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Undertale

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For the track named "Undertale", see Undertale (soundtrack).

"The friendly RPG where nobody has to die!"

Undertale's Release Trailer

Undertale (stylized as UNDERTALE and formerly UnderTale[1]) is a role-play game developed independently by Toby Fox via the Game Maker: Studio engine, with much of the main art by Temmie Chang. Undertale is available in English and Japanese, as Toby prefers being able to "thoroughly check the text" to ensure the translation matches his vision.[2]

Toby Fox has stated that official Undertale content releases are released on official accounts, as well as from his Bluesky, Twitter, and Tumblr accounts.[3] Content releases such as anniversary events are also notified via the Newsletter, which can be subscribed to by visiting the official Undertale website.[4]

Gameplay

Undertale is a role-playing game with a top-down perspective, which has the player controlling the protagonist to explore the underground to interact with monsters and solve puzzles to progress. The protagonist can choose to befriend or kill monsters, which influences the story and determines the ending. Unlike traditional RPGs, it is possible to avoid killing all monsters, and grinding, backtracking, and sidequests are optional.

Mad Dummy screenshot battle.gif
The player, represented by the red heart icon, evading enemy attacks.

The random encounters in Undertale is turn-based and is the core of its gameplay:

During the enemy's turn, they can have dialogue indicating their current mood, before attacking with bullet hell patterns. The player must move the protagonist's SOUL, represented by a red heart, to avoid attacks. As the game progresses, new elements are introduced in the form of Attack Types and SOUL modes. Attacks can be in different colors, some of which can heal the SOUL or be an obstacle. SOUL modes alters the SOUL's color and how it functions in a battle, and is often used versus bosses.

During the protagonist's turn, they can use one of the four options per turn: FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, and MERCY. FIGHT damages the opponent with a quick-time event. Selecting an ACT can change the opponent's mood, or reveal information on the enemy. Using items can benefit the protagonist. If certain conditions are met, MERCY can be selected to spare the enemy, which ends the combat if the protagonist has successfully turned the monster's name to yellow. At the end of the battle, GOLD is earned. Killing an enemy rewards EXP and LV, but neither are given if an enemy is successfully spared.

Undertale features witty and humorous dialogue, with occasional fourth wall breaks. The dialogue and locations can be drastically altered based on the player's actions. This ranges from minor options, killing and sparing monsters, and the SAVE feature. For the latter, almost every main characters possesses meta-knowledge. If the player quits or resets the game, these characters comment on the player's past action, or have a sense of familiarity from past playthroughs.

Main story

Long ago, two races ruled over the Earth: Humans and Monsters. One day, a war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the humans were victorious. Seven of their greatest magicians confined the monsters to the underground with a magic barrier. However, this barrier is not perfect.

Intro screenshot Chara.png
The fallen human approaching Mount Ebott.

Many years after the war, in 201X, a human child climbs Mount Ebott. It is said that those who climb the mountain never return. The child discovers an enormous hole in the mountain and falls in. After that, the story begins.

The protagonist starts off their adventure in the Ruins and soon meets Flowey, a sadistic flower who attempts to kill the protagonist for their SOUL. He is thwarted by a motherly monster named Toriel, who teaches the child how to solve puzzles and resolve conflicts in the underground. After a boss fight with her, she allows the child to exit the Ruins.

The storyline and dialogue thereafter is determined by the player's decisions, which is based on the protagonist's actions towards the main characters and other monsters. The three main paths are the Neutral Route, the True Pacifist Route and the Genocide Route.

Game information

Development

Toby Fox began coding Undertale on January 11, 2013.[5] Development originally began in Game Maker 8, with art made in Microsoft Paint and GraphicsGale, and music made in FL Studio 10.[6]

TestMonster screenshot.png
A battle against "TestMonster" enemies

The battle system was the first content Toby considered before fully developing it into Undertale.[7] The earliest known screenshots of Undertale were posted in a joke thread in the PK Hack section of Starmen.Net, where Toby "Radiation" Fox jokingly[8] claimed that the game would be an EarthBound ROM hack called UnderBound 2. This post also contained the earliest known publicly available version of Enemy Approaching, making it one of the first online posts to contain a song from the OST, after MEGALOVANIA and Fallen Down.[9][10] Toby always wrote songs before programming, as it helped set the scene's direction.[11]

