There are very few games that provide gamers with an experience like that of Undertale. Undertale is a special game, one that subverts all expectations of what you’d have from a typical RPG. Even calling it an RPG does not do the game justice, as it brought in a unique way of handling almost every aspect of its game design.
Undertale was the brainchild of Toby Fox, and it’s hard to believe that this juggernaut of a game was developed by just a single person. Undertale swept the gaming world, largely considered as one the best games of all time, winning several awards along the way.
Whether it be the unique method of dealing with enemies, the fantastic humorous story it tells, or the freakishly catchy soundtrack of the game, this is a world in which you’d want to soak up everything it has to offer, and maybe you’ve done so too! But what then? An empty feeling, a void in your heart that Undertale once used to occupy, waiting for something new to fill it up.
Well, not to worry, fellow gamers and Undertale enthusiasts, this list of 30 games has got you covered! We’ll be covering a wide variety of games resembling Toby Fox’s magnum opus, some a lot more than others, admittedly, but if you’ve got an itch for a bit of something similar, you’re at the right place. So without further ado, let’s get into the list.
1. Earthbound/Mother
Released in 1995 for the SNES, this Nintendo-published RPG is widely considered the inspiration behind Undertale. It isn’t hard to see why. From its presentation to the themes the game tackles and the subversion of traditions that games of the time lived by, Undertale seemed to have mirrored the successes of earthbound to a tee.
Set in modern times, you play Ness, a young boy living in the fictional country of Eagleland. The game starts innocently enough, with you going out into the world looking for a neighborhood friend. But the plot soon takes a turn into something very different and doesn’t slow down from there. This is a game that every Undertale fan should experience at least once.
2. Deltarune
Of course, Deltarune was going to be on this list. Toby Fox’s next game after Undertale is a must-play for fans. Adopting its art style and music from its predecessor, Deltarune looks to tell a new story following Kris, the one who is destined to save the world from the dark prince.
The game has been split into chapters, with only two of them available now, with the rest to follow suit. What’s more, both these chapters are available absolutely free of cost! So you can go enjoy these titles immediately.
3. Mario & Luigi series
Another Nintendo-published series, the Mario & Luigi games are RPGs contrary to the mainline Mario platforming games. With five games under the series’ belt, they are games in which you follow the Mario brothers through whimsical adventures, from time traveling and meeting younger baby versions of yourself to being gobbled up by Mario’s arch-nemesis Bowser and trying to escape his hellish insides.
The combat follows a turn-based system that demands player interaction a lot, like Undertale. The wide cast of colorful characters you meet along the way breathes further life into this adventure. It’s a bit harder to get your hands on, unfortunately, due to its exclusive availability on older Nintendo handhelds, but with the magic of emulation, it shouldn’t be too much of a hassle to experience these wonderful titles.
4. Omori
An Indie game released in 2020, this game tackles heavy themes like anxiety, depression, and trauma but presents these dark themes as an RPG adventure. Set in both the real world as well an alternate dream reality, you play as Sunny and his dream world alter-ego, Omori, as they navigate their darkest fears and issues.
Omori can be considered a psychological horror due to its heavy themes, so it’s not for the faint of heart. The combat system is inspired by traditional JRPG turn-based battles but uses emotions as a core mechanic of battles, with each emotion having weaknesses and strengths. This is an emotional rollercoaster that is worth making time for.
5. Oneshot
Upon release, Oneshot received critical acclaim, with comparisons to Undertale being quite frequent. It’s not hard to see why the game relies heavily on its clever puzzle designs and frequent fourth-wall-breaking gameplay requirements. The game offers a unique premise in which you, the player, are a separate character from the protagonist Niko.
Niko arrives in a world with no sun, with the main goal of the game being to replace the sun with a lightbulb. The game doesn’t have conventional combat but instead relies on puzzles that make use of real-life elements like having to switch windows or browse through your operating system files to find something. This gameplay style is unlike anything you’ve experienced, and just for that, it is worth giving a go.
6. Persona 5 Royal
Alright, so maybe the similarities between Undertale and Persona 5 may not be apparent at first. The two are almost polar opposites when it comes to their presentation, with Persona 5 using a stylish, upbeat art style that is in stark contrast to Undertale’s more muted theming. But looking beyond the presentation, we can start to see some similarities that Undertale fans might enjoy.
n Persona 5, you and your friends form a group called the phantom thieves, who use their power of being able to enter people’s cognitions to steal the deepest desires of those who do harm to society and turn them into better people.
