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.
-----1------
23 – The Multiple Endings of Undertale
Even setting the META stuff aside, Undertale's story on its own is already very well-written.
The game is filled with fun and memorable characters.
Like Sans, who shakes hands with the main character using a whoopee cushion, and his brother Papyrus, who's obsessed with using puzzles to block the player's path.
Sans comes off as super laid-back and likes using skeleton-related puns to mess with his brother.
Papyrus, on the other hand, takes great pride in making puzzle traps, but when the player doesn't engage or can't figure them out, he ends up giving away the answers himself.
There's also the nerdy, shut-in scientist.
But what really hits players hard is what Sans says in the golden hallway right before the final boss fight.
It's here that Sans judges the player for everything they've done.
And you learn from him that EXP isn't "experience points" like in normal games—it actually stands for "execution points."
And LV doesn't just mean "LOVE" either. It's short for "Level of Violence."
Every time you kill a monster, your execution points go up—and as they increase, your violence level rises too.
It's not experience, and it's not character level—it's a measurement of how brutal you've been.
This is where Undertale completely flips the standard RPG logic.
In most RPGs, killing monsters to level up is just what you do.
But in Undertale, it's totally different.
Most new players end up getting the normal ending first and feel the impact of Flowey's final reveal.
But if, at the end of that normal route, the player chooses not to kill Flowey, they'll learn from him how to unlock the true pacifist ending.
To get it, the player has to go through the whole game without killing a single monster—making friends with every one of them through conversation.
And while going for that ending, players begin to realize that each monster has their own personality.
Some of them may look scary, but they all have cute or funny sides—for example, Undyne is the perfect example of a tsundere!
"You listen here, human—being friends isn't enough!"
"We're gonna be besties!"
"I'll make sure you're totally hooked on me!"
"This is my perfect revenge!"
Thanks to Papyrus egging her on, the legendary Royal Guard captain ends up welcoming the protagonist as a friend.
She even throws in a full-on cooking lesson—though it burns her house down.
The skeleton brothers, Goat Mom, Undyne…
And especially when it comes to the final boss—the king and Goat Mom's son—it's where the game hits players the hardest.
During that battle...
When you die, the game doesn't just say "Game Over."
Instead, you see a line of text: "Your determination refused."
With the help of all the friends you've made, you finally manage to defeat the small goat boy.
And through him, you learn more of the backstory behind the game.
A long time ago, a human child fell into the underground and was saved by the goat boy.
He was taken in by the king and Goat Mom, and they became the best of friends—until something happened, and the goat boy lost his friend.
He then absorbed the human child's soul, becoming a powerful being able to pass through the barrier. He went to the surface to fulfill his friend's last wish.
But humans mistook him for the killer and attacked him.
Wounded and barely hanging on, the goat boy returned home, collapsed in the garden, and turned to dust.
His determination, however, flowed into a single golden flower—and that flower became Flowey.
In this final fight, the goat boy finally finds peace, letting go of all the pain he had been holding on to.
Both the normal and pacifist endings had already been unlocked.
You'd think players would be satisfied by that—but curiosity is just human nature.
The violent route, the execution points, Flowey's darker side… all of it pushed players to dig deeper and discover one last ending.
And in that ending, they were hit by something beyond words—something that shook them and made them stop and think.
......
Sitting at his desk, Jason had a serious expression on his face.
"Three scenes left."
That's what the screen said.
In the underground world, the monsters had all been wiped out. Only three were still missing in this area.
The map was completely empty. The once lively pub was now silent and dead.
And Jason couldn't explain the strange feeling he had.
Even though Mirror was the kind of game meant for gentlemen, he was still really curious about Lucas's new game—Undertale.
He'd started the game with no expectations, but the ending had completely shocked him.
After getting both the normal and pacifist routes, he grew curious about what people called the genocide route.
But now… he kind of regretted it.
In his last run, he'd killed all the monster friends he'd made—just to meet the requirements of the story.
Even Papyrus. That sweet, innocent skeleton who still believed in him, even in his final moments.
"What a perfect excuse, right? You, of all people, know how comforting this method can be!"
