"Your choices do(n't) matter" -> Deltarune to Undertale

I have been wanting to make a post for a long time, but I have a free hour on my hand and a mind full of Deltarune soo allow me to draw my favorite parallels about how Undertale and Deltarune both tackle the concept of choice, and how they are distinct but both still tell a necessary story.

Also, if you are reading this post, I am assuming you have played through Undertale and Deltarune Chapters 1 and 2, because this post will have spoilers for both. Without further ado…

Undertale’s approach when it comes to choice is one that directly targets and addresses the player. Much of the characters’ dialogue with Frisk often address them as “the human”, which, depending on your stance, could be a comment meant to speak to Frisk as a character, or to you, the player, as a human being.

In fact, as much as I adore Frisk as a character all of their own, they aren’t necessarily given any defining personality traits. They are, in the purest of senses, meant to directly be an in-game representation for the whims and desires of the player. “They” act, “they” fight, “they” flee, but it’s always you, the player, making the decisions. This isn’t necessarily a unique concept, but it’s the way that this is applied that makes this particular idea special in Undertale. 

Obviously, the most noticeable instance of this is when Sans calls the player out towards the end of the game, explaining that those little levels and numbers that we, as the player, loved seeing go up, were affecting the world that we had just spent the last few hours immersing ourselves in. There is a direct effect of our choices on this universe. It is a pre-established place, and it will continue without us, the player, making an impact. In fact, in the neutral and genocide routes, you are actively making this universe a worse place! It puts the player in the position to act as themselves and make a decision about how they want to impact this virtual world. In essence, the decisions made by Frisk and you, the player, are presented as one in the same. Frisk isn’t necessarily seen as a vessel for your intentions, but rather, as your intentions themselves. 

This created a unique meta-narrative when it came to the idea of how we, as players, consume media in universes. It presented the idea that universes made by creators aren’t just things to pick up and put down, but that each game world has their own story that continues onwards, with or without input. You aren’t seen as some great hero, but rather a nuisance at best, a mass murderer at worst. This was the way that Undertale addressed the idea of stories in their universe: you, the player, were seen as synonymous with Frisk, the character.

Deltarune took a different approach to this. Of course, it becomes instantly recognizable to players that “our choices don’t matter”, which is told to us almost immediately in the game. There are some sections of the game where the decisions you make don't directly influence the storyline, which differs from the narrative set by Undertale. It takes this idea of “choice” that we had pre-established going into the Deltarune experience by Toby Fox’s other works and toys with it.

Kris is their own individual. Kris has had a hard time making friends. Kris has a brother at college, and is a known town citizen. Kris is greeted by neighbors, classmates, and teachers. Kris loves chocolate and pies, shows anger at Spamton’s demise, and has a tendency to make some scary jokes (as referenced by Noelle). They are their own person. This is when Undertale and Deltarune start to split on the concept of choice.

Frisk was seen as the culmination of the player themselves, but Kris isn’t the player. This is what makes the ending of Chapter 1 particularly shocking– the idea that Kris could directly address us, the players, and our influence on them, by removing their soul. They don’t want to be the culmination of our actions. They want to be Kris. 

This is where the idea of choices is twisted from our prior conceptions. Just like in Undertale, our choices in Deltarune are either praised or criticized depending on how we interact with the world we are given. However, in Undertale, we are judged as players by the characters aware of our influence. In Deltarune, we are judged in a far more intimate setting: directly by the person we are instructing to do our bidding. Because, at the end of the day, our choices do matter in Deltarune. They just matter on a smaller scale. They matter to Kris.

In this way, both games address the way our choices are impactful; they just happen to do so in two, unique settings. I think this is what makes both Undertale and Deltarune so interesting– they have a similar concept, but they completely flip the script on what that concept means, and how it applies to universes. 

What are amalgamates :0

infodump under cut they’re one of my favorite aspects of undertale

the amalgamates are undertale characters you can only encounter in a true pacifist route! they live in the secret True Lab underneath the royal scientist’s (dr. alphys) lab. BASICALLY king asgore asked alphys to find a way to make monster souls persist after death (unlike human souls, monster souls are destroyed immediately after death; monster souls persisting after the monster dies could be used to help them break through the magic barrier keeping monsterkind sealed underground). she experimented on monsters that had ‘fallen down’ but hadn’t yet died (sort of like a coma) that had been sent to her lab by their families. she injected the unconscious monsters with pure determination (physical substance in undertale (?)) to see if that would make the souls strong enough to persist. HOWEVER. the monsters didn’t die, like they should have. they all woke up. this was Not . Expected. these monsters that were previously on death’s door were walking around the lab as if everything was normal—talking, wandering around, etc. alphys was overjoyed and told all of the families that their loved ones were actually going to be okay and could come home soon.

