Undertale: A Game about DETERMINATION!

Unless you've been living under a rock in the past few months, you've no doubt heard of Undertale and its critical success, seeping out of the indie corner finding its way into the mainstream. Seriously, I hate PC games, but even I heard about this game and the buzz behind it, and oh what well deserved buzz it has. This game, this game; I cannot even begin to stress how good this game is, but I will try, and I will try to do so with as little spoilers as possible, so let's get started!

Undertale is a Kickstarter game designed and almost fully made by one genius of a man by the name of Toby Fox, is an homage to Earthbound. For those of you unaware of what that game is, it was a turn based RPG back in the SNES-era that was decades ahead of its time. It was a well received little game that looked a little like this:

 

This is what Undertale looks like: 

It actually looks more like a NES game when you think about it.
That is where the homage ends however, as the game is a completely different beast. 

The story of Undertale pits you in the shoes of a gender ambiguous character (who I think is a girl because come on, look at those sexy pixels), who unexpectedly lands in a world of monsters, that have long since been sealed from the rest of human civilization, except the monsters are well... more human than you and me. 

The game is an RPG where you will fight monsters and gain experience points, and level up, all the while fighting bosses until you make your way to the last boss and finish him off,

or maybe you can just talk to them and you know, not kill them.

Straight from the bat, the game offers you the ability to not kill a single creature in the game.  Throughout any battle with any of the game's numerous 'enemies', you are always given the option to ACT and TALK to them, find out what makes them tick, then just use Mercy on them. 

Sure, you can ignore me, but look at my cute face. PLAY with me!

You can go throughout the entire game like this, or you know, you can treat it like a normal RPG and grind and become an unstoppable fighting machine. The point is the choice is yours, and what's great is that the world will quite literally change around you. The game becomes more ominous and less friendly the more you start treating it like a normal RPG. It subverts your expectations and flips the entire genre on its face by making you ask moral questions you never thought about asking.

The turn based battle system is also a testament to good game design. Instead of going through a menu and choosing what attack you'll do, you gain control of a heart and try to avoid the enemy's attacks like a proper shoot-em-up

Fear my FLEXING biceps mortal!

Needless to say, it's a small addition that goes a long way in keeping you engaged with the game. The battles are varied enough to keep you focused and entertained throughout the game's short duration (game can be finished in about 4-5 hours tops).

But what separates Undertale from the normal generic retro RPG is how the game carries itself. The game is self-aware, and I can't begin to describe how that feels. The game knows you're playing it, and the game just remembers. Remember in Metal Gear Solid how we all freaked out when Psycho Mantis read our Memory Cards. This game does similar things, except it's subtle and masterful, and I promise you, that the game will reward you the more times you play it, whether its trying to get all the endings (of which there are plenty) or just from comments the characters can make regarding how many times you've actually been playing the game. 

I also need to mention how amazing the music is. Also scored by Toby Fox, the game's many themes and anthems will keep you humming them throughout your day. Nobuo Ouematsu can take a lesson from Toby here.  The music is that addictive, epic and just fucking awesome. I urge you after you're done though with the game to go listen to this cover band cover the tracks and somehow make them more awesome.

All in all, Toby Fox has achieved something short of incredible with this very modest title. Clearly, much love has gone into it and it shows, and I urge anyone, ANYONE at all that has even the slightest of RPG itches, to play this game, not just to enjoy it, but to appreciate what the gaming medium, through small but visible differences can play on the player's mind and ensure a genuine experience. I have completely skipped how likable all the characters are so as not to spoil anything. Please, play this game but only if you have DETERMINATION (you will understand the reference when you get around to finishing it I promise). This is a game made by gamers for gamers that is just so much full of game.