Contrary to IGN Screen Critics feels that Undertale is overrated:

Why I Feel Undertale is Overrated

Undertale is an adventure RPG styled game for the PC that has been extremely popular and loved for quite some time now. However, I have always questioned what makes this game so great compared to the other RPG titles out there. There are some issues I have personally found with the game that leads me to believe it is overrated for what it is.

My first issue with the game is the fact that it is considered an RPG despite the way the gameplay is. There are two routes a player can take within the Undertale: the Genocide route and the Pacifist route. Genocide is when the player kills every monster they encounter, and Pacifist is when the player spares every monster they come across. However, if the player takes the typical RPG Genocide route, there are consequences. I have a problem with this because a typical RPG would be for a player to defeat every single monster they encounter. However, Undertale punishes you for playing this game as a true RPG. Why consider this a true RPG if the player is punished for playing the game through as a typical RPG would be played?

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

IGN reviewed Undertale - and it got a perfect 10:

Undertale Review

Undertale’s clever understanding of the RPG mindset and fantastic writing make it an unforgettable experience unique to games.

I finished my first playthrough of Undertale in stunned silence. My journey had begun with dumb puns and silly puzzles, but the end affected me in a way I never expected. That’s kind of Undertale’s specialty — playing with our expectations of what an RPG should be, subverting them, and using them to drive a story unique to what games can do. Its strong writing, integration of gameplay with storytelling, and acute understanding of its audience all build to something that surprises at every turn.

[...]

The Verdict

It's hard to express just how much I adore Undertale without spoiling anything significant, but that's what I love about it. It tells its story in such a dynamic way, and with such a great understanding of the RPG player’s mindset, that it couldn’t have been told in any other way. It's a masterfully crafted experience that I won't forget any time soon.

Score: 10/10 It might not be pretty, but Undertale is absolutely a work of art.

On year after release developer Toby Fox reflects on the success with his RPG Undertale:

Retrospective on UNDERTALE’s Popularity

Though it was released almost a year ago, I have the same opinion of it.

It’s about an 8/10, niche RPG game.

If you like the characters and the humor, you’ll probably like it, and forgive it for its flaws.

If you don’t, you’ll probably hate it.

Surprisingly, there are many people who like this type of game. Though I did work hard, there’s definitely a lot of luck involved in having a game become this popular. So, it wouldn’t surprise me if I never made a game as successful again. That’s fine with me though.

Not only did I not expect this level of popularity, but initially, I was afraid of it. I didn’t want UNDERTALE to become tiring for people, or become spoiled before anyone even got a chance to play it. Early on (this was probably excessive) I even tried to contact certain Let’s Players to tell them not to make any content about it.

But, the game became very popular. Unavoidable, even. At the height of its popularity, “not liking the game” felt like a cardinal sin to many fans online. In reaction to these circumstances, others began actively hate the game, creating an endless whirlwind of discourse…

Like a thunderclap to a small dog, all of this attention stressed me out. And every time it seemed to die down, something revived it, such as the GameFAQs contest, the award shows, bizarre theory videos, and so on. At times, I wished I had a way to quell the attention. I felt a strange powerlessness. (And guilt, for feeling stressed when the success of the game SHOULD be something I’m nothing but ecstatic about.)

At the same time, countless wonderful things were happening. People told me the game helped them through a difficult part of their life. Others told me that the game had made them laugh, or cry, or say “I want to be kinder.” Many young kids told me they wanted to create games or music because of it. And, on a personal level, because of its popularity, I have been able to help myself and many people in my life. (And, hopefully, in the future, I can help many other people because of it, too.)

So, ultimately, it’s a good thing that the game reached so many people, and I’m very, very, very, very, very, very, thankful to everyone that supported it, and everyone that helped me make it.

Thank you.

And thank you to anyone who has created fanworks for this game over the past year. I’ve been in fandoms my whole life. I drew Cave Story characters in the margins of my 7th grade history class notes. So it’s amazing to see something I created incite a similar passion in other people.