monsters can’t handle that much pure determination. right after alphys told everyone they could go home, the subjects’ bodies started to melt. they melted together into several amalgamates—lost their senses of self, coherency, all that. their families kept sending letters asking when they could come home. alphys never responded. in the game, once you befriend alphys, she tells you she’s tired of lying and gives you access to the True Lab. you have to walk around the lab collecting keys (rpg stuff) and defending yourself from the amalgamates. at the very end of the game the amalgamates get to go home to their families! :) my favorite amalgamate is endogeny. they’re a bunch of dogs melted together into One Big Dog. snowdrake’s mother makes me really sad her attacks don’t even work properly and just land weakly outside of the box you dodge attacks in.

it’s just a really cool part of the game because it’s one of the only parts of the true pacifist run that really dips into the horror genre and i think toby fox did a really good job with the atmosphere!

here are the amalgamates they are my friends. the last guy hands you a piece of themself to put in your inventory—an item called ‘Bad Memory’ snd if you consume it you lose health there’s lots of fun details like that. ok maybe not fun

this post features talk of abuse, ableism, pathologization, ABA therapy, forced medication and dehumanization. please do skip it if this might put your mental health at risk. the r slur will be spelled as such “r.t.rd”.

spoilers for the Undertale game have to be looked out for too.

links will be in bold.

[three images of the video game Undertale’s character Toriel, one being a gif, and the two others being the same images, but transparent and composing the gif. Toriel wears an all-red outfit, a short sleeved dress with a flame print on it, with crimson red heels. she also carries a small plastic bag with stimtoys in it. a grey sealion squishie, a green handspinner, a black and green music and sound-concealer headphones, a purple chewerly necklace, and a book of her child’s special interest, knights. she first holds her free hand to where her soul rests, eyes closed with a calm smile, and then she extends her free arm to her right, and ignites a flame in which a puzzle piece is scorched black. her eyes are also open with her mouth, in a friendly expression. 

upside of her is written the tag Go Red Instead. downside her is written the tag actually autistic. both are in big red letters. on her left is written “support autistic people” followed by “by being good allistic parents”, and then to her right by  the following:

“by rejecting the ‘suffering but courageous Autism Mom’ ableist fetishistic narrative and all of its variations.”

“by accepting your childd as they are by nature and stopping the pursuit of ‘cures’ when there is no disease.”

“by acknowledging your past mistakes and growing from them.”

“by reassuring your child that their worth is not defined by how ‘normal’ they appear to their peers.”

“by telling them ‘I love you’ without ‘even if you’re...’ following behind.”

“by learning to adapt to your child, and not have them to adapt to you, the advantaged adult.”

“by subsiding to certains of their needs/desires, even if they’re unconventional or unrelatable to you, so long they aren’t dangerous, of course.”

“by considering them as people first, your autistic kid(s) second. You are the only one able to truly protect their agency as a person in their formative years.”

“by letting them be the teller of their own story. if not vocally, sign language an alternatives exist. please use them.”

the phrases are all preceded by upside-down red-lined hearts.]

this is april month, autistic people awareness’ month, so i’m here to teach anyone who’d listen a bit about smtg from autistic people.

#(Go)ReadInstead is a movement of the autistic community against autism speaks’ “light it blue” movement. autism speaks promotes the idea that autistic people are sick, compare us to cancer patients, and “light it up blue” to “raise awareness about the Bad Autism we must seek and destroy out of our children”. it is a logic of abuse apologism and ableist conceptions of a neurodivergency that is no illness and neither lethal nor dangerous to anyone, caused by old myths and outdated fears of demons and faeries/changelins.

the character Toriel is not hinted at, coded, or canonically autistic. she is, though, canonically the mother of Chara, a character who i interpret as being autistic. Toriel is far from being the perfect mother, in fact she made huge mistakes that failed her child. however, she is able of wisdom and humility, and i believe that given the chance, she would learn to be an excellent parent to an autistic child, even with their trauma on top of that. that’s why i deem it best to illustrate my point with this caring goat monster.

i don’t know much about good parenting from a carer’s point of view, i’ll admit, because of personal trauma. i do have insights from the child’s position. but first, i’ll quote an helpful fellow, who i will be calling C :

“from experience, I can tell you that the worst thing you can do for you autistic children is to prioritize managing their behavior over raising them in an open minded and loving environment that addresses their needs.

like if you have a kid that moves around a lot to stim and you pull the "quiet hands" bullshit to try to get them to sit down instead of giving them other opportunities to let out energy and teaching them to manage their own movements, for example.

bad parents, they don't care about their kids, they only care about garnering sympathy for themselves because "OH IT'S SO HARD BEING THE PARENT OF A DIFFICULT CHILD”.

well that's some stuff about bad parents but a good parent of an autistic child, or any child for that matter, would be able to not only address their child's needs but also would care enough to make adjustments to themselves and the way they approach a child care if this is something they're totally new to.

though in this day and age, even parents who don't have any autistic family members don't have any right to not know autistic kids and people exist.

basically look at Autism Speaks and do NOTHING that they do.

