im trying out something new so im going to start making reviews of games i really like just because i can.
anyways, on to the review!
this game masters its comedy, game feel and pretty much everything in the first encounter with flowey. first: it introduces the player to the mechanic of the soul, and then immediately subverts this by having the seemingly friendly flower guy try to kill you, just for him to fail and for the player to meet the actual tutorial character, Toriel, who's name is a pun.
it then further refines it comedy and feel with that one froggit encounter, and then shows off its amazing character design
each design in undertale is clear and easy to understand, Froggit is a frog, whimsun is a moth, moadsmall is a jelly thing and Toriel is a goat!
and then for its writing, its clear that a lot of love and effort was put into the game, because all of the dialogue, text and descriptions are filled to the brim with personality. nothing in this game feels untouched and unloved. i feel like the best show of this would be water sausage. you see a plant, and the narrator doesn't know what type of plant it is, you then go into Toriel's room and read about it, and next time you check it, it calls it a water sausage!
and when talking about the game writing, one cannot under mind the amazing "its you!" and "Despite everything, its still you" lines.
sans and Papyrus show off the games comedy and characterization even more! sans is a lazy pun making skeleton that uses one of the most hated fonts in the world (comic sans)
Papyrus is an eccentric lovable goofball who uses the less-hated-but-still-not-well-liked font of Papyrus
and then, they are both named after their fonts, and they are also the only characters that speak using a different font instead of the default one!
and then, once you fight Papyrus, the player is introduced to a new game mechanic in the form of the blue soul mode, which is a really interesting way to introduce the mechanic of soul modes, introduce it in a low stakes environment. the Papyrus fight also only makes his character even better, having it be impossible to die in the fight, having you only be sent back to the shed instead, which is amazing game design in my opinion, because it shows off Papyrus personality VIA his mechanics!
Undyne is set up as this menacing threat that will kill you without mercy. Then the fight starts and she takes off her helmet, and shows off that she is fucking insane. One of the flavor text lines is literally "Undyne suplexes a Boulder, just because she can". And you spare her not by acting, but by doing the most sensible thing you can do, running away! Only reason she stops chasing you is because she pases out due to the heat of hotland! And also the green soul mode is just an amazing idea, forcing the player to block incoming attacks is an amazing concept that is executed near perfection!
Hotland has my probably favorite character(s) in the whole game, those being mett- RG1 & RG2!
obviously i kid, but i do like those 2, very likable characters and i do love em! but anyways, i was talking about Mettaton and Alphys. these 2 are just my favorite little brorbos. Mettaton making flimsy excuses to kill the human while Alphys tries her best to stop that. and then its revealed in Mettaton's boss fight he was helping her stage all these moments of competence so she could look COOL INFRONT OF YOU! and then, of course, the sans dinner. while this scene is amazing, what i like about it more is sans' immediate backpedaling after threatening you. he shows that, despite being able and willing to kill you at a moment, he doesn't want to act. he is still, despite it all, a lazy skeleton who likes to make puns and jokes. now the Mettaton boss fight is something i just love. the idea of having to appease the audience mid fight is superb, and turning the game into a shooter bullet hell hybrid is an amazing idea, and like with all the rest, also amazing in execution!
then we have the judgment hall, where sans is shown to know a LOT more then he let on the first time. but he then just goes "but idrc so im rooting for ya kid"
the Asgore fight is one of tragedy and an ever furtherly tragic obligation. Asgore, despite what everyone has said, does not want that final human soul, he does not want to have to kill the 7th and final child. thats why he's so willing to be spared in the ending.
then flowey appears, says "FUCK YOUR HAPPY ENDING DICKHEAD!" and forces you into a boss fight you simply cannot hope to win. the only canon reason you are able to come back in this fight is that flowey himself is bringing you back so he can torture you more! its amazing.
but alas, the human souls revolt, and flowey is taken out. yet, you can still choose to spare him. despite all the evil he has done, all the people he's killed and brought back and killed again, you can still chose to spare him.
the pacifist run is so much funnier & ties up a lot of loose ends. it shows the depth of Alphys desperation, it shows her pure lack of self worth, it shows just a lot more then the neutral one. and then asriel dreemurr... oh where do i begin?
well i can begin with the amazing themes of hopes and dreams alongside SAVE the world. both of these themes just show how powerful Asriel is, yet they also show just how powerful the players determination is!
and then, that final scene showing Chara and Asriel's first meeting is just gut wrenching. and then showing that frisk isn't the player in the final few scenes is just gut punching.
but that isn't it all. anyone else would call it a day, say the game was fun, but kinda short, and go on to play other games. but, some people weren't satisfied, they want more out of game, they want to see everything the game has.
and so begins the genocide route, and it is brutal. there is no sign that it even exists, and to access it you need to kill everything. not just everything in your way, but everything you can get your grubby little hands on. only once the ruins are cleared out, and the only message being shown in the lack of battles is floweys "but nobody came" line. something once used to mock your sense of friendship and hope is now used to show you are done with killing, and no one else is LEFT.
and Toriel really hammers home that feel of "you are a monster, you know that?".
snowdin is empty by the time you reach it, shop keepers gone and begging you to spare their families. and yet...
papyrus still believes in you. he still believes that with just enough love, not LOVE, he can get you to change. many people give up here, but for those who continued, something is coming for them...
waterfall goes by just like the ruins and snowdin, until the bridge scene, where normally you have to chose between letting monsterkid fall or saving him. instead, he tries to fight you, and if you decide to fight back?
Undyne takes the hit, and begins to fade away to dust, just like the others.
but Undyne isn't like the others, is she? she wont die, not just yet, not when her people need protecting! and so, Undyne refuses to die, transforming into Undyne the Undying! this boss fight is hard, and finally cements that by doing this, you are no longer the hero of the story, you are the villain. but, for how hard Undyne is, she cant match the player. someone who can reset, load, learn from every mistake made. Undyne will die, and with her, the final hope of monster kind.
hotland has you grind even more then the last 3 sections. even then you aren't done, as after learning Alphys is evacuating everyone, and killing muffet i forgot to mention her sorry, you have to kill everything in the CORE as well! and after all that, you get this build up to another epic boss fight VS Mettatons strongest form, Mettaton NEO!
he then dies in one hit, says a cheesy one liner and explodes.
is this good game design from a purely mechanical and payoff point of view? no. but that was never what this route was about, this route is the player grabbing the game by its neck and shaking it for all of the content it has. this is the game going "no, fuck you, you aren't getting a cool boss fight! go screw yourself!". the game isn't judging you like you're killing real people, its judging you because you are rejecting everything it goes for, and this is the game pushing back.
then comes sans. now, if you've been on the internet the past 10 years you know about sans, but if you dont and this is your first time playing? this is new.
sans fights you for once, and he DODGES? Sans is the only enemy that dodges, and does so because you pretty much one shot every other boss, so he cant afford to have that same fate befall him.
he abuses his technically low attack stat by removing invincibility frames. he attacks you while it isn't his turn. if Undyne was hard because she was strong, sans is hard because he just cheats and beats your ass over it. he literally overtakes asgore in the death screen when you try and spare him just to taunt you! so, how does one go about killing someone who cheats? well, you just need to cheat back. and so, the player has to push the battle box out of place to reach the fight button, only after sans falls asleep. then, the player has to cheat further and attack twice in their own turn to land a shot.
