Chapter 19: Shock
Even though William hadn't been working long as a game editor,
he'd played a ton of games by now.
And judging from what he'd seen in Undertale so far, he could clearly pick up on some of its traits.
First was the game's overall polish. Not the story or content—just the surface stuff like visuals and controls.
Undertale was okay in that regard, about what you'd expect from an indie game.
But content-wise, William honestly felt it was pretty unimpressive so far.
The puzzles—yeah, they were just intro-level tutorial stuff—but they were painfully dull.
Just moving rocks and pulling switches.
As for the combat, the game gave you mercy and dialogue options.
Players didn't have to kill the monsters.
But based on William's gaming experience, this just seemed like a basic morality system.
High morality gets you a good ending. Low morality gives you a bad one.
Nothing special. And the story itself felt like your usual dungeon-crawling monster-slaying setup.
After taking down a few weak monsters, William read the post-battle text, then moved on without thinking much.
As a game editor, his goal was just to finish the game and see how the overall flow felt.
Even though peaceful options were available, William always went with the easiest method—just fight.
After all, isn't grinding and leveling up the whole point of an RPG?
While he was moving forward, the goat mom kept popping up, asking the main character what kind of food they liked, or if they had any allergies.
After exploring a while, William let out a small sigh and shook his head.
He had a feeling that Mirror's success was just a one-time fluke.
Because right now, Undertale just felt bland. Playable, but not impressive.
There was nothing left to discover in the whole castle. No cool puzzles, no surprising twists.
Just a simple discovery—the door leading to the underground world.
After this scene triggered, the goat mom who had saved the main character earlier said the outside world was dangerous, and that if they really wanted to leave, they had to prove they could protect themselves.
If you agreed, it led into a battle.
Just like before, you could choose to show mercy in the fight with Toriel, the goat mom.
Unlike the usual monsters, William actually liked this goat mom character.
So he didn't attack her. But he quickly noticed that choosing "Mercy" didn't seem to do anything.
He tapped it a few times, but the goat mom kept attacking.
So… does he have to fight back?
Or maybe it's one of those scripted scenes—maybe you have to bring her HP to zero to trigger the story?
William guessed while trying to hit her.
The first hit took off about a tenth of her health.
The second hit chipped off another small bit.
The third hit left him stunned.
Because with that hit, her health bar went straight to zero.
Goat mom, now kneeling with one leg on the ground, still worried about the main character and told them to leave quickly.
Then she turned into shards and vanished into thin air.
"What just happened? Why did she die? Wasn't this supposed to be a no-kill route? Or maybe I was supposed to keep using Mercy?"
The game didn't give any hints, but as an experienced gamer, William quickly thought of a possible mechanic.
So to test his theory, he loaded his previous save.
Just like before, he went into the same fight.
This time, William didn't attack. He just kept clicking Mercy.
And as the turns went on, goat mom's attacks got faster and more dangerous. At one point, William accidentally ran into one of them.
His HP dropped to just a sliver.
But what happened next confirmed his thoughts.
Goat mom's attacks had started to avoid the red heart that represented the player.
Even when William moved toward her attacks on purpose, she dodged him.
"So that's how it is! The player just has to survive a few rounds, and goat mom will never actually kill you."
"It's kind of ironic compared to the version where you kill her—especially when paired with the fact that her attacks avoid you. This feels a bit like Mirror, where it explores themes like good and evil and human nature."
As a game editor, William also liked to look at things from a deeper angle.
After dodging goat mom's attacks and hitting Mercy 14 times,
he listened to the cheerful background music and watched the story that followed. He shook his head.
In the game, when the main character insisted on leaving, goat mom finally stopped trying to stop her. She gently hugged the player and personally walked her out of the castle.
"She's clearly a new game dev. This event trigger is a bit rough—having to click Mercy that many times. I get that it's meant to be hidden from the player, but…" William shook his head again.
"And if you don't want players to notice, why make the attacks avoid the player? That's like exposing the secret on purpose—it's like pulling down your pants just to fart."
Thinking back to the goat mom boss fight, William started pointing out the flaws.
In his opinion, if the dev had only used one of those mechanics, it would've been fine.
But using both just made it backfire.
Then something happened that made him freeze in his chair.
Because the next scene completely overturned what he thought he knew.
Flowey who tried to kill the main character earlier showed up again.
But what shocked William wasn't the character—it was what the flower said.
[Smart! Sooo~ smart!!]
[You really think you're clever, huh?]
[In this world, it's kill or be killed!]
