Undertale

I've always had kind kind of a love-hate relationship with RPGS

This is not because i dislike them, but because so many of them just don't care about the things i really love about them. You don't get rewarded for taking a drink at the pub and hanging with the guards, you can't run away from fights just because you want the character to live, and half the time you don't even really get to save the day the way you want to.

Even otherwise excellent example of the genre fall into this trap, stuff like Skyrim's Markarth quest not letting me do the obviously right thing when there's a solution just out of my reach. Or the (rightly) vaunted Planescape Torment still not letting me get a nuanced solution to a basic quest involving a gang war between two thieves. Somebody has to die to get me that sweet exp.

Because why should I care right? If i don't like it i don't have to do the quest, i can just ignore it. But those fake digital people are still dying if i do nothing, and even if i'm clever enough to think of a way to fix things, that doesn't matter because it's not built into the game.

And it always takes me out of it, not because i never want to fight, but because the game has just showed me it's priorities. It doesn't care as much about me being the hero i want to be, it cares about me getting to be the hero that most video games want me to be. And that means killing this bandit camp, not seeing they get a proper trial or asking why they thought stealing from all those people was really going to work out for them.

Undertale is so far on the other edge of the spectrum as to be it's exact opposite. Undertale doesn't just let you be a hero who never has to hurt anyone without helping them more than enough to make up for it, Undertale judges you harshly for doing anything else.

What starts out (And never stops being) a cutesy fun adventure goes on to say a lot about the kind of people we like to throw away, because they were a little too annoying, a little too angry, did a few too many bad things. But everyone has a story right? Everyone's got a reason for being the way they are, and often it's not quite as simple as we'd like it to be. Just because someone doesn't want to be saved, is that a good enough reason not to save them?

Undertale tell you that no it isn't, and is eventually brutal and straightforward at saying so. You had the option to do the right thing, and didn't because it was hard? Or just to see what happens? That's not a good thing to do, and while you can say it's okay for fiction to allow you those options and that doesn't make you a bad person, it makes you a bad player of this game doesn't it?

I won't spoil how deep the rabbit hole goes on what the game does to enforce this theme, but beyond that it's also just really fun to play. It's a neat little turn based RPG with a lot of active elements that constantly keep you on your toes, especially for a game with two buttons plus the arrow keys. It's often hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, and manages to sneak in a little bit of horror along the way. And it helps that the soundtrack is pretty kickin' too.

It might be the best RPG i've ever played and it's 10 dollars, 17 if you get the soundtrack. (You will want to get the soundtrack) Seriously, play this game and you won't regret it.

I'll try not to judge you too hard even if you kill anybody.

(You monster.)