Deltarune (2025)

Chapter 1: this game's introduction immediately got me hooked, I went in expecting something similar to Undertale, but it quickly became obvious that Deltarune was doing its own thing, from the combat system to the world and characters. The dynamic between Kris, Susie and Ralsei is what really carried this initial sections for me, especially seeing Susie slowly warm up to the others throughout the adventure. The OST was already incredible from the very beginning, and by the end I was completely sold on whatever Toby was cooking. It is without a doubt one of those OSTs that you come back from time to time, just like the album of a band that you love.

The final reveal with the Dark Fountain and the ending scene left me with way more questions than answers, and it was the perfect way to get you invested in whats next. This story-telling style is my absolute favorite, not just because of the room for interpretation, but also because of the cliffhangers. One must-play aspect of this game are the Shadow Crystals bosses, which are secret optional bosses, which are the hardest bosses in the present chapter. For the first one you get Jevil, and I consider it as hard as something like Genocide route Sans from Undertale. And while this is not particularly a very interesting boss compared to the subsequent ones, I still recommend experiencing it so you can get your hands on his unique loot.

Chapter 2: fortunately the sequel was immediately available to play at launch, and it somehow managed to be even better. It felt much bigger in every aspect, with more exploration, more memorable characters and a ton of genuinely funny moments. Queen instantly became one of my favorite characters in the game, somehow being both hilarious and surprisingly intimidating whenever the story needed her to be. This chapter also started pushing the overarching mystery much harder, especially with Noelle's development and everything surrounding the Weird Route, which completely changed the way I looked at the game's story. Ending on Kris creating another Dark Fountain was such a huge cliffhanger that it made waiting for the next chapters both exciting and painful.

I admit that I haven't experienced the Weird Route myself, instead I looked it up online and I recommend at least reading about it since it is one of the most interesting parts of this experience. As already mentioned each chapter has its unique secret optional boss, this time you get Spamton NEO, and this time around this boss is very unique, to the same level of the ones from Undertale. And again, its difficulty level is insane, even introducing brand new mechanics in his fight, even in the middle of the fight. Not to mention his unique quotes and OST, it is simply amazing. To me the songs from all of the chapters is really one of the highlights I can't stress enough how much I love them, is what makes me want to be the big shot.

Chapter 3: another banger from Toby, loved the new villain and the new songs, had a blast playing through the mini-games, felt like a really fast-paced and rushed chapter though, wished it was more similar to the previous ones where you go through the adventure and the main villain is far from your reach, and this was quite the opposite. But I get it, the structure he opted to go for would only work on this specific format, and regardless I really enjoyed it, though this has little to no mysteries so far for me, at least not ones that I can spot. I also recommend some research online about its hidden secrets, it has a lot of extra content. Not only the Weird Route but also some unique gameplay sections regarding some of the mini-games, with hidden bosses and unique areas to explore.

As for the Shadow Crystal boss of this chapter, The Roaring Knight, it is the only not optional one, which, if you played this entirely on-rails, is the first contact with this mechanic. And while it is incredibly hard, it is not required to be beat in the same way the other bosses are, which makes it quite less effective in comparison. The good news though is that it is the most mysterious character up until now, and I'm a fan of this kind of element since it promotes a ton of discussion in the community. And while you are not absolutely required to beat it, the challenge here is to try and face it without failing, and with this in mind, this boss makes up for a very difficult fight, similar to the other optional ones.

Chapter 4: The last chapter is definitely the most serious one we got up until now, very different from the previous two we had which were very similar in structure, we had character development, comedy and also some serious parts, but chapter 4 is a completely "serious" chapter in comparison. While chapter 3 was a complete laugh from start to finish, chapter 4 is the complete opposite, introducing a new mysterious villain, and ending with an (obvious) cliffhanger, not as big as the one in chapter 2 though, since at least now we have more clues about what can or cannot go down in the future episodes.

The Shadow Crystal boss, Hammer of Justice, I think it is one of the most memorable secret bosses so far. The fight is demanding, constantly forcing you to adapt to new attack patterns, but if you are familiar with Genocide route Undyne, then you'll quickly get hang of this. What really stood out to me, though, was the personality behind the character. Just like Jevil and Spamton NEO, this boss has a unique presence that makes the encounter feel like much more than just an optional challenge. Between the dialogue, the music and the lore implications, it ended up being one of the highlights of the entire chapter. I highly recommend this optional content to not be skipped, since discovering how to trigger the fight and finally overcoming it is easily one of the most rewarding moments of this chapter.

