Undertale is a Great Video Game, and Here’s Why

1985 was the year when people showed interest in home video games since the Video Game Crash of 1983. An Italian plumber named Mario dominated the video game industry, when the game Super Mario Bros. was bundled in with every purchase of the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Fast forward to 2021, where a single skeleton dude with a blue eye dominates the underground. Chances are, you might have heard of Sans from indie game Undertale, whether it be a fan art of the pun-loving skeleton, or numerous remixes of his battle theme Megalovania.

Toby Fox's Undertale has received a good following— but why? It all comes down to the storyline.

It starts off telling a story where humans and monsters lived peacefully together, until a war emerged between the two, in which the humans were victorious, sealing the monsters underground. Years later, the player falls down into Mount Ebott. Legends tell that those who climbed the mountain never came back.

You could name your character, and there are some bonuses if you pick certain names! 😉 After then, your journey starts. All through out, you're introduced to a jolly flower named Flowey, a mother of the Ruins named Toriel, an up-and-coming guardsman Papyrus, and his brother Sans. There's a lot more characters, like Undyne, Alphys, Mettaton, and King Asgore.

What makes it totally great is that as you progress, the storyline depends a lot on your actions. You could choose to wipe out the whole underground and show them that monsters are the bad guys, or prove them that humans are good people by protecting the monsters of the underground, treating them peacefully in battles. That's the Genocide route, and Pacifist route, respectively.

If you've played the game and have no idea you could go either totally wiping out or making peace to the underground, and did a mixture of both, that's the Neutral route! Although… some would try out the Genocide route just to fight Sans, who some say is the hardest boss. At the end of your journey, you could restart your whole save to try out different routes!

The whole soundtrack, from a keyboardist's point of view, is just amazing. The different motifs are sometimes spread out through different tracks, some being very very subtle! Many might already know this, but Megalovania was originally made in 2008, for Toby's hack of the role-playing game Earthbound. (Or Mother. Whatever floats your boat!)

Overall, Undertale is definitely worth a try. It can sometimes make you laugh with its humor, and at other times make you emotional, whether you regret making a choice, or you feel moved by the character's story. To reach the barrier and escape the mountain, would you risk yourself to protect another race? Or would you risk yourself to kill all who stands in your way? It's all up to you.

That's it for my blog, and if you feel like giving up, like the game tells you…

Stay determined!