Undertale

Toby Fox - 2015 - PC

I like the Mother series well enough. I actually preferred Mother 3 over Mother 2 (a.k.a. Earthbound in the U.S.). Both of those games construct a fun and wacky world populated with lovably silly enemies but despite the goofy nature of their settings, they still both manage to pull off well written characters in an emotionally charged story. Underneath the layers of American culture parody and just general wackiness, there's still direct messages from the game's authors commenting on human life and friendships and other similar topics. Experiencing the wackiness and interesting stories of those games was my favorite thing about them. My least favorite part was the combat. Aside from the often humorous in-battle text, these games featured pretty standard and simple RPG combat systems. Mother 3 tried to mix this up a bit by awarding players bonus damage for attacking with the rhythm of the music (think Crypt of the Necrodancer), but I still didn't really find the combat system that interesting. Especially with the amount of grinding that these games practically require you to do before being able to advance to the next area. It felt like the combat was getting in the way of the excellent story, rather than complimenting it.

So now fast forward 10 years from Mother 3 to Toby Fox's Undertale which strongly evokes the Mother series visually, musically, thematically, and even directly at some points in the game. Like the Mother games, you play as a young kid wearing a striped shirt exploring a weird and dangerous world filled with wacky monsters. Thankfully, one of the big deviations from the Mother games is the unique combat system found in Undertale. Undertale's combat presents the player with an interesting twist which is that you actually don't have to kill any of the monsters in the game. If you choose to fight monsters, you'll be faced with a timing mechanic similar to something you might find in one of the Paper Mario games. But an alternative to fighting is using the "act" menu which allows you to talk to or interact with the monsters to finish the encounter without killing them. This usually plays out as a bit of a puzzle where you meed figure out the right combination of actions to pacify the enemy. Regardless of which of these two actions you choose, you'll be faced with a "bullet hell"-like system when you defend and the monster attacks. Different monsters have different attack patterns, so memorizing how to dodge them is it's own fun mini-game

Also created by Toby Fox, Undertale's soundtrack is an absolute delight. It's a mix of chiptunes, synths and the occasional live instrument and echoes various other RPG soundtracks from Final Fantasy to Earthbound. My favorites are Ruins which sounds like it could fit in any RPG ever, Another Medium which at times sounds like it's trying to evoke Thousand Year Door's X-Naut Fortress, Snowy, which perfectly sets the mood for walking through a winter forest, CORE which is a rockin' electronic dance tune, Death by Glamour which is a variation on the aforementioned CORE track, and ASGORE which sounds like appropriate epic RPG final boss music. For more examples of what I believe to be music references to other games, listen to Dummy! (which I believe to be an "Off" reference) Alphys' Theme (which I believe to be another Paper Mario reference), Amalgam (which sounds very Earthbound-y to me) and Oh! One True Love (which is undoubtedly a reference to Final Fantasy VI's opera scene). The whole soundtrack is really, really solid and I fell in love with it almost instantly

As neat as the combat is an even as lovingly crafted as the soundtrack is, the real star of Undertale is the story. The characters are very memorable and endearing and the quality of writing here is top notch. The way Undertale builds expectation and then throws you a twist just when you think you've got things figured out is masterful. It's rare when games can make me laugh, and I usually count it as a success if a game can tell a joke and even get me to crack a smile. Undertale had me laughing out loud on several occasions. It handles the serious, somber, relaxing, strange and horrifying moments in the story just as well as the humor. It's so rare when a game can hit all these narrative notes as well as Undertale.

Undertale Video Review

Summary
Undertale is one of the best and RPGs I've played in years. I found it to be not only an homage to, but an evolution and improvement on blueprint established by the Mother series. It's not a systematically deep RPG with layers of strategy or anything like that. But what it does do is use game systems to tell a well written story with endearing characters full of memorable moments. It also has a soundtrack that leaves a lasting impact almost as big as its characters. Undertale's unique battle system keeps players engaged dodging various projectiles in a bullet-hell like frenzy on defense while giving the player an option of a timing based fighting system, or a non-violent puzzle to resolve combat. Depending on your actions in battle, Undertale adapts acknowledges your actions in the story as well, which gives real weight to the decisions you make in the game. It's such a smart game and I enjoyed every second I played of it. I finished my first playthough in one sitting and am currently halfway through a second. I'll likely play through this a third time as well since there's just so many cool easter eggs and little things to learn about the game's story that you inevitably miss in one single playthrough. All fans of RPGs and good storytelling need to play this game. This was one of my absolute favorites of 2015 so far this year.

The Beginner's Guide

Davey Wreden (Everything Unlimited Ltd.) - 2015 - PC

Davey Wreden, who co-created The Stanley Parable, a game which I absolutely adored for its smart deconstruction and examination of game design, has a new game out. His new game, The Beginner's Guide, seems very similar to The Stanley Parable at first glace. Both fall under the sometimes derogatory genre of "walking simulator". Both begin by dropping the player in a foreign environment with little or no context or introductory story elements. And both have a narrator who serves as the main storyteller and provides some context to what you're doing in the game. And that's about where the similarities end. Players who enjoyed The Stanley Parable's quirky sense of humor should know that The Beginner's Guide has a very different tone and there's not many jokes or things that will make you laugh in the game. It's a more serious and thought provoking experience that invites its players to think analytically not only about the games they play, but the creators that make the games they play. 

The Beginner's Guide begins on a custom Counterstrike map where Davey Wreden, the game's creator, introduces himself as the narrator. He explains that the custom Counterstrike map, and every level other and short game that appears in The Beginner's Guide were all created by a developer named CODA who retired a few years ago from making games. Wreden, who claims he was influenced and inspired by CODA's work has complied many of his short games together into one mega-game - The Beginner's Guide - and has shared them on the internet in order to pique interest in CODA's work and hopefully coax him back into making games.

CODA's levels and games start simple, beginning with a basic custom Counterstrike map and then progress to more thematically complex games that explore conveying emotion through level design and dialogue with NPCs. Wreden accompanies your exploration with narrative commenting on the level design, CODA's design intentions and development process and also continuously elaborates on the nature of the relationship between CODA and himself. The Beginner's Guide is a fascinating game to play if you have any interest at all in game design and it really gets you to think a lot about the design process and the fact that developers themselves are human beings and how their emotional state can affect a game's design and also vice versa. 

The Beginner's Guide Video Review

Summary

The Beginner's Guide is a solid follow-up to The Stanley Parable. Although it's tonally and thematically different, it's still just as interesting as The Stanley Parable and I found it to be even more thought provoking. Check this out if you want to experience a more "mature" version of the Stanley Parable, or to see some really neat level design and emotional storytelling