Xera Britt, staff writer

Hello all and welcome back to GG and Me! Today’s subject is something I’ve been meaning to get to for a few months now: “Undertale”.

“Undertale” is an indie game developed by Toby Fox, who also did most of the designs, music and writing–with help from a few friends (namely Temmie Chang). The game was first released as a demo in May 2013, with the Kickstarter page released later in June of the same year, prospecting a traditional role-playing game where “no one has to get hurt.” The game reached well beyond its stretch goal with a total $51,124 accrued for the project and was finally released in full in September of 2015 for most computer programs such as Windows, Linux and Mac.

The game follows a child that has fallen underground and must navigate a world of monsters to escape but turns the typical ideas of RPGs on their head. Primarily, the player can choose to NOT fight enemies and instead interact with them to eventually Spare them. The game also sports multiple endings: True Pacifist, many different Neutral variations, and a Bad Ending.

The sheer variability of how the game ends and the amount of interactions and easter eggs Fox packed into the game, along with the musical earworms Fox himself devised, make “Undertale” one heck of a game to take in. “Undertale” became an internet craze overnight, rightly so. Remixed songs from the soundtrack dot Youtube as incredibly popular videos for music based channels. Many gameplay channels jumped onto it, including the likes of Markiplier, who completed it on stream, and Jacksepticeye, whose character voices became staples in the community. “Undertale” would later be released on Steam, a game nexus, as well as the Nintendo Switch and now the Xbox One and PS4. There is even a Mii costume for one of the main characters in Super Smash Bros Ultimate–a considerably high honor for a video game character, just below an actual character. If you are familiar with the trend craze of Among Us, know that “Undertale” would have outstripped it by a country mile. It got so popular that, according to TechTimes, creator Toby Fox himself said: “…but initially, I was afraid of it. I didn’t want ‘Undertale’ to become tiring …[or] spoiled before anyone even got a chance to play it.” He even went so far as to request a few Let’s Play channels not to play. 

It is hard to properly state the impact “Undertale” had on both the gaming community and the internet as a whole in such a short time. Even now, “Undertale” remains a mainstay game. Last September, MUSIC Engine arranged and performed the “Undertale” 5th Anniversary Concert, filmed in Tokyo, and released it onto the official Youtube channel. The recent concert helped sweep me and other fans of “Undertale” back into a wave of nostalgia and joy needed during these times. Almost six years after it was developed, “Undertale” is still touching the hearts of many. If you are curious about playing this RPG, check it out on all the platforms mentioned prior. If you aren’t a gamer, I recommend taking a listen to the 5th Anniversary Concert, though be warned–the concert is quite long but at two hours long is great for studying. So, remember: stay determined and have a good game.