Opinion: 10 Years Old Today, Undertale Has Been A Constant Source Of Fun & Learning Between Me & My Kids

It’s hard to believe that Undertale is 10 years old, innit. A game that released just a year after the birth of my eldest son, and two before my youngest arrived on the scene. What is time? It’s all going so quickly.

I bring my kids up here, not to be one of those tiresome people, but because Toby Fox’s masterpiece (and you better believe that’s exactly what it is) is a game that has the honour of being the first I was introduced to and drawn into entirely by the efforts of my terrible offspring.

Rather than the usual occurrence in our house, where I scream excitedly at them both that they simply must play the latest Very Shiny Thing™, as well as all of the classics — what kind of an education misses out on the classics? — that sit at the top of their respective genres. You know, a bit of the old Mario to cover platforming, a shot on Ridge Racer for everything they’ll ever need from a driving game, Battle Arena Toshinden just for the hilarious graphics patter…all that sort of stuff that dads like me need to help us through our days.

I’ve always stuck to the safe bets, trying to gently introduce my sons to things they’ll get a handle on quickly and then actually enjoy so they’re not put off the hobby, but this has proven to be an idiotic approach. Yes, as it turns out, funnelling your kids through stuff that’s deemed cool by you, or “appropriate” for kids by the industry, is perhaps preventing them from chancing upon something that genuinely, in real time, could have a positive effect on their lives.

What on earth am I talking about? Well, Undertale, if you haven’t played it, is the sort of game that doesn’t perhaps grab your attention straight away, hence why I had totally missed it back at release. I will also admit that I still wasn’t really bothered, even when I caught a glimpse of some seriously good-looking review scores. It just didn’t seem like my sort of thing. What an absolute balloon animal I have been in my previous life.

Because now, 10 years down the line, I can’t really remember a time when my eldest hasn’t been either talking about Undertale, making little Undertale projects on his PC, or quoting the game in every situation he can get away with. Even more pleasingly for me, he’s taken up piano and keyboard (and has been eyeing up my incredibly dusty guitar), all thanks to his love affair with this game’s masterful soundtrack. Did you know Undertale has one of the greatest soundtracks in video games? No? Well, my friend, now you do. Indeed, I reckon we’re looking at a top-five spot without any issues. Fight me.

Toby Fox’s chiptune masterpiece takes in a crazy amount of influences and spins them into gamified bangers. There’s acid house here, jazz, choral, hardcore breakbeat…and I know, I know, with so many influences surely the end result is some fine-but-watered-down tributes. Wrong! These songs, songs like Heartache (the first where I was like “Okay, this actually slaps”), Bonetrousle, Stronger Monsters (incredibly hardcore stuff) and on and on.

You gotta go check this album out if you haven’t already heard it. It’s important. That is a fact. It has significant cultural importance, I feel, and part of this, besides the obvious popularity of the game, is how I have watched this music positively affect and inform my children.

I’m not gonna talk about the story of Undertale here, it’s a game I’ve played a bunch of times now, but always in fragments; repeated, never in order, broken up with kids’ arguments or other things to do in the house. It’s also something you should just go away and play and experience on your own for maximum effect without having any information relayed or spoiled. But as much as it’s fully suitable, in my opinion, for kids, it also doesn’t shy away from some weird, weird s***.

Neither does it step back from dark themes and real-life stuff. Death and all that crap. Eating too much and feeling sick afterwards. Y’know, the big things. There are lessons, lessons that stay with you — and I’ve watched them stay with my eldest as he’ll still reference the game or a character (Sans is a constant in our house) in discussions — about violence and where it leads to, about greed, about making the right choice at the right time, about having to live with the consequences of the things you’ve done.

I mean, steady on, that’s a bit much for the kiddies, no? Maybe take a break and play Race With Ryan? Let’s never do that.

As much as things can get a bit edgy at times, it’s these aspects of Undertale, and especially if you are playing it with younger gamers present, that makes almost every screen a delight, because you’ve now got the onscreen puzzles (top tier across the board) sat alongside the real world mental puzzle of explaining things delicately to your children as they crop up. I mean, a father threatens his own son at one point in this game. How do you think that went? It’s fun to learn together!

It’s not hard to see how it’s got such a cult following, considering all of this, and how it gives younger gamers so much to chew on and come back to time and again.

Finally, and another delightful thing, especially for a parent, is watching how much both of my kids have got into all sorts of actual messy art-attacking (hi, Neil!) off the back of the unique pixel style that Toby Fox used for Undertale. These characters and situations are easy to recreate, to add to your backpack (and draw all over your mum’s office).

It all opens doors to creativity and, alongside the music aspects, and the little life lessons we’ve discussed as they’ve played and replayed the game over the years (you better believe these guys are Deltarune fans now, btw), Undertale has gone from something that would very definitely have passed me by, into something that has become an important, relatively speaking, part of my relationship with my kids.

So that’s nice. Happy birthday, Undertale. I still have to use a guide to play you when my kids aren’t around, and I’m not even ashamed to admit it.

Played Undertale? Was the 2018 Switch release your first encounter, or were you there on PC back in 2015? Let us know if it’s been a special game for you.