Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Undertale as Metanarrative

  


Video Version:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5TiPC7Hnbo

Undertale is a game about the way in which people engage with stories. I feel it's more interesting than a lot of other "meta video games," because it's not only a text on stories, but a story itself. It’s another layer to the narrative, and not the nucleus.

For a long time now I have held "meta stories" not in the same regard as most other people (maybe because I'm a writer myself and can see through the veil). "Being meta" is praised and considered clever, but it's actually quite easy to create a meta work.

What is MUCH more difficult is to create a believable story which is entirely self-contained and cohesive, that doesn't bend outward to commentate on itself whenever convenient. That doesn't mean "meta" is inherently cheap and an inferior form of storytelling; it's just a trend which I’ve noticed of late.

I haven’t played Deltarune yet, but I’m curious how it touches on the subject of metafiction. Well, judging from the start of the first chapter, it seems to follow in the footsteps of Undertale.

                                          

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