"Hey, have you played Undertale?"
A regular at HumanKind Network's Game Day had asked me this as we were setting up some months ago.
"Never heard of it," I replied.
"Oh man, it's awesome. It's an RPG, but you don't have to kill ANYTHING. I'm pimping it out to everyone I meet. Do you have Steam?"
"If it's on Steam, I'll look it up. But I can't really afford to buy anything so it'll probably be a while before I play it, if at all."
"Add me as a friend, and I'll buy it for you. I'm that kind of douche."
"Sure," I said, thinking he was joking.
He wasn't.
So I checked it out.
To say it was a transformative video game experience for me would be an understatement. The vintage NES-Era graphics belie a story that will tug at every emotional string you have, depending on how you play it. It's funny, it's scary, it's sad, it's joyful, it's something I would throw in the face of anyone who would make any claim against video games being art.
It's the story of a child that falls down a mountain crevasse and finds an underground world of monsters who have been holed up in there since they were diven out of the main world by a feud with Humans long ago...and that's about all I am willing to say. Almost anything else is a major spoiler, and I encourage each and every one of you to get this game and play through it right now.
One more thing I'll say on the subject, and it might be considered slightly spoilery by others in the widely-growing fanbase: As my friend described, and as the store page for the game repeats, nobody has to die in order to advance in the game. I would STRONGLY ADVISE you to take this to heart - for my part, I avoided the "fight" option like the plague, even when it seemed like there wouldn't be any other choice. If there's one thing I've learned in my life, it's that there's ALWAYS a choice.
If you haven't played it yet, buy it and play it now. Don't read other reviews, don't even THINK of looking on YouTube, go play it.
If you HAVE played it, PLEASE do not post any details in the comments.
You can buy it from the main site, or through Steam
It is indeed pretty great.
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