support groups that only deal with supporting relatives of people with autism and not communicating with autistic people themselves are bad news.

stay far away from any counseling or pediatric resources that treat children showing traits typical of autism as showing "symptoms" or try to determine of kids are "at risk".

you can either help them grow into an environment where they're allowed to achieve their potential for independence and happiness.

or you can suppress them into submission and condition them to not be an inconvenience to you, which is unfortunately what a lot of parents try to do, whether out of malice or ignorance.”

i don’t have much to add, to be honest. i asked for advice and they made a point by point explanation that just did the whole job.

the keyword is also ACCEPTING. not just tolerating. no, fullout, entire acceptance. and never trying to “cure” your kid. because they’re okay, in that aspect. sure, they’ll have a difficult life in a world that doesn’t want to acknowledge them, but by trying to suppress their very nature, you’d just be playing by this world’s rules. that makes you an executioner, simply put, not a saviour or a protector.

reject all movements linked to autism moms. you are no mom or dad or pam of autism. you’re an allistic parent of an autistic child. you do not have a special parent status. you have allistic privilege over your child. use it wisely. 

or you’ll get a child like me: actually unable to function properly due to traumatic pushes for me to be all-time allistic passing, an indigo child, having learned self-destructive behaviours to take out the frustration on myself, an extremely bad self-esteem, and anger issues, and a fear and hatred of authority without explanations, and ultimately, a broken adult who loathes their parents more than anyone else in the fucking universe, and disowned them.

you don’t want that. and the only alternative to my outcome of anger because of allistic abusive parenting is a scared, hiding child, who is bound to be a dead child, by suicide, exhaustion or murdered for not being good enough. 

because only my anger saved me. taking the path of dehumanizing your offspring can only result in them destroying you, metaphorically, or destroying themselves. no in-between of miraculously not autistic anymore youth.

consider that. 

do not just support the autistic people that you can control to make yourself look good, do not think of us as little mindless things to direct according to your allistic narratives. value us all, respect us all and support us all.

companion pieces about autistic people: Papyrus, Chara, sans.

companion pieces about allistic allyship: Frisk, Grillby, Flowey.

Thanks you for your attention- Uidelsib E.N.

i invite you to course through my #actuallyautistic tag on my main, elitigre, for more insight on many things autistic.

my askbox on said blog is also open for you to ask some things on being autistic. do keep in mind i’d be answering on my free time, not as a job.

the character Toriel, from the video game Undertale (2015), belongs to Toby Fox.

this post is not invitation for debate on the autistic spectrum being an illness, harmful, or how Actually Autism Speaks Is Good And ABA Saves Lives.

all attempts to do so will be blocked. Go Read Instead.

Meet The Artists – Mary Woodin

Suffolk based Illustrator Mary Woodin has been with The Artworks for over 30 years. Joining the agency just after she graduated the RCA, Mary’s distinctive and traditional style has seen her work with clients such as Waitrose, Marks and Spencer, Wedgwood and The National Trust (just to name a few!).

Mary’s Favourite Project, since joining The Artworks, has been her Illustrated book ‘The Painted Garden’. “The first book I wrote and illustrated, ‘The Painted Garden’, was very special because it was a) my first book b) I had complete free reign over its content and c) I painted and hand lettered every single page. More importantly it gave me a love for recording and diarising my surroundings and led to The Painted Garden Cookbook, in which I wrote recipes using the ingredients I was growing in my country garden.”

We spoke to Mary to hear more about her life as an Artist…

Where do you live?

I live in Suffolk, in a crooked old farmhouse surrounded by fields and orchards, near the quaint and ancient market town of Eye… (heads up, early closing on Tuesdays, and a fish van on Fridays, if you should be visiting!)

Where is your studio located?

I share a light and airy studio in the garden with my artist husband.

The commute is 62 paces down the garden path, and usually involves a catch up with the chickens and a detour into the greenhouse.

Can you describe your creative process?

I work with good old tubes of watercolour paint, brushes, coloured pencils, pen and ink etc. I simply love the tactile quality of moving colour around on paper. There’s no doubt though, a bit of additional jiggery pokery in photoshop has saved many a piece of artwork. Increasingly I’ll paint separate elements and put them together in photoshop to give me more flexibility with composition and scale.

What does a typical working day look like?

My working day starts with ten minutes of stretches, a freshly laid egg and strong black coffee.

I’ll glance at my ‘to do’ list, and push it aside, again. If I’m starting a new project I might well mooch round the garden for reference material but then I’m basically sat at my desk all day! Great view though… over the pond fringed by Dawn Redwoods, an Indian bean tree and American Oak and visited by an itinerant gang of gossiping ducks.

Lunch in the summer months will be a handful of salad leaves from the garden, eaten outside under my personal palm tree. In winter I’ll be hunched over a bowl of homemade soup.

Do you listen to music or the radio whilst you work? If so, what’s on your playlist?