The combat uses a weakness-orientated turn-based system but with the unique ability to be able to converse with your foes to either demand items and money or to recruit them into your arsenal and get stronger. Persona 5 released critical acclaim upon release and is a must-play for any fans of JRPGs.
7. Lisa, the Painful
Lisa the painful is another indie gem released in 2014. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world, and you play as Brad Armstrong, a middle-aged man who is looking for his adoptive daughter in the wastelands of Olathe. During your journey, you’ll be forced to make several impactful decisions that ultimately decide how your story unfolds.
Your party members aren’t a constant as the game employs the use of perma-death, wherein if a party member dies in battle, they will be dead narratively too. This makes every decision you make important, with the fate of Brad and his daughter in your hands. The game makes use of dark humor to tell its story, which, along with its unique premise, made this game a cult classic.
8. Doki Doki Literature Club
This is another game that brilliantly uses subversive storytelling to weave an unexpected narrative into what looks like a simple dating-sim visual novel. The game grew in popularity due to its shocking themes and twists.
We’d suggest going into this game blind to get the most out of the experience. Giving out more of the story would just ruin the experience. That’s going to be a lot easier to do since the base version of the game is available for free. If you’re looking for something out of the blue, there isn’t a better fit than Doki Doki Literature Club.
9. OFF
OFF is a little-known RPG released in 2008. The player assumes control of a humanoid known as “The Batter,” who is on a mission to purify the world of OFF. Th game is pretty short, clocking in at about 5 hours which is minuscule in the RPG space. It is a short, concise experience that tells an intricate story that players will find quite rewarding. If you’ve got time to spare, this is a game you have to try.
10. Yume Nikki
In a 2004 adventure game from the mind of a Japanese developer Kikiyama, the player takes control of Madotsuki and explores her dreams. The game forgoes traditional gaming conventions and doesn’t have battles, dialogue, or even a fixed plot.
Exploration is the name of the game, with each new dream offering a different experience, with there being 24 dreams to explore. Players all over the world have been enticed by this unique way of storytelling, and it has generated quite a large cult-classic status, eventually expanding the game into a franchise.
11. Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium is a non-traditional role-playing game that was released in 2019. You play an amnesiac detective in a city that is still trying to recover from a siege that occurred years prior. You’ve been tasked to solve a murder mystery, and you go about doing this by interacting with local folks.
The outcome of such interactions, and just about any action you take, is decided by a roll of the dice, whose outcomes you can manipulate by controlling how your character evolves through the narrative by deciding which skills you’d want to build your characters in such as psyche, physique, etc. The game has won several awards for its immaculate story and world-building and is a must-play for anyone who enjoys a complicated story.
12. South Park: The Stick of Truth
Published by Ubisoft, this licensed game managed to take a well-established long-running comedy series and turn it into a fun-filled RPG adventure. Set in the South Park universe, you play as “the new kid” and are free to roam around and interact with the residents of South Park. The main story parodies Lord of the Ring, with many references and nods to the series.
The game can almost feel like just another episode of South Park due to its dedication to its source material. This is not a bad thing, as the game is filled with ridiculous and laugh-out-loud moments. A little warning, though, the game can be quite vulgar, so player discretion is advised. The gameplay consists of a turn-based system similar to that of Deltarune and Persona.
13. Nier Automata
Nier Automata is a 2017 role-playing game developed by platinum games. The game takes place during a war between alien-created robots and human-created androids. You play as one such android named 2B. It will take multiple playthroughs to experience the story to the fullest.
The combat usually boils down to slashing the robot enemies quickly and efficiently. But it’s on this list due to the bullet hell moments of the game. This type of gameplay is used heavily in Undertale too. The game’s fluid combat and the winding story is an easy sell to most people.
14. Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Yakuza: Like a Dragon represented a pivot to the long-running series. It marked a new shift of direction by bringing in a new style of fighting enemies and new protagonists to boot. You follow Ichiban Kasuga, a low-ranking yakuza member who was betrayed. Ichiban was also a fan of old Japanese RPGs.
