You know those games you always heard were ground-breaking and era-defining but you never got round to playing? The ones you know, as a devout gamer, you must experience at some point in your life?
Have you piled up 50 or so of these games over the years and need an excuse to play through them?
...No?
Well I do!
Welcome to Green Ornstein’s Bucket List of Games! Where we go through the classics, the gems, and the hyped to which we all went “Wow, I should play that...if I have time and it goes on sale”.
Will these games ring true to their reputations or will all those recommendations have been for nothing? Either way, let’s have some fun.
So lets venture to somewhere even lower than my sense of worth.
If I had to highlight one game out of the mass-grave of old video games I’m excavating, it’s Toby Fox’s Undertale (2015). I’m always told how this game is a phenomenon, the ultimate Indie Darling. Since it holds one of the top 50 highest rated games of all time on Metacritic, I’m encouraged to keep digging. I bet it’ll have a wedding ring I can pawn.
These conversations play out like this:
I say: “Underdale sounds great, what’s it about?”
And I get: “It’s a cult classic that pushes the boundaries of traditional RPG tropes”.
“Cool... but what’s the plot?”
“Toby Fox composed all the music himsel…”
“WHAT’S THE PLOT?!?!”
“I’m not telling you, it’s better if you go into it not knowing anything.”
“[incoherent swearing]”
It always ends the same way with mother. Playing Undertale blind appears to be the preferred experience among the fanbase. Oh Lord, the fanbase. From what I hear, the game has a following crossing the line from obsessive to fetishistic. Then again, what fanbase doesn’t rocket off the handle these days?
*Caresses All Might body pillow*
Don’t worry, I’ll abstain from serious spoilers, but let's start with what the game actually is. Gather round children and I’ll tell you a tale…
An UNDER-tale!
Once upon a time, humans and monsters had enough of each other's shit and did the healthy thing: start a war. Surprisingly, the humans won and the monsters were driven underground, sealed into a realm known as... The Underground. You are a small, gender-ambiguous child who falls into The Underground. Trapped in this surreal world, you and your weird haircut must venture through it to freedom.
There, that’s yer plot for ya. Or at least, that is but the platter that serves this pixelated pastry. Journeying through the underground, you travel to a range of environments, meet lots of colourful characters - many of whom want you dead - and uncover the mystery of the war that led them here...
...and what they intend to do next.
If you’re like me, you’ve gathered pieces of the jigsaw but can’t make out what the full picture is. You will likely know of the morality system, where you have the option to either fight enemies or spare them.
Unfortunately if you already know this, Undertale’s lost some of its spice. Players venturing in blind are more likely to fight, as they would in a traditional RPG. This means they wouldn’t know of the repercussions doing so has.
To summarise - for those who aren’t accustomed - you have 2 options when battling an enemy.
Option 1, “Fight”, involves using a metronome-like gauge to deduce damage output. It is quite difficult to describe, but there is one thing we can all agree on.
It looks like...
a vagina.
Whereas Option 2, “Act”, lets you interact with each enemy and deduce how to pacify them.
During the enemy’s attack, you become a red heart and must dodge everything the enemy throws at you. Each enemy has a different attack and you can encounter up to 3 at once. This gives you a bullet-hell of a lot to avoid.
I went for the pacifist route as I’m not much of a fighter. With that decision, I utilized 2 of my powers that I have honed since birth.
- Deduction.
- Avoiding people.
There lies the core gameplay encapsulated into a nutshell. It is a nutshell that is a key ingredient to the pecan pie that gives Undertale it’s unique flavor.
That, dear reader, comes from its world.
It is difficult to pin down any consistency within Undertale’s universe. If I had to summarise the aesthetic, it would be like if Alice in Wonderland (1951) dived into Tumblr.
But it is a world of unbelievable charm. It embodies that kind of creative freedom that reminds me of a bedtime story. You know, the ones that your parents made up as they went along. They would keep adding dragons, robots and whatever would make you happy. Yet you notice the dark twinges that arise the further you delve into the game.
Fox’s previous game designing experience came from creating ROM hacks of Earthbound (1994)*. Those who have played it can see the influence that game had. The surreal NES art style bodes a rather unpolished feel and adds a sense of childish wonder. I also reckon its efficient to do this when you have a development team you could fit onto a tandem bicycle.
The Earthbound comparison strengthens with the random encounters. Imagine playing Pokémon (1996-onwards) except they’re all insecure nerds on their way to comic-con. Electric mice and fire lizards are a thing of the past. Now you have a plane who has a crush on you, a giant knight you have to sing to sleep, and a floating eyeball you have to insult.
And these are the random encounters. Imagine the main characters.
Interactivity is key in Undertale. It isn’t vital to complete the game, but it’s essential for getting the intended experience. With the major characters, interactions equal dates. You know how it is, you start chatting, have dinner then one thing leads to another. Next thing you know, you’re in a battle to fill up your Date Power (that’s not a euphemism, it's actually called that in-game). This is somewhat eyebrow-raising when you consider what age your character is. It’s meant to be ambiguous like their gender, but I doubt this kid is old enough to get into cars with strangers.
