Undertale (STEAM) - Reviews | Steam

Undertale is a game developed by tobyfox and published by tobyfox for the Steam.

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Undertale Reviews

Overall 8.7 Graphics 7.5 Sound 10 Addictive 7.8 Story 7.8 Depth 6.3 Difficulty 5.8

9

Review: Steam Game - Undertale (Ohhhh Yessss!) AwesomeTrinket

About a week or two ago, I got Undertale! I owe a big thanks to a friend of mine, who was the one who gifted me the game on Steam. It’s a really fun game. I’ve played nonstop for quite a few days now, while recording myself playing, I think it was within the first half an hour of the game that I decided to do a review of the game. Mom suggested not to, since I didn’t know much of the game back then and I'd probably use false info, and she was right.

But now that I’ve gotten past the date with Papyrus (Those who flirted with him in the game should know what I mean) I believe I have enough info about the game to do a review about it that’s not as long as some of my others.With that said, let’s begin the review for a game that will Falcon Punch you in the feelings when you least expect it!

Graphics – 9

The graphics are very retro; sort of like the NES generation of games, like, for example, Mega Man 3, or even the original Super Mario Brothers game, if you want to go really far back in time. While it is retro, it doesn’t stray from the fact that this is one of the best games in 2015 and 2016. The graphics give you this nostalgic feeling if you played NES games as a kid, or even a bunch of them now, since they’re on Vizzed!

The graphics are very reminiscent of a game called Earthbound, which is actually the game that Toby Fox, creator of Undertale, was inspired by. When he made a hack of Earthbound, he got the idea for the game and a bunch of the songs in the game, like the ever-amazing Megalovania. Speaking of the soundtrack…

Sound – 10 (Can I please give this one an 11?)

Short version: The music will never be outdone by any other game in the history of games.

Long version: The soundtrack is, by far, once of the best that I’ve ever heard. While it’s probably computer generated, it doesn’t feel like it is, and for each scene, the song that it comes with fits in perfectly with the scene.

The music in the Snowdin Forest is peaceful and quiet, which is should be. Snowdin Forest is a large, roaming forest, filled with snow. Snow gives off the feeling of a somewhat eerie serenity if done right. For another example, Bonetrousle, which is the leitmotif of a skeleton named Papyrus, who thinks he’s so cool, is upbeat and actually sounds somewhat haughty if you listen to it closely. It’s perfect for a skeleton like Papyrus.

The best part was that the music was composed all by Toby Fox himself! He didn’t have a professional compose the music for him to put in the game; it was all made on his own free time, with the help of a Kickstarter campaign to put features in the game, which probably includes the great soundtrack. You also have the possibility to buy the soundtrack for ten dollars, but why do that when you can just pirate it off YouTube?

Addictiveness – 10

This is a very addictive game. There are three routes that you can go, which adds to the replayability: Pacifist, Neutral, and the Genocide Route.The Pacifist Route does exactly what it sounds like: To finish the game on this route, you can’t kill any monster, no matter how hard you want to. If you do, you’ll abort the Pacifist Route and go Neutral.

For the Neutral Route, all you have to do to get out of the Pacifist Route and go to this route is to kill one monster. You’ll be in between Pacifist and Genocide Route. There’s not really a lot to say about this route, other than “OH MY GOODNESS THAT FINAL BOSS IS TERRIFYING!” In order to do the final route, the Genocide Route, you have to, starting from the beginning of the game until the very end, kill all the monsters you encounter, including all of the boss monsters. The final boss is extremely hard. It’s recommended to do this route last.

Story – 10

The story always begins one way, you, the main character, fall into the Underground and have to find a way home. However, depending on your actions in the game, the ending will change. There are so many endings, and I’ve only seen one. Because the spoilers are so shocking and will probably completely ruin the Pacifist/Neutral route for you, I won’t talk about it, so unfortunately, this section is pretty short, unlike with most of my other reviews.

Depth – 8

There is a lot to do in this game. First of all, the two main things in this game are fighting monsters and exploring the environment, trying to find solutions and ways out of the puzzles.In the fighting scenes, you have four choices: Fight, Act, Item, and Mercy. For the Fight choice, you do exactly that. There is a white blade that goes across the lower half of the screen. In the center is where, if you can land the blade at the right time, can deal the most damage. It is not recommended to use this often if going the Pacifist Route, but a necessity for the Genocide Route.