He decides he wants to become the “hero” and uncover the reason for his betrayal, with all the fights being presented as turn-based fights to represent his fantasy of being a hero in one of his favorite games. Yakuza games have always walked a fine line between camp and drama, but Like a Dragon might just tip over to the side of camp and humor.
This game has fun in the forefront, with characters you’ll fall in love with and enjoyable diversions to take part in. If you liked Undertale’s turn-based combats during your genocide run, this would be a great pick for you.
15. Octopath Traveler
Octopath Traveler is another turn-based RPG that uses a unique HD-2D art style that produces gorgeous visuals even though the graphics are pixelated. Players can choose from eight unique characters to begin and experience the story through their eyes set in a fantasy world.
Each hero’s quest starts off very differently from one another, but eventually, all their paths converge into one greater story, with all eight characters uniting to save the world. It uses traditional turn-based combat similar to the likes of Final Fantasy. This game is worth giving a shot at just for the visuals alone. This retro-modern art style is to die for.
16. Shovel Knight
Shovel Knight is a platforming game developed by Yacht Club Games. This crowdfunded project turned into an instant indie darling. Using the NES as its inspiration for its art style, the game is very similar in aesthetic to Undertale. The game is a platformer, quite a tricky one, in fact.
You play as the Knight who can use his weapon of choice – a shovel – to help attack enemies and for movement, too, being able to bounce on the heads of enemies and objects using your trusty shovel. The game has received a lot of extra content, and each one is well worth playing.
17. Cave Story
Another game developed by a single person, this game played a key role in kicking off the indie scene in gaming. Released in 2004 and developed by one Daisuke “Pixel” Amaya, the game has gained a cult-classic status, with it having an enhanced version released on modern platforms in 2011.
The game takes inspiration from Metroid and Castlevania and revolves around Quote, a robot suffering from amnesia. He has to blast his way through plenty of cavernous areas to escape from the caves he woke up in but also to piece together his backstory. Cave Story plays similarly to other 2D Metroidvanias. The pixelated graphics are very well done too.
18. Hyper Light Drifter
Hyper Light Drifter is another game that could see the light of day thanks to crowdfunding. Inspired heavily by The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, This game has beautiful pixel rendering, similar to the likes of Undertale. You play as the Drifter, A character that uses technology from a forgotten time.
He is suffering from an unspecified illness and embarks on a journey to save himself and the world. The gameplay is akin to the older Zelda games, with a top-down view and real-time action. It’s been praised for its well-made tribute to old SNES games and its gorgeous visuals.
19. The Messenger
The Messenger is a side-scrolling action-adventure game inspired by the Ninja Gaiden series from the NES era. The player-controlled “Messenger” goes on a quest to deliver a scroll to the top of a mountain after a demon king attacks the ninja village.
It has constant fourth-wall-breaking moments, mainly from the protagonist and the shopkeeper, who is also absolutely hilarious. The game also switches between an 8-bit art style and a 16-bit art style, explained in-game as time traveling. It’s a brilliant homage to that era of gaming. The Messenger is a charming indie title that is enjoyable throughout its runtime.
20. Chinatown Detective Agency
Chinatown Detective Agency is a point-and-click adventure game set in a cyberpunk version of Singapore. You play as Amira Darma and an Interpol officer turned private investigator. You will have to tackle plenty of cases around the world, ultimately leading you to unravel a web of conspiracies.
The presentation gives noir vibes, leaning towards puzzle solving similar to the adventure games of yore. Though the puzzles could be convoluted at times, the interesting premise and setting may convince you to give them a go.
21. Eastward
Eastward is an indie action-adventure role-playing game. The game takes place in a near future in which most of humanity was wiped away by a plague called MIASMA. During the plague, survivors started to inhabit the underground regions.
Now people have started to come back to the surface and try and begin rebuilding society. You play as a miner named John and his adoptive daughter Sam. The game makes you explore this world that’s being rebuilt after the devastating plague, and the story will take you on a wild and unpredictable yet charming ride.
22. Celeste
Celeste needs no introduction. The game was nominated for the prestigious game of the year award at the 2018 Game Awards and even won plenty of awards for its amazing soundtrack. Celeste tells the tale of Madeline, who is determined to climb Celeste mountain, which will prove to be a dangerous and difficult task. The game uses this mountain climb as a metaphor for dealing with her inner demons and anxieties.
