I overlooked Undertale for the longest time, not expecting anything of interest from a Homestuck composer and the author of the notorious "EarthBound Halloween Hack." I intentionally avoided the Kickstarter of a young upstart named Toby "Radiation" Fox, truly believing that my time and money would be better spent elsewhere. Others encouraged me so strongly to participate that I actually became disgusted by the notion.

What I finally discovered after people left me alone long enough to give the game a chance for myself (a few years) is that Undertale's differences from its inspirations are deeply embedded into crucial game mechanics. Morality and choice are in every corner of the game, affecting its mechanics and story every step of the way. Where many modern game designers tinker away at meaningless dialogue trees and the illusion of control in a linear path that never changes, Toby Fox gives the player true control, true consequences, and truly branching paths instead.

Having become more attached to the game's characters than I expected, I experienced emotions from something I had thought was just a stupid game. Why was I crying when those characters were just a collection of pixels with some text and repeating split-second sound files? I had to study what other people thought of the game in order to find out. What I discovered is that you don't just play Undertale. Undertale plays you back, tracking your every move and toying with your emotions. Subtly at first, escalating in force until slamming them around mercilessly in the end.

And things may have gotten very serious then, but there were moments of genuine humor scattered throughout the game, begging to be understood until I finally gave in and laughed myself breathless a few times. And yet, there were also moments in which I experienced genuine horror and had to step away from the game briefly. It was an emotional roller coaster.

The soundtrack aesthetically improves upon every moment in this well-written and well-designed game even more. I still associate a few specific tracks with strong emotions I felt when I was playing the game the first time, and listening to them causes inspiration to strike. Writer's block is gone, and I feel like I'm really inside of whatever story I'm working on.

For me personally, Undertale sets a new standard that AAA game developers and producers have never met. I regret not supporting the game for the past few years, but I am grateful that I could still be a small part of it by buying and playing it after finally coming around. I would encourage you to play the game, too, if you haven't... But I won't. Only play this game if you want to. If you don't want to play it, you're not going to enjoy it as much as you could.