Asgore is killed before he can even react, and then sneak attacked by flowey. flowey then begs the player not to kill him, but even so, the player wants everything they can get out of this game, and so even the flower has to die.
then, chara appears, and tells you that you're done, you did it all, and then not-quite-literally-but-they-might-as-well-have-said to DELETE THE GAME. no matter what you pick, chara will say "since when were you the one in control" and practically brick the game.
the Genocide route has the characters in game judge you for killing everyone, and the game judge you for playing so very much against its main thing.
overall, undertale is an amazing game, and i wouldn't be the bunny i am today without it.
bunny reivew: 10/10. a cult classic for a reason, would recommend
Soooo, I finally got the chance to play this game after a long time. I've been wanting to play this game for a very long time, but I've always postponed it. And now I regret postponing it because it's a great game, it made me wish I'd played it earlier.
I care more about the story than the graphics in the games I play.
While playing the game, I was drawn into the story of the game, and when I finished the game, I felt like saying goodbye to people (?) I've known for a long time.
Basically, humans drove the monsters to underground which has become the home to the monsters, and a human child falls into the this underground and story begins.
According to your choices, the game has multiple endings. If you have never played the game, I recommend that you play it without any spoilers for better experience.
If you haven't played the game and you care about deep and meaningful stories in the game, I definitely recommend you to play the game.
The characters are very well written, plus soundtracks are amazing...
Undertale OST: 063 - It's Raining Somewhere Else’s is my favorite so far.
NOW IT'S TIME FOR A REVIEW WITH SPOILER, if you didn't play this game before please don't read.
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First of all, I didn't play genocide run, I spare all of the monsters... because I really liked all the characters and I didn't want to attack them. ╯︵╰
But I might have killed Toriel first because I was trying to get used to the game and to see if I could reach different endings at the very beginning of the game. But then I searched without spoilers and found out that the game did not end at the beginning of the game like other games I've played. Then I restarted the game. I was a little scared with Flowey's breaking the fourth wall.
These little chit chats with Sans really warmed my heart. Especially, the cutscene where we had dinner with Sans. The soundtrack, the ambience, the dialogues, everything was amazing. It was like taking a break from all the panic and no disco.
Since I am one of those who gets caught up in the atmosphere of the game, this scene made me feel very comfortable. (≧◡≦)
And ''... you'd be dead where you stand'' part somehow was not scary to me... I don't know why. But I did a little laugh that between awkward and scared.
Either because of the music or the character, Mettaton's fight was my favorite, this fight was the one I had the most fun with. Other than that, Asgore's, Muffet's and Undyne's fights were so hard for me...
I really liked all the characters, but my favorites are Papyrus, Mettaton, Sans and Toriel.
I'm not gonna talk about Neutral or True Pacifist endings.
I didn't do but watched the run video of the Genocide ending, it was really scary. So in this run the game doesn't become scary for us, what we become is scary. Asgore can't even recognize you as human anymore in the Genocide ending... now that was terrible. In this route who was real monsters really?
''My brother would really like to see a human. So it would really help me out... if you kept pretending to be one.''
That. That broke my heart.
In short, the game made me laugh, upset, excited and sometimes scared. Now I'm thinking about playing Deltarune too. I'm sure Deltarune is good as Undertale. I wish I had played the game without postponing and experience this feeling way sooner. But better late then never, right?
Also Available on: PS4, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, and Linux
Long ago, Humans and Monsters lived on the Earth peacefully. Then, war broke out between the two races. Humans, being more organized and powerful, won the war. The Humans drove the Monsters into the Underground, and sealed the entrance to the Underground with the power of seven spellcasters. Ever since then, the Monsters have had to live in darkness, as they require seven human souls to break the barrier to the surface and reclaim what is theirs. Six children go missing when they climb Ebott mountain, where the opening to the Underground is located, never to be seen again. You climb that mountain one day, and you fall into the Underworld. You are child number seven to have fallen down here. What happened to the other children? What dangers await down here in the shadows? How will you escape?
Undertale is a strange game to say the least. It looks like a Gameboy color game and has the good old fashioned basic RPG elements of an NES game. However, it also incorporates elements from bullet hell shooters into the core gameplay. When this game first hit the Steam store in 2015, it was all the rage. Reviewers gave it 9’s and 10’s and it instantly received a large and loyal fanbase that is still around to this day. Most indie games that receive such acclaim like Bastion, FEZ, and Limbo lost their large fan bases after just a few months. Part of why I bring this up is because this game is still so popular that it got released on PS4 and PS VITA in August of 2017, and is rumored to be coming to Xbox One and Nintendo Switch later on (at least at the writing of this review). Part of why I’m even adding to the pile of reviews for this game is to understand and share why I think this game was, and still is, so popular.
Let’s start with the gameplay. The game centers itself around basic RPG mechanics such as leveling up and slowly collecting new and better pieces of equipment to do better in battle. The combat system is what makes Undertale unique however. The battles have two main mechanics. The first is how the player attacks. This is simply a timing game where you click “X” when a line falls into the center of an on-screen attack gauge. The center does the most damage while the fringes do little. The enemies attack in a far different manner. You will have your soul, represented by a small heart in the center of an on screen box, while the game enters a bullet hell-esque shooting fest. You will have to maneuver your soul around the various projectiles the enemy throws at you for about five or six seconds before you can attack again. I like this set up. While the old but reliably fun turn-based combat we have seen in games for two decades now is great, this new twist on things really adds to the game’s overall worth. The developer didn’t take the easy way out either with static images and text boxes. He actually made a game where things have constant motion and sound and use a simple concept in a different way and setting. This alone is probably what made the game so popular.
Outside of combat the game has a variety of puzzles. They start out simple but slowly get more difficult over time, requiring more timing and precision from the player. Most of the puzzles involve the player trying to get from one side of the room to the other. The puzzles are well thought out and gain the right amount of difficulty over time, but they are definitely second to the game’s combat.
My only critique of the gameplay would have to be the difficulty of the combat. For most of the game you will fight pushover enemies that die in one or two hits, and early boss battles can be Idiot-proof. But near the end of the game, particularly with the last two bosses, the difficulty is ramped up. The bullet hell screens will be filled with projectiles and attacks will do heavy damage to the player. Having a difficult boss battle isn’t an issue, especially considering that many big game developers have shitty QTE (quick time event) bosses that only take minutes to defeat. But the issue is the sudden and annoying spike in difficulty that can really screw the player over.
The story is short, with the game only being about four and a half hours long. But this adventure is packed with content. The story has a very humorous and family-friendly vibe to it. With it’s 90’s GBC graphics and wondrous soundtrack the really carries a sense of hope and fulfillment with it. It’s rare that a game can make me laugh and have a decent story. Not a single word of dialogue is spoken throughout the entire game, yet it is still able to communicate what is happening in an effective manner. This story has one, and really only one theme to it: hope. I know that may sound cliché and weak, but in a time when most games only have stories about death, destruction, and pain, something about hope is nice, and I think that many people who played this game and still talk about it agree with that.
