Game Review #1: Deltarune
Deltarune is the latest gem to be developed by Toby Fox, who is relatively well known as being the mastermind behind Undertale, a game which received widespread praise when it launched back in 2015. In case it wasn’t obvious, “Deltarune” is actually an anagram of Undertale, and the game serves as a “sequel” to the original. That said, it’s hard to truly describe Deltarune as a sequel; the game is a bit of an enigma, and despite the demo having released almost three years ago, I still don’t really know what it is. What I do know though, is that the game is extremely good, and I’ve sunk countless hours into it despite the fact that only 2/7 of the demo chapters are currently playable.
In order to truly explain Deltarune, however, I think it’s important to talk about its predecessor, Undertale. While I’d imagine most people have heard of the game by now, I’ll give a quick synopsis in case you’ve been living under a rock. Mechanically, Undertale is a bullet hell, but unlike almost every other RPG in existence, it actually de-emphasizes combat. The game gives you multiple ways to approach every encounter, to the point where it’s possible to talk your way out of each and every fight. What truly makes Undertale unique though, is the fact that there are countless different endings to the game depending on how you approach the story. These endings aren’t just different lines of dialogue either; the final boss will completely change in some cases, resulting in each playthrough feeling totally unique. As a result, when Toby Fox announced that Undertale would have a sequel, the expectations were high. If he managed to create something so revolutionary back in 2015, people could only begin to imagine what he had been able to create three years later.
Deltarune starts off strong, allowing you to create a unique character through a combination of body features and personality traits. This might seem minor, but it’s something that Undertale never had, as the game was influenced by the choices you made during the story rather than before it. Understandably, many players such as myself were ecstatic. The creative freedom to choose your own path was the biggest selling point of Undertale, and right off the bat we’re being shown even more of that in a completely new sequel game? “This is going to be the greatest game of all time”, I thought as I locked in my selection, only to be told that everything I just entered would be discarded. “You can’t choose who you are in this world,” the game told me as it dropped me into the first screen, face to face with the same standard character that everyone else got. And that moment truly encapsulates the genius of Toby Fox; he managed to crush the hopes and dreams of every Undertale player while simultaneously setting the stage for an equally brilliant installment in the series.
If the character creation fake-out wasn’t a dead giveaway, Deltarune attempts to distance itself from Undertale in many ways. The core systems are still mostly the same, so you can choose to either fight a battle or talk your way out of it. That said, both methods will ultimately lead you to the same ending. It’s a good ending, don’t get me wrong, but it clearly establishes that Deltarune will be a more traditional approach to RPGs. You’ll still get the fantastic story, the intricate combat systems, and the enchanting music, but the endless replayability isn’t returning from Undertale.
Or, atleast, that’s what everyone thought until Chapter 2 released last Friday.
Within 24 hours of the new chapter releasing, players had already discovered that, unlike the first chapter, Chapter 2 contained multiple endings depending on the actions you took throughout the story. Just like Undertale, these endings feature completely different boss fights and radically changed story directions, despite it only occurring during the second chapter out of what will eventually be seven total. This opens up near-endless possibilities for future chapters, and I can not understate how excited I am to see what Toby Fox has in store for us.
Overall, Deltarune is a game that is in almost every aspect a perfect sequel to one of the greatest RPGs ever created. It expands upon all of the core features and boasts hours of content despite still being a unfinished demo. The game was an absolute joy to play, and every few days I still open it up and experience something that I missed on my first run. Oh, and if all of that wasn’t enough to sell you on how amazing this game is, did I mention that it’s completely free with no strings attached?
