Undertale

Witty, poetic, and in particular a game full of fantastic ideas. It's a tribute to a ‘90 JRPGs that gains the maximum amount of fun and emotions from the seemingly minimal resources. [Issue#260]

It's hard to express just how much I adore Undertale without spoiling anything significant, but that's what I love about it. It tells its story in such a dynamic way, and with such a great understanding of the RPG player’s mindset, that it couldn’t have been told in any other way. It's a masterfully crafted experience that I won't forget any time soon.

Under its 8-bit skin that may not please every player in the world, UnderTale has a heart beating with some inspiring and truly modern gameplay and narrative elements, a great story, full of humor and emotion, and several memorable characters.

Undertale is fantastic in ways that are hard to describe. It's a love letter to RPGs, gamers, and gaming in general.

It’s rare for a game to so ruthlessly and completely nail the altered reality games place us in the way Undertale does. Whether it’s the nameless NPCs you always meet in RPGs or the hundreds of mooks you mow down with gunfire in games like Uncharted, Undertale brilliantly demystifies these conventions and questions why games are still codified this way. But even outside of its ambitious themes, it proves to be a compact, perfectly paced RPG experience with hilarious, tense writing and endearing characters. That it succeeds so completely in its thematic approach on top of all that is what makes Undertale a truly essential experience.

Undertale is a delightful, heartfelt game.

Regardless of its indie status, Undertale is one of the best and most inspired RPGs in years. By playing with traditional, turn-based mechanics, creator Toby Fox has crafted an experience with a legitimate surprise around every corner. If you have a PC and ten bucks, you owe it to yourself to play this amazing game.

Undertale is one of the most unique efforts seen in indie gaming. Combining a love for the old with a willingness to innovate and utilize game mechanics to express ideas, rather than a binary input-output, this game should be on any and every one’s radar.

In the case of Undertale, I can’t think of one particular flaw or a way it could’ve been made more enjoyable. As is, it is as perfect as anything could be in this imperfect world of ours.

It was a whispered reminder that great games can do more than impress with sheer complexity and breadth, they can also draw us in close to them as to engage with our humanity.

Undertale provided me with many hours of laughter, happiness, and warm, fuzzy feelings, all the while surprising me with some truly sad and shocking moments out of the blue. It's the kind of game that I'll want to replay many times in order to see how all of the various choices play out, and I'm sure I will remember it fondly for years to come.

Entertaining, surprising, mind-breaking: Undertale is a labour of love that inspires exactly that emotion.

It’s been a long, long time since this style of RPG has grabbed me as Undertale has, and even longer since a small independent effort has been so ambitious, impressive, and unquestionably successful.

It is an outstanding creation I highly encourage anyone to go out and buy this game.

Undertale is a masterpiece. Fresh, fun and unique, and one of those games you should play if you think you love video games.

A masterclass in storytelling with its memorable characters and soundtrack. Undertale is a phenomenal experience overall.

This very simple jRPG is the funniest game I have ever played. [12/2015, p.68]

A masterpiece. Don’t overlook this game for its retro graphics or pseudo-jrpg structure, it is pure genius. Undertale takes the jrpg genre, deconstructs it and enriches the whole experience with amazing writing, a fantastic storyline and a truly intelligent approach to “battles”. Seeing that games like these are still being made is truly a joy.

Undertale may not be the prettiest game at the ball, but it is a fantastic, unique take on a classic genre that defies all expectations.

An unforgettable tale about the value of friendship, forgiveness and the consequences of our actions, narrated with a brilliant sense of humor. It's not the best game ever, but you won't find any with more SOUL.

Undertale fills me with determination. The biggest surprise of 2015, a unique masterpiece. [Dec 2015]

The fact that this is basically a one-person project only makes it more impressive, from the excellent use of simple graphics to convey emotion, to the fantastic lo-fi soundtrack. It may or may not be the best RPG you play this year, but it’s certainly going to be one of the most worthwhile—as memorable as anything in, say, The Witcher 3, and every bit as worthy.

With multiple endings based on how you choose to play out your run, set pieces that can play out very differently based on your actions and so many incredible moments that we’d love to share but daren’t do so for risk of spoiling anything, Undertale is easily one of the indie standouts of last year.

I like games that don’t take themselves too seriously and there is a whimsicality to this game that I love. The experience of playing it is nothing short of enchanting.

Undertale does perfectly what few other games have achieved: it offers solid and fun game mechanics, it displays a deep narrative both in large scale and in day by day stories, and it delivers a consistent and coherent universe. None of these elements would make sense separately, and together they make one of the most extraordinary video games in the recent years.

Undertale is a fresh and original indie adventure: great story, great characters and a wonderful soundtrack.

One of the best games of the year and in many ways a work of art proves the rule "never judge a book by its cover." Undertale is not for everyone and it works better without any spoilers, but it is a title – without an exaggeration – like no other.

Without spoiling the many ways it will screw with your expectations, it isn't possible to truly capture how wonderful Undertale is. You wouldn't know it with a passing glance, but it's one of the most progressive and innovative RPGs to come in a long time, breaking down tradition for the sake of invention, with great success.

It's original, smart, funny, bestowed with a great story. A great RPG, one you shouldn't miss.

Undertale is like Earthbound if it were a Hayao Miyazaki movie: strange, interesting, and profoundly unique. The ways in which each little choice can affect the game will constantly keep you guessing, and its multiple paths are each truly moving experiences capped off by a “true ending” that actually had me weeping by its sheer force of power.

Toby Fox's work is not just an anecdote: it is perfectly well-thought out. It hides something that connects directly or indirectly to anyone who has spent too much time with a gamepad in his hands.

Undertale is absolutely unique. It's a RPG masterpiece full of weird characters and a moving message.

There is so much humour, love and imagination to be found in Undertale that one can hardly resist. The 8-bit visuals aside there is so much to find in here that I can recommend it to any fan of old school JRPGs – and all without fighting. Awesome.

Fight or talk? Undertale is a game about the possibility of dialogue, even when it seems that we should use violence to advance.

A mesmerizing emotional trip, Undertale is an indie prodigy full of whimsical humor, battle system innovations and deep moral decisions, even if it feels underdeveloped at some points. You will not be the same after you play it.

Undertale is a superb indie role-player that proves once again that it’s not graphics that make a game entertaining but gameplay and great ideas.

Quibbles aside, Undertale offers a great story with excellent dialogue, a truly fantastic soundtrack and tons of unique, clever, and occasionally demented twists on RPG genre tropes that aren't just window dressing or subtle winking nudges to the player. It's not a perfect game, but it is a great one.

Undertale creates immersion in its own unique way. Completely freed from the standardized techniques modern games use to entice players into their simulations. Great soundtrack, an innovative combat system, and some really memorable characters makes this a quaint little piece of entertainment, despite some flaws.

Although it starts as an utterly mediocre game, Undertale slowly builds up to a meaningful adventure. It cleverly breaks the fourth wall presenting a humorous and touching critique on the way genocides casually occur in the monsters population of predominantly JRPGs.

Calling Undertale a strange game would be wrong. The story is bizarre, the characters are fun and the scenes are funny. Plus, this RPG can be very surprising. The problem Undertale is struggling with is that you do not really have the power to influence the story at all and there are a lot of long fights you have to get through to see everything this game has to offer.

Its limited combat options and often obtuse puzzle solving, alongside the sheer endurance required to survive boss fights long enough to end them, add up to a system that doesn't point to any elaborate moral insight. It simply points to itself.