欧博allbetThe Undertale Wiki
For the track named "Undertale", see Undertale (Soundtrack).
Undertale
Current logo
Old logo
Developer
Toby Fox
Release Date
Microsoft Windows, macOS: September 15, 2015
Linux: July 17, 2016
PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita: August 15, 2017
Nintendo Switch: September 18, 2018
Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S: March 16, 2021
Engine
GameMaker Studio
Platform(s)
Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Genre
RPG
Official Website
undertale.com
"The friendly RPG where nobody has to die!"
Undertale's Release Trailer
Undertale (stylized as UNDERTALE and formerly UnderTale) is a role-playing game developed independently by Toby Fox with additional art by Temmie Chang in the Game Maker: Studio engine.
It was released for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X on September 15, 2015; for Linux on July 17, 2016; for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita on August 15, 2017; for Nintendo Switch on September 18, 2018; and for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S on March 16, 2021.
Toby Fox has stated that official Undertale content releases will be noted on official accounts, as well as from his Bluesky, Twitter, and Tumblr accounts. Content releases are also available through the Newsletter, which can be subscribed to by visiting the official Undertale website.
Gameplay
Undertale is a role-playing game that utilizes many genre mechanics, mechanics, albeit differently.
The battle system in Undertale is turn-based. During the , they attack 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 during a Boss battle.
During the , they can use one of the four options per turn: FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, and MERCY. damages the opponent with a quick-time event. Selecting an can change the opponent's mood, or reveal information on the enemy. Using items can benefit the protagonist. If certain conditions are met, can be selected to spare the enemy, which ends the combat. At the end of the battle, GOLD is earned. Killing an enemy rewards and , but neither are given if an enemy is successfully spared. Undertale emphasizes on the morality of killing and sparing the Monsters encountered, as the player's actions determine the ending. Unlike traditional RPGs, it is possible to complete Undertale without killing monsters.
The overworld mostly consists of puzzles that the player must solve to progress. Battles can also be seen as puzzles, as it can require the right set of ACTs to resolve the fight peacefully. However, if the player decides to kill every monster they can find, many puzzles are disabled. In this situation, the player is required to grind encounters to progress the game. Unlike traditional RPGs, grinding, backtracking, and the few sidequests are all optional.
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 major character 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.
Many years after the war, in 201X, a human child climbs for their own mysterious reason. 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 his own amusement. 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 way the story progresses in the main section of the game is determined by the protagonist's actions towards the supporting characters and other monsters. The storyline, as well as much of the dialogue, can vary greatly depending on the player's decisions. The three main paths are the Neutral Route, True Pacifist Route and Genocide Route.
Development
Toby Fox began coding Undertale on January 11th 2013. Development originally began in Game Maker 8, with art made in Microsoft Paint and GraphicsGale, and music made in FL Studio 10.
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 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.
The first known demo of Undertale was sent to the video game merchandising website, Fangamer, to play back on May 2, 2013. The game was met with positive reviews, so a public demo was later released on May 23, 2013, after only 5 months of development.
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 22nd, 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; The Mother/EarthBound series: MOTHER 3, for boss battles and potentially re-using motifs; The Touhou Project series by ZUN, for music and gameplay; And Shin Megami Tensei, for the ACT and MERCY commands.
Release
To promote the Nintendo Switch version's release on September 18, 2018, a special collector's edition was sold exclusively on Fangamer (the Nintendo Switch edition could also be bought at select Best Buy stores). The collector's edition includes the game's soundtrack and a music box locket, among other things.
Anniversaries
For Deltarune's Anniversaries, see .
Undertale's official anniversary date is September 15, which is the original PC version's release date. The anniversary is often celebrated with a special event of some sort. As of 2019 and above, the Undertale anniversary is also celebrated with Deltarune content. Starting in 2023, anniversaries are also celebrated via the Undertale/Deltarune Newsletter.
An overview of the special event for each anniversary is documented below:
2018, 3rd anniversary. Toby Fox states this in a tweet and thanks everyone. He also reminds that the of Undertale will be available in three days.
2019, 4th anniversary: the Undertale twitter acknowledges the fourth anniversary, and the inclusion of the Sans outfit and MEGALOVANIA remix in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
2020, 5th anniversary. Three were revealed, including new Line Stickers:
2021, 6th anniversary: New Line Stickers were announced.
