| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| PC | 9.10 |
| Overall | 9.10 |
|
If you have followed which games from 2015 have been getting the most praise then Undertale is a game you probably heard mentioned many times. Every year now a crop of indie games become media darlings and start to appear on many top 10 lists. If you know me many times those games don't really mix well with me and I end up on the opposing side wondering why some game with little to no gameplay is getting so much attention. Well this time I am fully on board with this indie game, Undertale is a beautiful emotional game that takes traditional game conventions and flips them all to create one of the unique games I have ever played. So what is Undertale, looking at it one would easily say it's a 16-bit RPG which is what it wants you to think. I wouldn't really qualify it as an RPG at all as character building is as complex as any action game, the game is quite linear, and there is no actual acquisition of skills. It uses the imagery of a classic RPG to pull you in and give the player something familiar to attach to , and if you are my age something that takes you back to your childhood. It uses those expectations of a old school RPG and subverts them around every corner to surprise the player. I won't go into detailed specifics because experiencing this game fresh is key. Right from the start the playful tone of the game is apparent as situations make fun of many game tropes. My favorite are the store owners who like in every RPG have a buy and sell option. Well if you try to sell an item they basically laugh at you and say I don't want your junk, I want to make money. It's such a simple comment, so many games you use stores as your own bank and this game plays on that. That's just something extremely minor but you can expect those kinds of play on traditional game mechanics throughout. Even though Undertale feels like a journey through a whimsical world of colorful characters there is this extremely heavy emotional core to it, the best way I can describe it is like a Pixar movie. I laughed out loud many times, I felt thrills, sadness, joy, all of it. The identity of Undertale is best described by its “combat” system. Random encounters happen as they would in any old RPG but that is where the similarities end. The enemies show up in a traditional battle window and now you have the option to fight, act, use items and mercy. Fight is what everyone is trained to use from years and years of playing games like this. An enemy attacks you so you attack back; the developers know this is the standard response so they make you begin to question why that is the standard response. The act option is the non violent way to approach a battle, choose this and a bunch of choices appear that correspond to who you are fighting. The beauty of the fights is that every single enemy has a distinct personality and during the fight you learn about them through dialogue and their actions. Certain enemies show up angry, battle them like normal and you won't learn much about the enemy. Attacking involves a very simple sliding marker that you try to time at the center of a bar for max damage. As you play you will find better weapons which allow for more markers and multiple hits. That's pretty much the depth of the fight side of the battles, there are no spells, no tactics; as I said before this isn't really an RPG. Now take that same angry enemy and compliment them, now they react differently, sometimes more violently, perhaps they are angry because of the way they look. Some of them just want a hug, or to be complemented. As the battle plays out they react to your actions and through the dialogue they give clues as to what action can get them to reach a passive state at which point you can end the battle with mercy. This makes every fight feel almost like some strange puzzle involving emotions plus it gives every single character a personality. The main gameplay of the battles is your defense which plays out like an absolutely crazy bullet hell game. You take control of a heart on a black box and the enemy will attack you with incredibly varied kinds of attacks that you have to dodge your way out of. The most simple ones are just objects that need to be dodged but as the game goes on it gets far more complex than that. The best part of it is that every dangerous object that is trying to hit your heart fits the character you are fighting, it's not some random shape and many times depending on your actions throughout the fight the kind of attacks employed will change sometimes even leading to healing possibilities. What is really amazing with this game is how unpredictable all of this is, just when you feel you have an understanding of how a battle or situation will play out the game will flip your expectations. This is most noticeable during the many fantastic boss battles. These take the bullet hell defense sections to crazy levels, some even turning into a full on shoot em up. If you go the pacifist route the battle will have full stories to go along with it. Battles aren't just battles in this game, sometimes they are self contained stories, it's so brilliant. Outside of the battles there is still a world to explore though it is rather small. This is a short game only taking about six hours to complete so the world itself is very small but extremely memorable. There are puzzles scattered throughout, which the game playfully acknowledges just how weird it is to have random puzzles. These are not hard puzzles but enough to make you think a few times and it works because it all fits into the story. For me puzzles are always a huge plus, when I saw that was so integrated into the game and story it felt like this was made just for me. The locations are fairly linear but there are a few hidden areas to find and some freedom to go back and forth through the world as certain encounters can change depending on how you play. The most important part is that it all feels like a living breathing world and just like the battles a whole sense of unpredictability fills the game as characters will interact with you in many cool ways. There is never a dull moment in Undertale. Finishing the story once does not really do the game justice. There are three main story outcomes and many other variations depending on what you do. The best ending, what I believe is the true ending comes from doing an all pacifist run which can only be done after beating the game in a neutral run the first time. Playing a second time doesn't start the world from scratch, characters will remark on actions you took the previous time, and there are subtle ripples of your actions that can be seen. Going on the pacifist route will lead to all new areas and brand new events that culminate with an ending that is completely different. Honestly the story does not end until you see this ending, it's incredible. The heart of Undertale is shown during the absolutely epic finale of the pacifist run. When it was all done I found myself with tears running down my face emotionally engaged in a way very few games ever do. I love these characters and I can't even bring myself to do the violent kill all run because I don't want to hurt them. Undertale is the total package, all elements coming together to create a great experience. The music has to be praised as it is perfectly old school with catchy tunes and memorable themes throughout. It ties with the actions and emotional moments so well, almost a character of its own. Even though one play through is short, multiple playthroughs are a must so it becomes a meaty experience, well worth the price. I will admit this is a rather simple game where the story is the main draw but the difference between Undertale and something like say Her Story and Gone Home is that Undertale tells the story through the language of video games. From the second it starts till the very end it knows it's a videogame, it knows the player is a fan of video games, and it uses fun game mechanics to drive the story forward. The story covers many topics in the realm of gaming whether it's geek culture, or a coming of age story, or having characters that feel socially awkward, it's all covered here but not in an in your face kind of way. The game spoke to me, it felt made for those of us that grew up playing old school games. Undertale is everything indie games should be, no major studio would try something so out of the box and unique. It feels so fresh yet familiar which is a testament to the skill of the developer Toby Fox to create such a balance of new but old. If the story does not capture you as it did for me this game perhaps this game may feel too simple and not that special. I have seen that criticism, it is not invalid, I still think it is worth the try. If it does grab you, if you end up caring for these characters there is so much to love. This is a special game, I highly recommend it. |
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Posted by Dvader Fri, 22 Jan 2016 02:40:39
Mon, 25 Jan 2016 14:21:50
It would be great to be able to post some screens with the review.
Mon, 25 Jan 2016 19:14:28
Can I post screens in the review section? I do it already on the ROF.
Mon, 25 Jan 2016 19:38:43
I've never tried. It works in the comments.
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