Undertale: Game with a lot of charm

Undertale, game created by Toby Fox, is a deceptively simple graphic RPG where the fate of a monster kingdom is decided by the player.

Starting as a unknown character after falling down into the monster world, the first character you meet immediately challenges your preconceptions of standard RPG fair by attempting to provide a quick introduction to the combat system which then leads to taking refuge with a kindly goat-woman. She then takes the player through the tutorial proper.

The end of the tutorial presents the first meaningful choice where it forces you to either fight or endure. I admit I committed violence in a mistaken assumption as the only way out and on reloading to commit to peace, the game was eager to call me out for what I just did.

However this tutorial encounter plays out, it sets the tone that about what type of play style you are embracing. It sets up the precedent that your actions have consequences and the game break out the 4th wall when one least expects it.

After all it is a world where humanity is seen as a tyrant and the reason the monsters are exiled to the world your character is traversing. Every monster is hostile but not out of entirely out of malice but more out of fear.

Does the player embrace the burden placed upon them either through mercy and attempting to build a rapport or does one live up to the stereotype and revel in the chaos that unfolds.

It does a good job making one feel something for the characters they interact with and regardless of the choice made showcases the consequences of those actions. It can be different for different people but for me the point from where the game captured my attention was one interacts with one of the skeleton brothers, Papyrus in a "deadly" duel to decide the security of the kingdom.

The further one plays the game the more of the world is revealed and the environmental story telling is of a interesting note, where there is a stark difference in tone between the extremes of the player choice. In addition to this, there are random encounters that the player has a chance to encounter during their travels and these can either be some tongue-in-cheek humour or allude to some deeper meta-narrative that is playing in the background.

It is done both with subtly and at times on the nose with how the players actions have an effect and how the enemies react in kind. It is a system that hides its cards well and rewards players in kind with non-tangible benefits and humour - both dark and light-hearted.

The path to the end is fairly linear with some secrets and addition paths to explore with the journey culminating to a point of inevitable conflict. Needless to say, how this conflict is resolved is dependent on player's actions throughout their playthrough and to get the most out of the game requires both a commitment to role, especially if one wants to experience everything the game has to offer.

The combat system is a turn based affair with you and your enemies take turns completing actions. You life is measured in HP which increases with level and is represented by your heart which is exposed to enemy attacks on their turn and one needs to evade any contact to avoid taking damage.

Monsters. on their turn, attack all at the same time and what is quite cleverly done is how every monsters' attack patterns are integrated with each other. Not every monster attack inflicts damage and there are attacks that require different strategies to overcome and makes the most of something that appears very simple on the surface but has moments where the movement of your character's heart can be intense.

Fighting is straight forward enough with the player getting a critical bonus if they can line up their timing to hit a sweet spot on a visual icon on the screen from a line that runs from left to right. You win once one defeats all the enemies on screen.

Acting, which is a clever mechanic where you "expose" your heart to try find out a peaceful resolution to conflict. The means to get an enemy to surrender has nuance to it and it involves trying to get an idea of what type of monster they are and exploit a weakness to your benefit. This is mostly done, benevolently, but there can be time were one needs to be a bit malicious to get a point across. It is a definitely a different type of play style but it is done in such a way that one starts to see a different side of monsters that resembles child-like innocence mostly. The is plenty of silly humour to be found playing the game this way however it feels right doing so and seeing the positive effect of your actions slowly influence the monster world is a pleasant gaming experince.

Arriving at music and I find it is great, its layering is well made while not being out of place. It has the energy to put a smile on one's face at moments and has the strength to elevate the poignant moments in the narrative very well. It has the ability to carry a lot of the emotions packaged in the themes while doing double duty conveying the words on display and the mood one should feel in scene.

Overall the game is a great representation of how good gameplay can be elevated by great music which complements the simple graphics to be able to communicate themes of conflict, friendship, hardship, determination and is able to speak where all that is on screen is words. 

It carries two distinct messages of showing the power of friendship and tolerance, which is wholesome journey that shows one overcoming discrimination and handling loss which is in a polar opposite direction of a choosing a journey that contridicts this and shows the effects of senseless violence in service of completionism while not shying away from showing the effects it can have on a theoretical world. It tries its best to stop you from making a mistake and if you still ignore it will leave a lasting impact on the player i

Images Sourced:

IDGB Undertale

Video Sourced:

Undertale Release Trailer