Undertale

***Undertale*** (stylized as ***UnderTale*** or ***UNDERTALE***) is a role-playing video game developed and published by indie developer
 tobyfox. The game was written, designed and composed for by creator
Toby Fox, with additional art by Temmie Chang, and was released for Microsoft Windows and OS X on 15 September 2015.

In *Undertale*, the player controls a human child as they
navigate the fictional Underground: a large, secluded region underneath
the surface of the Earth. The inhabitants of the Underground are called "monsters",
 a diverse and intelligent group who have been banished from the surface
 following a war with humanity. The child interacts with many monsters
on their quest to return to the surface, with the player making
decisions on whether to kill or befriend them. These choices affect the
outcome of the game to a large degree, with the dialogue and story
outcome changing based on their decisions.

The game received acclaim from video game critics, with particular
praise for its writing and characters. Reviewers enjoyed the game's
intuitive yet deep combat system, the contrast of its witty humor with a
 dark story, as well as its references to older role-playing games (such
 as *EarthBound* and *Shin Megami Tensei*) while still having a modern feel.

## Gameplay

*Undertale* features traditional role-playing mechanics, such as experience points,[1] an overworld, equipment, and health,
 though with several differences. The game casts players in the role of a
 child as they explore an underground world full of monsters who they
can either kill or befriend. The overworld lets the player navigate in a
 top-down perspective,
 visiting locations such as towns, shops, and large buildings.
Progression through the game requires interacting with puzzles and non-player characters, moving forward through locales. Save points appear frequently in the overworld, refilling the player's health while saving the player's progress.[2]

During battles, the player controls a small heart which represents
the protagonist's soul and must avoid attacks unleashed by the opposing
monster—in a similar fashion to a bullet hell.[1][3][4]
 As the game progresses, new elements are introduced, such as colored
obstacles which require the player to stand still or move through them,
and boss battles which change the way the heart is controlled.[3] The player may choose to attack the enemy, which involves timed button presses, earning EXP and gold for defeating them.[5] Alternatively, they can use the Act option to perform non-violent actions, which vary depending on the enemy.[4]
 If the player uses the right actions to respond to the enemy, they can
choose to spare them and end the fight without killing them—earning no
EXP.[6]
 The game features various story branches and endings depending on
whether the player chooses to kill or spare their enemies, and it is
possible to clear the game without killing a single enemy.[7]

Monsters will converse with the player during battle, and the game
will tell the player about how they're feeling or what they're doing.[8]
 The monsters' attacks will change in ferocity based on how the player
interacts with them, being easier if the player chooses non-violent
options, or harder if the player chooses to fight.[1][8] If the player fights a boss character on a second playthrough, their dialogue will change based on the player's actions in previous playthroughs, including whether they appear at all. The final boss of *Undertale* is different based on whether the player killed no monsters, some monsters, or all monsters.

## Plot

Long ago, two races ruled over the Earth as equals: humans and
monsters. One day, a war broke out between them and after a long series
of battles, the humans were victorious. The greatest of their magicians
sealed the monsters to the Underground with a magic barrier, while the
humans took control of the surface. However, the barrier is not a
perfect seal, and the only point of entrance to the Underground is Mount
 Ebott.[9]

Many years after the war, a human child falls through Mount Ebott and
 into the Ruins — a small section of the Underground. Though the
protagonist is unnamed throughout most of the game, later dialogue
reveals their name as Frisk. They soon encounter Flowey, a sentient
flower who attempts to kill Frisk for his own amusement. Flowey is
stopped by a motherly monster named Toriel, who teaches the child how to
 solve puzzles and survive conflict in the Underground. After a boss fight with Toriel, she allows Frisk to exit the Ruins.