"But at least we're better than those fake saints who just sit back and watch. Those pathetic ones want to see it too—but they're too scared to do it themselves!"
The game's narration was full of sarcasm.
Still, he didn't stop.
Every monster he ran into was taken down in one hit.
Until he faced Undyne, Captain of the Royal Guard.
She appeared by a waterfall, jumping in to shield a tiny bean-shaped monster from his attack.
As the captain, she had always protected the monsters of the underground. But now, she said she'd let them all down.
And just as she was about to fall…
The music swelled.
The wind howled, and a white flash filled the screen.
Undyne the Undying had arrived.
"This hero rebuilt herself through the 'determination' to save the world."
As the powerful theme Battle Against a True Hero kicked in, Jason felt nothing but irony.
The monsters were the true heroes of the story.
And the character he controlled… was doing what the monsters were supposed to be doing.
It was the toughest boss fight in the game so far.
After struggling to take down Undyne, he pushed forward, eventually reaching a familiar place.
The castle throne room. Covered in gold. And up ahead, a familiar figure was waiting.
Before this, Sans would normally judge the player's actions.
But now?
No more dialogue.
Just a fight.
"What a beautiful day, huh?"
"Birds are singing. Flowers are blooming."
"On days like these… people like you…"
"Burn… in hell!"
Right after those words, a wave of attacks came crashing in like a flood, instantly killing Jason, who had no way to defend himself.
He kept trying, over and over.
And finally, just when he was about to beat Sans…
Sans in the game seemed to think of something—he stayed completely still during his turn.
But in the end, Sans still lost.
Jason took the chance while Sans was resting, moved quietly into attack range, and struck a surprise blow that killed Sans.
Then Flowey showed up—but this time, unlike in the normal ending, Flowey was terrified of the main character and begged for its life.
The next second, eight slashes in a row chopped it into pieces.
Everything seemed to be over.
But just then, someone appeared and completely shocked Jason.
Chara—the first human who ever fell into the Underground—had been awakened from death.
Two options showed up: destroy the world, or don't destroy it.
Looking at the pitch-black void and the creepy Chara,
Jason felt a heavy weight pressing on him.
At first, he just wanted to see what the ending was like.
He regretted it halfway through, but didn't stop.
And now, that regret was even stronger.
So, he chose "No."
But right after that, Chara's expression turned cold and sinister.
[You seem to be mistaken. When did you get to decide anything?]
As Chara's voice echoed, a flash of the knife appeared.
The screen shook violently, and rows of blood-red "9999" damage numbers filled the screen.
Then the whole game force-closed by itself.
So this… is the genocide ending?
Sitting in front of the computer, Jason took a deep breath and pressed his lips together.
----------2-------------
24: This is clearly the player's love!
It had been quite a while, but Jason still couldn't get over the genocide ending.
He only understood part of the game's story.
But that didn't matter. What mattered was that he felt extremely down.
The genocide ending… made him feel absolutely terrible.
Yes, he regretted it.
Just like when he played Mirror. At first, he was excited. Then he lost interest and started to wonder why he even launched the game again.
Now that he'd finished Undertale's genocide route, he felt the same way.
No matter what, after playing through the genocide path, he truly regretted it.
He missed the happy scenes from the pacifist route—laughing with friends, seeing Undyne burn down the kitchen, hearing Papyrus's silly jokes, and eating goat mom's pie.
"I'll do another perfect save file and give this game a proper ending."
Recalling all those memories, Jason took a deep breath and reopened the game.
He wanted to play through the perfect pacifist ending again.
And now, with experience from before, Jason was much more skilled.
He remembered most of the monsters, so he could pick all the right answers without thinking.
Finally, after beating Asriel and watching the sun set, a soft smile appeared on Jason's face.
No matter what, it was all over.
But the next second, the game screen left him completely frozen.
It was a dark night, and the main character was asleep in their room.
Just then, the door quietly opened. Toriel walked in with a butterscotch-cinnamon pie and gently placed it on the floor before quietly closing the door again.
It looked warm and peaceful—until, in the next moment, the seemingly asleep main character suddenly sat up in bed.
It was Chara's face, wearing a creepy and evil smile.
