A Role-playing Video Game Undertale

Undertale is a role-playing video game created by American indie developer and composer Toby Fox. Usually this type of games are not very popular but undertale is not one of this cases. It has a very interesting and really complicated plot. In the game, players control a human child who has fallen into the Underground, a large, secluded region underneath the surface of the Earth, separated by a magic barrier. The player meets various monsters during a quest to return to the surface, mainly through the combat system; the player navigates through mini-bullet hell attacks by the opponent, and can opt to pacify or subdue monsters in order to spare them instead of murdering them.

These choices affect the game, with the dialogue, characters, and story changing based on outcomes. Undertale has three main endings: true pacifist, neutral and genocide. A neutral ending occurs when one of these conditions are met: The protagonist does not befriend all plot pivotal characters (Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys) OR The protagonist kills any monster. The Neutral Route ends with the protagonist escaping the Underground alone. There are a variety of different possible variations of this ending depending on the choices made throughout the game. The true pacifist ending occurs when all of these conditions are met: A Neutral Route has been completed. No monsters were killed throughout the game. (The protagonist cannot gain any EXP, and as a result, they cannot progress past LV 1.) Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys have been befriended.

A Genocide Route has NOT been completed before. Doing a Pacifist run after a Genocide route will result in an altered “Soulless Pacifist” ending. The True Pacifist Route ends with the barrier being broken, and the protagonist and the monsters of the Underground being able to leave. Additionally, this route will feature the True Pacifist Ending Credits. This ending occurs only when all enemies in each area (Ruins, Snowdin Forest, Waterfall, Hotland/CORE) are killed until no one remains. This includes all bosses. Completing the Genocide Route leads to the destruction of the game’s world. Upon re-launching the game after a completed Genocide Route, the first human asks the protagonist to give up their SOUL to them in exchange for the recreation of the world.

This effectively acts in the same way as a true reset, but it also permanently alters the endings of any later Genocide or Pacifist endings (Soulless Genocide & Soulless Pacifist). Neutral endings after a Genocide run are unaffected. A very interesting fact of this game is that there are two characters know that they are inside a game and try to trick you psycologically not to complete the Genocide route. Another interesting fact is that EXP dosn’t mean experience as everyone believes, it means EXecution Points.

Works Cited

1. Fox, T. (2015). Undertale [Video game]. Toby Fox.
2. Matulef, J. (2015). Undertale review. Eurogamer. Retrieved from https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-10-19-undertale-review
3. Rigney, R. (2016). Why Undertale is the best indie game you will ever play. IGN. Retrieved from https://www.ign.com/articles/2016/01/27/why-undertale-is-the-best-indie-game-you-will-ever-play
4. Parkin, S. (2015). How Undertale's moral dilemmas stack up to philosophy's greatest questions. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/dec/07/how-undertales-moral-dilemmas-stack-up-to-philosophys-greatest-questions
5. Machkovech, S. (2015). The 2015 Indie Game of the Year: Undertale. Ars Technica. Retrieved from https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/12/the-2015-indie-game-of-the-year-undertale/
6. Radulovic, P. (2018). How Undertale became one of the decade's biggest indie hits. Polygon. Retrieved from https://www.polygon.com/features/2018/12/20/18149501/undertale-anniversary-toby-fox-interview
7. Wawro, A. (2015). Road to the IGF: Toby Fox's Undertale. Gamasutra. Retrieved from https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/264010/Road_to_the_IGF_Toby_Foxs_Undertale.php
8. Webster, A. (2016). Why Undertale is a masterpiece of subversion. The Verge. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2016/1/12/10755680/undertale-video-game-masterpiece-of-subversion
9. Crecente, B. (2015). Why Undertale is 2015's most important game. Polygon. Retrieved from https://www.polygon.com/2015/12/31/10693490/undertale-2015-game-of-the-year
10. Cork, J. (2015). Why Undertale deserves its cult following. Game Informer. Retrieved from https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2015/12/31/why-undertale-deserves-its-cult-following.aspx