Toby Fox had certainly stumbled onto something special when Undertale was released in 2015; the seminal post-modern RPG garnered quite the cult following for its quirky humour and disarmingly dark themes, which went a long way towards cementing its unique identity. Now, a few years and several ports later, Fox is back at it again with a follow-up project, the first part of which has released on the eShop for free as Deltarune Chapter 1. Though not a direct sequel (or maybe it is?) of Fox’s magnum opus, Deltarune feels more than worthy of its predecessor's legacy, even if it does come off as being rather light on new ideas.
After an amusing introduction with a character creator, the story begins by following Kris, a young human child going to an ordinary day of school in a world populated by monsters. Kris and the school bully, Susie, are soon asked by their teacher to retrieve chalk from a nearby supply closet, only to find themselves falling headlong into a mysterious dark world. Here, they’re informed that they’re heroes prophesied to bring balance to the world and set out on a quest to set things right so they can go home. Though the storyline is about as cliché as possible, Deltarune borrows heavily from its predecessor in the way that it handles nuance and ‘behind the scenes’ storytelling; despite appearing to be a simple tale of heroes saving the world from darkness, little hints along the way suggest a much larger plot is in motion.
What makes much of the storytelling so compelling is the hefty dosage of sarcastic and witty humour used along the way; Deltarune is a game that hardly takes itself seriously – it delights in surprising the player and finding all sorts of goofy ways to turn expectations on their head. For example, a memorable early boss encounter sees you fighting against an enemy who isn’t old enough to ride a motorcycle, so he sets his bike on fire instead to feel cool. Or, in another example, a certain party member can’t decide whether they want to be good or evil, so they follow the team at a distance so as to not be associated with them. This kind of humour permeates nearly every square inch of Deltarune, which does a great job of lulling the player into a false sense of security so they aren’t prepared when things suddenly take a disturbingly dark turn. You never know what’s going to happen next, whether it’ll be another gag or an incredibly violent incident, and that makes the plot so riveting to follow.
Gameplay takes much after Undertale – many of the trappings of a 16-bit RPG are present and accounted for – but it notably builds on Fox's previous game by eschewing the solo, EarthBound-esque combat in favour of a multi-character system that’s more in line with Final Fantasy. Battles still play out in a turn-based fashion, but you now also have a ‘TP’ gauge that fills based on your attacks and dodges, and acquired TP can be spent on casting magic. It’s not a huge change, but it does have a notable effect on how you approach enemy attacks. Like Undertale, enemy attacks play out by having you control a small heart inside a box in a bullet hell mini-game; if you can dodge whatever flies at you in the box, your character avoids damage. However, a little more TP is gained for every ‘near miss’ with the obstacles coming your way, encouraging you to weave between them in such a way that they only just miss the heart. This slightly heavier focus on risk and reward feels like an organic and well-implemented expansion of the original combat concept introduced in Undertale, and hopefully, it will continue to be iterated on in subsequent chapters of Deltarune.
Naturally, a big part of this combat system revolves around doing all that you can to not fight, and fans of Undertale will be pleased to know that the focus on ‘sparing’ enemies is back in full force. Every enemy encounter, boss fight or otherwise, can be completed by somehow talking down, befriending, or otherwise making peace with your foes through a series of often humorous actions that end in everyone walking away relatively unharmed. You don’t receive any experience from battles that end in this fashion, but all your actions – violent or not – have long-ranging effects on the outcome of the story; there are multiple different story paths depending on just how peaceful or violent you choose to be. It certainly brings up interesting discussion around the ethics of being a ‘hero’ who kills just about everything between you and the goal, but it also creates some interesting puzzles that spice up combat a bit more. Every enemy type has a unique way in which they become wooed, and finding out what it takes to talk them down can make things more interesting than simply hammering the Attack button over and over.
Aside from the combat, there’s a handful of simple puzzles to solve in the sparse environments that comprise the game world, which serve as a reminder that not all issues from Undertale have been completely fixed. Though charming to some, most of the world feels like a collection of long, sparsely decorated hallways with very little in the way of interesting design or presentation. Sure, the item descriptions and occasional NPC conversations are funny, but the dark world hardly feels like a cohesive or living place; though there’s perhaps a slight upgrade in sprite quality and detail from its predecessor, Deltarune is unfortunately not a very pretty game to look at.
What’s more – and this is no doubt a more subjective issue – Deltarune has a general feeling of uninspired sameness that never quite manages to go away. Rather than making more of an effort to build upon and differentiate itself from its excellent predecessor, it seems that Deltarune is more concerned with simply copying what made Undertale so great. That doesn’t make it a bad game outright, but considering how fresh Undertale was at the time of its release, it comes off as being a bit disappointing that Deltarune is ‘just’ more of the same. However, this is only the first in what’s supposedly to be a multi-chapter epic, so perhaps the best is yet to come and this first episode is merely a primer for much bigger things to follow.
