Main Website (with demo version here)
My friends have been gushing about this game endlessly. This game has absurdly positive reviews from numerous gaming websites. Fanart of this game has been flooding the web like a tsunami since release.
Past experience has taught me that any media with this much hype has several inherent flaws that the fanbase is blinded to by the stars in their eyes. That, or I've been living under a rock these last few years.
...Perhaps I spent too much time cleaning my rock-roof.
Undertale is a GameMaker Studio-made RPG by Toby Fox of The Halloween Hack and Homestuck fame (though "fame" may be a loose term in Homestuck's case). The basic story is: long ago, there was a way between Humans and Monsters, which ended with the Monsters being sealed in the Underground. You, as a nondescript child (for obligatory player projecting) are playing by a mountain and suddenly stumble into this Underground, struggling to survive while confronting the denizens of this strange new world and finding your way home. A simple premise, certainly, but Undertale takes it and runs with it in directions you'd never think of.
There are three unique and important elements to the game:
1) You can either Spare or Kill enemies; every enemy, including the bosses. There are multiple approaches to both, and the game rewards craftiness and thinking outside the box.
2) During enemy turns, you have to actively dodge their attacks by moving your heart-shaped cursor (representing your soul) around in a little box, best described as a combination of Touhou and Mario & Luigi.
3) The most important of all... is something I'm not going to spoil, because it is also the main plot point of the game and will become apparent very quickly.
What I can spoil for you safely is that your decisions in these battles all have an affect on the world around you. Choose to play it like a typical RPG, killing only what's in your way in the Neutral path? You'll find it's like a mix Earthbound and Yume Nikki in its fantastic plot, surreal humour and liberal fourth wall abuse (Toby said he wasn't trying to emulate Earthbound when creating Undertale, but it ended up resembling it anyway). Choose to spare everyone you meet in the Pacifist path? Everything takes a much more heartwarming turn. Choose to slaughter everything for the hell of it in the No Mercy path? Everything takes a much more horrific turn. Everything changes depending on your actions and the challenges of the game change accordingly, especially in multiple playthroughs. The one static thing about the three paths is that the story will wreak havoc with your heartstrings.
If you aren't convinced and don't want to spend money yet, there's a link to the demo up at the top of this post. It includes things relevant to all three paths and has its own special knicks and knacks, giving you an accurate taste of what you're in for. If you do decide to buy it, it's only $10 USD, and another $10 if you want the soundtrack (which is freaking amazing, by the way).
In closing, I will just say this: my crappy, short review does not even come close to doing this game justice. There's just nothing more I can say without delving into spoilers, all I can tell you is that this really is a game that's best experienced first-hand. If you get into Undertale, I'm 99.9999% certain you will enjoy it.
Edited by SL the Pyro, 18 October 2015 - 11:29 PM.