[That's the only reason you've been able to do whatever you want.]
[You're feeling real good about yourself, aren't you?]
[Because you just spared someone's life?]
[Hehehe, but don't act like you're so high and mighty!]
[Because... I know everything. I know exactly what you've done!]
[You already killed her once!]
[But then you regretted it, so you went back in time—you wanted to start over.]
[Hahaha... you really are a naïve idiot. Do you think you're the only one with that kind of power?]
[This power to reshape the world... it all comes from your own will—your godlike ability, your power to save.]
[I used to think I was the only one with this kind of power... but now, I can't save anymore.]
[Clearly, your desire for this world is stronger than mine.]
[Alright, alright... while you still have that power, go ahead and enjoy it.]
[I'll be watching you.]
[Hehehehehe…]
--------------------
20: The Shock of Breaking the Fourth Wall
What does that mean?
It knows I loaded a save?
It's talking to me, not the character in the game?
Everything I've done has been tracked?
William suddenly felt a chill down his spine. He even looked behind him at the empty office out of instinct.
Clearly, the in-game character Flowey wasn't talking to the game's protagonist.
She was talking directly to him—the player sitting in front of the screen.
She knew what he had done. She even knew that he loaded an old save.
Even though William knew this was just part of the game's design...
He was still shocked.
And what did Flowey mean when she said those things?
That she had this power too?
What is "determination," really?
While exploring the castle, he'd come across some glowing star-shaped icons.
When he examined them, the message that usually popped up was: It fills you with determination.
In that moment, countless questions popped into his mind.
But even more than that, he felt amazed.
At first, he thought this was just a regular RPG.
But with Flowey's appearance, it felt like the fourth wall had been completely shattered.
What else would happen next?
With that feeling in his heart, William kept playing.
One unique character after another appeared in the game.
There was Sans, the skeleton who shook his hand with a fart cushion, and Papyrus, who loved using puzzles to stop him. These two skeleton brothers left a deep impression.
Sans looked super lazy and loved telling skeleton puns just to mess with his brother, Papyrus.
Papyrus, on the other hand, was totally obsessed with puzzles and traps to block the player's progress.
The funny part? When a puzzle actually managed to trap him, Papyrus would sometimes give away the answer himself.
Then there was Undyne, a fish-like warrior with a bit of a dramatic flair, who chased him relentlessly. Later, in the lava area, she passed out from dehydration—and right next to her was a water cooler. At that point, the player could choose whether or not to help her.
In the lab, Dr. Alphys came across as awkward and shy — the perfect image of a shut-in.
Later, during the quiz battle with the robot she built, the doctor would even secretly gesture the right answers to the player.
And based on the final quiz question, it's also clear she has a crush on Undyne, the fish-like warrior who's been chasing the main character.
Then there was that ridiculous stage performance right before the robot boss fight under the moonlight — it totally caught William off guard.
But what truly shocked him was the conversation with Sans in the gold-lined hallway just before the final boss fight.
Up to that point, William had assumed Undertale just followed normal RPG rules.
Even though Flowey's appearance earlier had surprised and impressed him...
He had still played the game the same way he played any RPG.
In RPGs, it's normal to fight monsters and level up, right?
He let some enemies live if they seemed okay, like the spider girl or a few creatures he met on the way. But if something annoyed him or seemed like trouble, he didn't hesitate to kill it.
But now, Sans's words made him realize he had completely misunderstood the whole thing.
EXP wasn't short for "experience points" — it stood for "execution points."
And LOVE wasn't a regular level — it actually meant "Level of Violence."
Every time he killed a monster, his execution points and violence level went up.
Now, his LV had reached 11.
In that moment, William remembered what the goat mom had said at the start about being friends with monsters. The game had been dropping hints the whole time.
Then there was the final boss — the king. He didn't seem evil at all, and even acted super kind, asking again and again if the player was ready to fight.
And if you said no, he'd smile and admit he wasn't ready either.
But once you walked through the final door and confirmed you were ready, everything changed.
The intense background music kicked in.
[ A strange light fills the room ]
[ Twilight is shining through the barrier ]
[ It seems your journey is finally over ]
[ You are filled with 'Determination' ]
As the text faded away, the king opened his eyes and quietly said, "Goodbye, human."
In an instant, like a god of war, his blood-red cape flared behind him, and he smashed the "Mercy" button with his trident.
He shattered your mercy — and his own.
No escape. This fight would end in death.
The final boss was really hard. Even though William had played bullet-dodging games before, it was still intense and full of close calls.