Someday, UNDERTALE will fade from people’s minds. But, I’m sure in 10 years, some kid who played UNDERTALE will create a game that surpasses it…

I look forward to playing that.

Tomorrow, on UNDERTALE’s anniversary, let’s have a fun time. I am thinking I will open the askbox, and…

Felipepepe of the RPGCodex has reviewed the 2015 indie hit Undertale:

RPG Codex Review: Undertale

This year, away from the watchful eyes of the RPG Codex, a new game took the place of the Highest Rated PC Game of All Time on Metacritic. It scored 97, one point above icons of fanboyism like BioShock, Half-Life 2 and GTA V.

It has since dropped down to 93 (this is a serious industry, after all, with big budget AAA rehashes at its apex), but that remains an impressive feat. The game that achieved it? Undertale, an indie RPG.

Yes, reader - an RPG! But how come it has eluded thousands of RPG Codex grognards? Let's check out the trailer to see if we can learn more:

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Yeah... uh... quite easy to see why few here cared.

But here's my honest assessment: if you find that trailer in any way appealing, if you enjoy games like Earthbound and/or if you have a weak spot for unique games that offer something fresh, then heed my advice - stop reading this review and go play Undertale. Or at least try the demo.

TL;DR: Undertale is a brilliant game, and the less you know about it before going in, the better.

[...]

Undertale - a game that is liked by reviewers and gamers:

Kotaku:

People don’t just like Undertale; they love it. This game is personal for them. It’s personal for me, too.

FemHype:

So all in all, Undertale is a very diverse game with all sorts of lovable and relatable characters, and while not perfect (nothing ever is), I still think it’s a good step forward to see a game with a good bunch of prominent representation be hailed as an instant classic by critics and players alike. I absolutely adored this game and its mix of deep character building, bizarre humor, satire of games as a medium, and really fun gameplay. I hope if you decide to try the game out you will enjoy it too!

Escapist:

What really makes Undertale is the story and writing, which is on the one hand hilarious enough to suck you in from the start, and is also, by the end, rather heartfelt as well. I'm not too proud to admit that the Pacifist ending consistently makes me well up a bit every time I see it. And anything that can touch my stony heart deserves a good hard analysis.

PCGamer:

The fact that this is basically a one-person project only makes it more impressive, from the excellent use of simple graphics to convey emotion, to the fantastic lo-fi soundtrack. It may or may not be the best RPG you play this year, but it’s certainly going to be one of the most worthwhile—as memorable as anything in, say, The Witcher 3, and every bit as worthy.

Gamasutra takes a look at the choices and consequences and the design of the action based RPG battles in Undertale:

How Undertale makes you think hard before killing monsters

"You kill a lot of random monsters (sometimes even humans) in every RPG and the consequences for this are never addressed. What if they were?"

The monsters in Toby Fox's Undertale are an unassuming lot. Some of them want you to eat your veggies. Some of them want to know what you think of their hat. Some of them just want to be petted.

They're not exactly a fearsome bunch, but neither was that grinning slime many of us saw during our first few minutes with Dragon Quest decades ago. That didn't stop us from splattering it into smears of jelly for the miniscule amounts of EXP and gold it was carrying, beginning a streak of violence that has gone largely unchallenged in RPGs since their inception.

Fox asks us to question ourselves and the violence we commit in RPGs with Undertale. He does so by making the violence completely optional, asking that the player make a conscious choice to do harm.

Unlike the various slimes and goblins you HAVE to fight in many other games, it's entirely possible for the player to make their way through Undertale without harming a soul.

[...]

Game Design Deep Dive: Undertale's action-based RPG battles

Who: Toby Fox

Hi, my name is Toby Fox. I'm an indie game developer from the United States. I started Undertale, my RPG game, on a whim during a break from college classes in 2013. After working for a few months, I released a demo of the game's first area.

After seeing the demo's warm reception, I launched a Kickstarter campaign that Spring that earned $50,000 -- $45,000 more than its $5,000 goal. Using this, I continued work on the game until its release in September 2015.

