I want to start off and say that I have no affiliation with the god-awful fanbase and that is no excuse to immediately judge this game, along with this positive review I'm about to give.

Undertale is an RPG, created by the indie game developer & musician, Toby Fox. For the record, Undertale’s writing, characters, graphics, engine and soundtrack was created by a one man team, with only a few hand-picked artists that supplied additional art. The game was inspired heavily by the Mother, Shin Megami Tensei and the Touhou series. Originally, the game was roughly going to be 2 hours in length and published three years earlier, but development was continued over the course of three years. A delayed game is often than not a good thing.

The story follows previous chronicles where humans and monsters lived together in harmony on Earth. War breaks out between the two warring races with the humans victorious in winning the war and sealing the monsters beneath the Earth’s crust. Many years later, a child climbs Mt. Ebott; a towering mountain in the midst of what appears to be a hike. Clumsy as a young one would be, the ditzy child discovers a small cavern and seconds later, trips over an unexpecting vine, ending up plummeting down to an almost endless hole in the ground. This is where the game gives you your own in-print by naming the fallen child whatever your heart desires.

After being saved from your long fall by a bed of golden flowers and being saved yet again by a motherly monster, presented as an anthropomorphic, white-furred goat from a psychotic killing flower, this is where the adventure takes off. You will find yourself lost by traversing the weird and eccentric places Undertale has to offer such as maze-like catacombs, a charming snow-covered town inhabited by jolly kind-hearted monsters, gloomy pathways with illuminating mushrooms and a huge laboratory, blanketed among the foreground of magma and craters, just to name a few. Everything that you wouldn’t think would fit the setting of an underground realm is present, defying all expectations in the process. Your ultimate goal in Undertale, you ask? To reach back up to the surface of the Earth, which is protected by a magical barrier, guarded by a notorious king of monsters.

The humour of Undertale is also a diverse topic. It incorporates comedic elements of all styles; toilet humour, random humour, breaking the fourth wall humour and to some vague extent, British humour. Best described in total as quirky and corny to the point that you will be laughing along with some of the funniest dialogue ever conceived within an RPG. It's up there with similar games such as Earthbound and Borderlands where you would want to hunt down every last NPC just to listen to what sort of crazy, erratic yet witty things they have to say. On that note, Undertale has replay value written all over it and what enhances this is the fact that the character’s dialogue changes after completing your first run, so it’s a different experience each time.

Undertale is a silly game that doesn't take itself seriously and when it does, it seldom follows through. Often as ever, characters seem to have a change of heart depending on how you interact with them. The battle system is unique as it incorporates various styles of game mechanics found across different video game genres, such as JRPG's and bullet hell games. For example, you have your typical turn-based commands where you can attack an enemy until their HP falls to zero, or you can find out more information about the monsters you confront, giving you an easy way out of not doing any harm, but understanding how their pattern works ultimately allowing you to spare them. Sure, you won't get rich out of the experience points, but you will get definitely get rich out of gold and best of all, friendship. All of this, not before delivering a random quote with a touch of humour.

When analysing the overall artistic effort put into the game, at first glance it looks as if an elementary student did most of the work in MS paint and it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case. Graphics don't make a good game and this is what Toby Fox had in mind; to compensate, the soundtrack is simply outstanding. I personally couldn't stop humming certain tunes, eventually becoming stuck in my head during many sleepless nights. Much like how Undertale contains various types of humour, this game includes a wide plethora of different musical styles; ranging from vintage chiptune, to heavy pop, all the way to relaxing guitar and soothing piano pieces. There’s at least one music piece out there for everyone and it truly captures your expression from emotion, whether a happy-go-lucky song gives you smiles or a soft touching, tranquil song gives you tears.

As you progress towards the final stretch of Undertale, take my previous point where I said it rarely follows through with sentimental value and throw that out the window. It changes into some kind of emotional rollercoaster; a major juxtaposition to the charming, harmless nature. It's a bitter-sweet tragedy, continuing to boggle the minds of fans and gamers alike. It’s something to remember for generations to come and it all boils down to how contrasting this game is in comparison to future video games and the classics we grew up playing.

Undertale gives you determination and I was determined to write this review from the very beginning. I hope this brief review gave you some insight without shoving the whole nuisance of a fanbase into your face. As anyone who would give a good ending note for a review, if this is your first time playing Undertale, don’t take the game for granted and play it at a steady pace not to miss out the most iconic and rather amusing content that’s packed to the brim. Thank you for reading and remember to stay determined, good luck.