Aside from the core story and gameplay, is there really anything else here? Not really. With the game only clocking in a 4-5 hours in length, you can’t expect more than those two fundamental elements to be present. Other than some extra puzzles that can give you some cool items and some passageways that open up on your second playthrough, there isn’t much here. But for 15 dollars it’s well worth it. Even on my PS VITA TV the minimalist graphics still looked great. They really blend together with the story and along with the soundtrack.
Overall, I think that people really like this game because of its simple but engaging gameplay and a story that has an upbeat and meaningful message. This game is perfect to play when you want to relax, and really, is just a good to play at any time. I like the minimalist art style, the soundtrack that has elements of wonder and concrete action, and the bullet hell sections that are influenced by RPG mechanics. This is a great game that can be played on any platform, regardless of screen size or technical specifications. It’s rare for a game so simple to be so deep, and yet it is. In reality, I thought I was going to end up bashing this game because of all of the shit I see from screaming 12 year olds. But in the end, the game got me. I enjoyed my experience and I think you will too.
I am giving Undertale a 9 out of 10
Pros:
Great story
Awesome bullet hell combat with RPG twist
Man, I just can’t get enough of that minimal, simple vibe
Undertale. The game that people just won't shut up about.
Now believe me, I like Undertale. But it definitely isn't the best game I've ever played.
Before you guys start going “WHOOOATT?!! Undertale isn't the best game ever to Jacques? Blocked!”, hear me out on this reasoning.
If you think this game is godly, that's fine! This is just my opinion on the game.
Story
Undertale definitely has one of the best storylines of a game that I've seen in a while, but it's really just because of the good characters and unique battle style.
To me, the whole “fallen human” and escaping thing seems a little bland, but the battle system and pixel art is definitely what made me keep going on the game.
Along the way, you meet characters such as Papyrus, Sans, and Asgore. The way some characters are introduced are very unique, such as when you hide behind a lamp when you first technically meet Papyrus.
But some ways are boring and not very interesting, such as Sans to me. Sure, the irony made me chuckle, but the way they did it just seemed boring. All that suspense for nothing.
A lot of these characters are hellbent on destroying you because if they do, they can take your soul and break the barrier to go back to the surface. But if you decide to be kind to these monsters and spare them, they ultimately become your bros. That's something in gaming that I find unique, as in typical RPG games, you're the good guy and you meet enemies and kill them.
Oh, by the way, you can kill these characters if you want. I recommend you play the pacifist route first, however.
That's all I can really say for this story. I like the storyline, it's incredibly well made, but it's not something I would break my neck for.
Soundtrack/OST
Undertale’s soundtrack can be described in one word: godlike.
This game has the best soundtrack I have ever heard. 101 songs in the game, and to me, most of them represent their characters perfectly. Especially Bonetrousle.
This game is apparently famous for having an amazing soundtrack. It boasts the “great soundtrack” tag on steam, as well.
Each character has a very unique battle song that matches their personality very well. Mettaton’s is like ‘80s funk-disco, and Papyrus’s is upbeat and something that always makes me smile for some reason.
The only complaint about the soundtrack I have is Megalovania. Shocker.
To me, Sans’s theme doesn't match his personality at all. It just matches the battle. Megalovania is actually my least favorite song on the soundtrack.
Favorite one? Finale.
Character Development
Undertale’s character development isn't all that great to me. Except for Papyrus, but even he's cliche.
Undyne is a strong jock.
Alphys is a nerdy dinosaur who falls for the stronger one.
Papyrus is a semi-self centered idiot.
Sans is a lazy shoe.
Toriel is an overprotective mother.
Asgore is a very cliche villain (except at the end)
Asriel is really only the very original character.
Oh, and I shouldn't even have to explain Mettaton.
Honey Boo Boo 3000.
Character development is a huge thing for me, and this game wasn't the best with that development, but the storyline and soundtrack kept me going.
Graphics
Undertale’s graphics are unique. It's pixelated.
While many games try to be as realistic and 3D as possible, Undertale has some nice pixel visuals.
The only complaint I have is the over world sprites. Alphys is always smiling, so her “feels” moment is sort of ruined when you look at the Overworld Sprite when she's speaking.
Asriel just looks like a marshmallow, let's keep it real here.
But the battle sprites are amazingly well done. Definitely check them out.
Bugs and Glitches
I only experienced one bug in the game, but it made me have to reset.
During the genocide run I was doing, I finally defeated Undyne the Undying, but when I passed the Undyne Area, she was there, alive, talking with the normal mode dialogue.
So I defeated her and actually, EVERYTHING ELSE WAS IN NORMAL MODE. How’d I know? ALPHYS WAS IN THE LAB BCVGUHBIOHW@IYCBH#J.
It just frustrated me, so I reduced a point on my rating.
Undertale’s Final Rating: 8/10
Should you play this?: Definitely
Feel free to message me about any other movies or games I should review next.
And if you don't agree with my review, that's fine. It's just an opinion.
Don't hate on the review, either. Ain't nobody got time for that.
Before I begin this review I just want to go off the cuff and make one thing perfectly clear....
I detest the Indie Game Industry.
Ignoring the fact that calling it an industry to begin with completely goes against the very idea of “indie”, it’s not so much the games I’m against, but the people who make them.
The Indie Game scene is filled with self-righteous, pompous hipster dickheads who think that everything they excrete is God’s gift to gaming. They shamelessly bash mainstream companies for the very same things that they are guilty of doing.
They accuse AAA Dev teams of not having a diverse enough staff, because fuck actual credentials, you need to fill a useless quota. Meanwhile look at almost any Indie dev team and you’ll see a group that’s whiter than Siberia in a fucking snowstorm.
They criticize big time companies for producing the same shit year after year, yet all THEY can ever accomplish is either glorified walking sims that try to be “deep” with a political message haphazardly shoehorned in, or they’ll make yet another “retro inspired” platformer or puzzle game that rips off better games that came decades before it.
Then, came Undertale.
A delightful little game that changed my outlook on Indie Games. A Diamond in the Rough, if you will.
Undertale made me feel things that I haven’t felt in games for years.
I must admit my first true exposure to Undertale was through a Vinesauce stream of the game by Joel after being curious about the game through various posts on tumblr, so I never actually played it until he beat the game. I saw him play through the whole game, and even though I wasn’t the one playing it, I still felt a connection with the characters and story, as he did. It was weird seeing the normally eccentric and outlandish Swedish man reduced to choking on his tears. I laughed at the humor, teared up at the story and cutscenes, and completely lost my shit during the final Flowey battle, cheering Uncle Jobel on as he kicked his horrifying floral ass.
But before we get to the nitty gritty, a VERY short history on Undertale.
Undertale was developed by Toby Fox, whose previous endeavors include the massively popular webcomic, Homestuck, and, as much as he tries to erase it from his memory, a hack of Earthbound, filled with edginess and memes.
