So — Undertale, huh?
When it first released in September of 2015, it set a large majority of the internet on fire.
It featured what many consider to be enjoyable humour, an incredible soundtrack, and a poignant story underneath it all.
But does it hold up today? Or did it just successfully pander to it’s 2015 audience.
Before we start, a brief disclaimer. I’m trying to approach this game from a primarily objective standpoint, I’ve played too much of it, and seen too much of the fandom, to truly engage objectively. But like, is true objectivity even possible? Probably not.
Additionally, this will contain spoilers for Undertale. It’s 2022, the game’s been out for almost 7 years. It’s like $10.
Let’s start with the negatives I see discussed the most.
First up, many dislike Undertale’s art style. Undertale’s art is the result of the work of primarily two people. The creator, Toby Fox, provided a large amount of the art seen in the game.
However:
- Concept art
- Overworld art
- Animation
- Shop art
and — Tile art
are all credited to Temmie Chang. While many see Undertale’s art as “amateurish” or “lazy”, this appears to be intentional as both seem fully capable of producing art in other, more “professional” styles. Although, it’s hard to tell with Toby as while there do seem to be pieces drawn by him that show these other styles, they are few and far between compared to his art taking on an “MSPaint” (which, for reference, IS the program used to create Toby’s portion of Undertale’s art) style intentionally.
Regardless of whether or not this was intentional, many still see it as a weakness. Personally, I find it perfectly acceptable, if a little crude at times.
The next criticism is the writing. While many find it endearing, others see it as trying too hard or simply falling flat more often than being funny or emotionally resonant. This is really too subjective to properly discuss, but in my opinion, the games strikes a good balance between emotional and funny, and that humour tends to avoid relying on the culture of the era it was
released in.
Finally, many see the gameplay as boring or repetitive. This, I believe, stems from a difference in what people expect from it. In a more traditional sense, the battles of Undertale may not be as “rewarding” as other games can achieve. I see this as intentional. In it’s pacifist route, battles reward no XP as one would expect from an RPG. There aren’t many flashy effects for
winning, nor is the reward you do gain (gold) that impactful. However, the reward you truly receive from the pacifist route is the writing and humour embedded within each encounter. Fights are absolutely loaded with jokes and little bits of personality that make Undertale what it is.
The genocide route, on the other hand, seeks to achieve the opposite.
Battles DO reward XP and gold, alongside slightly nicer effects for killing your enemies instead of sparing them. However, many may still see this as unsatisfying. This is exactly what the game strives for. The genocide route sacrifices actually gameplay enjoyment in order to deliver a narrative about the consequences of your actions. While “murder is bad” isn’t exactly an
incredible moral never seen before, it’s still delivered in a way most find effective. I could talk for hours about the genocide route and it’s melding of gameplay and narrative, and I would but frankly I’m already off-topic enough and if I go on one more tangent I’m violating a court order.
So let’s talk about some positives.
Undertale’s soundtrack is without a doubt a high point of the game. Tracks set the mood for each encounter perfectly, from wacky encounters with a depressed ghost, to overdramatic showdowns with a (slightly immature) god, to heart-breaking fights with the king of the monsters himself. Leitmotifs are blended into almost every song, connecting them and providing a sense of
cohesion. The obvious breakaway hit is Megalovania, which is ironically the only song that wasn’t made specifically for Undertale. There’s not a whole lot to say about the soundtrack. Music theory isn’t really my thing so I’ll conclude with the simple statement that frankly, this shit slaps.
Many also believe the game’s writing and gameplay as strong suits of it, but I’ve already touched on those in the section on negatives so I have little to add.
What’s the conclusion then? Is Undertale an overrated, overhyped piece of shit? Or is it the second coming of Christ in the form of a video game. Or maybe, just maybe, could it be somewhere in the middle.
Well obviously that last one. But really, whereabouts does it fall? Personally, I see it as a very enjoyable game with great writing that somewhat leans a little too hard on subversion of the genre’s tropes in order to provide it’s story. The plot is effectively meaningless without knowledge of the RPG genre as context, as without it a lot of references and jokes simply fall flat.
Even with this, the game is still easily worth playing and certainly a generally positive and enjoyable experience.
The main lesson other games could learn from Undertale is that there truly is a market for games that defy expectations and progress the medium as an artform, but frankly any studio that hasn’t gotten that already is probably doomed anyway.
I’d say that “I’ve rambled too long” but frankly this isn’t even that long, but I have grown sick of writing it so it’s time to wrap this up. This is effectively the first time I’ve properly attempted at writing a sort of “essay” about a game I care about, and I am open to feedback. So if you absolutely despise the way this is written, then leave a comment and tell me how I’m stupid, easily distracted, and boring. I eagerly await it, friends.
Oh, and if you have positive feedback I’ll take that too I guess.