The first known demo of Undertale was sent to the video game merchandising website, Fangamer, to play back on May 2, 2013.[12] The game was met with positive reviews, so a public demo was later released on May 23, 2013, after only 5 months of development.[13] Toby made the majority of the demo by himself, and he wanted to do so as proof that it is possible to make a whole game alone, with some art from Temmie.[14]

Undertale was later funded through a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of $5,000. It ended up receiving $51,124 from 2,398 people. Due to the short length of the demo, Fox expected the game to be completed as early as August 2014, though this turned out to be a major underestimate, as Hotland was still in the middle of development at this point. The Neutral Route was announced as completed on February 22, 2015, alongside content from True Lab.

Toby Fox has cited several games that served as inspiration during development of Undertale. These include moon: Remix RPG Adventure, for many concepts and themes;[15] The Mother/EarthBound series: MOTHER 3, for boss battles and potentially re-using motifs;[16] The Touhou Project series by ZUN, for music and gameplay;[17] And Shin Megami Tensei, for the ACT and MERCY commands.[18]

Release

Prior to the paid release, Toby made four descriptive posts on the official Undertale twitter to emphasize "UNDERTALE TOMORROW."[19][20][21][22]

The original Undertale PC version was released on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X on September 15, 2015,[23] which became Undertale's anniversary date. It was released for Linux on July 17, 2016.[24]

Console versions of Undertale was released in the later years. Each console version has version differences and a unique release trailer, with 3D Toriel recurring in each of them:

It was released on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita on August 15, 2017;[25] for Nintendo Switch on September 18, 2018;[26] and for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S on March 16, 2021.[27]

The console versions also can be purchased as Collector's Editions exclusively sold on Fangamer. The Collector's Edition includes: the Undertale Complete OST, a physical music box locket, Story Booklet, Collector's Edition Soundtrack, and Music Sheet Booklet. The Nintendo Switch version can also have themed cleaning cloths.

Version history

The latest PC version is v1.08, PS4/PSVita is v1.08, Nintendo Switch is v1.11, and Xbox One/Xbox Series X|S is v.1.13.

Reception

Undertale received "universal acclaim" reviews on Metacritic and is tagged as a "Must-Play" game receiving a metascore of 92/100 on both PC[28] and PS4,[29] while its Nintendo Switch release gets a metascore of 93/100.[30]

Anniversaries

For Deltarune's Anniversaries, see dr:Anniversary.
Newsletter artwork 8th Anniversary Cake.png
Art of Temmie, Annoying Dog, and the protagonist with a cake, and a SAVE Point above them, for the ISSUE 4 - Autumn 2023 Newsletter.

Undertale's official Anniversary date is September 15, which is the original PC version's release date. The Anniversary is often celebrated with a post or special event of some sort.[31] As of 2019 and above, the Undertale anniversary is also celebrated with Deltarune content.[32] Starting in 2023, anniversaries are also celebrated via the Undertale/Deltarune Newsletter.

An overview of the post/special event for each Anniversary is documented below:

Year Anniversary Event/Post
2016 1st Features a separate, official Undertale blog, named Undertale Q&A, where various Tumblr users asked Undertale characters questions. It was originally announced a day prior on the official Undertale Tumblr.[33]
2017 2nd Two different posts were made by the official Undertale Tumblr and Twitter:
  • The Undertale Twitter announces purchasable Undertale content. It is Line Stickers, and the exclusive Playstation 4 dynamic theme, "Ruins".[34] The latter features the theme, Before the Story, and depicts Home, with Waterfall's light blue stars overhead.
  • On the Undertale Tumblr, Toby Fox announces that the Undertale Alarm Clock App is in production, and shares dialogue and interface previews.[35]
2018 3rd Toby Fox acknowledges the Anniversary in a tweet and thanks everyone. He also reminds that the Nintendo Switch version of Undertale will be available in three days.[36]
2019 4th The Undertale Twitter acknowledges the 4th Anniversary, and the inclusion of the Sans outfit and MEGALOVANIA remix in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.[37]

Toby mentions that he approved of Undertale LIVE, which was an orchestral concert influenced by the audience and occured in the United States.[38]