Inspired by games like Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and Shin Megami Tensei, he sought out to create his own unique RPG, where you didn’t have to kill anyone, and had the option to befriend any enemy you encounter.
The rest is pretty much history. So let’s break it down.
GAMEPLAY
There honestly isn’t much to say about the gameplay here. It plays like your typical 90s era RPG, with one minor twist. You can dodge opponent attacks through a combination of Shoot-Em Up, Puzzle, and Platforming elements. It’s a unique spin on your typical RPG formula.
MUSIC
There’s a joke floating around that Undertale truly only has about 4 songs. This is because the entire soundtrack consists of remixes and remasterings of the few original songs that DO occur. I don’t think of this as bad, however. As someone who took Music Theory, retracking previous songs is actually a good thing because it helps get them stuck in your head, and it sets up motifs and moments of nostalgia. Moments that make you go, “Hey, I remember this song!” and “Oh, NOW I see why he used it again!”
Every song is unique, each with their own style.
There are songs that use chiptunes. There are songs that use the Yamaha sound chip from the Sega Genesis. There are songs that are orchestral. There are songs made out of Mario Paint instruments.
However each song was composed, Toby did a fantastic job on them. Every song in the soundtrack is wonderful.
STORY
Admittedly, the story is pretty typical for an RPG. Monsters and humans fight each other, the monsters lose, and are banished to the underground, sealed off by a magical force field. Centuries later, a small child wanders into the mountains and falls into a pit, ending up underground, in the land of Monsters. He meets a flower named Flowey, who attempts to trick them into running into his deadly magic bullets, but is saved by a kind woman named Toriel. Toriel soon tells the child that Asgore, the King of all Monsters, seeks to kill all the children that fall underground, in order to harvest their souls to destroy the barrier, and slaughter the humans.
Now, one thing that I LOVED about Undertale is how it deceives the player into following traditional RPG storytelling.
Even as far back as the initial Kickstarter Campaign video, you are led to believe that Asgore is a tyrannical beast who slaughters children for shits and giggles, and then harvests their souls. Toriel in the beginning of the game tells you that he is pure evil, and that he will kill you and harvest your soul. After all, pretty much ANY character labeled as “King of the Monsters” in a typical RPG is guaranteed to be the main bad guy. However, as you progress through the game, you soon start to realise that every single monster underground has nothing but good things to say about him. He’s fair, kind, gentle, humble, and even dresses up as Santa for the children. In fact, the only person you run into that says anything remotely bad about him is Toriel. Even Burgerpants, in all of his cynical self-loathing glory, has faith in the King. That’s when you learn near the end of the game, that Toriel was once Asgore’s wife. They were inseparable. Madly in love with each other. However, one day, tragedy struck. Their son, Asriel, was killed by humans. Enraged and stricken with grief, Asgore declared war on humanity, swearing to harvest souls to destroy the barrier, in order to slaughter every single human on sight. Disgusted by his actions, Toriel left and locked herself in a cave.
When you defeat Asgore, he confesses that killing anyone was the last thing that he ever wanted. He just wanted to keep his people happy. He never wanted to kill you or any other human that fell down, but he felt as though he had to in order to keep his people happy. All he ever wanted was to see his wife and son again. It’s a heartbreaking story of a good person who snapped as the result of the loss of a loved one.
It’s a great, simple story with several twists and turns. However, most of the story is told through interactions with the characters.
CHARACTERS
Undertale has some of the most endearing characters I have seen in a long time. Each character, even the random monsters you encounter, has a personality and, well, character. They aren’t just random mooks you swing a sword at and call it a day.....unless you play Genocide Run, you sick fuck.
You learn about them through interactions. They each tell their own story.
Shyren dreams of becoming a singer. Aaron loves to flex. Greater and Lesser Dog love to play fetch and get pet. Temmie..........is just Temmie.
However, the supporting cast is in a league of their own. Every main character is endearing in their own way. They have their perks, and they have their flaws, but all of them are great.
Papyrus the Skeleton wants to become a member of the Royal Guard, so he proves himself by setting up puzzles for you to solve, but really just wants to be your friend.
His brother Sans is a lazy little shit with a love for cringe-inducing puns, practical jokes, and ketchup.
Undyne is the leader of the Royal Guard. A complete and utter badass bitch with a strong sense of justice who would take pleasure is skewering your ass and roasting your limp carcass over a fire. However, should you get to know her, hiding behind the mask of the stoic hero, is actually a kind and loving person who enjoys traditional feminine things. She plays piano. She drinks tea. She loves to cook. But most of all, she’s a total slut for anime. She’s a big fucking nerd, and is proud of it.
Alphys is the Royal Scientist who, is NOT so stealthy about the “liking anime” thing. Her entire existence revolves around it. Cups of ramen and soda litter the entire lab. Posters of her favorite show are plastered on the walls. She’s always making references to shows she’s watched. But besides that, she’s a shy person with self-esteem issues. She’s incredibly intelligent, but constantly underestimates herself. For the love of god, could someone just give this poor girl a hug already?
However, the most interesting and FABULOUS character has got to be Mettaton. He is a robot built by Alphys to be an entertainer. He was reprogrammed to be a killing machine once Asgore declared war. When you fight him for the last time, he transforms from your typical robot to a drop-dead sexy leg-tastic dancing JoJo posing machine that makes me question my sexuality every time I fight him. Do a little digging around, and you find out that this fabulous hunk of legs is actually a ghost who asked Alphys to build a robot body for him because he was tired of living as a ghost.
On that point, I want to bring up my next topic.
REPRESENTATION
Representation matters. It helps your audience relate to your characters more if they share something in common. There are right AND wrong ways to include representation.
Undertale is in the former category. It does it right without being blatant or constantly shoving it in your face.
There are characters who are gay, a character who is pan or at the very least bi, a character whose backstory could serve as an allegory for someone transitioning, and the main character has ambiguous gender. Toby has yet to confirm that Frisk is indeed non-binary, but until then it’s safe to assume that they take on the gender of whoever happens to be controlling them.
As expected, this received an enormous amount of praise.
Which is a nice thing to see, considering that often times i find myself witnessing an interesting paradox.
Companies that actually try to be progressive with their media without blatant tokens or pandering will either get ignored completely or vilified for not trying hard enough, while other companies that resort to the laziest form of pandering and tokenism get praised and congratulated for being “progressive” and “inclusive”.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf included gender neutral clothing options, with villagers openly supporting your decision to dress as the opposite gender, but was thrown under the bus for being “racist” because you couldn’t choose your race at the start.
Meanwhile DC and Marvel continue to lazily “revamp” their already existing characters with a fresh coat of paint, and turned their amazing and strong female characters into laughably embarrassing buzzword spewing tumblrite caricatures of their former selves, and are praised for “much-needed” diversity and character development.
This would be like going to a buffet and wanting something other than Prime Rib every day, so the chef throws soy sauce on it and tries to convince you it’s something completely different and new.
So yes, it’s refreshing to see something including LGBT characters and issues without beating you over the head with them, or making their sexuality and/or identity their only defining characteristics, especially when you see it receiving universal praise from all parties.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Undertale is already being considered a “cult classic”. While I will have to disagree with that assessment, I won’t deny the impact it has created.