What: Undertale's action-battles

I created the battle engine before I made any other aspect of the game. Everything came from that.

[...]

Geek and Sundry has reviewed Undertale and compared it to other games with moral choices:

[FIGHT] or [MERCY]? Challenging Player Morality in Undertale

Undertale, a turn-based RPG from Toby Fox has hit the internet like a hurricane. I haven’t been able to browse anywhere without seeing some fanart, joke, or reference to the game. Having finally finished my third playthrough, I now see why. With a lovable cast of characters, funny yet heartfelt writing, bumping tunes, and a fight-system that is both retro and innovative, Undertale has easily become one of my favorite games of this year.

What makes this quirky little RPG stand-out is that it succeeds where a number of games that promise “moral choice” fail: by presenting the player with true choices, merging those choices into its gameplay and narrative, and being consistent and firm about the consequences of those choices. Before I get into Undertale though, I want to survey the current landscape of moral choice.

For some time now, the ability to make moral decisions in games has almost become a staple. How many games have you played where you can spare a major baddy or kill them? Or where destroying the city gives you red points while rescuing kittens give you blue points? Infamous, Overlord, Fable, Red Dead Redemption. The list of games that feature some kind of morality meter goes on and on.

[...]

This is the true power of a video game and any form of art: the ability to challenge the viewer even as they are entertained. To make us examine ourselves not through comparison, but direct participation–through cause and effect. By not only presenting clear moral choices (to kill or not to kill) but by presenting long-term consequences for those choices, Undertale is able to challenge the player on where they stand in regards to violence. This is what makes it such a fantastic game and I’m hopeful that other developers will take notes in regard to their own use of player choice and morality.

If you want to play Undertale for yourself, you can purchase it on Steam. Please feel free to discuss the game in the comments below. Just be mindful of spoilers.

You still haven't bought Undertale? - read this Forbes article:

A New RPG Developed By One Man Just Passed 'Half-Life 2' To Become Highest Rated PC Game Ever

I think everyone has a friend like Josh Knowles. You know, the enthusiastic gamer who’s always pulling for the underdog developer, constantly planting bugs in your ear about the next big thing that’s slightly off the radar. When he told me in no uncertain terms that I had to check out a new RPG called Undertale, I feigned interest and mentally added it to the massive list of games I want to play but, realistically, will have no time for during the holiday release onslaught.

A few days passed and he bugged me about it again. “I’m legit emotionally invested in this game,” he said. “Also, no big deal, but it’s the highest rated PC game of all time, so, maybe give it a shot?”

I pointed my browser to Metacritic and sorted all PC releases by score. There it was in all its green glory. A 97, dethroning Valve’s Half-Life 2. Surpassing Grand Theft Auto V. Coming in above Mass Effect 2, Portal 2, and Skyrim. But unlike those blockbuster AAA titles, Undertale was developed by one man. Toby Fox. It costs $9.99, and was crowdfunded in 2013 to the tune of $51,124.

Here’s a sampling of the reviews thus far:

• “Undertale is one of the best roleplaying games I’ve ever played, and I do not say that lightly.” ~Jim Sterling via The Jimquisition.
• “The fact that this is basically a one-person project only makes it more impressive, from the excellent use of simple graphics to convey emotion, to the fantastic lo-fi soundtrack. It may or may not be the best RPG you play this year, but it’s certainly going to be one of the most worthwhile—as memorable as anything in, say, The Witcher 3, and every bit as worthy.” ~Richard Cobbett via PC Gamer.
• “Undertale provided me with many hours of laughter, happiness, and warm, fuzzy feelings, all the while surprising me with some truly sad and shocking moments out of the blue. It’s the kind of game that I’ll want to replay many times in order to see how all of the various choices play out, and I’m sure I will remember it fondly for years to come.” ~Ben Davis via Destructoid.
• “Undertale is a spiritual successor of many games – Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, even drawing inspiration from more modern indies like Cave Story. Yet Undertale manages to stand on its own despite those games, and create something that will feel inherently nostalgic, soothing, and sentimental, regardless of your prior experience.” Eric Van Allen via Gaming Trend.

