Secondhand Opinions: Dropsy and Undertale

This has been a fantastic year for games and not only for big budget games. We also have had a lot of interesting independent games that use the aesthetics and mechanics of older games to craft fresh new experiences that take advantage of video games unique interactive nature to tell incredible stories. Games that subvert game predilection for violence and encourage you to solve your problems peacefully. Two of those games are the point and click adventure Dropsy and the role playing game Undertale.

The sole goal of Dropsy is to get a hug from every character in the game.

Dropsy is a point and click adventure game in which you play as a deformed clown named Dropsy who just wants to make people happy. The goal of the game is solve the problems of everyone you find in the world and get a hug from them all. This is easier said then done because the entire hates him because they think he is responsible for burning down the local circus and killing his own mother. Dropsy also doesn't have any actual worded dialogue not even text. All characters talk using speech bubbles with images and you have to guess what they are saying and how you can use what you know to help them. This isn't as complicated as it seems though it can lead to some difficult puzzles. Overall, Dropsy is a game that subverts your expectations of scary looking clowns and encourages players to do everything they can to be a good person.

Undertale is hands down one of the best games of the year.

Undertale is a role playing game that takes heavy inspiration from the Mother series of RPGs, which are called Earthbound outside of Japan. Undetale puts you in the role of a little kid that has fallen into a world of monsters underground and encourages you to talk to monsters and resolve battles peacefully. The story is absolutely amazing with extremely well written characters, a mind blowing focus on replayability, and a wonderful sense of humor that helps balance the deep themes of empathy, love, and tolerance. Be warned that even though this is a game that anyone of any age can play there is some truly terrifying and unsettling moments in the game especially towards the end. I don't want to spoil anything though and I highly recommend playing Undetale. It is one of those games that we only get once in a blue moon.