The Act choice gives you multiple things to do, depending on what kind of monster you’re fighting. If you’re fighting a dog related monster you have the option to pet them, and so on. It’s recommended to use this often if going the Pacifist Route. The Item choice lets you eat healing items you have. That’s it. This is a necessity for all the routes. Finally, the Mercy option lets you either spare a monster or flee from the battle. You cannot flee if fighting a boss, however. This is a necessity for the Pacifist Route, but must not be used in the Genocide Route.

Difficulty – 7

Despite what I’ve talked about earlier, which makes the game seem like it’s easy, at least half of it are puzzles. What do these puzzles have to do with the difficulty, you ask? Well, at least 75% of the puzzles are difficult. There is one puzzle with a bunch of blue Xs on the ground, modified to sort of look like Papyrus’s face. The goal of the puzzle was to step on all the Xs and turn them into Os and then press a button at the beginning of the puzzle.

The problem was that if you stepped on an O, it would turn into a triangle. The puzzle doesn’t accept triangles, and if you step on the button when all of the Xs aren’t Os, it will reset the puzzle. So far, that’s the hardest puzzle I’ve come across in the game. If there are any other harder puzzles, I don’t know of them yet. There is a cheat/solution to the puzzle where you can instantly turn all the Xs into Os with the flick of a switch, but I won’t spoil it to anyone who’s new to the game. You will have to find that little secret out yourself.

Also, two more words: Annoying Dog. Enough said.

Overall – 9

First of all, this actually might be the highest overall rating that I’ve ever given a game so far! My recommendation for this game is: Buy it. It’s worth the ten dollars. Just buy it, no matter what, and play it. You’ll absolutely love everything about it. Also, this review is an assignment for my homeschooling. I'd like if I could get some feedback on it before I submit it to my Mom.

Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 10 Depth 8 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 5/5 Submitted: 04-26-16 Updated: 04-26-16 Review Replies: 3

5

No Hopes, No Dreams yoshirulez!
A controversial topic nowadays is whether or not Undertale is good. Now, unfortunately, the concept of good and bad has been blurred by the community's incredibly inane acts. It's reputation skews the concept of the game to a point where a lot of people denounce the game on account of the fact that the community is the most vile one since the Five Night's at Freddy's fandom, which committed the same acts or similar. What someone needs is for someone to review it from an unbiased, mostly objective position, and I'm taking that upon myself. Now, bear in mind, I will be giving my own opinions after I describe it objectively. Another thing, I will be adding a few new categories that most people probably wouldn't add. With that in mind, let's get right into it, shall we?

In September of 2015, the gaming industry was blindsided by the overnight success known as Undertale. Many people praised it for it's allegedly revolutionary design, reining in positive reviews ranging from a 90/100 score to 5/5 stars. Popular for it's "choices matter" design, many people might say it's the best game ever, and it got many Game of the Year awards already.

However, there are some core flaws that no reviewers pointed out, due to some unknown reason. Rather than listing them one by one, I'll list them when necessary as I go over and rate the various categories. A reminder, the ratings are subjective, but I will be talking objectively about it most of the time. If it is subjective, I will say as such.

Graphics and Design: 4/10. As some of you may know, Undertale takes after an 8-bit pixel-art artstyle. However, this does not excuse the poor quality of the graphics. There are many games with superior quality while still maintaining the 8-bit graphics style, and this is very apparent in contrast to such games as Stray Cat Crossing or other various games that run on a similar engine. The characters aren't pleasant to look at. They're ugly, they look deformed most of the time, and the detail is nearly nonexistant. If it wasn't pixel only, it would probably look more like a CDI game. While the idea of it being ugly is merely my opinion, the fact that it pales in comparison to other games is a fact. Simply put, this game would be a lot greater if the design was a bit more refined. I suppose it's good that it runs on more low-quality computers, but I do wish it were a bit more pretty. The character's designs as far as personality go are pretty generic too. You have a lesbian otaku professor, a lesbian fish knight, two skeleton brothers that just kind of exist, a ghost with no motivation, and goat people. Oh, and a flower that tries to kill you. Other than that there's nothing really deep about them. There are several fan theories about one of the skeleton brothers being depressed and another non-canon, fanon version of the same skeleton brother which doesn't fit his personality at all and is pretty much dumb. Not even the fanbase could create a decent personality, evidently. (Clarification, I'm only including the fact they are lesbians because it's literally the main focus of their personality and pretty much a plotpoint, at least in the less important part of the game.)

