Undertale

Undertale (stylized as UNDERTALE and formerly UnderTale) is a role-playing game developed independently by Toby Fox with additional art by Temmie Chang in the Game Maker: Studio engine.
It was released for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X on September 15, 2015; for Linux on July 17, 2016; for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita on August 15, 2017; for Nintendo Switch on September 18, 2018; and for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S on March 16, 2021.
Toby Fox has stated that official Undertale content releases will be noted on official accounts, or through the mailing list on the official Undertale website.
== Gameplay ==
Undertale is a role-playing game that utilizes many genre mechanics, mechanics, albeit differently.
The battle system in Undertale is turn-based. During the enemy's turn, they attack with bullet hell patterns. The Player must move the protagonist's SOUL, represented by a red heart, to avoid attacks. As the game progresses, new elements are introduced in the form of Attack Types and SOUL Modes. Attacks can be in different colors, some of which can heal the SOUL or be an obstacle. SOUL modes alters the SOUL's color and how it functions in a battle, and is often used during a Boss battle.
During the protagonist's turn, they can use one of the four options per turn: FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, and MERCY. FIGHT damages the opponent with a quick-time event. Selecting an ACT can change the opponent's mood, or reveal information on the enemy. Using an item can benefit the protagonist. If certain conditions are met, MERCY can be selected to spare the enemy, which ends the combat. At the end of the battle, GOLD is earned. Killing an enemy rewards EXP and LV, but neither are given if an enemy is successfully spared. Undertale emphasizes on the morality of killing and sparing the Monsters encountered, as the player's actions determine the ending. Unlike traditional RPGs, it is possible to complete Undertale without killing monsters.
The overworld mostly consists of puzzles that the player must solve to progress. Battles can also be seen as puzzles, as it can require the right set of ACTs to resolve the fight peacefully. However, if the player decides to kill every monster they can find, many puzzles are disabled. In this situation, the player is required to grind encounters to progress the game. Unlike traditional RPGs, grinding, backtracking, and the few sidequests are all optional.
Undertale features witty and humorous dialogue, with occasional fourth wall breaks. The dialogue and locations can be drastically altered based on the player's actions. This ranges from minor options, killing and sparing monsters, and the SAVE feature. For the latter, almost every major character possesses meta-knowledge. If the player quits or resets the game, these characters comment on the player's past action, or have a sense of familiarity from past playthroughs.
== Main Story ==
Long ago, two races ruled over the Earth: Humans and Monsters. One day, a war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the humans were victorious. Seven of their greatest magicians confined the monsters to the Underground with a magic barrier. However, this barrier is not perfect.
Many years after the war, in 201X, a human child climbs Mount Ebott for their own mysterious reason. It is said that those who climb the mountain never return. The child discovers an enormous hole in the mountain and falls in. After that, the story begins.
The protagonist starts off their adventure in the Ruins and soon meets Flowey, a sadistic flower who attempts to kill the protagonist for his own amusement. He is thwarted by a motherly monster named Toriel, who teaches the child how to solve puzzles and resolve conflicts in the Underground. After a boss fight with her, she allows the child to exit the Ruins.
The way the story progresses in the main section of the game is determined by the protagonist's actions towards the supporting characters and other monsters. The storyline, as well as much of the dialogue, can vary greatly depending on the player's decisions. The three main paths are the Neutral Route, True Pacifist Route and Genocide Route.
== Development ==
The earliest known screenshots of Undertale were posted in a joke thread in the PK Hack section of Starmen.Net, where Toby "Radiation" Fox jokingly claimed that the game would be an EarthBound ROM hack called UnderBound 2, this post also contained the earliest known publicly available version of Enemy Approaching, making it one of the first online posts to contain a song from the OST, after MEGALOVANIA and Fallen Down.UnderBoundEnemyApproachingnes2
The first known demo of Undertale was sent to the video game merchandising website, Fangamer, to play back on May 2, 2013. The game was met with positive reviews, so a public demo was later released on May 23, 2013.
Undertale was later funded through a kickstarter campaign with a goal of $5,000. It ended up receiving $51,124 from 2,398 people. Due to the short length of the demo, Fox expected the game to be completed as early as August 2014.
== Release ==
To promote the Nintendo Switch version's release on September 18, 2018, a special collector's edition was sold exclusively on Fangamer (the Nintendo Switch edition could also be bought at select Best Buy stores). The collector's edition includes the game's soundtrack and a music box locket, among other things.