Based on the reviews I’ve skimmed and the gameplay footage I’ve watched, Undertale is dripping with memorable 8-bit music, a quirky and endless sense of humor that pervades ever facet of the game, and a reverence for the classic games (and gaming references) we grew up loving. Perhaps most importantly, it seems to be eliciting the kind of emotion and attachment that’s rare even with hundreds of developers at the helm.

I acknowledge that Metacritic is a joke in some circles, but it still remains incredibly relevant to everyone involved in the industry. It also makes for one hell of an impactful headline…

Still the fact remains that one-man indie developer Fox has pulled off a monumental achievement. It certainly looks like a game worth experiencing, and potentially worthy of inclusion in your Game of the Year discussions.

Next time the Josh Knowles in your life urges you to check out that unknown game, consider making room on your calendar? And note to self:
Stop ignoring indies.

Undertale is NOT an underdog anymore - another raving review on US Gamer:

Undertale PC Review: The Art of Surprise

Toby Fox's subversion of Japanese RPGs is equal parts inventive, touching, and brilliant.

As a reviewer, the most difficult part about communicating Undertale's greatness is the fact that it works best when you're not aware of the many surprises packed within. 
On the surface, Undertale appears to be a loving sendup of the Japanese RPG genre, with many cues taken from Nintendo's EarthBound series of RPGs—specifically, Mother 3, a 2006 Game Boy Advance release that never reached our shores and developed a cult following as a result. But, soon after the tutorial dungeon, Undertale reveals itself to be something much greater than a clever homage. While it uses the grammar of a Japanese RPG as its basic framework, Undertale doesn't aspire to be an especially straightforward take on the genre.

[...]

Score: 5/5

 

Regardless of its indie status, Undertale is one of the best and most inspired RPGs in years. By playing with traditional, turn-based mechanics, creator Toby Fox has crafted an experience with a legitimate surprise around every corner. If you have a PC and ten bucks, you owe it to yourself to play this amazing game.

Another very positive review for the indie sleeper hit of 2015 - Undertale:

Undertale combines charming characters, smart writing, and a unique combat system to make one of this fall's biggest surprises.

Two hours into Undertale I was waning. It was a Saturday night, and I couldn’t stop thinking of better ways that I could be spending my time. But so many people had told me that I should play--that I needed to play--this game.

I was told that Undertale was funny, and that it was subversive, and that there were lots of cool, little secrets for dedicated players to find, including dramatically different ending sequences. I was told that Undertale saw the beauty in mundanity, like Earthbound did. I was told that it was weird in the best way, like how Suda 51 games used to be. There were so many arguments for why I should be paying attention to Undertale, and each felt custom made to hook me. But, through my first two hours, the game itself didn’t manage to achieve that feat.

I appreciated the intention: Undertale was taking aim at familiar console-style RPG tropes like experience points, block puzzles, and shopkeepers, but this style of subversion had lost its edge. Like the final level of Braid or Spec Ops: The Line, Undertale was was a sledghammer critique, while I'd been hoping for some local anesthesia and a scalpel. The game's comedy wasn’t quite hitting for me either. Yeah, it had silly skeleton men, and it referenced anime and dating sims. But in the era of Jazzpunk, Frog Fractions, and The Stanley Parable, a game can’t get by on the novelty of having jokes any more than a television comedy could. And unlike The Stanley Parable, which iterated in fairly rapid succession, the notion of completing Undertale multiple times felt daunting. Between all the people talking about “true endings” on Twitter and the game’s occasional traipses into the creepypasta horror stylings of Slenderman and imscared, I was a little concerned that Undertale was one of these vampire games: Not games that fed on the player, but games that transformed us into blood suckers, desperate to drain every last ounce of life from a game in an act of determined superfandom.