2020 5th Three were revealed, including new Line Stickers:[39]
Flowey battle talk Alarm Clock App.png
Flowey wearing a ribbon in the Alarm Clock Winter Dialogue.
2021 6th New Line Stickers were announced.[44]
2022 7th It was celebrated with the Spamton Sweepstakes, a Deltarune-themed charity event featuring Spamton.
2023 8th The ISSUE 4 - Autumn 2023 Newsletter was released, featuring a set of Undertale sleepy-themed merchandise was announced, as well as a message from the creator of Deltarune's Sweet Cap'n Cakes, and the physical release for Undertale on Xbox.
2024 9th The ISSUE 7 - Autumn 2024 Newsletter was released, featuring an interview with Sans regarding his thoughts on the number 9. A set of kitchen merchandise was revealed alongside it, with most of it in preorders for 2025. This was followed with concept art and scrapped music for Deltarune's Chapter 2, as well as a letter.
2025 10th The UNDERTALE DELTARUNE NEWSLETTER FALL 2025 was released, which announces the 10th Anniversary Stream, featuring Fangamer staff, text-to-speech commentary from Toby, new areas, music, characters and allusions to Deltarune. Various UNDERTALE 10th Anniversary events also occured, some of which are ongoing and includes merchandise.

Trivia

  • On the official Undertale website:
    • Prior to September 15, 2025 and the 10th anniversary update,[45][46] inspecting the main website's page source revealed a hidden message. It read: "What are you doing? Looking for secrets? Don't put your nose where it doesn't belong. Or you might learn something you DON'T like... Hee hee hee."
      • It has been there since around the time the Undertale Demo came out back in 2013,[47] but not since the website was created.[48]
      • The original message had two line breaks between each sentence. These line breaks became single line breaks when the website was updated on June 13, 2017 to announce the PlayStation version,[49] and were removed without replacing them with spaces on September 1, 2021.[50]
    • On the "ABOUT" section, two preview images has the fallen human's written name as Taco.
    • The page title of the website's "DEMO" section is "UNDERTALE Delicious Free Sample".
  • The typeface of Undertale's text is 8-bit Operator JVE, with slight spacing adjustments depending on the use.[51]
  • In 2016, Pope Francis was gifted a copy of Undertale in the form of a Steam key, given to him by MatPat, a well-known YouTube personality at the time.[52] Toby Fox commented on Twitter that he felt honored by the gesture, just over an hour after the YouTube video about it was uploaded.[53]
    • It is not known, but unlikely given his vow of poverty as a Jesuit, whether Pope Francis has ever played Undertale.

References

  1. ↑ @webbedspace @UnderTale Every capitalization is canon. Undertale. UnderTale. UNDERTALE — January 15, 2015. Archived on April 16, 2016.
  2. ↑ 3. Unfortunately, there are no translations for UNDERTALE into other languages besides Japanese. That includes Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, but also every other language – Chinese, Korean, Russian, French, German, Italian, and more.

    I know it sucks that there are no other official translations for UNDERTALE. But I want to make it clear that this isn’t because I have a grudge against other countries. It’s because, if I release something official, I want it to match my vision. I was only able to do this for the Japanese version because I know Japanese myself, and I worked very closely with our brilliant translator to thoroughly check the text. I am not against official translations for other languages if we could make it work the same way… In the past I have looked into various options with my publisher, 8-4, but nothing has come of that yet. Maybe I should try a different approach.

    I’m very happy that there are unofficial translations on PC. Considering I don’t understand other languages, letting fans interpret the game without the burden of being “officially” perfect is amazingly helpful.

    As for DELTARUNE, it’s just not feasible from a development standpoint to support other languages right now, since it would make the game take longer to come out...     — @tobyfox.undertale.com on Bluesky, March 29, 2026.
  3. ↑ All DELTARUNE / UNDERTALE content that releases will be noted on official accounts and be credited to "Toby Fox". If you see a strange post or tweet that looks like it's from me, check the spelling of the username to make sure. — fwugradiation on Tumblr, October 13, 2022.
  4. ↑ The UNDERTALE / DELTARUNE mailing list is now open! Sign up to receive updates whenever there's news on UT / DR! (And, since there's usually no news, we'll be sending out a fun newsletter next month, too.) undertale.com/newsletter/ — November 20, 2022.
  5. ↑ started programming today. finished the text display system. battle system tomorrow? — January 11, 2013.
  6. ↑ Q: What do you use to make UnderTale?

