it feels strange to me now that undertale garnered such a reputation for being edgy due to fan interpretations when the game itself is just SO earnest and sentimental that it hurts. like, it’s a game about connection and friendship and love and it’s so forward with that message that it gets silly with it, but that’s just because it really really wants you to care. it’s the least cynical game i’ve ever seen, even on it’s worst routes
you guys are SO right
Speedrunners have ruined their entire speedruns of Undertale last second because they chose to hug Asriel at the end. The game is so impactful that even speedrunners, understandably disregarding everything about the game except for what they need to memorize in order to get the fastest time for their sport, have seen Asriel and couldn’t help but let him know in his last moments that they forgive him.
undertale tells a lot of stories but maybe my favorite one of the stories it tells is the story about a sad, angry, hateful child, who on being really and truly loved for the first time decided they were willing to die in order to kill anyone who could possibly hurt their family; and how by being unfailingly kind, and open, and helping and befriending the people who lash out at you in fear and despair, you can help even that child to a happier and more peaceful ending, to the belief that things can be okay
and how this character’s arc is told entirely through details in the flavor text and narration
if you play a genocide run then there’s plenty of evidence that the “narrator” is the fallen child, taking control of Frisk. the ending, for one, but also the way that the flavor text etc changes, like the mirror saying “It’s me, Chara” when you look into it (also contrasting with Frisk always being referred to in the second person)
unlike dialogue from the other characters, the flavor text doesn’t have a talksprite, just the little asterisk at the start. ergo in a pacifist run, the “Despite everything, it’s still you” when you look into the mirror in Home and the “Still just you, Frisk” if you go back to New Home after the endgame and look in the mirror are both Chara. so is this
play undertale, the skeleton meme game, and help the lost, formerly vengeful spirit of a dead child hug their brother one last time