Music and Sound: 10/10. Now I know this is a bit high, but trust me, the music is the ONLY place that Undertale truly shines. Consisting of mostly chiptune, a genre that was previously unpopular, it inspired many people to try and take the same route and go with chiptune. Unfortunately, their aspirations fell a bit short as nothing quite compares to this game's soundtrack. This soundtrack was so popular to the point where a particular song, Megalovania, was the #1 most repeated song on Listenonrepeat for the US for quite some time. The craze for the game's soundtrack continues even today, with plenty of remixes, mashups, and the like. The soundtrack has many tunes from many genres, making it practically perfect for nearly everyone. Though, after a while, it might get a tad repetitious and you'll want to switch to something else. But the soundtrack is always something you can come back to once in a while, and that's really nice.

Addictiveness: 4/10. Ehhh... It's kind of complicated. For a multitude of reasons that will be explained in further detail further into this review, but I'll give you the jist of why it's so difficult for this to be addictive. For one thing, the depth is a bit lacking. Were it longer, it would be a bit easier. But sadly, it only has a gameplay time of a couple hours. RPGs are supposed to be longer, and that's what I was honestly expecting when I played this game. Needless to say, I was thoroughly disappointed that it wasn't longer. It might seemingly make up for it in ways not yet mentioned, but there's a fatal flaw in the design that makes it null and void, which I will explain later. Point is, limited amount of gameplay makes for a limited experience and limited addictiveness.

Story: 4/10. It's hard to talk about this because of spoilers, but I'll give you all you need to know before playing the game. Long ago, humans and monsters fought in a war, and the humans won and sealed the monsters in a mountain called Mount Ebott A kid falls into the mountain into a place called the "Underground" which is where all the monsters live. From here, you meet a nice woman named Toriel who invites you to her home. But that is short lived, for your adventure is just about to start. Toriel guards the gate to the rest of the Underground, which means you'll have to...

Depth: 2/10. Ohhh boy, here we go. So, this game is already short enough having a gameplay time of a little under a few hours, and not to mention -- get this, limited enemies to fight. That's right, you can kill everything. But the thing is, the game PUNISHES you for using the battle system. That's right folks, if you use the battle system (it's an RPG, remember this) and you kill everything, you're shoved into a gameplay mode where everything is increasingly harder and unfair. This is called the "Genocide" route. You see, your choices determine what route you take in the game. By default the first route you take is the Neutral route, which is probably the best route as it's one that feels more like a true RPG. Yknow, the thing the game is trying to be? It's not revolutionary because it's restrictive. That's not how things work. The game not only forces you to redo the game just for a new ending, not only restricts you to what you can fight, but even goes as far as to force you NOT to use features intended for use, essentially making it to where you're only playing half of a game you paid full price for. The third route, the "Pacifist" route, makes it to where you have to not fight anything. This will be explained in greater detail, but let's just say you have to talk down or flee from everything. Failure to do so will cause you to instantly revert to the Neutral route.

Moreover, you're forced to play all the endings if you want to know the full story. And another thing, each ending is canon regardless of the fact that they're entirely different from each other. It's bad design, in my opinion. Oh, and let's not forget how if you don't kill exactly everything in the genocide route, you're forced to revert to the neutral route. Make one mistake and you'll lose it all. Oh, and the thing is, the game even goes as far as messing with your save file if you take the genocide route. It has irreversible effects that can only be fixed if you use a fan-made tool. The game tries to keep you from it's practically nonexistent depth and that's bad design. A game is meant to be played.

