longer.blue

Ah, Undertale. It isn't the first game where you could spare or destroy monsters with personalities, (*Megami Tensei* did it first truly.) but it's certainly the first one to attach moral weight to it as far as I know. I was starting high school the year Undertale released (2015), and I had met some of my longtime friends through the internet thanks to this game, Hotline Miami 2, The Binding of Isaac, and LISA: The Painful, those out there who're seeing this, you know who you are! *waves hand* It came out at a perfect time, as I would go on to have some coming of age moments that fall online and off-line, I remember learning about it thanks to some streamer I watched at the time relatively a week or two after it had come out! It's crazy to think I still remember witnessing this game totally blind, in the glow of my monitor in the bedroom at the time it was being played live. I had to experience this myself, and soon I did, and would go on to be completely enthralled, It's one of those games I wish I could play for the first time all over again. I had to tell all my friends about it, and did! I would be eagerly watching them screenshare their playthroughs through Skype at the time, seeing their blind reactions to the humor, the philosophy, and the dilemma. I began witnessing the game rapidly nestle itself into web culture and social media, it was absolutely infectious! Then the mystery and rumors began to swirl about the hidden secrets in this game. The speculation and theorization over the mystery man and the secret rooms quickly became my generational equivalent of Reptile in *Mortal Kombat*, there wasn't a gaming mystery that had gripped such a massive audience as this one since that aforementioned game was released 23 years ago at that time, and it's still being unraveled to this very day. I remember me and my friends conversing about it and browsing through YouTube in my lonesome for all kinds of videos about it. Who would've known just three years later, when my high school years were coming to a close, that we would receive a sequel that had turned back time just like it's predecessor, the hysteria of the surprise drop of DELTARUNE had brought me back to being a humble freshman again, in the fall of 2015. Here I was again, at 17, gleefully watching history repeat itself and becoming just as immersed in DELTARUNE's world as I had UNDERTALE's. Im 24, and as of now, there are mysteries still unsolved, and the story of DELTARUNE is still going. I have since moved into my own place, worked three jobs, and have been through much. Many things have come and gone, but my memories of UNDERTALE and DELTARUNE are still rosey in my mind. I guess I couldn't really keep it brief, but what UNDERTALE means to me are these three things: Friendship, Hope, and Nostalgia. And despite everything, I am still me. Thanks for reading.