It addresses mental health in a beautiful way and parallels the difficulties faced by Madeline to overcome her issues to that of the player trying to complete the game. The game employs tight platforming that could pose quite a challenge to players. Celeste uses its simplistic art style to tell its story, and the game is a must-play for any gamer.
23. Ikaruga
Ikaruga is a shoot ’em up released back in 2001. It is a Bullet-hell shooter, and this kind of gameplay is also heavily used in Undertale. Avoiding an ungodly number of projectiles is the name of the game.
This game can be ridiculously hard at first, requiring you to master the game and understand every inch of its design to stand a chance against the gauntlet of enemies you have to face. But through practice and sheer willingness, you can conquer the challenges the game throws at you, and the feeling of satisfaction you get after a successful run is unparalleled.
24. DoDonPachi Resurrection
Another bullet-hell shooter, this arcade shoot-em-up released in 2008, is part of a long-running franchise popular in Japan. The game is similar to Ikaruga but could be arguably harder or easier, depending on who you ask.
It’s a classic arcade-style game that requires quick reflexes and in-depth knowledge of the game. If you’ve finished the fight against Sans in Undertale during your genocide run, you might just be able to play this game and actually have fun. The game also has an anime aesthetic which some may enjoy more than others.
25. Thimbleweed Park
Thimbleweed Park is a point-and-click adventure game with pixelated graphics that takes a lot of inspiration from classic adventure game titles like Secret of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion, both visually and from a gameplay point of view. It may be considered archaic by some, but fans of the genre have a lot to chew on here.
The game presents a murder mystery to solve, and you go about this by controlling two FBI agents and interacting with anything and everything you can to find clues and narrow down the list of suspects. The game is filled to the brim with witty writing and clever puzzles asking a lot of thinking from the player, both logical and illogical. If you’re a fan of this genre, you shouldn’t miss out on this game.
26. Stardew Valley
This is a game that is on this list primarily for its comparable art style to Undertale. The gameplay is quite different from the other games on this list. Stardew Valley is a farming sim developed by a solo developer. He was heavily inspired by the Harvest Moon series. The game was very well received with it surpassing its inspiration in many ways.
The game is very open-ended, giving players the freedom to complete tasks in any manner they may choose. You can take part in activities like growing crops, fishing, mining, and so on. Though this may sound mundane, the gameplay loop can be really addicting, and its more relaxed nature can be a great stressbuster for players. This is one of those games in which you can sit back, put on some music and just relax.
27. Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight is a Metroidvania developed by Team Cherry and released in 2017. Widely considered one of the best indie games to have been released, some even consider it as being one of the greatest games ever. You owe it to yourself to delve into the world of Hollow Knight.
You play as the “Knight” and explore the kingdom of Hallownest. You use your weapon, known as Nail, to fend off enemies and fight bosses. The bosses in this game are extremely well-designed with exceptional difficulty curves. The world-building is immense, making you want to uncover further the secrets of this dilapidated world.
28. Oxenfree
Oxenfree is a supernatural adventure game released in 2016. You follow a group of teenagers as they head to the fictional Edwards Islands for a weekend getaway. Things soon take a turn for the weird as strange events begin to occur on the island.
You must navigate the cast of characters to solve the mysteries of the island but also to deal with the rifts created between characters caused due to teenage squabbles. The game can sometimes tip over to horror as some of what takes place on the island can be quite unnerving.
29. The Stanley Parable
In The Stanley Parable, you control Stanley, who does a mundane job in a mundane office. But one day, the instructions for your work suddenly stop being given to you. It turns out that the entire office is abandoned. From here, the player takes control of Stanley and decides how the story proceeds. There are so many choices that players could make that would meaningfully alter the story.
There is a narrator who guides you through the game as well. But breaking traditional video game rules, the player can choose to disobey the narrator and do whatever they wish to, much to the narrator’s annoyance. The narrator provides many humorous moments with his witty narration and reactions to the player’s actions.
30. Braid
Braid is a puzzle-platform game released in 2008. The game presents its plot as a simple one, one in which the protagonist, Tim, has to save a princess from a monster. As the game goes on, you’ll realize that there is something afoot, all culminating in a surprising twist that we won’t spoil here. The deep story and themes make for an unforgettable game that’ll stick in your memory for years to come.