2022, 7th Anniversary: It was celebrated with the Spamton Sweepstakes, a Deltarune-themed charity event featuring Spamton.
2023, 8th anniversary: The Newsletter was released, featuring a set of Undertale sleepy-themed merchandise was announced, as well as a message from the creator of Deltarune's , and the physical release for Undertale on Xbox.
2024, 9th anniversary: The 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.
Version History
Main article: Version Differences
The current version is v1.08 on the PS4 and PC versions, v1.11 for Nintendo Switch, and v1.13 for Xbox.
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 and PS4, while its Nintendo Switch release gets a metascore of 93/100.
Trivia
In February 25th, 2025, in the police-theme live-action series The Rookie - Season 7: Episode 8 "Wild Fire", titular protagonist Nolan references having been playing Undertale stating it was a struggle to beat Sans. Presumably implying to have enacted the Genocide Route or the Pacifist Route when fighting Sans' lost soul possessed by Asriel Dreemurr.
References
Every capitalization is canon. Undertale. UnderTale. UNDERTALE - Toby Fox (@tobyfox) on Twitter, January 15, 2015. [deleted]
UNDERTALE Release Trailer - YouTube
UNDERTALE is now available for Linux on Steam! Also, the game's still on sale for the next 24 hours, so... - @UnderTale on Twitter, July 17, 2016.
UNDERTALE PlayStation 4, PS Vita E3 2017 Announce Trailer - YouTube
Undertale - Release Trailer - Nintendo Switch - YouTube
UNDERTALE Xbox One Announce Trailer - YouTube
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.
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.) https://undertale.com/newsletter/ - @UnderTale on Twitter, November 20, 2022.
started programming today. finished the text display system. battle system tomorrow? - Toby Fox (@tobyfox) on Twitter, January 11, 2013.
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.
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... - Toby Fox (@tobyfox) on Twitter, March 12, 2016.
UnderBound
EnemyApproachingnes2
Office Cam tomorrow at 8:30pm EST! We'll be playing @FwugRadiation's game: Undertale - @Fangamer on Twitter, May 02, 2013.
undertale.com The demo is out. - @UnderTale on Twitter, May 23, 2013.
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.) - Toby Fox (@tobyfox) on Twitter, November 17, 2017.
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... - Toby Fox (@tobyfox) on Twitter, April 21, 2021.
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 - Toby Fox (@tobyfox) on Twitter, May 23, 2018.
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.
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.) Fangamer.
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.) Fangamer.
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.
US/EU gamers can purchase the UNDERTALE PS4 Dynamic Theme from the PSN today. - @UnderTale on Twitter, September 15, 2017.
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.
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. - Toby Fox (@tobyfox) on Twitter, September 15, 2018.
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) - @UnderTale on Twitter, September 15, 2019.
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 - @UnderTale on Twitter, September 15, 2020.
The dialogue on this page was originally intended to debut in the UNDERTALE Alarm Clock, an app that would have served as the vehicle for various humorous monologues from the characters. Development on the app has halted due to various circumstances, including asking the app developer to help with the development of DELTARUNE instead.
So, rather than have the dialogue gather dust, I have taken an excerpt and rewritten it for display here.
As always, it's recommended you don't read this dialogue until you've completed UNDERTALE. - undertale.com/alarmclock/
UNDERTALE's 5th Anniversary concert starts in 45 minutes! In the meantime, feel free to come... hang out as time counts down! - @UnderTale on Twitter, September 16, 2020.
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 - Toby Fox (@tobyfox) on Twitter, September 16, 2020.
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! - @UnderTale on Twitter, September 15, 2021.
Universal acclaim based on 43 Critic Reviews - Undertale for PC Reviews (September 20, 2015.) Metacritic.
Universal acclaim based on 18 Critic Reviews - Undertale for PlayStation 4 Reviews (August 15, 2017.) Metacritic.
Universal acclaim based on 8 Critic Reviews - Undertale for Switch Reviews (September 18, 2018.) Metacritic.
External Links
UndertaleUndertale development
Undertale Demo • Version Differences
Undertale Developers
Toby Fox • Temmie Chang
Events outside Undertale
Undertale Kickstarter • Newsletter • UNDERTALE Alarm Clock