Much like Homestuck, Undertale has gained an astronomical following overnight. As far as I can see, it is well deserved.
Compelling characters, great story, outstanding music, a wide variety of artistic styles, and simple, yet hard to master and addicting gameplay.
It’s not hard to see why people are DETERMINED to see Undertale as a tale that will be told for years to come.
Undertale was a great game, don’t get me wrong. It was great but not a fantastic one. Playing the game, especially towards the end, became emotional for me especially since I killed Toriel. But while I was emotional, the dialogue just wasn’t enough to make me feel the kind of emotions everyone else did. This game’s only sense of feeling /was/ the dialogue and I felt like the dialogue was only spewing facts at me. “I lied. You need a human soul and a monster soul to pass through the gate. You will have to kill Asgore.” That isn’t some plot twist or a revelation, it’s just a new fact that I learned. Or is it a fact? I don’t know at this point because I might learn something else. I can’t even attach myself to the facts. Asgore destroying my “Mercy” button but it showing up again anyways – mid battle? Pointless. Pointless, all of it.
I appreciate the game for what it did. It reimagined Mother through a modern lens. It stood up against the mechanics of traditional JRPGs. It stood up against the idea of bullet hells not having a story. It was an indie turned pop star of an interactive experience. It stood up against the idea that video games need to have amazing graphics to be amazing.
But the similar things can be said against it and be just as true, if not more true, even if unaccepted by the majority.
It was just another “spiritual successor” hype stealer of Mother. It wasn’t what people who want JRPGs in a game want. It’s definitely not the best or most challenging bullet hell game. It’s a game that the devs didn’t even care about enough to make decent art for.
It is a “gamer’s first RPG” of a game. The people who say that this is the most emotion they’ve ever had playing a game obviously don’t play a lot of games. Or they don’t have the attention span to play a 40+ hour RPG among the likes of Final Fantasy, Xeno Saga, almost anything by Atlus, or even Chrono Trigger which this game takes heavy inspiration from and fails without the innovation of New Game + which is what made that 15-20 hour adventure so grande, worthwhile, and the point of multiple endings in the first place.
I should end with something positive though… Even though it wasn’t a fantastic game, it’s a great game. It is not the game of the year people want it to be, but it was fun. It didn’t have the heartbreaking emotion or story of half the games I’ve played, but it had a good story that made me feel. It wasn’t bold enough to go where no game has gone before, but it tried a few things and threw them out in the open. It wasn’t the best use of multiple endings seen ever, but it was a game with options. It was NOT by ANY means innovative, but it was a few game devs new to the industry taking ideas from other games and making it feel cohesive instead of mashing them together. Care went into this.
It was NOT a fantastic game. But for an indie, it came surprisingly close.
And to clarify where finished is, cause I understand the “full experience” of this game includes multiple playthroughs... I’ve finished the first playthrough where decisions don’t seem to matter as much.
As for how I felt about it...
Eh?
Spoilers ahead, obviously.
The Good: I mean, I thought it was a cute little tale. The environments were nice. The puzzles weren’t dauntingly impossible but they were nice little brain teasers. The fighting.. combat.... defense.. dodge system was really fun and was easily my favorite aspect of the game. The different styles the boss fights had were tons of fun. There were scenes that made me laugh, and I felt the story progressed at a good pace. And the game very clearly wants you to play through it again to experience different endings in how you play, and built in replay-ability like that is always a plus. Having the chance to experience the story differently is cool. The very last fight with Flowey was unique.
But...
The Bad: The amount of times in the game where without explanation you can do nothing but wait. Sometimes they did this by having sounds or things shuffling around the screen, but sometimes it felt like just arbitrary waiting. Also, I felt like towards the end the game was trying to make me feel bad about the decisions I made through the game. Yes, I chose the EXP route (note: from my understanding, your first playthrough will always be neutral anyway?), which made the game decently easy to progress through. I didn’t have to worry about making sure I talked the right way, just as long as my bar landed between the green pretty often I was good to go. Then Sans appears (after randomly disappearing for seemingly no reason) and starts giving me this... lecture about EXecution Points, as well as Level Of ViolEnce. He then randomly changes personality cause I killed his brother. And I just... Look, before I sound heartless, I don’t approach morality in video games nearly the same as I do in real life. If they wanted to make me care about my decisions, they need to make me care during the game, not at the end of it. My decisions should actually matter during the first playthrough, not just the subsequent ones.
In Review: Neat system, cute little story, didn’t make me care about the characters/morality enough. They probably do that better in the additional playthroughs--at least, I hope they do. I would like it if the first playthrough actually felt like it mattered though considering how the endings are supposed to work.
All in all I think it’s an enjoyable game, and if someone were to ask me if I think they should try it out I’d probably say they should. I do highly appreciate the gift that it was and I did enjoy my time with it, and will definitely be doing subsequent playthroughs soon (but it’s 2am and I’m tired), I just kind of felt like it was a little underwhelming compared to the attention it seems to be getting.
Souichi Monster Reviews! Undertale Part Three: Ghosts AND Anime are Real?
jWelcome back, welcome back! To the third and final chapter of the most ambitious project since Uzumaki, and the least using-souich-third-person-writing project since the Wander Over Yonder review! Indeed, I am more then proud to bring you a return TO...
THE UNDERTALE MONSTER REVIEW!
Thats right! We return to the finale of reviewing EVERY. LAST. UNDERTALE. MONSTER! All of them! No, really.
Lo, I present to you PROOF! Part ONE, and Part TWO have come before this offering, the former of which artisinaly *spoiler free*, covering only designs one can encounter during the totally free and easily available demo!
Why so much devotion to a quirky little game like this?
Because I love this wierd, Earthbound-ish, kind of slow but beautifuly written, sincere little game. And if you know this blog, it should be clear by now that I demonstrate my love through incredibly fussy, detailed, inch-by-inch examination. Also, because this game has *so many* strange and weird monster designs! Theres something like FIVE different npcs you could designate as ‘slimes’ and they all VARY WILDLY from each other. Whats not to love?
So lets begin the end! But just in case: SWEET SALLY SASSAFRASS THIS IS GOING TO SPOIL THE HECK OUT OF EVERYTHING. TURN YE BACK. THIS REALLY IS A GAME THATS GREAT TO GO INTO BLIND. STEAM IS SELLING IT FOR LIKE TWO DOLLARS AND A POKEMON CARD.
Monster of THE CORE
THE CORE actualy covers the RESORT, a luxurious hotel slash apartment building, and THE CORE proper, a enormous geothermal energy plant.
Mettaton
Mettaton get out of here! You’re the last enemy encounter in HOTLAND and we covered that LAST time.
None of your sass. But before he’s out of here, Souichi feels like last time he didn’t spend enough time wondering how he keeps balanced. Maybe they’re strapped onto whatever makes a Segway work?
DRESSLION
Encountered only if you walk back through Mettatons little stage area on foot, this monster rather sweetly and sadly admires Mettaton’s ability to rock a dress (and final fantasy opera homage), and wishes he could do the same. I think I speak for us all when I say that I hope he can get as many dresses as he ever wants.