Frisk ventures through the Underground in order to reach the barrier
located in the castle of Asgore Dreemurr, the king of the monsters. They
 learn that the king needs seven human souls to destroy the barrier and
free the monsters - of which he has six. Throughout the game, they meet
many monsters, which they may kill or try to resolve the encounter
peacefully. Among the monsters that the player encounters are Sans, a
wisecracking and slothful skeleton; Papyrus, Sans' enthusiastic yet
incompetent brother; Undyne, the boisterous head of the royal guard;
Alphys, the kingdom's reclusive royal scientist; and Mettaton, a robot
with dreams of super-stardom. The choices that the player makes
determine the route that they take through the story, as well as the
ending sequence. Further playthroughs are irreversibly affected by all
routes, with differences in dialogue dependent on the decisions made in
previous playthroughs.[10]

If Frisk at any point kills a monster in combat, or if relationships
with certain characters are not fully developed, the plot proceeds
linearly with Frisk progressing to Asgore's castle. Upon arrival, Alphys
 reveals that it is only possible to leave the barrier with a monster
soul, meaning that they must kill Asgore. Frisk confronts Asgore and
begins to follow through with this, though the player may eventually
choose to spare him before dealing the final blow. Unfortunately, Flowey
 appears and kills Asgore regardless, stealing the human souls and
transforming into a monstrous abomination that the player must then
defeat. Frisk wakes on the other side of the barrier and receives a
final phone call from Sans informing them of the state of the
Underground after their departure.

However, if the player successfully resolves every encounter in the
game peacefully and befriends key characters, Frisk learns that Flowey
is the deceased son of Asgore and Toriel - Asriel, inadvertently revived
 as a result of Alphys attempting to give the will to live to a vessel
with no soul. Despite Toriel intervening before Frisk fights Asgore,
Flowey ambushes the cast at the barrier and absorbs the souls of all the
 monsters in the underground. Taking the form of Asriel once more, the
souls give him the power of an angel of death
 - however, he acquires with them the love the monsters feel towards
Frisk and ultimately loses the will to fight, instead using his power to
 destroy the barrier and free the monsters for good before reverting
back to Flowey. The game concludes as the monsters begin to integrate
once more with the surface world.

A significant change comes as a result of killing every monster in
the Underground in one playthrough; Frisk becomes influenced by a
malevolent entity known as Chara, another human who previously fell into
 the Underground and was adopted by the Dreemurrs. Chara journeyed to
the mountain because they actually hated humanity; they died soon after,
 with Asriel also being slain the same night when he attempted to return
 their body to the human world. As Frisk reaches Asgore's castle, Sans
attempts to stop them in a climactic battle but Frisk is ultimately
successful in slaying Sans, Asgore and finally Flowey, despite the
latter's attempts to win Frisk's goodwill as a former friend of Chara.
Out of control of the player, Chara destroys the world and mocks the
player should they attempt to reverse their decision through resetting
the game. If the player agrees with the demand for their soul in
exchange for resetting the world, Chara makes several appearances in
later playthroughs and this change is irreversible without the deletion
or manual editing of hidden game files.

## Development

*Undertale* was funded through Kickstarter with a goal of $5,000. The campaign resulted in $51,124 being raised by 2,398 people.[11] Fox has stated in an October 2015 interview with *Game Informer*
 that he did basically everything except for some of the art, as he did
not want to rely on anybody else. Fox also stated that it took roughly
2.7 years to create the game. Originally, he predicted that the game
would be about two hours long, and that it eventually grew to three
times that size.[12]

Fox had gone on the record that he does not think about where his
inspirations are coming from, and that the writing was a combination of
everything he had ever read. He cites the silliness of internet culture as one of his influences, as well as comedy acts like *Mr. Bean*. He also stated that *EarthBound* has had a large influence on him, because of its unsettling atmosphere.[12]

In an interview with *The Escapist*, Fox listed off inspirations for the game: "The talking system came from *Shin Megami Tensei*.
 I feel that it's important to make every monster feel like an
individual. If you think about it basically all monsters in RPGs like *Final Fantasy* are the same, save for the graphics. They attack you, you heal, you attack them, they die. There's no meaning to that."[13]

