Undertale is an RPG developed by Toby Fox for ages 10+. It’s available on numerous platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux on Steam. In Undertale, you play as a human character who falls underground into a world of monsters. The game is known for its great soundtrack and the fact that you can complete this game without necessarily killing anyone if you choose to do so.
“How does the game invite the player to care about the world through its narrative and/or formal elements?”
Narrative Elements
Undertale utilizes narrative elements such as the plot and characters to draw the player into the world and care about its inhabitants. The opening scene of the game provides a brief exposition of the human/monster war and how the Underground came to be, which ties the player in as a human who’s fallen into the Underground. The opening scene also explicitly shows the player character climbing the mounting and falling into the Underground, inviting the player to name the fallen human and follow their journey.
[IMAGES: Undertale opening scene and player name screen]
Additionally, Undertale uses supporting characters to teach the player how to play. The player is first introduced to Flowey, who teaches them about the core concepts of SOUL and LOVE that supports the player’s lifeline to the game. However, Flowey’s malicious deceit also shows the player that the Underground may not be as safe as they thought. Flowey’s frightening intentions starkly contrast from Toriel, a guardian who comes to save the player and takes them under her wing. These two supporting characters demonstrate what a foe and an ally look like to the player in this new world.
Toriel takes up the rest of the job of teaching the player how to solve the puzzles and traverse the Underground. One particular sequence stood out to me for Toriel’s character that solidified her character as a somewhat overbearing mother figure. Toriel solemnly apologizes to the player and tells them that they have to walk across the room by themselves without her direction, only to comfort the player afterwards that they’ve been watching from behind a pole the entire time. She specifically thanks the player for trusting her, which helps build an emotional bond between her and the player and solidifies her standing as someone the player can trust.
[IMAGE: Toriel thanks the player for trusting her.]
Formal Elements
As for MDA/Formal elements, the game features aesthetic aspects such as discovery of the world as you work through the puzzles, and narrative/fantasy as you learn more about the Underground. The beginning of the game is centered around Toriel gaining the player’s trust and introducing the player to the various puzzle mechanics of the Underground. Additionally, the player is left to freely explore more of the Underground and encounter its monster inhabitants through monster battles.
Dynamic models such as the SOUL and LOVE mechanics help create tension and agency for the player by giving them a SOUL that tethers them to the world. When your SOUL takes too much damage, you die and restart at your last save point. Depending on the difficulty of the puzzles, this creates a sense of urgency and caution for players whenever they enter battles with monsters. The prospect of taking too much damage may push players to play it safe and spare monsters, but on the other hand, more daring players can be incentivized to fight monsters to level up with more LOVE.
Ethics Question: In the game you played, how do the mechanics depict the body?
Undertale portrays the player via a human persona. The player’s body is a visual reminder of their human-ness in contrast to the monster inhabitants, which makes itself apparent during character interactions such as with Toriel or Napstablook and during monster battles.
Considering the past human/monster war resulted in the monsters being sealed away in the Underground, it’s surprising to see how much the player’s human body in the Underground isn’t a much more prominent plot point early on in the story. At least in the beginning, the characters are much more surprised at a new face over the fact that the new face is human. The player’s human-ness is a biological trait that they cannot control (ie. the player can’t choose to play as a monster), which adds onto the feeling of being a “fish out of water” in an Underground world full of monsters.
A side note about monsters: there seems to be some sort of social hierarchy about the monsters of the Underground. Some monsters, such as Toriel, have much more anthropomorphic or “human-like” emotions and qualities that associate them closer to the player. However, other monsters, like the frogs and slimes that the player battles, seem to be “lower” on the monster hierarchy in the sense that their bodies don’t resemble any human-like characteristics and are therefore, just monsters for the player to fight. This may make it easier/harder for the player to harm other monster characters based on their proximity to human-like characteristics. It would be interesting to morally challenge the player by having them fight monsters from various levels of the monster hierarchy early on, so that the player develops a sense of the vast Underground population and how to interact with them respectfully.
