Watch Undertale's quirky score get reimagined by a Japanese orchestra for its 5th anniversary

There’s plenty to love about Undertale, the 2015 ultra-indie RPG that evoked the 16-bit classics of yore while asking players to kill as little as possible. And while it’s easy to get swept up in the strange gameplay and quirky humor, it’s creator Toby Fox’s melodic (and pixelated) score you’re likely to cherish long after the game’s finished. It’s been covered numerous times over the past several years, but none of them can touch the grand and stirring rendition put on by Japan’s MUSIC Engine orchestra last year. This week, that performance roared online.
The 8-bit charm of Fox’s original compositions is missing, obviously, but the melodies packed within them take on new dimension through the vast array of horns, strings, and woodwinds. Fox summed up the oddness of it all himself in a tweet on Wednesday.