But somewhere along the way, Undertale went from a mild disappointment to one of my favorite games so far this year. To explain how it did this, I have to talk more about the game's structure and detail. Don’t worry, I’m not out to give away story beats or to ruin punchlines. But if I failed to talk about the shape of Undertale (and about what it manages to achieve with that shape), I’d be doing a disservice to it. It deserves more than to be talked about in hushed and devout whispers, and trust me, someone could spell the game out in vivid detail and fail to steal its magic. [...]

Score: 5/5

Thanks Eye!

Laura Hudson (Offworld) reviewed the indie game Untertale:

In Undertale, you can choose to kill monsters — or understand them

Like a lot of roleplaying games, Undertale asks you to become a child. When you fall down a hole into an underworld populated with monsters, your path seems clear: set off on a brave journey across a hostile land, destroy the evil monsters you meet along the way, and emerge a hero.

Then, almost immediately, you meet a monster who doesn't want to fight. Its name is Whimsum and it is very frightened, ready to burst into tears at the mere sight of you. So it's your choice, hero: do you spare it or cut it into pieces?

Welcome to Undertale, a game where every battle is a choice between the complex morality of compassion, and the simplicity of the sword.

Other monsters you encounter are more aggressive, but just as complicated. One is simply depressed, weeping tears that drip down the screen and wound you drop by drop. One is deeply insecure and just wants someone to laugh at its jokes. One lovingly coats you in lava, believing for all the world that its fiery ministrations are healing you. Another, you're told, simply has a hard life.

Whatever else a monster is in this world, it's also a person, and every foe you encounter has its own fears, anxieties, and dreams. Maybe they're attacking you, as bullies and trolls often do, because they're hurting as well. Or maybe they're attacking you because they've always been told that monsters and humans are enemies, and that they're supposed to kill each other. But hey, isn't that why you're fighting them too?

You can try to talk to them, to understand and defuse the problems that are drawing them into the conflict, or you can kill them. But choose wisely: violence has consequences, and the damage you do as make your way through the world will not go unnoticed; even hitting the reset button may not be enough to wipe it clean. And ignoring the pain of others is its own sort of damage, and will leave its own ripples across the interpersonal landscape of the game. [...]

Thanks Eye!

Richard Cobbet has reviewed Undertale - an oldschool RPG wit some unique ideas:

The RPG Scrollbars: Undertale

You should play Undertale. It’s not had much attention since it came out last week, and that’s a real shame, because it’s one of the sweetest, darkest, funniest RPGs I’ve played in ages. It’s rare to find a genuinely funny game, and rarer still to spend several hours laughing and laughing. My only problem with trying to give it its proper due is that by doing so, well, I inevitably have to spoil things. So, if you’re in the mood for a sweet, dark, funny RPG that’s not just about meta references and jokes about XP being stupid, you go check it out, right now, and I’ll see you next week.

If you need a little more than that, hmm. How to describe it without saying too much? Aaah, I know. It’s a bit like Earthbound, only with the big difference that most of the people with nice things to say about it have actually played it. (No, five minutes with a ROM doesn’t count.) And like Earthbound, you’ll kick yourself if you miss it now.

[...]

Did I mention that Undertale is totally worth checking out yet?

I’m pretty sure I did, but if not, imagine those words being bellowed through a megaphone. You can safely ignore it if you’re not interested in good games. But! For everyone else, it’s one of the smartest and funniest indie adventures around, and one that deserves to be remembered by PC players in much the same way that Earthbound is for console fans. Nowhere near as epic, it’s true. But not everything has to be.

Undertale. It’s over here. That is all.

Nathan Grayson (Kotaku) is very impressed with Undertale:

Fantastic New RPG Lets You Talk Your Way Out Of Every Battle

Undertale made me grin until my face hurt. Then it broke my heart. And that was just the prologue.