BRATTY AND CATTY
A pair of beautifully pastel 90s-cool monster gals, Bratty and Catty continue the games theme of incredibly charming shopkeepers. They have a valley girl style, a faintly punk feeling, and really, who can say no to a crocodile in lipstick? While before I haven’t been as enamored of the animal-type monsters of undertale as MUCH, throwing in a vaporwave color scheme and fangry friendship is something I could never get enough of.
But I do have to ask, does it count as a shop when you operate out of an alleyway and sell trash?
Well that answers that. Also a cute note- Catty’s pose and design calls nothing so much to mind as a Meneki-Neko, a beckoning cat statuette often placed in shops to bring good luck, money, and most importantly customers!
sans, totally normal skeleton, dont worry about it
Come to think of it, why does sans have pupils but Papyrus doesn’t?
REGNPC
That’s the name on their sprite, at least. And it’s this or ‘Ficus’, so Reggy it is. While really simple in design, this shows how much milage you can get out of a kind of simple idea. Orange, big eyes, concerned, ambiguous chest markings.
Their plight is pretty sympathetic, too. But theres ome thing I worry about... why do some monsters wear clothes and some don’t? Is it not really manditory? It makes sense if you think of it as an issue of if clothing is impractical. What are you going to do, force a Moldybigg into a kilt or something? But Reggi here is... a normal humanoid shape...? No wonder they’re so awkward.
ONI
One of the workers for the core, this delightfully cranky fellah offers us a explanation for a curious cultural tic seen in videogames stretching back literaly to before I was born. He’s a simpler monster design, but the refference to ‘irl’ monster traditions raises grand questions. We’ve seen ‘ghosts’ and ‘skeletons’; maybe somewhere in the cities of the underground is all the monsters of cultural mythos...? Where’s my Nuckalavee DLC!
CHARLES
Mole? Vole? ...grey kirbey kinda fellah? The helmet makes this, let alone the relative clash of ENTHUSED versus ANNOYED. You know they have lunch every day.
Also, its worth noting here that part of why these reviews are so time intensive is that, devoted fanbase or no, theres no useful information on the NAMES of most of these monsters! The closest I found halted at Snowdin, and was dubious at best. The best source for this info? The secret dark magic that is the spriterip file.
A process which, by the way, involves way too many floating Temmie faces.
SNOW DRAKE DAD
A design i’ve already reviewed, plus bow tie, glasses, and horrifyingly tragic backstory for what was previously just one of many random fights. Thats the thing. These monsters exist outside of you. Sometimes they work daily jobs. Sometimes they’re just living day to day. And sometimes a weird face crest snow bird who tells puns ran away from home because after the death of his mother their family fell apart completely.
FISH RECEPTIONIST
Do you think anyone’s told them that the place is basically empty? This is another basic npc whos design is just GORGEOUS. It reads clearly enough as a ‘fish’ but look at how... HUGE they are. They dwarf plenty of other monsters; and with a huge black mouth, and creepy black eyes, they’re just... kind of intimidating. Really, they’re a born maitre-de.
DIAMOND RECEPTIONIST
I feel like this is more of a ‘Greeter’, to quibble. In contrast to the huge fishy mass of the last monster, theres also a lot of interest in someone so... geometrical. Like a strange little star, the name seems to suggest they might actually LOOK like a jewel, or crystal growths. Just kind of solidly thunking about this grand entryway. ...hair ribbon, or decorative growth, though...?
ELEVATOR NPCS: SAD DRAGON, BUSINESS MANTICORE, and SHAMBLING MASS
Trapped from getting where they need to be by an inoperative elevator, this little group of workin’ class monsters honestly sums up the sheer DIVERSITY of monsters in undertale. A ‘Pete’s Dragon’ businessman, a dressed to impress manticore, and a INKY ABYSS with a kicky hairstyle.
Note the self-dentifying as a slime, in contrast to the SLIME FAMILY of snowdin, who were a little more classical RPG genre of Slimes. This indicates that theres ‘types’ of monsters that might have a lot more to o with what they seem to be basically constructed OF then physical looks.
Also without getting into the myrad questions raised by monster reproduction, if a skeleton and a slime had a kid, would you get an adorable skeleton suspended in jelly? I hope so.
RECEPTIONIST
Do you think she paints her nails herself, or sees a manicurist?
......SLIME JANITOR
This poor hard worker seems stuck in a loop of cleaning up after their OWN dripping body. We’ve all been there, am I right? With a mottled shading, the ‘slime’ goes from a vague jello feeling to an almost *swamplike* insinuation. More of an algae kind of being?
I appreciate his hard work, and also his little hat.
BURGER PANTS
Honestly this is probably the most disturbing monster in the whole game. He looks like a melting wax statue with ennui. This is like that happens if a Temmi was a digimon and you get the bad evolution. He’s like if a tamigotchi made bad life choices.
oh god NEXT MONSTER NEXT MONSTER
DARKMAN
Well, actually not a distinct monster- on our entry into the CORE proper, these skulking shadows show up on the overworld to stalk us. In battle they resolve into... uh. Completely different looking monsters, with no resemblance in shape or size to these shadows. Well everyone has an angle they don’t look best from.
MADJICK
Curiously enough, through the course of figuring out how to handle this magical miscreant, it becomes obcious that those are ‘magic orbs’, and not as I’d thought his *hands*. Well, when you’re magic you do what you want. It’s design is something I kind of enjoy, because on some level It looks like its one of those monsters who’s just a head, and its using magic to keep those kicky boots floating around.
Maybe it’s related to Charles.
KNIGHT KNIGHT
Oh, there is SO much to love here. It looks a little like a SNOWDRAKE in armor, with a beak and MOVING eyes in what initially looks like a ‘Chest’ region, but the eye and mouth of the HELMET move as well! Delightfully enough, incidental dialouge reveals this is DAME Knight Knight, a female warrior.
It’s kind of sweet that she kneels down. Perhaps best to let such a small foe face her?
WHIMSALOT
The most bittersweet part of the CORE to me are these monsters here. For all the confidence WHIMSALOT seems to have gained, nothing is suggested so much as that they also lost something. Still, the upgrade in design is rather nify in it’s own right.
FINAL FROGGIT
While WHIMSALOT emotional journey is interesting, FINAL FROGGIT wins overall in terms of design. Upgraded to a wizened, *spikey* look, like a horned toad! Plus the odd feeling of the negative space of their legs having a face in it, and some form of mystic crown.
What things has Final Froggit seen? Only the Froggits know.
ASTIGATISIM
Awww! Lookit that! Our friend from the ruins all grown up and cuter than ever! Haha what do you mean by bully it loo-
aaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!! WHY IS IT EYE A TEETH! WHYTEETH THE EYES.
[distant weeping sounds]
METTATON
The real final showdown of human versus machine! With some... well. Revelations along the way. This is a MONSTER review and nto a game review, but you can all tae a moment to realize I didn’t suspect literaly a SINGLE thing. Well, that’s the last we’ll see of...
...of...