== Version History ==
There have been five patches for Undertale so far; the current version is v1.08 on all systems except for Nintendo Switch, which is currently at v1.11.
== Reception ==
Undertale received "universal acclaim" reviews on Metacritic and is tagged as a "Must-Play" game receiving a metascore of 92/100 on both PC and PS4, while its Nintendo Switch release gets a metascore of 93/100.
== Trivia ==
* Toby Fox has cited many games that inspired him when he was developing Undertale:
** Moon: Remix RPG Adventure, for many concepts and themes.
** The Mother/EarthBound series: MOTHER 3, for boss battles and potentially re-using motifs.
** The Touhou Project series by ZUN, for music and gameplay.
** Shin Megami Tensei, for the ACT and MERCY commands.
* The developers used Microsoft Paint and GraphicsGale to draw the graphics and FL Studio 10 to make Undertale's music.
* On the official Undertale website:
** Inspecting the main website's page source reveals a hidden message. It is, "What are you doing? Looking for secrets? Don't put your nose where it doesn't belong. Or you might learn something you DON'T like... Hee hee hee."
** On the "ABOUT" section, two preview images has the fallen human's written name as Taco.
** The page title of the website's "DEMO" section is "UNDERTALE Delicious Free Sample."
* Undertale's official anniversary date is September 15, which is the original PC version's release date. It is confirmed in the Undertale/Deltarune Newsletter that the anniversary is often celebrated with a special event:For the anniversary of UNDERTALE, we always try and put on some sort of special event. - Undertale/Deltarune Newsletter, ISSUE 1 - Winter 2022
** 2016, 1st anniversary: features a separate, official Undertale blog, named Undertale Q&A, where various tumblr users asked Undertale characters questions. It was originally announced a day prior on the official Undertale tumblr.
** 2017, 2nd anniversary: different posts were made by the official Undertale tumblr and twitter:
*** The Undertale twitter announces purchasable Undertale content. It is Line Stickers, and the exclusive Playstation 4 dynamic theme, "Ruins." The latter depicts Home, with Waterfall's light blue stars overhead.
*** On the Undertale tumblr, Toby Fox announces that the Undertale Alarm Clock App is in production, and shares dialogue and interface previews.
** 2018, 3rd anniversary. Toby Fox states this in a tweet and thanks everyone. He also reminds that the Nintendo Switch version of Undertale will be available in three days.
** 2019, 4th anniversary: the Undertale twitter acknowledges the fourth anniversary, and the inclusion of the Sans outfit and MEGALOVANIA remix in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
*** As of 2019 and above, the Undertale anniversary is also celebrated with Deltarune content.
** 2020, 5th anniversary. Three were revealed, including new Line Stickers:
*** The official Undertale website has pages from the scrapped Alarm Clock Winter Dialogue.The dialogue on this page was originally intended to debut in the UNDERTALE Alarm Clock, an app that would have served as the vehicle for various humorous monologues from the characters. Development on the app has halted due to various circumstances, including asking the app developer to help with the development of DELTARUNE instead.So, rather than have the dialogue gather dust, I have taken an excerpt and rewritten it for display here. As always, it's recommended you don't read this dialogue until you've completed UNDERTALE. - undertale.com/alarmclock/ The dialogue's setting is implied to take place after the True Pacifist Route. The Alarm Clock App was originally one of the offered Undertale Kickstarter stretch goals.
*** The official YouTube channel also uploaded the UNDERTALE 5th Anniversary Concert. In the latter, there is also a piano-only segment exclusively for the video, by Toby Fox. It features Deltarune's My Castle Town, and improvised versions of Undertale's Snowdin Town, and Home (Soundtrack).
** 2021, 6th anniversary: New Line Stickers were announced.
== References ==
== External Links ==
* Undertale on Humble Bundle
* Undertale on GOG
* Undertale on Steam
* Undertale on the Microsoft Store (PC version)
* Undertale on the PlayStation Store
* Undertale on the Nintendo eShop
* Undertale on the Microsoft Store (Xbox version)
* Undertale/Deltarune Newsletter Archive, hosted on Toby Fox's Fangamer page.
* Official Tumblr blog
* Official Twitter
* Official YouTube channel
* Official merchandise, via Fangamer
* Undertale Greenlight trailer
* Undertale release trailer, September 8, 2015
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