When he finally beat the king, the game gave him the choice to kill or spare him.
Thinking of what the goat mom and Sans had said, William chose to spare him.
The king was clearly shocked. He said he was willing to live peacefully with the goat mom and take care of the main character, forming a new family together in the underground world. It all felt warm and hopeful.
But in the next moment, a flash of light slashed across the screen. The king's shocked face appeared, and Flowey showed up.
Flowey killed the king.
"You idiot. You still haven't learned anything. In this world, it's kill or be killed."
With Flowey's evil grin and laughter ringing in his ears, the game suddenly crashed right in front of William's stunned face.
What just happened? A bug? Did the game break?
Before William could figure it out, the game restarted by itself.
But now the opening cutscene was creepy and strange.
He went to the save screen — and what made it worse was, it wasn't even his save file.
It said:
Flowey, LV: 9999.
It was Flowey's save.
He picked "Continue," and his character appeared inside a pitch-black background.
When he reached the save point marked with a star, the game showed his save data.
But the next second, the screen started shaking, and blood-red cracks spread out from the center of the save info.
Then five words appeared on the screen: "Save File Deleted."
As the save shattered, Flowey reappeared on the screen.
After absorbing the souls of six human children, Flowey now claimed to be a god.
But in the game, his form was a weird and creepy monster—this was the real final boss battle.
This fight was even harder than the one with the king.
After dying, the game displayed a typical "Game Over" screen, along with a line of text:
"This was all just a nightmare… and you'll never wake up."
Alongside the text came Flowey's terrifying laugh, and the whole screen was filled with "hahaha" everywhere—then the game suddenly crashed and closed by itself.
When reopening the game, Flowey would still speak directly to the player with more hopeless lines.
Like: "You think killing you once was enough for me?"
"This world has no such thing as a perfect ending."
To beat Flowey, the only way was to keep going, again and again, until the trapped souls of the other humans awakened, making it impossible for him to reload the save.
Only then could you finally defeat this terrifying boss.
After beating Flowey, you had the option to kill or spare him—but the ending stayed the same either way.
The only difference was that if you chose to spare him, he'd tell you how to unlock the game's true pacifist route.
With the final text appearing, the game officially ended.
But William, sitting in front of the computer, still hadn't recovered from the shock.
Stunning. That was the only word he could think of.
Absolutely stunning.
Breaking the fourth wall, deleting his save, crashing his game, and Flowey's lines—
For a moment, William really felt like this underground world was real, that these characters truly existed.
And after that shock faded, what came next was curiosity.
In the golden hallway, the conversation with Sans had already explained everything.
So LOVE meant level of violence, and EXP meant execution points.
Then what about the other two endings in the game? What were they like?
--------------------------------
Chapter 21: Overwhelming Praise
The next day, Lucas arrived at the office at 7:30 in the morning. But to his surprise, Anna and Rachel were already there before him.
When they saw him walk through the door, both rushed over excitedly.
"It blew up! Boss Lucas, the reviews are amazing!" Anna said, holding a laptop with an excited look.
On the screen was the rating from the official app store.
9.9—an insanely high score.
And that wasn't even all. By the second day after launch, two gaming media outlets had already posted reviews of Undertale.
What shocked everyone even more was that both gave it a perfect 10 out of 10.
One of them, a site called GameSpace, even hyped it like crazy.
In their review, they avoided spoilers, choosing instead to act like mysterious riddle-makers the whole way through.
But even without spoilers, they still used tons of over-the-top praise.
One line said the reviewer sat in silence for a long time after finishing Undertale.
They called it a game that broke the rules of traditional RPGs.
A game that completely changed how players view the genre—proving that games could be this powerful.
Even though it was a low-budget indie title, it gave an experience more emotional and unforgettable than most AAA blockbusters.
Similar praise was all over Undertale's review section too.
The comments were full of weird and confusing stuff.
Like, "An unbelievable RPG. My back was still tingling when it ended!" "Crush your mercy, and mine too!" "This fills you with determination!"
"Sales are looking good. But we need to let it build some more buzz." Lucas smiled as he checked the numbers on the backend.
2,749 copies—not a huge number, but not bad either.
Pretty normal, actually. Even after the publicity stunt with Bell,
all it really did was get more people to recognize the name Undertale.
For most players, both Nebula Games and Lucas were complete unknowns.
The only thing they had ever heard of was that one adult game.
Also, Lucas priced Undertale at 10 dollar, just like it was in his last life.