    GameMaker 8 is the game engine.
    FL Studio 10 is used for music, with many free soundfonts and VSTs.
    I use MS Paint for my graphics and Tuyoki uses GraphicsGale.
     — undertale on Tumblr, July 19, 2013.
  7. ↑ It originated when I decided to create a battle system in Game Maker. Then I made a game around it. — INTERVIEW: TOBY FOX OF UNDERTALE (Feeld, Julian, September 10, 2015.) Existential Gamer (defunct/archived).
  8. ↑ Some people actually think a joke/troll post I made in a friend's forum topic about Undertale originating as an EB ROM hack is true... — March 12, 2016.
  9. ↑ UnderBound
  10. ↑ EnemyApproachingnes2
  11. ↑ Over 90% of the songs were composed for the game. I always wrote the songs before I started programming those parts, besides the credits song. Having music helps me decide how the scene should go. — INTERVIEW: TOBY FOX OF UNDERTALE (Feeld, Julian, September 10, 2015.) Existential Gamer (defunct/archived).
  12. ↑ Office Cam tomorrow at 8:30pm EST! We'll be playing @FwugRadiation's game: Undertale — May 02, 2013.
  13. ↑ undertale.com The demo is out. — May 23, 2013.
  14. ↑ When I made the demo of UNDERTALE, I made it to prove to myself that it was possible to make a whole game alone (with some help with the art).

    Because I was able to make it in a few months, I felt that I had proved that it was possible.     — Here are my thoughts on Ch 1 of Deltarune. This should answer some questions. (Fox, Toby, November 02, 2018.) twitlonger.com.
  15. ↑ So, the point of the game is to repair the damage the "Hero" caused and increase your LV, (which stands for LOVE) by helping people instead of hurting them.

    ... Anyway, you can see how this inspired UNDERTALE. Even though I didn't play it (it's in Japanese.)     — November 17, 2017.
  16. ↑ MOTHER 3 was a really influential game to me. If I hadn't played it, I never would have created the Toriel battle, or, well, any of the other boss battles in the game. It also probably influenced how I try to re-use motifs in my songs, now that I think about it... — April 21, 2021.
  17. ↑ I've been a fan of Touhou since I was 10 years old... It's quite a big inspiration to me both musically and gameplay-wise, so if you enjoyed the bullet patterns in UNDERTALE, please check it out sometime. ヨホ — May 23, 2018.
  18. ↑ The ACT and MERCY commands were inspired by Shin Megami Tensei. I played just a bit of that game and loved talking to the monsters in it. Since I liked it so much, I decided I wanted to make a game where that was actually the main focus. — Undertale creator on the games that served as inspiration, changes during development, and more (@NE_Brian, October 27, 2018.) Nintendo Everything.
  19. ↑ You're at the library. You sit down. Across from you is a strange dog reading a magazine labelled "UNDERTALE TOMORROW."

    It winks at you.     — September 14, 2015.
  20. ↑ At a restaurant. You sit down to order. The fuzzy waiter gives you a menu.

    "UNDERTALE TOMORROW."

    The waiter laps water from your glass     — September 14, 2015.
  21. ↑ Bowling. You reach for the next ball. It's fuzzy?

    It's a strange dog.

    It waddles into the gutter.

    The score says "UNDERTALE."

    You lose.     — September 14, 2015.
  22. ↑ Well, that's enough tweeting about my personal life. Did you hear UNDERTALE comes out tomorrow? — September 14, 2015.
  23. ↑ UNDERTALE Release Trailer on YouTube
  24. ↑ UNDERTALE is now available for Linux on Steam! Also, the game's still on sale for the next 24 hours, so... — July 17, 2016.
  25. ↑ UNDERTALE PlayStation 4, PS Vita E3 2017 Announce Trailer on YouTube
  26. ↑ UNDERTALE Nintendo Switch Release Trailer on YouTube
  27. ↑ UNDERTALE Xbox One Announce Trailer on YouTube
  28. ↑ Universal acclaim based on 43 Critic Reviews — Undertale for PC Reviews (September 20, 2015.) Metacritic.
  29. ↑ Universal acclaim based on 18 Critic Reviews — Undertale for PlayStation 4 Reviews (August 15, 2017.) Metacritic.
  30. ↑ Universal acclaim based on 8 Critic Reviews — Undertale for Switch Reviews (September 18, 2018.) Metacritic.
  31. ↑ For the anniversary of UNDERTALE, we always try to put on some sort of special event. — ISSUE 1 - Winter 2022, Undertale/Deltarune Newsletter (Toby Fox, December 20, 2022.) toby.fangamer.com.
  32. ↑ Although it's technically UNDERTALE's anniversary, I consider this day to be a celebration of DELTARUNE, as well. Sorry guys, you have to share a birthday party this year… — ISSUE 7 - Autumn 2024, Undertale/Deltarune Newsletter (Toby Fox, September 14, 2024.) toby.fangamer.com.
  33. ↑ Tomorrow, on UNDERTALE's anniversary, let's have a fun time. I am thinking I will open the askbox, and…