Chapter 5: after the much heavier tone of the previous chapter, I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it still surprised me. Instead of simply trying to outdo the previous chapters, it focused on expanding the world while giving several questions a bit more context without completely revealing the bigger picture. One of the highlights is the festival section, you can spend a lot of time there, and I highly recommend doing so. Since I decided to stick to the script, I ended up going the cupid route. I really liked the Dark World of this chapter, especially all the new villains. Even though they don't use any new approach, with themes like friendship and non-violent conflicts, they are still one of the most charismatic casts I've ever experienced so far in gaming. The Weird Route on this one is the most brutal one so far, I won't spoil much but all I can say is that it is the shortest in length, and the one that leaves us with the most questions.

As for the main villain, I forever thought it was somebody coming from straight from Undertale, but it was its theme that was used to make us completely miss the mark on this one. Flowery is a really amazing villain, especially due to his hilarious voice over lines, I love all of them and find them genuinely funny. For the optional boss of this chapter, it is the first one I thought about giving up, to me this is the hardest one by far, compared to the previous ones. A fun fact is that, Pink actually comes directly from Undertale, as opposed to Flowery. I think what makes this fight so challenging is that it has a layer of strategy, you can approach it in different ways. Not to mention the unique Visual Novel mechanics that adds a layer of RNG to the mix. This is maybe my favorite one so far just because of her unique theme that stands out the most up until now.

Just completed Chapter 2. It's more polished and varied compared to Chapter 1. The idea of sparing monsters and having them show up later in the Dark World is interesting. I'm curious if there is any benefit to going the lethal route. The relationship that develops between Kris, Susie, Noelle and Asriel is cute.

I feel like the music and sound design isn't Toby's best work. The Cyber City soundtrack is the only new memorable track I can think of. Also it's weird that he uses license-free sound effects. It's definitely an "indie" move, but with the success of Undertale, I expected something with a bit more umpf.

All in all it's a fine chapter with a cliffhanger ending.

I'm having such a good time back in this world, and with these characters! Just over an hour into the game and I've been laughing and smiling through all of it.

And the soundtrack is so good it makes me wanna stop and just listen instead of progressing - although I just saw the music is on Spotify now, so I can continue and go back and listen to the tracks later.

(HEAVY SPOILERS FOLLOW. DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO FIND OUT SOME RECENTLY-FOUND HIDDEN SECRETS OF THE GAME)

So it turns out you can go Genocide Route on Chapter 2 using Noelle! Yay, murder!

h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfo0RjMxafo

(Link broken so the thumbnail doesn't appear, move the h back to its place)

It changes some things, the most important being that Birdly fucking dies, Spamton is the final boss instead of Queen, and is heavily implied the Player has corrupted Noelle into a cold-ass murderer.

i played through delt2 last night. and i feel like, playing it and seeing how i felt during it could be a good measurer of how I've changed since delt1 came out (and undertale for that matter). the most common emotion i felt during this playthrough was mild amusement with a straight face, which made me think that (due to the past changes and circumstances in my life) ive just become relatively jaded to this kinda stuff

but at the same time, it is more of the same thing in a lot of senses. and i liked my initial experiences from its predecessors largely because of how fresh everything felt. i think the freshness of something (and not having any confident primer of expectations that are delivered upon) can strongly influence how much of an impact it leaves on me

now obv my experience is just my own, subject to my own circumstances, so pls don't feel that im bashing those who like this. as much as i love undertale (so much as to consider it my favorite video game experience), delt2 kinda just felt reluctantly predictable -- not in any literal fashion, but just like, i knew what kind of energy to expect. and idk, maybe that's just how it is. undertale delivered a full unique experience that didn't overstay its welcome for me. i wanted more, but that's the ideal. now that we are getting more in a sense, im starting to feel the staleness of concepts settle in place (that unfortunately applies to my feelings with the music as well, as amazing as it all is)

but hey, i mean, this is still all really top notch high quality stuff. the most variety of gameplay ideas, cutscene scope, and general department of its coding/mechanics that ive seen from toby (thanks to his team i imagine). im looking forward to the next chapters. but it's no longer a pipe dream for me :p

Toby Fox's Undertale was a huge hit. It sold one million copies. For a AAA game that's pretty pathetic. But that's incredible for an indie game. There was no question that Toby Fox was gonna capitalize and make another game.

Deltarune isn't even finished yet. The first chapter is out and despite this, it's already just as good as Undertale.

Once again the music is stellar and it contains interesting characters and brings you through a joyride of emotions.

Deltarune isn't really a sequel. It has some of the same characters, but it takes place in its own continuity.

The battle mechanics have been improved. However, it can get a little complicated.

Can't wait for Chapter 2

4/5