I listen to Radio 3 while I’m working, it’s become a comfort blanket, but if they dare to play Philip Glass or Steve Reich I’ll switch to some Jan Garbarek jazz in protest. If I need to crank up the pace I might sing along to Mika full blast.

How long have you been with the Artworks for?

I’ve been with the Artworks since I left the RCA in, ahem 1988. Work that one out.

What drew you to Artworks?

Serendipity brought us together. An illustrator friend of mine came to see my final show and mentioned that his agent was looking for someone who could paint flowers! My background was in textiles and ceramics but I was young and fearless and up for a challenge, so I took my floral folio round to The Artworks the following week! The rest is history.

What books or programs did you love as a child? Have they influenced your work in any way?

I grew up in a television-less household, so spent a lot of time turning the pages of my absolute favourite book ‘The Butterfly Ball’ 1973! I can still remember every detail in the exquisite illustrations by Alan Aldridge. I guess a fascination with detail is innate within me and definitely comes through in my own work. A generation later I have loved reconnecting with picture books through my own children… John Burningham won my heart.

If you weren’t an artist, what would you be instead?

Ohhh definitely a chef… or a garden designer, I’m as passionate about food and plants, as I am paint and paper.

What was the most important lesson your learned at Art School, if you went!

At art school we were brow beaten into drawing plants one day a week. That discipline of observing and drawing, not just plants, has stuck with me.

What inspires you the most to create?

I am surrounded by the wonderful light, and colour of the countryside, which seeps under your skin through osmosis. A lot of what I create aims to capture the essence of that beauty. However, I get very excited by hugely contrasting trips to the city and enjoy scribbling that buzz down on paper too.

Name three artists that you admire

Off the top of my head, David Hockney big time, John Nash, Glynn Boyd Harte… but there are soooo many more.

What kind of commissions do you enjoy the most?

I love something that chimes with my passions, so all things ‘nature’ is a safe bet. I relish designing packaging across a range of products or getting thoroughly involved in a book project.

What would your dream commission be?

Right now I’m enjoying drawing urban architecture and country house interiors; I would love to turn that into a book project somehow.

Do you have any pets? If so, what and what are they called?

Two cats, Lily and Frostie, seven chickens, Ziggy, Marley, Beth (Chatto), Gertrude (Jekyll), Brownie 1, 2, and 3. I’m on the lookout for more Muscovy ducks to replace Ted, Maud and Toby who got eaten by a pesky fox. But then again… we ate our pig Joan!

What 5 things could you not live without?

My sourdough starter, my vegetable plot, sunshine, my running shoes, lemons.

What is your very favourite meal?

Impossible question for a foodie, can only narrow it down by saying definitely savoury…vegetables, fish, cheese.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

You’ll find me charging round our three acre garden with a wheel barrow, baking bread, cooking for friends, making curtains, covering sofas, practising ungainly moves at HIIT classes, beach-combing, and checking the local weekly auction for things I don’t really need. Or for a real break, I’ll visit my grown up kids in London and hit the galleries.

What is your current dream travel destination?

Considering the nip in the air today Arizona has shot to the top of my list.

See more of Mary’s work here.

