Once in a while in any generation of video games comes a title that hearkens back to the old days of gaming, with Capcom's Mega Man series, for instance, having a faux-retro look with the original series' ninth and tenth installments, and this would creep into the roleplaying game genre as well. One such title is developer and composer Toby Fox's Undertale, the product of thirty-two months of development and kickstarter financing, hailed as one of the best titles of 2015, and ultimately ported to Sony's PlayStation 4 and Vita, and Nintendo's Switch. Does it live up to the hype?
Undertale features random battles, the protagonist facing one or more foes. The player can choose to execute normal attacks against a foe, which brings up a timing bar that they must stop at the right point to ensure maximum damage, similar to the Judgement Ring in the Shadow Hearts series and the Western tactical RPG Gladius. In a nod to the Megami Tensei series, furthermore, the game allows players to parley with enemies to end the battle peacefully, the protagonist still getting money but no experience from winning battles this way. When enemies attack the player, they must navigate a heart icon through a bullet hell-type minigame to avoid projectiles and damage.
While one can possibly complete the game without attacking enemies at all, necessary for one of the various endings, doing so can be tedious, since one can easily find themselves stuck in seeming infinite conversation loops, and odds are most players will eventually give up and just win battles through offensive means, which nets EXP for occasional increases to the character's LOVE that increase maximum health, attack and defensive stats increased through new weapons and armor. The battle system is definitely a good one, but one can find difficult the search for random-encounter-strewn areas if they want to level to beat the final boss offensively, given no indication of such regions.
The aforementioned issue with random encounters one could consider a mark off control, alongside the irritating placement of save points at times, sometimes close together, but oftentimes far apart, with many points containing long stretches without saving opportunities prior to bosses. Inventory is limited, as well, although this really isn't a terrible problem, given occasional boxes where the player can store excess items. There are also plenty of decent puzzles that are perfectly solvable without use of an internet guide, not to mention an in-game clock that uniquely clocks playtime in minutes and seconds alone, and overall, Undertale generally interfaces well with the player.
Aside from a general blank-slate protagonist, the narrative is largely enjoyable, although the backstory involving a schism between monsters and humans, the former after a racial conflict banished to the underworld, is somewhat derivative. The pacing is good as well, with some of the shopkeepers the protagonist encounters having some kind of story behind them, and there are some decent twists, surprisingly regarding what the EXP and LOVE mechanics actually mean. The variable endings depending upon the player's style of gameplay and some few plot differences give incentive to experience the game and narrative multiple times, with plentiful puns and dialects for specific characters.
Aside from many silent areas (though there is some decent ambience in said locales), Toby Fox's soundtrack is one of the game's highlights, cleverly combining digital and realistic instrumentation, and beginning with the haunting theme accompanying the backstory. A few early tracks such as the Ruins theme and Toriel's motif also sound beautiful, with the various battle melodies containing plenty of energy as well, the music remaining strong up until the very end of the game and being very much worthy of purchase by players seeking to experience the game's aural joy.
The visuals are a throwback to classic RPGs such as EarthBound, with a customizable border for the gameplay screen and vibrant hues that make the game seem to be somewhere between eight and sixteen-bit graphical styles. The various character sprites are of different sizes and even feature moving lips, along with designs that may or may not accompany dialogue boxes, during cutscenes, and show spectrums of emotion. As in the Mother series, however, the combat visuals are somewhat lazy, with most monsters having white outline designs (though they do have some animation) and no indication of scenery. Regardless, the graphics very well invoke gaming nostalgia.
Finally, one can possibly blaze through the game in a little over four hours, which itself makes replaying for different endings more appealing, things such as maxing the protagonist's level, partaking in what few sidequests exist, and narrative variations as well, although there is no New Game+, one might need to reference the internet to ease the difficulty of seeing every ending, and there are no achievements in the Nintendo Switch version.
Overall, Undertale is definitely an admirable effort, given its simple but fun battle system that accommodates different playstyles and determines the eventual ending, not to mention the nice musical and visual direction. There are areas that leave room for improvement, however, such as the tedium of going for the pacifist or genocide endings without the assistance of the internet, the slight pain of grinding in case negotiation fails, the generic narrative elements such as a blank-slate protagonist, many areas without music, and the lazy battle graphics. Regardless, one could consider the game to be a short, sweet experience that indeed lives up to the hype and warrants a playthrough from those looking for a retro roleplaying game experience.
This review is based on a playthrough of a physical copy for the Nintendo Switch borrowed by the reviewer.
The Bottom Line:
An enjoyable short RPG.
Score Breakdown:
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Game Mechanics: 8.5/10
Controls: 8.0/10
Story: 7.5/10
Music/Sound: 9.0/10
Graphics: 7.5/10
Lasting Appeal: 7.5/10
Difficulty: Depends on ending the player wants to see.
Playing Time: 4-8 Hours