METTATON EX
In a startling reveal after you ‘Flip His Switch’ (COUGH COUGH), Mettaton has a long awaited SECOND FORM.
Personaly, it’s hard to beat a square cube with goofy cartoon gloves. BUT theres a lot to love about a robot david-bowey/Ruby Rhod with long extendo cartoon arms. With a floating... soul? In his... waist?
And literally LETHAL legs. We can all agree that one way or another, Alphys has some AMAZING handiwork.
ALPHYS...?
The end of the CORE leads us in to the last(?) location proper of the game...
THE CASTLE/NEW HOME
Thought the game, a shadow has loomed large over your slow exploration of the Underground; King Asgore Dreemur. The monster who is determined to take your SOUL. The monster guarding all of monster kind. Who has sworn vengeance against the humans.
King... Fluffybuns. A sweetheart. A pushover. A person who is incredibly bad at names. An inevitability.
Wouldn’t it be easier if he could be a terrible person? Wouldn’t it be easier if YOU could be a terrible person?
sans
the JUDGE
Out of every monster in the game, in the end, we might have the most questions left about a skeleton who greeted us with both a moment of genuine fear, and... a woopie cushion.
Who he and papyrus are, where they come from, what they can do... in the end, it’s a mystery.
IS there even a mystery? It’s not implausible he could have just followed you on foot and kept an eye on you. And he IS a guard...
Some things are their most interesting when you can’t know the answer. The most important thing about the brothers is... they’re rooting for you.
No bones about it.
ASGORE DREEMUR
Surprisingly, we have a last example of a ‘type’ of monster with almost it’s own coherent subspecies; the Boss Monster. A kind of... sheep, lion, goat, wolf species. Indicated to be the tallest, strongest, most powerful monsters there ever have been. Further detail in the game indicates they do not even age unless they have a child.
And he wishes you hadn’t come.
Design wise Asgore matches Toriel in concept; although it seems he in some way wears armor literally all the time? That seems uncomfortable. Also, the presence of hair/beard/mane is a curious one. Is this a lions-mane situation? Or does Toriel have the monster equivalent of a buzzcut?
I kind of hope its the latter because it would be cute.
Honestly, and without any hyperbole, Flowey the Flower may have the best introduction of any monster in any video game. The sheer, chilling, jolting SHOCK of Floweys betrayal is one of the most singular video game experiences I’ve ever had. There’s been a regular flood wave of hulking, blood flooded barbed wire coated, warped horrors that haven’t produced as much of a reaction from me as a little, smiling, flower.
He knows what you’ve done. He mocks your mercy, he mocks your pain. And he just doesn’t go AWAY. You can spend the whole game seeing him out of the corner of your eyes; and every battle where the way out without dying again, and again, and again you might remember him mocking you; and his words...
A simple design capable of making amorphous, terrifying, WRONG faces and shapes? Outright BREAKING the set rules of concepts like ‘tutorial characters’ that we implicitly trust, and practically ignore? BEAUTIFUL. And without ever once slamming into the tacky desig choices of overdone ‘cute things but DAAARK woooo~’. He’s beautiful. So beautiful you’d think he couldn’t be improved...
OMEGA FLOWEY
CHRIST. Just LOOK at this. This is one of the most beautiful uses of a deliberate style shift I’ve ever seen; nothing could possibly communicate the idea of a terrifying otherworldly BREAK in reality then a game in a consistent low-res early nintendo style suddenly SLAMMING into this glorious photo resolution collage DISASTER. It’s. BEAUTIFUL.
Omega Flowey is one of the most *visceral* designs I’ve seen in a long time. From the fleshy bone-like thorns of their hands, the grossly fleshy, but *mechanical* tubing... and god, just look at the jumble of a FACE. It’s like someone made a collage out of the contents of an abattoir; all the while *bloodless* but *hideous*. Even their attacks raise nauseating new facets; those vines just there have tiny little HANDS on the ends when you look closely.
For my money I think this attack is my favorite for shudder inducing *horror*. Bounding TOOTHY seed burr... worm THINGS that bounce around the screen in a chaotic burst, with a almost bacterial look to them.
The beauty of this design gains a lot of strength from EVERYTHING about the fight. Reeling from the shock of Floweys coup, the fight is a bombardment of horror moving too fast to be kept up with, breaking all the rules of the fights you’ve had so far.
You get your victories while you can, all the same.
Flowey is like a 1980s toy-sellin’ cartoon mascot level of cute that proves exactly what we always knew about those characters: that behind some of their bright happy eyes, the world was burning.
And here, at last... we end this review on the strongest possible design; an eldrich horror that wipes any octopus-ish giants RIGHT off the horror map, and does it with a cheerful smile. It’s been a great road, and a̖n͌d̳ a᷿᷿̤᷿᷿᷿᷿͔᷿᷿̎̎ͦ̎̎n᷿᷿͔᷿᷿̎̎ኺཟ❼
5̸̷̸̷̧̨̛͎̘̜͎̘͎͎̩͎͎͔͖͎̰͎͇͎̗͎̼̖͎̤͉͎͎᷿͎͈͚͎͎͎̤͈̟͎͎͎͎̱͎̞͎̯͎̭̘͎͍͎̗͎̮͎̤̰͎͎͎͎̙͎̱͔͎̅ͩ̐̏͒͛᷾͋̎ͮ̃᷀̓ͧ͋͒͐͂᷅ͦ͆̇ͫ̂̈͂ͩ᷅ͦ͐͒᷉᷉ͦ̑̂̋ͮ͛́̏͒̐͛᷉̒͐͒᷃̈́̂̾ͦ̚̚͘̕̕͜͜͢͝X̷̴̵̷̢̨̛͖͎͎̯͕͎̦͖͎͎͎͔͎̼͎̲̦͎̟͎᷂͎᷿͎͎͙̖͎͎͓͇͎͎̲̣͎͎͎᷊͎̬͍͎̹͕͎͓͎̤̜͎̬͎͓͎̮̫͎͓͎̰̠͎̼᷂͎̺͎᷀ͫ̅᷆̽͒̐ͯ̊́̍ͭ͗̂̓̑ͫͬ͒̀᷅͛᷃ͪ̂̂ͥ̌͛̑͑᷇͒ͤ̿̀ͣ̓͒́͌ͮ͘̚̚͢͡͞͝͝͞͡d̸̵̴̴̴͎͓̲͎͙͎᷿̮͎̯̪͎̳͎͈͎̬͎̺͎̜̟̩͎̞͎͎̝͎͉̲͎̤͎᷂͎͎̪͎͎͔͎̭͎͎͉͎̺᷂͎͕͎͎̠͎͎̖͎͎̩͎͍͎̱̊́̆ͬ͒᷄̃᷁̈́̉̂᷅̿̾̊͑ͦ͒ͨ᷾͐̾͛̂̈̏᷄̎ͣ᷉͒͑᷅ͮ̅̈́ͭͨ̾̐̾ͩ̉̈́͌͒᷉͐ͩ̆̐ͥ̕̚͘̕͟ͅ✫➽
SELECT END: FALSE END/NEUTRAL END/GOOD END/❤︎TRUE END
THE TRUE LAB
Ooohhh, boy oh boy oh boy. I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for this. The REAL last new area of the game... and good sweet heavens, is it BEAUTIFUL.