Reading Wednesday

Color of Love by Anita Stansfield. A Victorian romance starring Amala, an Indian woman adopted by a white family and raised in England, and Henry, a white Englishman recently returned from India. I can't figure out how to talk about this book without spoilers, so if you really want to be surprised, skip the rest of the review. Otherwise I'm going to talk about everything right up until the very end. Despite their instant attraction and obvious suitability for one another, Amala refuses to marry Henry because she's unwilling to deal with the difficulties of an interracial marriage in their stuffy country town. She vows instead to be a stylish independent single woman like her aunt the world traveler, and insists that Henry move on and forget their relationship. Which he does – by marrying her (white, adopted) sister. Amala is at first dismayed, but the years pass and she settles happily into traveling around Europe and doing good. And then her sister develops cancer and calls her home. The sister has one last wish before she dies: for Amala and Henry to promise that they'll marry one another. It turns out that despite their efforts to keep their former relationship a secret, the sister has known all along and doesn't hold it against them. She dies, and Amala and Henry go through a lengthy grieving period, their healing impeded by their resentment against the sister for forcing the promise out of them. They only are able to move out of the mourning period when they finally acknowledge how angry they are at her. Amala realizes that her exposure to the greater world, as well as the inclusion of more Indian people in her life (via the presence of Henry's servants), has changed her attitude toward interracial marriages and she's now willing to marry Henry. Henry, though, now has to get over the fact that Amala broke his heart years ago when they first courted. But, of course, he eventually comes to see that he's still in to her, and they marry and live happily ever after. Whew. I have such mixed feelings about this book! On the one hand, Stansfield does a better job of handling the racism of the period than I honestly expected. She's fantastic at depicting how Amala's isolation from any other people of color has had lasting, detrimental effects on her self-image, confidence, and personality, even when no one is actively being mean to her. Stansfield also is sensitive to how privilege has blinded Amala's white family and Henry, leaving them unaware of much of what she deals with and prone to making mistakes despite having the very best of intentions. On the other hand, HENRY MARRIES AMALA'S SISTER WTF. And yet again Stansfield is so careful and gentle that it never comes off as the sister being fridged for the sake of advancing their relationship! In fact, the section of the sister's illness is probably longer and written with more detail than any other part of the book. There's even a gruesomely long death-scene, with last words and tears and medicine side-effects and doctor intervention and sleeplessness and a fucking death rattle for god's sake, that was almost certainly more realism than I have ever needed for a romance novel's angst. Not to mention the year of grief that comes afterward. I can't deny that this plot point was handled as well as possible, but I also can't get over the fact that this plot point exists in the first place. Now, all of this attention to detail and thoughtfulness might lead you to assume that at least the craft of writing is well done – pretty sentences, gorgeous descriptions, and so. Sadly this is not the case. In fact Stansfield has an odd habit of skipping entirely over things that really need to be on the page; everyone knows 'show don't tell', but this is the worst case of it I've ever seen. For example, this is the first conversation Henry and Amala ever share, immediately after meeting one another: She was glad when he began to talk about the things he’d loved about living in India, as opposed to asking her questions about her own memories. He also talked of the things he’d hated—most specifically the heat and the bugs. She enjoyed listening to every word that came out of his mouth, until the sense of how much time had passed shocked her to her feet. No actual lines of dialogue from the conversation that will prove pivotal to drawing them together! We don't actually get to see these characters fall in love, how they talk to one another, what attracts them! This is basic Romance Novel 101, people: show how the love happens! For another example: Finally, Amala found the courage to break the wax seal and unfold the letter. She had to move closer to the light in order to more clearly see what was written. At a quick glance she was able to see that the letter began with My Dearest Amala, and that it ended some pages later with, All the love my heart possesses, Henry. The problem was that in between was such a beautifully detailed expression of his devotion that Amala kept having to dab at her eyes to keep her vision from blurring so that she could continue reading. When they had spoken in the garden, she had told him plainly and clearly where she had to stand on the matter of their attraction to one another, but she was now reading a genuine and sincere rebuttal to her every argument. It became evident through his words that he knew a great deal more about the issues of prejudice behind her motives than she’d given him credit for. He declared his firm belief that no matter what governments or society might try to dictate in this world, God surely saw all of His children equally, and that in God’s eyes, surely they could find a way to be right with this. Amala was completely taken off guard by how much her resolve had melted by the time she finished reading the letter, and after she’d read it through a second time, she was filled with doubt and confusion over matters that had previously seemed completely clear. One might assume that with such a plot-important and emotional letter, we'd get to read it ourselves, right? No. Those two phrases up there are literally all the reader gets to see of the letter. Similar problems happen throughout the book, though they're more common in the early pages. I suppose with a novel that covers as many years and has as many plot twists as this one, it's got to be forgiven for skimming over some of the details. But then again, it's the details that I most wanted to read! I read this as an ARC via NetGalley. The Age of Comfort: When Paris Discovered Casual – And the Modern World Began by Joan DeJean. The premise of this book is that during a single century (1670-1765) in France, many of the things we consider basic to life were invented or came into use: cotton clothing, clothing designs with the emphasis placed on comfort as opposed to imposing court dress, sofas, armchairs, bedrooms and bathrooms as separate rooms instead of one corner of a grand hall, flush toilets and running water, large paned windows to let in light, nightstands and writing desks, hardwood floors, and more. Part of this was a reaction to the grand magnificence of Versailles – after a day in a boned bodice that wouldn't let you sit down, surrounded by strict rules of etiquette, who wouldn't want to relax in cozy privacy? Another part was simply a consequence of the historic moment: increased trade with India, a newly rich merchant class eager to commission their own architect-designed houses, increased technology in various crafts, Enlightenment philosophers coming up with new ideas for improving "the art of living". It's a fascinating argument, to show how all these disparate things are linked, and DeJean makes her case very well, though I don't know enough about it to say if she missed anything obvious. DeJean has a entertaining, breezy style that makes the book more fun to read than you might suspect. For example: From the start (and the stories about [the Marquise de Pompadour] started right away), her biographers agreed that she set her cap for the king, having been encouraged to believe since childhood that she was somehow destined to become his mistress. (Her will contains a curious, and curiously touching, bequest of six hundred livres to "Madame Lebon for having foretold when she was nine years old that she would one day become the king's mistress"). Describing newly curved seating: And for "those who write" and therefore "spend long periods" leaning forward, [Roubo, a furniture designer] shows how the seat's curves could be adapted to this particular distribution of body weight and thereby help writers "resist fatigue". (I only wish someone would think like this today.) Describing an early toilet: Since it was not hooked up to waste piping, it's hard to imagine how well it performed its function. (In the fixtures he created for Pompadour, Migeon did at least use a wood then new to France, mahogany, because of its odor-resistant properties.) It's a surprisingly quick, easy read, with lots of illustrations and a really intriguing central premise. I recommend it if you have the least interest in the origins of mundane things. The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch. YES I GOT TO READ THE NEW RIVERS OF LONDON NOVELLA EARLY! :D :D :D In this fairly short and light story, ghosts are harassing morning commuters on the Tube, and Peter has been deputized to put a stop to it. Abigail is a major character, with Jaget and Toby playing important supporting roles along with Nightingale and Molly. Pretty much no one else appears, unfortunately, though that's what happens when you only have 144 pages to fill. I was so glad to see more of Abigail, who is totally my favorite part of this novella, and I love how her role is developing: her Latin (now better than Peter's), her odd relationship with foxes, her pseudo-job as the Folly's intern, and of course the question looming ever closer: how to (or if to) teach her magic. A subplot about a new river is adorable, and I can't wait to see where it goes in the future. The writing is, as always, funny and clever and full of odd little facts about architecture and history, with a few moments of surprising emotion. I absolutely love the way the mystery developed – which is why I'm trying not to spoil it here – but my one complaint with the book is that I wish there'd been just a little bit more resolution at the end. I wanted that last thread tied up, even if it is probably more realistic to leave a few dangling. And again: only 144 pages. Overall it's a charming and memorable story, even if it doesn't advance the series's overall plot arc any. Highly recommended, though I'm sure all the Rivers of London fans plan to read it already. :D I'm not sure how well it would work as an introduction to the series – on the one hand, there is that fairly small cast, but on the other there's plenty of unexplained backstory and worldbuilding. It could go either way, I suppose. But if you're not familiar with Rivers of London, get on that! I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.

