play as a human child who has accidentally fallen into the Underground (no relation to the campus establishment, but definitely not as scary), a land underneath the earth that is inhabited by monsters. Pretty standard RPG fare. But as far as your encounters with the monsters go, this is where Undertale takes a wonderful departure. Every encounter is technically a “battle” but you can choose whether to kill them or befriend them. Sure, there are games like Skyrim or Fallout 4 where you can certainly aim for a pacifist route, but I’ve never seen it as such a central game mechanic before.
The game encourages you to empathize with your opponents, which sounds easy enough. “Okay so I just won’t kill anyone,” you say to yourself, shrugging. But one of the many remarkable things about Undertale is that it doesn’t make it easy. If you really want to get through without harming a soul, you’re going to have to die a lot, just to figure out the right combinations of actions in order to get past some enemies. I killed two monsters during my first playthrough, just because I didn’t know how else to get past them.
The game also features some pretty clever puzzles, which have the perfect combination of difficulty and fun. Except the piano puzzle. Fuck that puzzle. I spent two hours trying to solve it and it’s not even part of the story. Anyway. Additionally, the battle system is wonderfully inventive, featuring quick mini-games instead of normal turn-based combat. The graphics are pretty bare-bones, which works well for its retro style. The soundtrack also sounds a little retro but it’s extraordinarily catchy. What was the last game you played that had a legitimately “catchy” soundtrack? Beyond that, the writing is refreshingly clever. Maybe it’s because of my aspirations to be employed in the comedy industry, but I can be kinda tough on games that try a little too hard to be funny (Fable 3 comes to mind). But Undertale has genuine moments of hilarity. There might be a few too many pop culture references for some people, but the game’s charm never wears off. The characters (even the particularly evil ones) are all sympathetic in their own way. Even the most minor enemies feel fully fleshed out, which is completely new to me. I mean, imagine if every goblin in Bravely Default or Final Fantasy had a little hint of backstory that emerges in tiny details from your battles with it. That’s Undertale. As far as story characters are concerned, I’ll remain silent about that. The less you know about Undertale’s main plot, the better. But trust me when I say that you will (maybe literally) fall in love with most of them. Undertale is not perfect. Some of the jokes get a little old and some of the boss fights can be tedious (especially if you’re trying not to kill the monster you’re fighting). The music is fantastic and the environments are engrossing and imaginative. But its wit, charm and its heart make it one of the most notable games I’ve ever played.