

The itch of completing can’t be felt by people whose only goal is to have a good time, or just to play the game because their friend told them to. People don’t go into Undertale with the goal of playing every possible ending, and if it is, that goal usually changes throughout the Pacifist run’s storyline (for me it was in the Judgement Hall). The itch felt by stopping a game halfway through is a natural response drawn by setting a goal for yourself, but stopping half-way through and failing to complete the goal. Gamers usually feel an itch should they stop playing a game halfway through, and the itch can last for months, even years! Everything seems to fit, so is this the real reason?Ĭompletionism is actually not a common trait among gamers as we know it, especially the type of gamer drawn by Undertale. So if it’s not because of the sad ending, and it’s not because of post-game nostaliga, is it the gamer’s hard-wired programming to complete all the secrets of a game? It would make sense, considering how many people drawn by this feeling end up playing Genocide. Unless we’re all PURPOSEFULLY making ourselves feel like this, I doubt this unrest that has lasted months (for some people) is what most people write off as “just missing the game and its characters.” The forces at work here are stronger than anything any other video game has induced. Not only that, but the better the game, the faster you can get over the feeling.

The feeling is so strong, some try to write it off as post-game nostalgia, a common ailment in incredible games like Undertale, but post-game nostalgia has a specific survival rate: at most three weeks. A feeling so strong, I can only half blame the Undertale fans who played through Genocide in the vain hope of soothing that unrelenting voice. No, what I felt at the end of Pacifist was an unparalleled feeling of something missing, something wrong.

If I COULD save Asriel, I would do it in a heartbeat, but my friendship with Asriel is something I can give a good cry for and move on. No, whenever I think of Asriel, I can only smile, because if it had to be a choice between him never existing or this short moment between us, I can’t help but say I’m glad I got to be with him for that short time. THAT REALLY SUCKS!!! And yes, that is true, but even now, I don’t really think of Asriel’s failure and scream to play more, like the strange unsatisfaction I felt when ending the Pacifist run. After all, the Pacifist ending straight up leaves him eternally soulless. I can hear some people in the comment section saying that characters in OTHER games aren’t as heart-wrenching as Asriel’s unhappy ending was. Winning any game is a bittersweet ending, in a sense, because the game is finally over. First of all, it’s not because you can’t save Asriel.īittersweet endings are in plenty of games (see Legend of Zelda) and letting these characters go is a natural part of winning the game.