(DW link for easier commenting)

Crunchyroll Favorites 2018 Part Two: VIDEO GAMES!

Welcome back for Part Two of Crunchyroll Favorites 2018! Yesterday, we shared our favorite anime and manga of the past year, but this time, it's all about our favorite VIDEO GAMES!

  I always like to start these end-of-year lists by saying something like "2018 was no 1998 (or 2005, or 2017)," but y'know what? 2018 was a very good year for video games, and I don't feel right saying otherwise. Games about dads, games about the dead, people still playing Overwatch and Breath of the Wild with plenty of gas left in the tank, we got a new Call of Duty and a new Assassin's Creed as expected, and I told an ungodly amount of people to buy Stardew Valley for their Switches.

  The rules were simple: only games that were released (or received a re-release) in 2018, or had a major update or expansion. Now, let's get started!

  Nate Ming

Dragon Ball FighterZ- What a world we live in where the purest, meanest fighting game to come out in 2018 is also its most beautiful. FighterZ is exacting and ruthless when it comes to advanced play, but is still accessible enough to let new players have a total blast. And for once, it's a Dragon Ball game that not only plays excellently, but is filled to the brim with callbacks to the manga, TV anime, and movies--what absolute perfection.

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life- The end of Kazuma Kiryu's long, violent road took us from the sleepy streets of a Hiroshima neighborhood back to the bustling Kamurocho. The Yakuza games are so perfect, and full of so much to do: recruiting for a gang, managing a baseball team, adopting kittens, lifting weights, babysitting, beating the crap out of people--this was the best way to say goodbye to the Dragon of Dojima, and a surprisingly thoughtful and emotionally smart look at masculinity, fatherhood, and legacy.

God of War- The other Dad Game this year was also a great ride, this time dealing with a regretful father who wants to make sure his child never ends up like him. This game really felt like a long holiday weekend with my own old man, making it equal parts endearing and infuriating.

Return of the Obra Dinn- A rich, multilayered mystery from the creator of the equally-slick Papers Please, there were no games in 2018 that took over my life like The Return of the Obra Dinn. I was taking notes, studying the ship's layout and crew's roles, and basically becoming the investigator character as I worked to find out what killed everyone aboard the H.M.S. Obra Dinn. What a ride.

Into the Breach- I'm kind of a perfectionist, which makes a game like Into the Breach so much more difficult for me to play. This is a game about either making hard turn-based giant mech-vs-kaiju choices and living with them, or constantly resetting the timeline to try and get things perfectly right this time around. Spoiler alert: you very rarely will.

Honorable Mentions: GRIS, Yakuza Kiwami 2, Mega Man 11

Cayla Coats

    Hollow Knight (NS)- I’m a big fan of so-called “Metroidvania” action/adventure/platformer games, and Hollow Knight is the best I’ve played in a long time. The game feels wonderful to control, the player character and attacks both having a real sense of weight to them. Wrap it all up in some beautiful 2D sprite and background artwork as well as an ethereal and haunting soundtrack and you’ve got one great game and one happy Cayla.