Gameplay: 6/10. Believe me, I'd rate this at least a 9/10 if it weren't for the fact that it punishes you for using it. Every time you kill an enemy it just makes it harder for you in the end. The game gives you the option but says "Don't touch". Your other options aside from Attack are Item, Act, and Mercy. Act basically gives you the option of doing something that doesn't directly hurt the enemy, and actually makes them surrender so you can give them Mercy. This is the core design of the Pacifist route. In the Neutral route, you'll want to kill most of everything though, since you need the health for the final battle but still keep enough things alive so you don't go Genocide. This was annoying to deal with. The Attack button brings up a bar going left and right which you try to stop in the center to deal maximum damage, and defending turns the game into something along the lines of a bullet-hell shooter except you only dodge. This can range from platforming to using a shield, and sometimes even something reminiscent of Frogger. Every enemy has their own attack pattern that you must memorize to effectively dodge. Similarly, every enemy has a certain process in which Mercy can be achieved. It's not smart to mix mercy with attack in neutral, and its completely outlawed in the other two game modes, so that's a bit of a turnoff. As disappointing as that is, it only gets worse when you're met with incredibly boring humor that never made me laugh even once.

Difficulty: 2/10. Well, it's an RPG with practically no fighting. That means there's not much difficulty to it. The attack patterns are easy to read, the puzzles in the game aren't impressive, and the Acts you must do to achieve Mercy can be figured out with common logic and understanding of some of the characters. With that in mind, I managed to pretty much beat the game in a few hours the same day I got it. I had fun, but I could have had more if this game was a little more refined. For example, Golden Sun is a very refined RPG and I managed to sink over 24 hours of gameplay into it. If it tried to be better it could, but it wasn't feeling up to it I guess.

Overall: 5/10. It's an average game, it's fun if you don't pay too much for it, it's fairly short and for the most part it's a unique experience I guess. Although the concept such as "humans are the real monsters" are tired and done with, looking past it you can get a game with an amazing soundtrack. Undertale for the most part was sensationalized to the point where everyone had to try it, but then after everyone tried it, it kind of died out. The only part of Undertale that still exists is probably the people who make the remixes, otherwise the sensation is over and people are going to move on. Just like they did with Five Nights at Freddy's, and just like every other sensationalized game. The only thing I can really say about this game is this:

Restrictive does not equal revolutionary.
Graphics 4 Sound 10 Addictive 4 Story 4 Depth 2 Difficulty 2
Review Rating: 5/5 Submitted: 10-06-16 Review Replies: 2

9.8

Undertale: The Perfect Blend of Earthbound, Zelda, and... Touhou? ganondorf4ever
Undertale is possibly the best indie game, if not Steam game, if not video game, of 2015. Just as it says in the title, Undertale is basically a mix of Earthbound (which was actually a major inspiration for the game and is the favorite video game of the creator, Toby Fox), Zelda (there are a lot of puzzles), and Touhou (or other games of the same type). WARNING: The following review has SPOILERS! Do not continue if you've never played Undertale (and Radiation's ROM hack, Earthbound Halloween Hack: Bad Fur Day (which can be played on Vizzed, believe it or not (but it is M for Mature so don't play it if you're under 17)))! You have been warned

GRAPHICS: 8/10

Undertale doesn't have the best graphics. The graphics are 8-bit style graphics, and sometimes they could be dull. Some people complain about how plain and simple the graphics for the first area of the game, The Ruins, are. But they definitely give off a nostalgic vibe. There are some, erm... "realistic" graphics at the end of the Neutral Route (I'll give you a hint: it's the final boss).

SOUND: 10/10

Just like when I reviewed Pokémon White 2, the music in this game is very catchy and amazing. The music was composed by Toby "Radiation" Fox, best known for his music on the webcomic Homestuck. One track is very interesting: Megalovania. This was used for the final boss of the previously mentioned Earthbound Halloween Hack, Dr. Andonuts, when Toby somehow couldn't use Megalomania from Live A Live. It was later used for the flash animation, Wake, which is a very graphic Homestuck animation. Other tracks not originally for this game include Fallen Down (used in an album that had other songs using the Earthbound soundfont by various other people including Toby), Another Medium, Heartache, Nyeh Heh Heh, and Bonetrousle, with the last three originally for another RPG that was never made.

ADDICTIVENESS: 10/10

The game is very addicting. There are three main routes: Neutral (the main route), Pacifist (the good ending), and Genocide (the bad ending). The Neutral route is where you do not befriend at least one of the following characters: Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys. Pacifist is where you do befriend them and spare everyone. Genocide is where you... grind enemies until there are none left. The one thing everyone does in an RPG gets you the worst ending possible. But the gameplay is pretty addicting, too. Dodging all the bullets and attacks is pretty hard, but also fun. The puzzles are fun to solve, too.

