Game Experience

After Chen Xu announced the existence of Undertale, ordinary players hadn't noticed much yet—they just felt the battle situation had escalated.

This wasn't a war of words; it was a direct bayonet charge!

But for the seasoned game media, it felt like getting screwed over by a Chihuahua.

Good grief, they'd originally thought it was just hot-headed youth standing up and clashing head-on.

This was a premeditated hype campaign!

Still, knowing that didn't mean they could miss out on the traffic this big scoop brought.

Under coverage from various outlets, the buzz around both Undertale and Blossom began to skyrocket.

Among the River Media outlets, Zhong Mei was particularly furious.

Because now these two games were practically tied together.

And the reason the heat had risen so fast, aside from the official blog war between him and Chen Xu, was that he'd invested a considerable amount in game promotion fees.

But now?

It all became a wedding dress for Undertale.

On July 15, Undertale officially launched on the Official Game Platform store.

Compared to Zhong Mei's Blossom, Undertale came out three days earlier.

That counted as seizing the first-mover advantage.

Many game designers and players were watching Undertale's performance closely.

After all, this game wasn't like the previous Magic Mirror, a gentleman's game.

Even though Magic Mirror had performed brilliantly, it was still an 18R title.

Now everyone wanted to see just how good this game called Undertale, developed by Chen Xu, really was.

In the editorial office of a media outlet called Game Time Media, Wu Tian, who had just started working there not long ago, sat in front of his computer, ready to review Undertale.

Even though it was just an ordinary indie game, it couldn't escape the recent surge in popularity.

The only thing that annoyed Wu Tian was that today happened to be Sunday.

Which meant he had to work overtime.

"Forget it, I'll tough it out—at least there's overtime pay," Wu Tian sighed as he glanced at the clock.

He remembered what his editor-in-chief had told him before: "The company's overtime pay is pretty good, just bear with it."

After tidying up the clutter on his desk a bit, Wu Tian opened the game called Undertale.

At the start, a simple logo icon appeared against a black starry background, with the words "Nebula Games" in big letters and a line of English below.

After a brief black screen, a yellowed painting appeared on the screen, showing a little girl holding a spear, her face unclear, and an animal standing beside her, also faceless—from its appearance, it looked a bit like a rabbit, a dog, or maybe a sheep?

Looking at this yellowed painting, Wu Tian speculated in his mind.

Like a comic book, the opening animation began to flip pages.

"So they couldn't afford CG animation and used a comic style for the opening story? That's a decent approach,"

Wu Tian guessed inwardly.

Just this opening alone had already given Wu Tian a pretty good impression of Undertale.

At least today's overtime session had a decent chance of not being a torment.

The painting started flipping pages.

Background music played—simple notes, but they had a certain charm.

'Long, long ago, the Earth was ruled by two races: humans and monsters.'

'One day, war broke out between the two races.'

'After a long war, humanity ultimately triumphed, sealing the monsters underground.'

'Now, many years have passed...'

'Mount Ebott—201X. Legend says that those who climbed the mountain never returned.'

A simple background introduction, nothing particularly outstanding.

After naming the protagonist in the game, Wu Tian saw the main character wake up on a grassy field covered in yellow petals.

Following the game operation prompts that had appeared earlier, Wu Tian controlled the character to walk forward.

Arriving at a gate that looked like the entrance to a castle, he walked inside, and a sunflower-like little flower appeared there.

'Howdy!'

"I'm Flowey!"

"Hee hee hee!"

"You must be new to the Underground, right?"

"Oh gosh, you must be so confused."

"Looks like I need to teach you the rules of this place."

"Flowey can't help it—I'll have to teach you myself. Ready? Let's begin!"

What a weird character.

Looking at the little flower before him, which resembled a sunflower, Wu Tian thought to himself.

"'LV up to get stronger'—shouldn't that be level? What's with 'LOVE'?"

Reading Flowey's dialogue, Wu Tian was a bit confused.

Just putting on airs?

And what the heck are these "Friendliness Pellets"?

He had a feeling this Flowey wasn't anything good.

Wu Tian mused to himself, and the next game screen confirmed his suspicion.

Accompanied by a sinister laugh.

The seemingly friendly little flower, after telling him that its LV increased by touching the Friendliness Pellets, revealed its true ferocious face.

When he touched the white pellet, his HP instantly dropped to 1.

"You idiot! In this world, it's kill or be killed! Who would pass up such a golden opportunity?"

"Die!"

Just as expected—the next part should be someone coming to the rescue.

A standard scripted death in RPGs.

Watching the heart-shaped icon surrounded by countless white particles, Wu Tian's emotions were completely flat.

He more or less understood the combat part of the game—it was like a bullet-hell dodge mechanic from rhythm games.

But the story arrangement was a bit cliché, wasn't it? Just a traditional RPG.

Sure enough, the next moment, just as the bullet ring was about to touch him, his HP, which had been reduced to 1, suddenly fully recovered, and the attacking bullets vanished.

The little flower in the game wore a stunned expression, and after a bout of exaggerated face-acting, was sent flying by a burst of flames.

A female figure with ram horns appeared, rescuing the game's protagonist.

"What a cruel creature, tormenting such a weak and helpless child."

"Don't be afraid, child. My name is Toriel, the caretaker of the Ruins."

"I come here every day to see if anyone has fallen. It's been a long time since a human last came here before you."

"Come, let me lead you through these Catacombs."

"This way."

After a brief exchange, the ewe named Toriel led Wu Tian down the path ahead.

She taught him how to solve puzzles and use mechanisms.

At the same time, she told him that when encountering enemies, he didn't necessarily have to fight—he could also persuade NPCs.

Very simple puzzles: push some rocks, and memorize the pattern to avoid stepping on leaves.

"Though it's not a torturous journey, the quality is way too boring. I feel like it's not even as fun as the Match-3 in the Magic Mirror."

Wu Tian sighed, looking at a monster he encountered. He didn't choose to talk or offer a merciful embrace.

Instead, he went straight into battle mode.

So far, the only things he found somewhat interesting.

Were the little flower's exaggerated face-acting at the beginning, and this combat segment.

Even though it was a dodge-ball style of gameplay, different monsters had different combat patterns.

For example, a frog—when fighting, it was just a frog hopping around inside a square frame.

It matched the monster's appearance quite well.

"I hope this game's process isn't too long and drawn out, so I can clock out early." Sighing, Wu Tian shook his head.