Undertale is a new RPG that just landed on Steam. It’s cut from the same cloth as stuff like Earthbound; that is to say, it’s charming, weird, wacky, and subversive, but not without substance. It might not look like much visually, but it’s no generic “retro” RPG. It can, among other things, lay claim to the unique distinction of being an RPG with plenty of battles, but—if you so chose—almost zero violence. You can engage with pretty much every enemy by talking to them or flirting with them or petting them (there are a lot of dogs) or a ton of other unique interactions that pop up on a per-enemy basis. They’re little puzzles unto themselves, and they’ve left me smiling every time. Or you can mash monsters into paste with your fists. Your call.

Really though, the reason I’m completely in love with Undertale so far is its heart. The game exudes warmth. It’s clever and sometimes sad, but above all else honest. It pulls no punches, and every moment—every dialogue and fight—has been legitimately surprising. Case in point: its opening, the most boring part of many games, destroyed me. [...]

Spotted by Eye!

Watch the first 30 minutes of Undertale - an RPG where you try *Not* to kill monsters:

Hey kid, you ever play that crusty, old, ancient relic of the SNES era, Earthbound? Did you think it was charming and funny? Did it set off all your quirk-pleasure zones in your temporal lobe? Of course it did. So now this new indie RPG Undertale is kind of like Earthbound in its quirk-centricism, except that it has worse graphics and a more entertaining battle system! That’s a fair trade if you ask me!

No but seriously folks, Undertale is a great RPG that will not leave you hitting attack 30 times in a row. The battles are based on figuring out the right way to interact with the monster verbally. Sometimes you might need to threaten, flirt with, pick on, imitate or use (literally) hundreds of other interactions in order to get the enemy to back down to you. Every fight is different and you have to use that noggin to figure out how to manipulate the creature correctly. Or you can choose to beat them down the old fashion way. But for reasons I won’t disclose here, you probably won’t want to do that.

So watch me play this new classic if you’re craving some retro RPG action with a modern twist.

Undertale is an indie RPG where you don't have to kill anyone. The game will be released tomorrow on Steam.

Welcome to UNDERTALE. In this RPG, you control a human who falls underground into the world of monsters. Now you must find your way out... or stay trapped forever.

Features:

• Killing is unnecessary: negotiate out of danger using the unique battle system.
• Time your attacks for extra damage, then dodge enemy attacks in a style reminiscent of top-down shooters.
• Original art and soundtrack brimming with personality.
• Soulful, character-rich story with an emphasis on humor.
• Become friends with all of the bosses!
• At least 5 dogs.
• You can date a skeleton.
• Hmmm... now there are 6 dogs...?
• Maybe you won't want to date the skeleton.
• I thought I found a 7th dog, but it was actually just the 3rd dog.
• If you play this game, can you count the dogs for me...? I'm not good at it.

Under Tale is a another kickstarter RPG that deserves a look. The game is already funded and even has a demo to try.

A long time ago, two races ruled peacefully over the Earth: HUMANS and MONSTERS.  One day, a terrible war broke out between the two races.  After a long battle, the humans were victorious. They sealed the monsters underground with a magical spell.

In the year 201X, a small child scales Mt. Ebott. It is said that those who climb the mountain never return. 

Seeking refuge from the rainy weather, the child enters a cave and discovers an enormous hole.  Moving closer to get a better look... the child falls in. Now, our story begins.   

Although UNDERTALE is an original game, the demo has already received many favorable comparisons to the MOTHER (Earthbound) series, specifically MOTHER 3. Other have compared it to Cave Story, the Shin Megami Tensei series, Touhou, and Homestuck.

Existing features: 
 
- Fighting is wholly unnecessary: negotiate your way out of danger using the unique battle system.  
- Time your attacks for extra damage, then dodge enemy attacks in a style reminiscent of top-down shooters. 
- Use the format of a video game to tell the story: traditional fourth-wall breaking tropes such as "SAVING," "EXP," and "LV" are an intergrated part of the game's world.
- Obligatory puzzles. Lots and lots of obligatory puzzles. 
- Original art and soundtrack brimming with personality.
- Captivating story with an emphasis on humor.
 
Planned features: 
 
- Become friends with all of the bosses!
- Hilariously bad dating sim segments!
- Seriously, you can literally have a robot husband.