2025 has been a special year for Toby Fox fans like myself. It was the 10th anniversary for Undertale, and the for the occasion Mr. Fox and fangamer ran one of the best celebratory streams I've ever seen, complete with amazing merch, sets that changed, and new content and insight into this magical game. Everyone that loves the game to death like me came together to remember how special this game is.
As if that wasn't enough, 2025 also saw the release of not one but two chapters of the Undertale sequel Deltarune. There's a high chance this is the only time that happens, and with so much content to consume and discuss, the deltarune fandom has gone absolutely crazy since then, with tons of theories and speculation abound.
With these two events coalescing, it has been a magical time. Tons of younger newer streamers and gamers have played Undertale for the first time, allowing us to relive our own first experiences. Additionally, many have decided to finally play all of Deltarune for the first time, providing further enjoyment in seeing how newcomers find not just the third and fourth chapters, but the first and second as well. It has been wonderful.
With all this going on, I cannot help but reflect on these games that mean so much to me. Undertale is one of my favorite games of all time, and I can see Deltarune being similar by the time it finishes. There's just something magical about the way Toby Fox makes games.
Which got me thinking, what is it about these games that makes them so special? Why are they so beloved, what is at the core of this magic? In this analysis, I aim to propose my own theory, based off of a common piece of praise I have heard for these games, something I don't often hear when praising a game: that they make you want to create a game.
I don't have any objective way of measuring this, but through perusing online discourse over the years, I've noticed on a few rare occasions that when someone praises Undertale or Deltarune, they note that it makes them want to create something. I don't see this praise lauded to games much, maybe I've just missed them, but I think there's something going on here. Of course, this also comes from my own experience, nothing makes me want to create a video game more than playing Undertale and Deltarune. I cannot help but ask then, why? What is it about these games that inspires people?
There's one core element to this inspiration these games have, and it's easy to understand. They are indie games. Indie games by their nature tend to be more concise. They have a small budget and only a few people working on them, so they tend to not be the longest, or the most graphically impressive, or even the most mechanically fun to play.
Because of this then, indie games have to be creative to match up against the big budget AAA games that most people play. With that in mind, there is no better way to encourage creativity in game development than making it on an indie budget. Because indie games are made by such few people, they tend to be more ambitious and less likely to play it safe. Indie games can commit to a vision that might be controversial to some, because they aren't forced to listen to financial interests or worry about their game finding a large audience. Additionally, indie games are often made as hobbies for fun, rather than for a job, so there is less desire for a profit, and more for creating a unique experience.
What all this means is that indie games can be insanely creative. If you want to play something unique, something interesting, indie games can inspire you like nothing else. They are weird and different and cool. Indie games rule.
You can see these qualities in Undertale and Deltarune. They are not big games by any means, and can be completed fairly quickly. Their gameplay systems aren't the most complex. You solve puzzles in the overworld that are fairly basic, and the most interesting part of its battle system is that you defend by playing a bullet hell minigame. There's no deep combat system to master like you would find in the Dark Souls games, or complex multi room spanning puzzles like in the dungeons of The Legend of Zelda.
Yet, despite how simple the games are, they are so powerful and unique and leave such a strong impression because they are brimming with creativity. Each area in Undertale and chapter in Deltarune uses wildly different settings, puzzles, and battle mechanics, and the dialogue is really good. There's a distinct sense of humor that you will fall in love with if it clicks with you. There's a strong heart and soul to the writing of its characters and world that will touch you like nothing else if it clicks.
But those are big ifs. Not everyone will click with the sense of humor or heart of these games, and not everyone will vibe with the simple sprite based graphics of the games. But that's okay, what makes indie games special: that they have a vision and completely commit to it.
However, this should be pretty straightforward yeah? Woah Undertale and Deltarune are indie games, surprise surprise! Everyone who knows a little bit about them knows this. There are tons of other successful indie games as well: Cave Story, Hollow Knight, Cuphead, Celeste, Balatro, Sea of Stars, Outer Wilds, etc. And these game are also inspiring, tons of people love them. Does Undertale have something that they do not?
Before moving on, I would like to highlight just how low budget Undertale and Deltarune appear. If you compare it to something like Celeste, with its tight controls, or Outer Wilds, with its incredibly diverse and exciting solar system, or Hollow Knight with its beautiful backgrounds and tight controls, it can at times seem like these are not indie games. How could such a small amount of people craft a game that feels so big budget and polished?
But Toby Fox's games don't feel as secretly high budget, at least I would argue. The sprite look is fairly simple, the battle system of Undertale simply sees you starring at the enemy. The game looks incredibly indie, I'd argue more than most indie games.
I think this is part of why, compared to most indie games, when you play Undertale, it's easier to imagine yourself making something similar. Draw the enemy sprites, animate a simple bullet hell box, animate a simple 2D world to walk around in, Undertale just feels more indie and low budget than other indie titles, which lends itself to the idea that you, yes you dear gamer, could make a game just like it! I don't mean to critique the game, and Deltarune is clearly a step up in presentation, but I think the appearance of being more low budget than other indie titles can ironically make Undertale more inspiring to others, because look at the amazing game that was made with such a small budget!
