Undertale Yellow is why fangames shouldn’t be taken lightly

I’m normally not one for fangames. Sometimes the writing is terrible. The sprite work can feel lazy and the music often seems to be composed without any real knowledge of music theory or composition. Which is often fine, fangames are often made by kids or those with no knowledge of game design just to passionately represent the game they love so much, which is admirable in many aspects.

However, passion or not, slop is slop.

This was my mindset before Undertale Yellow came out, and I picked it up reluctantly due to good reviews I saw.

Boy, was I glad I did that. Undertale Yellow matches the original Undertale in all aspects of quality, making for a fantastic standalone experience. Heck, I’ll even go as far to say as it’s sometimes BETTER than base Undertale.

The story is as follows: It’s a prequel to Undertale, starring a human named Clover embodying the virtue Justice, who ventures into the underground to recover and investigate the disappearance of five human souls. Along their western-inspired journey, Clover meets and befriends some very well fleshed-out, stylized characters brimming with personality. There’s Martlet, a flighty blue bird-like monster who is often nervous and unsure of herself, but trustworthy and strong, Starlo, a wannabe sheriff with a desire to protect his town, and Ceroba, a mysterious Kitsune who is looking for her missing daughter.

Yellow is an example of what all fangames should be: a realistic love-filled expansion on an original game. The writing is excellently done, providing new lore and ideas to the base game, while at the same time staying true to Undertale’s quirky charm. There’s even quality of life improvements such as adding sprinting, a quick store for items, and hints to spare a monster.

Yellow genuinely feels like it could be a true successor to Undertale, and the labor of love shows here. I was so blown away by the amount of time and care put into this free, fan made project I almost forgot it wasn’t an official game. Yellow is a breath of fresh air in the corporate, money hungry game industry who regularly releases half-baked products in order to sell more copies. Undertale Yellow is a staggeringly large achievement, and changed my outlook on fan projects in general. So, Nintendo, Sony, SEGA, Atlus, take notes.

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