That's not expensive for an indie game, especially in this world where the economy is better than in his past life—otherwise the gaming industry wouldn't be this strong.
7 to 11 PM was prime time.
The buzz created by the reviews from earlier helped the game heat up again, and this time slot just happened to be when most players had free time—perfect for checking out a new game.
Before 7 PM, Undertale was getting about 500 new sales per hour.
After 7 PM, that number more than doubled, shooting up to around 1,200 per hour.
Total sales soon passed 14,000.
At the same time, more and more reviews started popping up.
Keep in mind—it had only been a day and a half since Undertale officially launched on the platform.
In the private room of the hotpot place where they had their celebration dinner, Anna was pumped as she listened to the numbers Lucas was throwing out.
Mirror had sold insanely well before, sure, but back then she was just a spectator.
But she was involved in Undertale from start to finish.
Even though it kind of felt like "tie a dog to a chair and it'll still win," the truth was, she did a ton of the story writing herself.
That gave her a real sense of accomplishment.
"I wonder how far the total sales will go!" Rachel said, sipping her juice, just as excited.
"Feels like it could hit a million!" Anna said, super hyped.
"At this rate, it's just a matter of time," Lucas nodded with a smile.
...
Unlike Lucas, who was calm and confident, many players and industry devs watching Undertale were completely freaking out after seeing the reviews.
What the hell was going on?
Over at FlowArts Studio, Bell's eyes were wide open, and he showed no signs of going home.
Did Nebula Games pay people off? How much did they even spend?
Buying positive reviews, paying off media outlets—Bell had done those things before too, but this? This was ridiculous!
That was the first thought he had—and honestly, it was the same reaction most people had when they saw how well Undertale was doing.
No one believed the game's quality alone could earn those kinds of reviews.
It was just a small indie game, after all.
But with a score like that, it looked like a masterpiece.
Did Undertale, a low-budget game, really deserve all this?
But of course, all this attention just made more players curious—what kind of game was Undertale, really?
Once they got curious and tried it out, they usually ended up writing glowing reviews themselves, adding more fuel to the fire.
The most direct way to see this? The sales data Lucas was tracking nonstop.
Every hour he refreshed it, the numbers had jumped again.
And even more importantly, the reviews.
Almost all of them were positive. The game's rating stayed at 9.9, not dropping at all even with the surge in sales.
As more players join a game, its rating usually drops over time.
In general, an 8.5 is already considered solid. A 9.0 means it's a standout title, and anything above 9.5? That's entering masterpiece territory.
Even though Undertale's sales were skyrocketing, its player rating was staying steady.
Sure, it would probably drop a bit as more people played it, but still—it was seriously impressive.
And in the store's comment section, players were sharing their thoughts loud and clear.
"I thought it was just a basic RPG where you fight monsters, but Flowey showing up and the endings... they totally blew my mind!"
"I checked this out because I was curious about Nebula Games and Lucas after Mirror. But Undertale? This showed me what a real game can be! Seriously, it changed how I think about RPGs!"
"The only word I can use is unbelievable!"
"Whatever you do, don't hurt the monsters. Trust me—you'll regret it!"
"A fierce wind roars. Standing before you is a true hero!"
"It feels explosive! I've got a feeling Undertale is going to be a massive hit!"
"Birds are singing, flowers are blooming... a kid like you should be burning in hell!"
"This fills you with determination!"
"The design is so fresh and powerful!"
Player after player gave Undertale glowing reviews. Of course, a few bad ones slipped in too.
It dropped the score by just 0.1—but compared to the flood of positive reviews, those few didn't matter at all.
--------------------------------
22: Praise and Sales—Double Win
As more and more players discovered Undertale, the game's numbers kept climbing fast.
It had already made its way onto the recommended lists of several third-party platforms.
Even though Lucas, just like in his past life, wasn't a fan of these parallel-world platforms...
Right now, putting Undertale on those platforms was all upside and no downside. You'd have to be a fool to leave that money on the table.
Even if he had plans to shake up the industry, one thing was always part of the game:
Money.
So Lucas chose a few third-party stores that were willing to be flexible.
Even though he was a newcomer in the dev world...
He wasn't just any ordinary game dev.
First off, Mirror had already guaranteed him a solid base. On top of that, the drama with Bell gave Undertale a big head start in visibility.
So some platforms were even willing to adjust their cut of the revenue.
That was one of the main reasons Lucas agreed to work with them.
And based on how things were going, Undertale's sales were looking fantastic.
