When a pixellated little indie game comes along and after a couple of weeks of existence is already being lauded as one of the greatest video games of all time, then you do have to wonder what the hell the world is coming to. Just look at it - the damn thing looks like an amateur bedroom project made using Game Maker. As it happens, Undertale was made using Game Maker. It's a top-down Pokemon-style RPG with a turn-based combat system, but the big gameplay twist is that you don't need to engage with the combat at all. Instead of fighting a monster of a ghost, you can flirt with it, for example, or try and kick up a conversation with it to avoid fighting altogether. This gives the game an unlikely emotional resonance; the sweet, humorous reactions you get from interacting with creatures the non-combative way means that you soon don't want to fight them at all, but instead want to get to know them, and how they react to your humanly interactions. Beneath the simple RPG mechanics and visuals, Undertale is a game that brilliantly turns some of gaming's most established conventions on their head, making it one of the most touching, thoughtful games of 2015.
Gamer, Researcher of strange things.
I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.
