Undertale avoids this pitfall by conveying its meta narrative through game mechanics. That simple but heartfelt tale is dead and gone.

There is no going back to the opening act of DDLC to try and support Sayori during her depression. The single largest con of meta, in my opinion, is that it destroys the story it grew from. Sayori’s writing was strong enough that many players were genuinely disappointed when DDLC shifted into the meta narrative. For one, it effectively destroys the initial narrative of exploring the lives of three troubled girls. However, this obviousness is not necessarily a good thing. It even forces the player to delete her character file in order to finish the game. DDLC is perhaps the most obvious, as aside from the sincere first act, its entire plot revolves around Monika’s inability to accept the limitations of her fictional existence. Undertale and Doki Doki Literature Club are the unquestioned rulers of the meta gaming scene–at least, for now. It’s easy to find an example of good meta in games right now. However, it can also harm the games it seeks to elevate.

Meta storytelling can be used to brilliant effect in games like Undertale, make games like Disgaea 3 fun and memorable, or be used as an out when the creator has to do a soft reboot like in the Five Nights at Freddy’s games.

Many games have flirted with metafiction over the years, some more effectively than others. For those of you with more interesting hobbies than reading up on obscure literary concepts, metafiction is a complicated term which can be loosely defined as “fiction that is aware of its fictionality.” It’s one thing to break the fourth wall and something else entirely to make that fourth wall break plot-relevant. I’m talking about the use of metafiction in video games. No, not that annoying tendency of people who are supposed to be roleplaying to have their character act on information the player has, but which the character has no way of knowing.

Today on COG Considers, let’s talk about metafiction–or rather, metagaming.

Undertale doki doki literature club