FarfromTile's review of Undertale Yellow | Backloggd (2025)

Hi there, long-time fan of both Undertale and Deltarune, figured I'd write this down now that I'm done playing this.

This review (if you can call it that, it's kind of rambly) contains minor spoilers. It's also pretty damn long, hope you don't mind reading!

As of the time of writing this is probably the best Undertale fangame that I've played so far. It's been a long while a game made me hyperfixate as much as this one did, the last one I can only recall being either releases of Deltarune.

I want to preface this as someone who has spent many years looking at fan projects of this series and consuming them in a similar fashion as Homer Simpson consuming donuts in the depths of hell. I have seen so much mud. So much slop. Pure unfiltered chum. This game despite all its hang-ups stays as far and away from that as it can.

Stupid jokes and analogies aside, this is not a perfect game by any means. There are a few very telling problems. I'll start with them because I overall have mostly have positive things to say about the game. The main reason I'm even writing this review is because I really liked playing this despite all the hiccups.

The first two areas (Ruins and Snowdin) feel very much underbaked. It's not until the third area of the game where everything picks up like a freight train. Snowdin compared to its Undertale counterpart feels like taking a quiet stroll as opposed to having two idiots bother you every now and then.

The major characters associated with both of these areas also barely do anything in them. Dalv in the Ruins is especially egregious as he has almost nothing to do with the actual plot of the game. Also the fact that he looks, weirdly out of place graphically compared to everyone else in the game lmao. It's really jarring when he's placed next to everybody else.

As for Martlet, her issue is moreso just not having as many good character moments as everyone else. I wouldn't call her very strong character-wise either but I will much rather take someone who is fine than someone who is actively annoying and a detriment.

As for the major characters as a whole... While I understand the desire to not just copy the formula Undertale has, I think having dedicated "hangouts" for the major characters similarly to Undertale would help a lot with fleshing them out.

I've had no real issue with the general NPCs other than more of a desire to see them interact with one-another more. Mo for example would be very amusing to see around being a minor annoyance to other people. Of course, seeing more of the general NPCs would be a net positive as well.

The feeling of "disjointed-ness" the game sometimes has in its first half is at its worst when it comes to one of the special enemy encounters in the first half of the third area. Not only does that fight and character come out of literal nowhere, its main gimmick is also very very unwieldly. It is by far the most egregiously clunky and sloppy fight in the entire game. It would be much better if something like that was either in Snowdin or in a much better spot that isn't entirely random, like around the third area.

I originally was going to mention it was a bit sad that the game doesn't have as much of a sense of humour as Undertale, but I've learned to kind of appreciate that due to well, the inherent tragedy of this entire story, and the implications of what is going to be Clover's fate. Plus, spaghetti westerns are often overly dramatic and broody.

The main issue I had that doesn't have to do with the game's writing was the design decisions when it came to some of the bosses. This mainly applies to the final boss of the Pacifist route and most of the bosses of the No Mercy route, it is very easy to get stuck in these fights if you don't have enough items, as the game also doesn't let you go back and restock if you're too far in. I had to more or less restart the final pacifist boss fight as I ran out of items in the final phase.

Rest is just minor gripes, really. Like the lack of a skip button like Deltarune has. I won't mention things like Clover not being able to save on their own or the timeline situation as that doesn't really bother me much at all. I find it a bit silly to just focus on that aspect of the game anyway.

Still reading? I promise I'm gonna talk about the good stuff now lol.

Despite everything I just said this I really do think the game managed to stick the landing at the end of it. This has by far the best art out of any project related to this series, from the backgrounds to all of the different animations. It's almost jarring to see the actual backgrounds used in Undertale and its characters in this game, because every other background and character is very lovingly illustrated. I'd say most of them look better than what can be seen in Deltarune currently, lmao.

It's only honestly kind of dizzying to think just how much damn work went into this entire thing. The final bosses of all three routes are also incredible spectacles, with actual difficulty put to them as well. This isn't to diss any of the final bosses Undertale has, mind you, this is mostly to state that I like these fights because they're not only incredible in visuals, but actually difficult too (the No Mercy Final Boss on a lesser extend, that fight I had to cheat to actually complete, and in general felt a bit odd).

The actual endings of all the routes I think are great too. I will not spoil any of them, but I highly suggest you do all three of them. Hell, make a backup of your save too so you can go back to them, too.

If you're wondering how the music is, while I would not call it better than Toby Fox's own compositions, it is very very high up there. The game similarly with its art iterates on what Undertale previously established, and the music ends up sounding not just really damn good, but also familiar yet different at the same time.

In general, the decision to stick to what Undertale established without delving too much into what Deltarune added in is also a very nice touch, and helps give the game more of the feeling that it's meant to be a prequel to the game. Whether or not I consider it one is something I can't really answer in this review. Maybe once it shimmers.

When it comes to fanworks there can never truly be one "truth". It's almost always something different, shaped different, acting different. This game is no exception.

The ultimate pro I can give this game at the end of the day is that it feels like the most "professional" out of all the fangames that have come out as of recently. If you told me this thing was on Steam I would not bat an eye.

I don't believe there will ever be an Undertale/Deltarune related fan project that will make me have a similar experience as the official games. To me that feels like an impossible standard to achieve.

Undertale Yellow, however, has gotten pretty damn close.

A lot of these fangames die out before they can be properly finished. I never doubted that this would release, but seeing it actually come out is a feeling that's very difficult to describe in words. The moment it released I wasted zero time booting it up. I beat the entire thing in just two sittings.

This is not a perfect game. In an ideal timeline, everything I've mentioned ends up reworked one way or another. Obviously this is not something I'm going to hope on, though. After seven entire years in development, I cannot blame any of these devs for wanting to finally move on.

Hell, seven years, that by itself also feels unbelievable.

I could go on, but this silly excuse of a review is already longer than it needs to be.

Hats off to everyone who helped make this game. I will be thinking about it for years to come for sure.

"Let justice be done."

FarfromTile's review of Undertale Yellow | Backloggd (2025)
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