STORY: 10/10

"Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: HUMANS and MONSTERS. One day, war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the humans were victorious. They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell." You are a child named Frisk (which is revealed at the end of a Pacifist Route, similar to Quote from Cave Story) who fell to the underground and must find your way to the surface. On the way, you'll meet many strange friends that bake pies, love spaghetti, sell hot dogs, go to cool leg, and other things like that. However, there are deadly enemies, like the homicidal flower, Flowey. You can either return home (Neutral), free all monsters (Pacifist), or destroy the world (Genocide). The choice is yours.

DEPTH: 9/10

The game has, like I said, three main endings. Within those endings are many things that may happen. There are many different Neutral endings, like one where the underground becomes a distopian future where the robot Mettaton rules over monsters, or when a small, white dog becomes the president of the underground, but mainly sleeps everyday. There are 4 Pacifist endings, half of them occur after you beat a Genocide Run. There are many locations, and there are things called "fun values." Similar to the Trainer Number in the Pokémon games, it is randomly generated at the start of the game. You can get anything, from a wrong number, to a nightmarish snowman on a word search, to a mysterious man named W. D. Gaster.

DIFFICULTY: 8/10

The game is a very easy game at first, but slowly gets harder. Some of the fights are easier than others, but it might be a problem if Mettaton EX, Muffet, and, believe it or not, Papyrus are harder than Omega/Photoshop Flowey.

OVERALL: 9.8/10

Undertale is a good game and if you haven't played it yet, then you should. You should also check out Toby Fox's other work, like the Earthbound Halloween Hack, his work on the album I was talking about, I'll Miss You - Earthbound, and his work on Homestuck.
Graphics 8 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 10 Depth 9 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 3/5 Submitted: 02-20-16 Review Replies: 3

8.7

Undertale Review supernerd117
Undertale is everywhere. You might have seen one of millions of fanart images while browsing the internet. You may have heard the music. You may have met a fan that tells you it is literally the best game ever. There are many of these. But why?

Let’s start at the very beginning.

Undertale was a game that kinda came out of left field. If I remember correctly, I remember it having something like 6 reviews on Metacritic, with a very high score. But only a few reviewers had reviewed it. I recall being excited seeing it because it advertised itself as “The RPG where you don’t have to kill anyone”.

It blew up. Youtubers saying “TRY THIS”, people blown away by how it broke their expectations, player reviews. And not to mention the soundtrack covers. Many Youtubers took to covering the soundtrack. That only added to the game’s reputation.

But what draws people in the most?

It might be the soundtrack, which is unique and satisfying in many ways. It might be the characters, which are lovable and awesome. It might be that actions have far more realistic consequences than those in many games. You *can* choose to kill...but the game makes it plain this is not the more desirable option.

The game requires an emotional investment. And here’s where things get crazy. When you kill, you are given EXP and gold. You “grow”. But everything around you starts to seem a little darker. *You* become a little darker. Undertale may go into the silly often, but only if you play it the right way. If you do not, it may become downright unbearable to play. The music darkly changes, the characters run from you, and the game takes pains to remind you of exactly what you are doing. The game even adds this twist: When monsters die, they die for good. No resurrection. They have souls that don’t live on. I believe this to be biting sarcasm, to the tune of, “You think you can kill without consequences in games? Games *will* affect you.”

Still, some may argue that Undertale goes too far. I agree. I think it doesn’t simply warn the player that they’re on the wrong path when they choose it. I think it belittles the player, in addition. Evidence for this is what happens if you completely go off the deep end, complete the game and decide to start over. I won’t tell you what this is, but know that it is quite dark and messy, and I’d argue that it directly contradicts the principle of positive change.

“But the game is so charming!” Indeed it is. And it’s one of the greatest games I’ve ever played, if not the greatest. But you may remember the definition of “great” from Harry Potter. People, and things as well, can be great, but not good.

That said, I think just about every gamer should play Undertale. It’s an excellent case study about what *could be*, even if it not always *is*. But I believe it should be approached as a case study, and not casually. And if you’re studying game development, I suggest you make this game required.