Soulcalibur VI- I honestly haven’t played a Soul game since Soulcalibur II, and just happened to play this entry after my roommate bought it. And I love it. Every character is a joy to use, and offers the seemingly impossible mixture of accessibility and complexity. Also Voldo is still… Voldo, and that’s worth something, right?

Night in the Woods (NS)- I missed out on this indie gem when it first launched in 2017, but thanks to the surprising indie game oasis that is the Switch, I got to enjoy it early this year! Equal parts Animal Crossing, Gone Home, and Twin Peaks, this cute-but-creepy coming-of-age tale makes the best of its midwestern setting.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate- I mean… it’s Smash. It still rules. There are approximately 3 billion really fun modes to try out and 9 billion characters to unlock. It’s just good. Go play it.

  Nicole Mejias

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate- The amount of hype this game generated was one of an undying level. Was that hype warranted? Oh, hell YES! Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is an insanely fun game with unending hours of mayhem for you and your buddies! And most importantly, EVERYONE is there!

Yakuza Kiwami 2- I’ve been playing through every single Yakuza game available, and it’s been one gaming journey that I’m glad I took! The series really has it all: hot-blooded action, romance, heart-wrenching drama, and even comedy, which wasn’t something I was expecting at all. Some of the fights in this game had me on the edge of my seat and made me fall completely in love with the series. If you haven’t checked out the series yet, now’s the perfect time!

Battle Chef Brigade (NS)- Ever since I heard about this game, I’ve been itching to play it. A challenging puzzle game with some beat ‘em up elements? I’m ALL IN! Battle Chef Brigade did not disappoint; it’s such a charming game with a lively cast of characters and intriguing Iron Chef-like story! My only complaint is that it was over way too soon and it left me hungry for more.

Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee- Pokémon is pretty important to me; playing Pokémon Red as a kid helped me grasp the English language when I was still living in Puerto Rico. Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee is a passionate love letter to Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow, and experiencing all the battles and events from those past games in this brand-new one was a delight! A must for Pokémon fans for sure!

Deltarune- Deltarune is probably one of the biggest surprises in 2018, with Toby Fox giving us the most delightful of treats on Halloween! It didn’t take long for me to be smitten with this new world with some familiar faces we all know and love. This time around, your choices don’t matter, but what will that mean for the next chapter? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Daniel Dockery

Dragon Ball FighterZ- Finally, Dragon Ball gets a fighting game that lives up to the franchise’s immense legacy. Not only is it fun, but it’s a huge “LOOK AT HOW AWESOME THIS IS!” love letter to the series as a whole.

Monster Hunter World- I’ve been playing Monster Hunter since 3, and I must say that while I deeply enjoy the 3DS entries, it was nice to really feel the scale of these gargantuan beasties that I’m tracking down. Switch Axe 4 Lyfe.

Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee- Didn’t expect to like this game. Ended up loving this game. Tattoo Pikachu on my eyeballs, for I need to see nothing else.

That One Mission From Red Dead Redemption 2 You Know The One I’m Talking About- Walking up to a mansion with your crew to rescue a boy, fighting your way through it, and then burning the whole thing to the ground is a high moment in a game that could go from satisfying to “JUST EQUIP THE RIGHT GUN, ARTHUR, COME ON” in a heartbeat.

Luigi’s Mansion 3DS- My favorite Mario-related game that isn’t Kart or Smash Bros. came out on the 3DS. Clear the mansion of its ghosts for the sixth time in my life? Gladly, Professor E. Gadd.

Peter Fobian

God of War- An awesome reimagining of an old franchise, and one of my greatest hopes for ambitious narrative single player titles in the AAA industry. It absolutely deserved every award it got in the Game Awards. The story, characters, and world were all top-notch. The cinematics were fantastic and brutal. I can’t wait for the sequel.

Monster Hunter World- My first dip into the Monster Hunter franchise, this game probably had the biggest skill curve I’ve ever seen in cooperative gameplay, with mechanics stacked on mechanics that seemed to have no bottom. I got a lot of frustrating and satisfying hours out of this game, and I’m still not sure if I’ve discovered even half the things you can do in it.

Hitman 2- There were a lot of questions about the future of Hitman that were riding on this release, and I’m very happy to report that the newest title in the franchise is extremely good. This one got particularly creative, with some of the mission set-ups and conditions and each new map was excellent, even making American suburbia into an interesting mission area.

GRIS- I’m glad I was able to find time to play this final addition before years end because it definitely deserves a spot. Although I can’t really say GRIS is unique in being a atmospheric platformer focusing on depression/loss, it might be the best. The visuals and soundtrack were amazing, especially together. The environments and use of camera were also excellent. Also go play The Missing.

Dead Cells- I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of indie roguelike platformers and Dead Cells, as above with GRIS, may be one of the best of its genre. It’s got a cool aesthetic, some wicked gallows humor, and an unlocking system of items and powers that can result in the player having to formulate some absolutely ridiculous strategies from life to life.

