Undertale

Undertale arrived on Switch in 2018, bringing to the console a game that had already built a reputation as a cult phenomenon in the meantime. It looks like a modest pixel-art RPG about a child who falls into an underground world inhabited by monsters, but it actually dismantles the very foundations of the genre. Battles combine a classic turn-based menu with dexterity: when it's the opponent's turn, the player controls a small heart within a bounded field and dodges patterns of projectiles like in a bullet hell shooter. Every enemy also has, alongside its attack, an alternative way to end the encounter peacefully, whether through conversation, dancing, complimenting, or simply fleeing.

This very choice forms the core of the entire game. Undertale remembers how the player behaved, and depending on the level of violence, changes the dialogue, the characters' fates, and the endings. There is a playthrough where no one dies, as well as a considerably darker variant that the game itself comments on with displeasure. This creates an unusual sense of responsibility, because the death of a side character here is not routine game economy but a permanent decision. The humor and dialogue writing are exceptionally distinctive, alternating absurd jokes with moments of genuine melancholy, and the game is not afraid of the fourth wall.

Technically it's an undemanding title, well suited to the Switch's portable mode, since it's a game for one longer sitting or a few evenings. The graphics are deliberately spare, but the soundtrack, written by the author himself, is all the more striking and has become one of the most cited in independent game-making. The melodies return throughout the game in transformed arrangements, functioning as the story's emotional memory. Critics embraced the game enthusiastically upon its original release, and since then it has influenced an entire wave of games built on choice, metanarrative, and compassion instead of accumulating experience points. Today Undertale still feels surprising, especially for a player who can keep their expectations unspoiled.