The next quality that really differentiates Toby Fox games is just how many set pieces they have. It's a difficult thing to quantify, but in general, set pieces are more common in linear games. Where a lot of games favor exploration and letting the player roam around however they like, Undertale and Deltarune are very linear, and have a set path the player follows. This does not mean your choices do not matter, in fact, a big appeal of the games is that your choices will determine which path you end up on and cause specific outcomes on your route. However, both games feature a larger general path that you will stick to, encountering characters in the same order as everyone else, watching similar cutscenes, solving the same puzzles, and playing the same minigames as everyone else.
This might seem like a bad thing, but because Toby knows that all players are experiencing his linear story on a similar path, he fills every part of the journey with hilarious, varied, and creative set pieces, frequently referencing past set pieces. I don't even know where to begin with these. One of the clearest examples is the fact that unlike nearly every turn based RPG, every enemy encounter in Undertale is meticulously planned out, such that there is no randomness in which enemies you encounter (aside from the first area), meaning every encounter is crafted with more care and attention than you'll see in most games.
Another key trait of these games that ties into the set pieces is how much dialogue they have. It's not uncommon for a game to feature a deep story that requires lots of cutscenes and dialogue to advance each part of it and flesh out the world and characters. But the amount of dialogue present in both games is absurd. Characters are always talking, always present and interacting with you, and even during battles every enemy and boss will speak with you every turn. This is uncommon and could easily result in the games feeling overbearing with all the dialogue. But somehow, in some way, it doesn't. The dialogue, despite being constant, never stays for too long, and long cutscenes are always spaced out between lots of exploring or battling. The ultimate result of this is that the dialogue gives the worlds of Undertale and Deltarune tons and tons of personality.
This personality is what allows these games to have so many memorable set pieces and create an unforgettable experience. You never know if a new area is going to surprise you with an unexpected joke or a sudden boss appearance, or a character reappearing after a long absence. Because these games are so linear, Toby can plan out every set piece to set up expectations for players, and then constantly subvert them with its dialogue, battles, puzzles, and atmospheres. He has even commented that the longer he makes games, the harder it is to subvert expectations, but that he always tries his best to do so.
It is not uncommon for a game to have great writing and great characters and stories, you can find this in tons of indie games. But Toby Fox's games have writing that is somehow both really funny, like returning home with a group of friends, while also being really deep and profound in a way that can shock and leave players in awe. It is one thing for a game to leave a strong impression on you because it was fun, mysterious, or satisfying to play. But it is another thing when a game's story and characters can resonate with you on such a personal level that you think about it many years after the fact. This strong narrative component elevates these games above other indie games.
However, there's one specific part of the stories I want to hone in on. Because in all my time playing video games, it is so rare to encounter games that do what these games do: meta narratives. The stories of these game don't just leave a good impression and warm your heart and make you think, like excellent narratives do. These games provide commentary on the nature of video games and how we talk about them, asking if anything is wrong about that, and commenting on the weird trends that have been normalized in video games.
Undertale isn't just a great story, it provides a lot of meta commentary on video games. Pacifism and violence is the major theme, with the game encouraging you to be a pacifist, and having its characters outright fear and hate you when committing violence. The game rewords experience points to be execution points, stating that the more you kill, the easier it is to continue killing, a direct attack on how most video games portray violence and murder. It asks why violence is such a normal part of video games, portraying it as weird and strange.
But that isn't all. If players seek the genocide route, the game doesn't just emotionally punish you for it, it also asks why you would do this, commentating on the nature of being a completionist. The game asks why you so badly want to see everything in the game, what would compel you to do that, asking you, the player, to look inside yourself and ask why you play games the way you do. This meta commentary gives Undertale's story a special quality that can lead it to really affecting players in a way most game stories do not. I can very much share my own experiences as proof, Undertale made me reflect a lot on video games and myself in a way that I'm not sure any other game has.
Deltarune does this as well, although I would argue, thus far, to a less degree. Deltarune is a commentary on the nature of control and choice. Why is it normal for players to control a character, control their every move, and expect the character to also like us? Isn't it weird that games will give the main character their own backstory and personality, but then have their every action controlled by us, the player? Wouldn't they resent us for stealing their agency? It encourages players to think about how far they will go for control, and if it is worth it. Is it worth going off the path of the story if it means mentally destroying an innocent character?
I can't think of many video games to provide meta commentary like this in their stories. The only comparison I can think of is Doki Doki Literature Club, which ironically, released in the same year as Undertale. It is not common for video game stories to take such a meta approach and ask the player themselves questions about how they play video games. But I think it is that element that makes these games more likely to resonate with players, and inspire them to think about video games and create their own. By providing commentary on the creation of video games and how we think about them, it naturally spurs players to think about what kind of video games they might make, and why.
These traits, I would argue, are the elements that makes these games uniquely inspiring. They are indie games, with a particularly low budget look and feel, that are brimming with endless creativity. By sticking to a largely linear structure, the games are able to constantly surprise and show off their magic in a way that will resonate with players. By having such a heavy focus on dialogue, the writing allows this creativity to spread to the entire world of the game, making the story and characters all fun and likable, in a way that is easy to fall for. Finally, this strong writing is used not to only tell a great story, but to provide commentary on the nature of video games, asking the player questions that most games would never dare ask. All of this means that these games can easily affect and touch those receptive to their style.
This is why these games are so uniquely inspiring. Why every time I think about them, I feel a little inspired to try my hand at game development. They are just so unique, so powerful, and so unforgettable in their theming, messaging, and style of gameplay, making them endlessly entertaining. Thank you so much for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it, and have a lovely day.
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