That aside, most of the major characters recur as bosses. If spared after their battle, they each grow in depth as you interact with them more. Going all pacifist up in this bitch is worth it for the interactions. Some of these major characters are outright hilarious. I guarantee you are familiar with Sans, who has become somewhat of a poster boy for the game. He even appears in Smash Bros Ultimate (2018) as a Mii Gunner skin (which is ironic since he’s a skeleton). While he is entertaining, laid back and enigmatic, my love goes to his brother Papyrus. Imagine Waluigi joined Team Rocket but remains earnest and somehow even more grandiose.
It's the writing that earned Undertale its wings for me. This is also true of its humour, from Sans’ puns, to “killer” game shows, to competitive snail racing. It feels akin to a witty webcomic, which makes sense given Fox’s history as a composer for Homestruck (2009-2016). Fox himself claimed the silliness of internet culture was an influence*, which at least explains the game’s randomness. Since a majority of characters strike you as either YouTubers, furries or internet trolls, it's got laser focus on its target audience. I suppose that makes the fandom’s obsession and toxicity somewhat foretelling.
I am not an obsessive of the game myself, but there is one thing I’ve gone full screeching-stalker-fanboy for.
Dat soundtrack!
Undertale’s soundtrack has become one of my all time favourites. Its incorporation of both 8-bit and 16-bit elements make it feel like a high-quality list of fan-made Pokémon themes. This may sound limiting, but it does feel much more out of a desire to use that style than a restriction to do so. You’ve likely heard of ‘Megalovania’ and that's only one of many tracks that uses the retro style to its fullest. If you love the beepy boss music of yesteryear, then Undertale’s OST will tickle your regressive-hipster fancy.
You’ll hear your fair share of it if you go pacifist, which can be difficult to get the hang of. Going all peace-like gets annoying as you don’t know if you’re actually making any progress. I will admit I Googled how to pacify some bosses. Having done so, I can say there were some solutions that never would have occurred to me. Despite this, I do respect the peace mechanics. I suppose this is the point; you’re supposed to figure it out for yourself, and it makes each of the bosses feel unique in how you approach them. It certainly requires you to think outside the box (literally, for one case).
In fact, “outside the box” sums up Undertale perfectly. You can’t help but admire it when it throws something completely bizarre at you. It’s like eating a bacon sandwich, then some ferrero rocher and then some sushi. Each of those is good on its own but they don’t really have a consistency. It's audacious to the point that people question the game’s overall genre.
I legitimately saw someone ask if Undertale is a horror game?
I mean its not, but yeah, that’s how outlandish the game can get.
At this point, I may have given you the impression this game is flawless, with any issues being purely dependant on personal taste. Unfortunately, this would be the case if not for my arch-nemesis. Those who have read my Cuphead (2016) review know their name.
The Joker to my Batman!
The Blofeld to my Bond!!
The Hollywood to my humility!!!
Yes! It is them! KEYBOARD CONTROLS!
Despite the barrel-load of praise I can give to Toby Fox for game’s depth, I have niggles and suggestions. Expand the options menu to allow us to map controls. This would have been useful against one such boss. This instance becomes like a game of Galaga (1981) where your little heart can fire missiles at them. Having the arrows and enter right next to each other was hard for this bit as my nemesis mocked me from his escape pod.
While we’re here, I would suggest telling us what all the controls are. Alright, to be fair, you just need arrows to move and either 'SPACE' or 'Enter' to interact, but I was halfway through the story when I realised that 'TAB' skipped dialogue. This would have been good to know if you’re having to go through the same conversation over and over again. A skip dialogue button will inevitably get mashed like a masochistic potato, and it was annoying that nobody realised one small thing. Hitting 'TAB' repeatedly makes your computer ask to activate sticky keys.
Also it took me until the final boss to realise that 'F4' made the game fullscreen, which would have made the game much easier from the beginning. Up to that point, the game was just a little window in the corner and that’s not useful when the game is mainly about avoiding projectiles and hitting the right part of a damage scale. Your precision gets hindered somewhat when everything is so small.
See? It’s tiny.
This won’t be an issue with the PS4 and Switch versions, but PC was the original experience, so consider this a warning, Fox.
But the game seems very aware of its limitations and uses its randomness to great effect. It’s not just self aware, but self-referential, typically poking fun at contemporary RPG mechanics and even social media. This even ventures into metanarrative elements. I won’t go into that for the sake of spoilers, but all I’ll say is it's worth playing multiple times.
That’s another thing I should mention - it requires more investment than an 8-bit RPG would have you believe. That’s worth keeping in mind, it’s not a casual game, despite its appearance.
Undertale is a game I have a lot of respect for, and definitely think it’s worth playing. Yet I’m reluctant to put it as one of the best games I’ve ever played, nor am I likely to play it again, at least for a long while. Monsieur Fox admits it's not for everyone, nor was he expecting it to reach the heights it did.
But the real question is: does Undertale deserve it?
Mostly.
There are some minor tweaks to fix, and a better options interface wouldn’t go amiss. Going back to the bacon sandwich/ferrero rocher/sushi analogy, that’s pretty much the size of it. It will be strange, but you’ll remember it, and enjoy it. That’s my main takeaway. Despite its flaws, it’s a game with a lot of ideas, a lot of intrigue, and a lot of this...
And yes, it did have a ring I could pawn.
Or have a peruse of Green Ornstein's video game content.
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