Fox has stated that he did not want grinding
 to be necessary at any point, wanting people to be able to do it if
they wanted to while still making it as optional as possible. He also
did not want to introduce fetch quests, as they involve backtracking that he does not really like. He said that he likes *Super Mario RPG* and *Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga*, the latter having one of his favorite RPG battle systems ever, and that he wanted *Undertale* to have an equally engaging system.[12]

### Soundtrack

Fox discussed aspects of the official soundtrack in an October 2015 interview with *Game Informer*.
 He stated that he was responsible for the entire soundtrack, and that
he is a self-taught musician. He expressed that there were no iterations
 for the soundtrack, and that what came into his head was what he
composed. Some of the inspirations for the soundtrack include Super Nintendo role-playing games and the webcomic *Homestuck*;
 Fox previously served as a musician for the latter. All of the composed
 music is original, with the exception of "MEGALOVANIA", which Fox
originally created for an *EarthBound* ROM hack in 2009,[14] and later featured in the *Homestuck* album, *Heir Transparent*, where it was covered as "MeGaLoVania".[12][15]

Fox has stated that he likes all the songs equally, but his favorite
songs include the title track, "Undertale", and "Hopes and Dreams", the
former being one of the only songs in the game that went through
multiple iterations. He also said it was thrilling to hear remixes of
his music.[12]

### Future prospects

Fox has said that he has an interest in porting *Undertale*
 to platforms besides PC. He said that it would be great if he could put
 it onto a Nintendo platform, but he could not do that because
GameMaker: Studio does not support these, so that he would need to
reprogram the entire game.[12]

When questioned on the possibility of making another game, he said he
 would like to, with the knowledge that it will not be as successful as *Undertale*. He has not confirmed or denied a direct sequel, but added that he would think about it.[12]

Fox has also repeatedly said that adding to Undertale would likely
not happen unless for bug fixes, despite leaving "avenues for expansion"
 such as the game's parodious Hard Mode.[16]

## Reception

 GameRankings
 Publication
 Destructoid

*Undertale* received critical acclaim and is considered a cult video game by numerous publications.[23][24][25] The game holds an aggregate score of 94/100 on Metacritic,[18] and 94% on GameRankings.[17] As of November 2015, approximately 350,000 people owned the game on Steam, according to Steam Spy.[26]

Reviewers praised the game's unique combat system. Daniel Tack from *Game Informer* wrote "The combat is incredibly nuanced. ...every fight has its own special signature".[20] Austin Walker from *Giant Bomb* said the combat is "unconventional, clever, and occasionally really difficult. It's a surprisingly complex system...".[19] Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw from *The Escapist* claimed the game "manages to hybridise turn based and live combat elements in a way that actually fucking works".[27]

The game's writing was especially praised. Ben Croshaw considered *Undertale* the best-written game of 2015, stating "what really makes *Undertale*
 is the story and writing, which is on the one hand hilarious enough to
suck you in from the start, and is also, by the end, rather heartfelt as
 well."[27] Richard Cobbett from PC Gamer
 wrote "Even its weaker moments where it veers too close to reference
and inside joke oversaturation—the stuff of many a comedy RPG Maker
game—just about work."[28] Ben Davis from Destructoid remarked that "One of *Undertale*‍‍ '​‍s greatest strengths is its wonderful cast of characters and its extremely witty sense of humor."[4]

Some critics were less enthusiastic about the game's visuals. Austin Walker from Giant Bomb wrote, "it's something like a jaundiced Mother. Simple, but communicative".[19] Ben Croshaw remarked "It wobbles between basic and functional to just plain bad".[27]
 Other reviewers liked the graphics, with Daniel Tack summarizing them
as "retro and threadbare, the visuals successfully deliver the charm of
each character and setting".[20] Richard Cobbett enjoyed the "excellent use of simple graphics to convey emotion."[21]

Fox himself did not expect the game to be as well received, saying he
 "didn't know that people would like it as universally as it's been
acclaimed", and expecting that "people that were like me would like it".[12]