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The Rhetoric of Undertale
Written by Hunter Couturier
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Many games in our era are focused on two things, getting from point a to point b and killing all the monsters/bad guys that get in the way of that. Undertale however, is game that conflicts with that idea directly and on its release was an innovative creation in the field. The game Undertale, created by Toby Fox, is focused on the Player and their interactions with the monsters; The plot of the game follows a young person (the gender is ambiguous) making their way through a series of puzzles and monster encounters, in a goal to escape the underground land that they found themselves in. The introduction of the game places our protagonist under the protection of monster called Toriel, who teaches the protagonist how to avoid killing monsters and heavily implores the protagonist to choose peace methods rather than violent one when dealing with them. The game continues to push our character (and by extension, us) to be pacifistic for the entirety of the game, no matter the challenge. As the game progresses, the protagonist is introduced to several loveable characters (most people tending to grow quite attached to them) and through some exposition learns that it was the humans that trapped and locked the monsters underground out of nothing but fear. While doing this, the game introduces the idea of determination to the player, which they coin as what you would expect, determination, but also as the sole power that makes humans much stronger than monsters. They explain that determination is a force that drives Humans onwards, and such is true for our protagonist who uses the power to resurrect from the dead (save point). Undertale’s main premise is that of supporting the idea of Pacifism, and its main route (the True Pacifist Route) is what the creator intended to be played and learned from. However, Toby Fox created another route for those who refused Pacifism at every turn, the Genocide Route. This route sees the character doing the exact opposite if the previous route, killing every monster physically possible in the underground while leaving it. The player in this route is expected to leave no survivors, and in doing so is forced to face the realities of what they are doing in the form of killing the same monsters that they had become attached to and are exposed to a variety to eerie themes. Toby Fox created the genocide route for a single reason, to hone in on the message of the Pacifist route, and through a usage a disturbing sound, text, and visuals attempts to deter the player from continuing the route.
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AN EXAMPLE
Personalization and un-Demonization of monsters
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One of the first elements Toby Fox employs to deter the player is that of a desolate and deserted town in place of the normal cheery town that existed in the pacifist route. The music of this town (specifically Snowden) becomes twisted and horrible, filling the air with a sense of constant dread. Toby Fox makes this change to the music to give the player a sense of the horror that they are inspiring in the monsters, with the music representing the attitude that the monsters view the player as. Giving tone to the monster’s fear, the once bustling town is now seemingly deserted, with all the monsters living in the down either dead or living in fear of the player. This change of scenery to the player is quite obvious, and really cues them to the repercussions of what they are doing. Toby fox even made the shopkeepers of the town leave and go into hiding, when the player tries to get something from their store they are able to steal all of the items with no repercussions and are only able to see a note where the shopkeeper once was that pleads the player ‘please don’t kill my family’; this usage of text and visual display is meant as a shock factor to the player, to show them that they are the real monster in this game and that their actions are tearing lives apart. The town serves Toby Fox as an excellent tool to push the themes of pacifism onto the players, as it allows the players to see the realities of what non-pacifism and instead violence brings to a simple town, and as such they are left to assume how bad the effects could be on a larger scale. Towns weren’t the only thing that Toby Fox twisted to show the evils of the Genocide route, he also corrupted the overall idea of determination.
The most notable changes Toby Fox implements in the Genocide route are his changes to boss fights and monster encounters, where the music and visuals are intensified. Undertale is known for having impressive music, but there is a reason that the most impressive musical scores are located in the genocide route; the reason being to empathize that the monsters are now fighting for their lives rather than to just kill you, as such they are fighting much harder and the music is intensified to reflect this. The monsters move sets are also of course intensified and strengthened to reflect this as well. Monster dialogues (primarily boss monsters) are shifted, with them focusing their dialogue on telling you how horrible you are, and mentioning that you aren’t just a threat to the monsters underground but that you are also a great threat for the humans as well; this is by far one of the most effective tools Toby Fox uses to persuade people of the negatives of non-pacifism, as the text shows that even monsters aren’t as bad as the player character, with them worrying about humans being killed by the player and seeing them as a true beast.
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AN EXAMPLE
Increased Intensity of Game
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Toby Fox utilizes the genocide route as a tool for the reinforcements of Pacifism, with the disturbing visuals of the route added with the dark themes and eerie music making the player question who the real monster is, and by extension question what they have done. Toby Fox ultimately wishes for players to be dissuaded by what they are doing on a genocide route and try to redeem themselves by going back to Pacifism. Those who continue down the genocide route for its entireties are forever marked, they are unable to ever achieve a true pacifist run unless they uninstall the game to remove all the files; this is done as a final reminder to the player about what they did, and that their actions will forever haunt them no matter what they try to do redeem themselves in the future; this is meant as a reflection for life, with horrible actions never being able to be fully recovered from and thus stands as a final reminder to the player to choose to be pacifistic not only in the game, but also in life.
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