    Bark.     — undertale on Tumblr, September 14, 2016.
  34. ↑ US/EU gamers can purchase the UNDERTALE PS4 Dynamic Theme from the PSN today. — September 15, 2017.
  35. ↑ Well, it has been two years now. I would like to announce that we have started working on the UNDERTALE ALARM CLOCK APP FOR IPHONE/ANDROID. — undertale on Tumblr, September 15, 2017.
  36. ↑ Today marks 3 years since UNDERTALE came out.

    Even now, there are still people playing the game and its music... and soon, with Nintendo Switch version, even more people will play it for the first time.

    I'm amazed such a small RPG could have a lifespan like this.

    Thank you.     — September 15, 2018.
  37. ↑ 4 years ago today, UNDERTALE was released for the first time on PC. Thank you, everyone for all your support. Because of your passion, all sorts of incredible things have been able to happen... (like the smash thing lmao) — September 15, 2019.
  38. ↑ They're planning to do an orchestral concert of UNDERTALE in the US that will allow the audience to make choices that influence the performance itself. Kind of like an actual playthrough of the game. I'm interested to see how it would turn out so I approved it! — November 15, 2019.
  39. ↑ Happy 5th Anniversary!
    The UNDERTALE website was updated.
    🐕👉Update on DELTARUNE's Status
    🐕👉New character dialogue [from the Alarm Clock]
    🐕👉Line Stickers
    ❗Don't miss the concert and new merch at 7PM PDT! https://undertale.com     — September 15, 2020.
  40. ↑ Huge thanks to Toby, @84play and @FangamerJP giving us such an opportunity. Hope you enjoyed it and see you soon with our live performance! — September 16, 2020.
  41. ↑ Thanks Music ENGINE @musicengine_tw for an amazing concert performance and thank you @Fangamer and @84play for helping organize and put it together! (And of course @Everdraed for putting the video together!) And thanks everybody for watching! — September 16, 2020.
  42. ↑ UNDERTALE's 5th Anniversary concert starts in 45 minutes! In the meantime, feel free to come... hang out as time counts down! — September 16, 2020.
  43. ↑ Thanks for listening to my messy piano playing at the end too. The first piece was an arrangement of a song from DELTARUNE, the last two were UNDERTALE songs with improvisations. The middle one especially (Snowdin arrangement) I just randomly made up for the concert — September 16, 2020.
  44. ↑ It's UNDERTALE's 6th anniversary! To celebrate, we've created even more wacky LINE stickers which cover increasingly obscure use cases. Check it out! — September 15, 2021.
  45. ↑ UNDERTALE, archive.org version from September 14th, 2025.
  46. ↑ UNDERTALE for Nintendo Switch, PC / Mac, PlayStation, and Xbox, archive.org version from September 15th, 2025.
  47. ↑ UNDERTALE, archive.org version from June 3rd, 2013.
  48. ↑ Coming soon, archive.org version from May 7th, 2013.
  49. ↑ UNDERTALE, archive.org version from June 13th, 2017.
  50. ↑ UNDERTALE, archive.org version from September 1st, 2021.
  51. ↑ PSA for anyone using the 8-bit Operator font - Reddit
  52. ↑ Game Theory: Why I Gave the Pope UNDERTALE! - Youtube
  53. ↑ Apparently @MatPatGT met Pope Francis and gave him UNDERTALE as a symbolic gift. I'm honored. — July 05, 2016.
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