Undertale, let’s be clear, is not a horror game. I review monster designs when I have a mind to; but. The True Lab *is* horror. The best, melancholy, bitter-strange scares you could EVER ask for.
MEMORYHEADS
The AMALGAMATES, the monsters that practically haunt the true lab, are almost impossible to understand; literally. The memoryheads specifically can only even be *understood* by answering your cellphone, which results in a haunting chorus of invitations to JOIN THEM. Plus just visually they’re a treat- a strange jumble of mouths and eyes that fade in and out of place. Not to mention their overal shape brings nothing less to mind than...
All the same, if you REFUSE their invitation they... actualy just leave. Pretty polite, really.
BED TIME AMALGAMATE
If you lie down in one of the empty beds, this white, featureless amalgamate appears and just... waits. Hanging a single string of tension as you lie in the bed, back turned to it... until... it... tucks you in. And gently pats you on the head.
The abnormally long arm and *gooey* slowness of it’s motions up until it tucks you in are a grandly simple motion that is so genuinely *endearing*.
SHOWER THING
Found behind a random door in the lab, this room contains nothing but a... THING. Slowly rocking back and forth only in shadow; and he closer you come to it, the slower YOU move, and the faster IT thrashes. Until it seems to be moving in a violent frenzy, with our protagonist barely able to bring themselves any... closer...
Well then.
LEMON BREAD
Alright, being disguised as a save point is just CHEATING. Why do you even know how to DO that, Lemon Bread? Is it just some natural shape manifestation of DETERMINATION?
Don’t try to use your beautiful good looks to get out of this, LEMON BREAD.
Anyways she really is pretty; somehow managing to be visibly a gooey melting mess and ALSO have genuinely terrifying fangs/sharpness. Hard to go wrong with a head that’s mostly teeth. Sanrio, that one’s free.
WHATEVER THAT IS
Neeuughghghgghauughghfhfdngnfhdgsgfghgggddg.
REAPER BIRD
Oh good. ASTIGATISIM wasn’t scary nough. Now it’s the head of a sad, scared, terrifying glitch-bird. It’s not your fault you’re a chilling body-horror creature. Just get comfy in that dialouge box.
Huh? Whats that? You have something to sh-show us? Well sure thing, buddy.
Oh! Oh that’s cute, honey. Its got little butterflies!
.......
THATS IT, GO TO THE CORNER WITH LEMON BREAD. YOU’RE ON TIME OUT.
Well that’s a little better. I’d like it if you put your head back on though.
ENDOGENY
It’s difficult to get accross in screenshots that this Amalgamate forms together when you turn the fans on from the white speckled detrius floating in the air. Eat your heart out, Silent Hill.
Endogeny is a amazing combination of a genuinely alien figure, and... well. It’s a dog. A big, confused, sad dog. The negative shapes between its legs seem not to be actual negative *shape*, but shadowy... figures. And just like all the dogs youve met so far, it wants to be played with, and petted.
Foaming, dripping, melting or... happiness frothing, this isn’t even the saddest, or scariest, Amalgamate we’re going to see. Prepare yourself...
SNOWDRAKES MOTHER
*buries face in hands*
She just wants to see her family again. This is one of the greatest combinations of visibly OTHER monsters pushed together, along with a recognizable *single* figure.
Horror should never ‘just’ be a big scary monster is going to kill you. Being... sad, or feeling empathy, can be so much worse then just being scared for yourself. And her? She doesn’t even attack you. Her attacks kind of hover in place, never even reaching you.
She’s hanging onto a thread. Which in a way, feels reflective of a lot of the game we’ve seen so far.
Especially because she just needs a little kindness, in the end.
The True lab is a beautiful KNOCKOUT of an area for any horror afficianado. And without any blood, or physical harm. No gore, no intense threat- no more so then other monsters, *really*. What makes it so frightening is how*alien* and *sad* it all is. These... creatures feel like they’re hurt, and confused. And just as you can only GET to here by never hurting anyone, you HAVE to find a way to communicate with them to get through. Even if you panic and take a swing at them?
You just have to find a way; just like you have the rest of the game. You have to empathize with them. And lord what I wouldn’t give for more actual horror games to take some notes.
Sure being scared of monsters is one thing. But being scared you could die of something that you want to give a hug and be allright works a lot better.
THE END
Well. After all that, we knew it couldn’t be so easy.
It’s time for the very last design, for realsie. No stylistic fakeouts this time... for.
The Last Monster.
ASRIEL DREEMUR, ??????
Here’s the thing about Flowey.
The game could have ended without ever explaining Flowey, and I could have been perfectly happy. He’d have gone down as one of the greatest villains of all time to me. And the mystery... well. I like to poke and theorize, but I also LIKE the sheer gaps of unknowing. A story is the sum of what’s in the story; anything not in the story can’t actually be filled in; and sometimes, having a big murky black spot is really satisfying.
But instead, he’s one of the monsters we wind up knowing the MOST about, and it’s AMAZING.
Also, them being a transformed, then dead, then ressurected without a soul but WITH terrifying powers but still ultimatel a *child* really helps explain this last form here having what appears to be wings of the glorious photoshop gradient bird.
Everything about this fight feels... tense, and sad, and glorious. And joking aside, his ~using his full real power~ form has some interesting aspects. The arms seem to be plant like things connected by... chains? And the overall shape kind of looks like some cycloptic *bird*. Not to mention the overal shape looks like the near-universally seen mark of the RUINS- that of the Angel.
But they’re just a kid.
Asriel looks to have taken after his parents in looks; with a slight habit towards ASGORE’s speech patterns, but a lot more of Toriels appearance.
And that’s Undertale.
Theres so many monsters in undertale; and you don’t just care for them by the end. If you’re like me, you really love them. You want them to be happy. And we’re talking about skeletons and fish warriors, and wierd slime globs, melting horrors, whatever the hell a Temmie is, and giant squid/cuttlefish with sparkly anime eyes.
They’re WIERD. They’re not traditionaly appealing at all! Some of them aren’t even NICE. But the important thing is, theres a genuine sense of stylistic design creativity you don’t get to see a lot. Not being afraid to have goofy, or strange, or simple designs... not forcibly adhering to strict biological design IDEAS. You can really see it paying off in Undertale.
I couldn’t be happier if the effect of Undertale is even more games where people go nuts, and give me more neat monsters to enjoy. Where you can finally be friends with them all.
I hope you all enjoyed this exhaustive point by point excuse to gush over weird monsters with me. There’s a little more to the game to be found; and I might make a little mini-writeupfor new years eve to talk more generally about the game, what I think about it, and my favorite moments from the ‘Epilogue’ to the game! But for now, well...
Souichi WILL return.
If you enjoy Souichi Presents- which is normaly a bit more Ito and a bit less Heartwarming, consider sending temmie to coolegg supporting my patreon! Even a few dollars an update go to keeping your wild horror review author on his feet.