...
While Lucas kept an eye on the numbers…
A lot of indie devs in the scene were also shaken up by Undertale.
In a small chat group for indie developers:
"Holy crap, holy crap, HOLY CRAP! I can only describe Undertale with three 'holy craps.' I used to think Bell had a point—like, what kind of good game could this Lucas guy make? But now? Man, it's insane!"
"What's going on? Is it really that good? Are the scores fake?"
"Fake? You serious? Maybe from a third-party site, but try faking a score on the official platform."
"Exactly. Don't talk nonsense. If someone's faking, go fake one on the official store—I dare you. Don't be surprised when your dev account gets blacklisted."
"If you haven't played it yet, you really should. It blew me away—I can only call it unbelievable."
"Honestly, I was planning to release my own game next week, but now... I think I need to take more time polishing it."
"Is it really that good?"
"How do I put it... at first glance, it just looks like a simple game. But it actually has multiple endings. The first time through, it hits hard. The second time, with the peaceful ending, it feels warm. The third time, with the genocide route... it made me cry."
"People used to say Mirror changed the adult game scene—I laughed at that. But Undertale? I think it might actually kick off a whole trend in this kind of gameplay."
"Isn't that going a little too far? Are we really calling it genre-defining now?"
"It may not have created a whole new genre, but it definitely brought it into the spotlight—and I believe that in the future, when people talk about this kind of game, Undertale will be a name no one can ignore."
As people kept chatting, someone suddenly dropped a link in the group chat.
"Stop talking—check Lucas's official account!"
"Holy crap! Is he even human?"
"Great reviews and high sales?!"
"Only 3 days in and it's already sold over 100,000 copies? That's insane!"
Everyone clicked the link, and sure enough, it was Lucas's official post.
Just a simple thank-you message related to Undertale.
"Thanks to all the players for your support. Undertale has officially passed 100,000 copies sold—but this isn't the end!"
Lucas didn't bother hiding the numbers.
For one, it wasn't some big secret. In a few days, third-party analytics firms would probably report something close anyway—might not be exact, but not far off.
And more importantly, it was a great chance to boost the game's visibility. With such good word-of-mouth, it was the perfect time to add fuel to the fire.
Sharing the numbers was clearly a smart way to stir up discussion.
Once Lucas posted the sales figures, it wasn't just indie devs paying attention anymore.
The media started taking notice too.
A small unknown indie game, made by a guy known for adult games, who also got into a public spat with another dev…
The buzz was too strong to ignore.
And Undertale's stats were just incredible.
Some media outlets that had brushed it off before were now eating their words.
As for regular players who had tried the game?
They only had one thing to say—Undertale truly deserved all its praise.
The characters left a deep impression, especially the ending. It hit so hard.
Before playing, no one could've imagined a game could do something like this.
Everyone felt like they were witnessing something historic.
Undertale might end up being a milestone in indie game history.
Meanwhile, other media outlets scrambled to publish headlines like:
"100K Copies Sold in 3 Days! A 9.9 Rating!"
"An Indie Masterpiece—A Must-Play for All Gamers!"
"A Unique RPG That Breaks All the Rules!"
"Player: I Didn't Play the Game, the Game Played Me!"
"An Unbelievable Game with Unbelievable Results!"
"The First Playthrough Shocked Me, The Second Warmed My Heart, The Third Broke Me, and The Fourth Made Me Think."
No doubt about it—Undertale was a hit.
At first, it was just media and player praise.
Then it spread within the game dev community, since Undertale's design was totally different from other games.
Not just in terms of story, but also how that story was told.
Take Flowey, for example—he felt like he was talking directly to the player through the screen.
That kind of design opened a window for every game developer who saw it.
To be honest, the original Undertale wasn't even full of META elements.
Outside of the intro and the ending, the middle of the game was really focused on telling the stories of Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, and the others.
And that's what gave Undertale a deeper sense of immersion than most META-heavy games.
When the secret of the ending is finally revealed, it hits the player with a huge emotional shock.
And after each ending, the game quietly leaves behind something deeper—something to reflect on, something philosophical.
This is the biggest feature of META games.
If we're just talking about meta elements, Undertale isn't as extreme as games like The Stanley Parable or Pony Island.
But in this parallel world, the idea of meta games hasn't even started to take shape.
So Undertale's meta design, combined with its story, hits players way harder than it did in the world Lucas came from.
And once streaming platforms and video sites started showing parts of Undertale to the public, it only made the hype grow even more.
(End of Chapter)