Joseph Luster

Celeste- Playing Celeste reminded me of all the fun I had when Super Meat Boy first came out, but this time I actually cared about the characters and the journey. The narrative is woven into the action, as it should be in a video game, and it actually has something interesting to say. The way Celeste treats difficulty and accessibility will no doubt prove influential, as well. At its core, though, it’s simply an unbelievably tight platformer that provides ample challenges for players of all skill levels.

Ni no Kuni II- The sequel to Ni no Kuni isn’t actually all that much like Ni no Kuni. The battle system is completely different, the Pokémon-esque monster collecting is gone, and the story has been boiled down to the bare essence of Japanese RPG motivation. It’s almost embarrassingly earnest, but it’s also gorgeous, and combat is a joy for the full 30-hour run. There’s plenty to play around with after the credits roll, too, but I was mostly just proud of myself for actually having fun with and completing an RPG in 2018.

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon- The award for “Game I Actually Bothered to Beat Multiple Times in 2018” definitely goes to this unassuming bite-sized prequel to Koji Igarashi’s upcoming Bloodstained. It’s so much more than just a downloadable “extra,” and in many ways it out-Castlevania IIIs the original Castlevania III. Play this game immediately if you haven’t, and take the time to get every ending for maximum satisfaction.

Dragon Ball FighterZ- I don’t really play fighting games anymore. I haven’t in years, despite trying to pick them back up seriously when Street Fighter V first came out. Not living with roommates anymore has a lot to do with it, but that enthusiasm roared back to life when Dragon Ball FighterZ arrived in jaw-dropping style. This is the essential anime fighter, and nothing made me and my friends cheer and shout at the screen more in 2018.

Iconoclasts- Like Dragon Ball FighterZ, Iconoclasts came early in the year and started 2018 out on a really strong note. This is probably the “smallest” a list has ever been for me in terms of the sheer scale of the games themselves, but titles like Iconoclasts just fired up my imagination more than the big AAA beasts. From the lush sprite-based visuals to the soundtrack and the excellent pacing, this one is going to stick in my mind for years to come.

Nick Creamer

Hollow Knight/Dead Cells- Though both of these were technically 2017 releases, their continuing developer support and my own delayed play schedule means I’m celebrating them now anyway. And they’re great! If you enjoy games like Metroid or Castlevania, you absolutely must pick up the richly atmospheric and remarkably vast Hollow Knight. If you want an experience like that in a more arcadey, roguelike package, Dead Cells cannot be missed. It’s nice to live in a golden age of challenging indie action games!

Celeste- Speaking of great indie titles, this year’s Celeste likely needs no introduction. Though it theoretically falls in the same punishing platformer space as something like Super Meat Boy, Celeste’s charming storytelling, neatly partitioned challenges, and robust assist features mean it’s a platforming experience that basically anyone could enjoy. Thoughtfully written and brilliantly designed, Celeste shouldn’t be missed by any platforming enthusiasts.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate- I am perfectly comfortable admitting I’m one of those Smash fans who up until now, basically just stuck to Melee. The combat in Brawl and Smash 4 always just felt far too floaty for me, with both my character jumps and the impact of my hits making me feel like I was constantly wearing a big balloon suit. Ultimate counters that complaint with crisp, speedy combat harkening back to Melee’s rapid-fire exchanges, along with the most luxurious suite of characters and secondary modes Smash has ever seen. This truly feels like the definitive Smash experience.

Monster Hunter World- MHW was my first experience with the Monster Hunter franchise, and it was glorious. Well, it was eventually glorious--the first fifteen or so hours were an interminable learning process, while I figured out the game’s inscrutable controls and systems, ponderous movement, and extremely vague directions. But after that, hoo boy! Monster Hunter is essentially “Boss Rush: The Videogame,” complete with dozens of intimidating creatures who all demand their own hunting strategy. As an insatiable gobbler of challenging RPG-adjacent action games, I had great times hunting deadly beasts all through last winter.

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And that's a wrap for Part Two! Be sure to join us at the same time tomorrow for our third and final installment, focusing on the EVERYTHING ELSE of 2018--movies, TV, books, comics, food, life experiences, and more! If you're in the mood for more CR Favorites, here are the links to past years' features:

  Crunchyroll Favorites 2017 Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Crunchyroll Favorites 2016 Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Crunchyroll Favorites 2015 Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Crunchyroll Favorites 2014 Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Crunchyroll Favorites 2013 Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Crunchyroll Favorites 2012 Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Crunchyroll News' Best of 2011 Part One | Part Two

What were your favorite video games of 2018? Remember, this is a FAVORITES list, not a BEST-OF list, so there are no wrong answers--sound off in the comments and share your favorites!

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Nate Ming is the Features Editor for Crunchyroll News and creator of the long-running Fanart Friday column. You can follow him on Twitter at @NateMing. His comic, Shaw City Strikers, launches January 15, 2019.

By: [email protected]