The next moment, a sinister and wicked laugh came through the headphones.
The character left the room, and a black-and-white photo appeared. It was a picture of the protagonist and all their friends from the underground.
But now, everyone except the protagonist had a blood-red X over their head.
Then the screen went black.
Sitting in front of his computer, Jason's eyes were wide open.
He had only read a few guides on how to trigger the Genocide route, but now he finally understood why the post's author had said:
"You'd better not go down the Genocide path, or you'll regret it."
He finally understood some of the strange comments he saw in the game reviews.
[When did it become your turn to decide how this world works?]
Chara's words seemed to echo in his ears again.
Jason stared blankly at the Undertale title screen.
He could already feel the deeper meaning behind this game—or maybe it was better to say, the malice!
Like many other games, you hurt the monsters, then delete the save file and start a new one, acting like nothing ever happened and going back to being friends with them again?
Ha, are you kidding me?
Stop dreaming!
It's like a broken mirror—even if you glue it back together, there will still be cracks.
Since you chose to slaughter the monsters, how could you possibly go back to being close with them again?
In the quiet of night, that bad save you thought you deleted comes back to haunt you, tearing apart your fantasy of peace and kindness.
That twisted laugh, the black-and-white photo...
Even though no words were spoken, Jason felt mocked—
Mocked by the screen in front of him.
It was like someone shouting into his ear through a loudspeaker:
"Drop the act, you fake nice guy!"
Isn't there a way to change all of this?
Jason looked at the closed game window and pressed his lips together.
He logged into an Undertale game forum.
Just as he expected, besides posts discussing the game, its characters, and the story,
There were also many asking about the same problem he had run into.
"Guys, does anyone know how to get back to the true pacifist ending?"
"Same here, same here, massive regret! I messed around and triggered the Genocide route. I want to go back!"
"I know I'm just fooling myself, but I still want to go back!"
"Deleting the game, creating a new account, buying it again with a different profile—it's all useless!"
Reading all these posts made Jason feel a little better.
At least he wasn't the only one.
He kept digging through threads until finally, Jason found a clear answer:
"The corrupted save files overwrite both the cloud save and your system files. You need to do both: reinstall your system and create a brand-new account to buy Undertale again. That'll give you a fresh start—but don't log in with your old account, or the corrupted data will come back!"
So that's how it works!
Jason suddenly understood and quickly made a decision.
Of course, he wasn't planning to reinstall the system. He had saved a lot of class materials from his teachers in there, and some of them were already impossible to find or download online anymore.
Plus, he had always used a single C drive for everything. He never bothered with creating separate partitions.
So, reinstalling the system was definitely off the table.
Now that he knew how it worked, he could just buy the game again using a different computer.
......
In the Nebula Games office, Anna looked super excited.
"We've hit 500,000 copies! And it hasn't even been half a month!"
On the computer in front of her, the total sales of Undertale across all game stores were displayed.
After its great reviews started spreading, almost every major platform put Undertale on their homepage recommendation lists.
As for the official platform, its recommendation system runs on big data and tends to be slow, so at best it'll show up there next week.
Out of the 500,000 copies sold so far, around 70% came from third-party platforms.
"But it looks like a lot of players actually bought the game twice," Lucas said as he looked at the data, a bit surprised too.
He noticed many of the purchases were from users who had never bought a game before—Undertale was their first.
"Yeah, a lot of players played the genocide route out of curiosity, then felt so bad about it that they bought another copy just to feel better," Anna said, clearly more invested in the game than Lucas.
"Isn't that just pretending nothing happened?" said Rachel from nearby.
"How is that pretending? That's love for our game," Lucas thought for a moment and replied.
"Let's publish the sales numbers now—give the hype another push."
As he said that, Lucas logged into his official blog account.
Thanks to all the buzz and Undertale's rave reviews, his follower count had finally passed 300,000.
Still nothing compared to those big-name game devs with millions of fans, but at least he was getting noticed.
And more importantly, under his profile, the description finally had some real detail.
"Game developer, best known for Undertale."
Before that, it was just the little lightning badge with five words: "Game developer."
Even though Mirror had crazy high sales, its genre was pretty niche.
(End of chapter)