Conclusion
It’s unknown at this point just how big of a project Deltarune will turn out to be – only Chapter 2 is confirmed as of the time of writing – but this first chapter proves to be a solid, if a little too safe, take on the unique gameplay and humour that made Undertale such a hit. At worst, Deltarune Chapter 1 is just a smaller and shallower version of Undertale; at best, it’s a promising glimpse into a much more ambitious project that will hopefully grow to escape the shadow of its forerunner. Regardless, you can download Deltarune Chapter 1 for free right now from the eShop; we’d encourage you to give it a download and see what you think.
Comments 54
Undertale was so pretentious that I do not even want to try this one.
@Tirza that's pretty unfortunate it's a game worth playing. Oh, and did I mention it only takes like 10 hours to complete PLUS it's free.
My favorite thing about Deltarune is that it's an actual RPG this time around. Undertale's battle system was good, dont get me wrong, but it mostly devolved into choosing the same dialogue options while avoiding the same attacks over and over. Deltarune actually lets you strategize, and that's great. Really looking forward to the full game.
Wait, the developer said that Deltarune would only have 1 ending. This review states that this has multiple endings. Are you sure?
This review talks a whole deal more about Undertale than it does about Deltarune. And if I haven't played Undertale? Useless
Played it on PC, I liked it. The game has a good writing with a good sense of humour and timing, I don't usually get invested at all with characters and stories but I admittedly got into it a bit with this one. Though just like with Undertale the crown jewel here is the soundtrack, this Toby Fox guy definitely does know how to compose music.
Definitely looking forward to the following episodes.
I actually just finished Undertale recently (although I still need to fight the true final boss) so I could play Deltarune. I'm probably the last person on earth to play Undertale, but I personally fell in love with it, so I'm excited to play this.
@Tirza I'll eventually give it a proper go, but had the exact same initial impression.
@dequesi The game is specifically made for people who played Undertale. Hell, there's even a message at the very start of the game saying that, and giving you an option to go straight to Undertale's eShop page.
I absolutely loved this for the first hour or so and then...and then the stupid puzzles raise their head. Take the puzzles out and give us a non taxing RPG. The rest of it is fantastic, i love the combat, the characters and the setting. The puzzles just stop the entire flow of the game and feel 100& tacked on. They serve no purpose other than to pull you back out of the story.
@YANDMAN Just you wait until you get to Rouxls Kaard’s puzzles. Phew! Some real doozies there. They were so hard I almost ended up pulling my hair out. Needed to refer to at least three walkthroughs to solve them.
I just wish some of the SURVEY_PROGRAM spooky things weren’t lost in these ports. They really are better on PC for some of the more meta stuff.
I've played about 3 hours of it, and everything is making me want to just restart it and go on a murder spree as I find myself agreeing with the dinosaur character more than anyone else.
@Tirza Undertale was pretentious?? Uhhh, how? It literally is one of the humblest games I have ever played, and so is the creator of the game.
Your perception of the game should not be altered by it's fan base.
@Darknyht you should do that, see how it plays out, might be fun
Also "plays it a little too safe" what do you even mean by that, Nintendo life? But okay I guess.
Never played Undertale. Did play through this and though I don't get invested in many turn based RPGs, this game hooked me. I'm probably going to cave and get Undertale eventually, just like I'll pay for chapter 2 of this. More games should offer the first 25% for free. Allows me to try things I never would for any amount of money because I loathe Final Fantasy and suffer through Earthbound and Super Mario RPG for their quirky stories.
@ballistic90 it does not have multiple endings at all, the review is wrong, you can change a few things through the story, but the ending doesn't change.
I'm doing a blind-ish lets play of the game. It's pretty fun. I've recorded 6 10-13 minute episodes, and what I've played is pretty fun. I can't wait for the next recording session. Although I do agree with the rating so far.
@Balladeer What's the point? didn't you feel like me that it just ruins the flow? The graphics, the sound, the aesthetic is all great, but the puzzles ruin it for me.
@AxeltheBuizel Nope, I'm just about half way through myself (after one sitting!). Quality stuff!
Oh, that's good to know ;-D
Thanks, @TheHumbleFellow
@AxeltheBuizel I've never played Undertale or even watched a video about it. At best I've seen a couple screenshots and read a review.
I started the game to give it a try but instantly deleted it without playing when the message came up that I should play Undertale first.
Unfortunately I have too many games in my backlog to justify spending the money to buy Undertale and if the developer is warning me that Deltarune is for people who have played Undertale.....I'll pass even if it is free.
@YANDMAN Er...in the kindest way possible, the puzzles are meant to be extremely easy. Many of them shouldn't even take 30 seconds to complete. And they're well integrated with the story. So I'm inclined to think that you just have issues with puzzles. But hey, that would make Susie more relatable, right?
@ToadKid
A legend returns!
@dequesi this seems to be an issue in most reviews on the site now, they can’t seem to write a review without comparing to something else that they presume he reader has played.
It makes sense to avoid unnecessarily repeating stuff a lot of readers already know, but if you’ve not played Undertale or Dark Souls or Civilisation or Journey or Cuphead or any number of other games that haven’t previously been released on a Nintendo machine, it starts to get annoying.
And yes, I’m aware that Dark Souls, Undertale and Civ6 are now out on Switch. Doesn’t mean every Switch owner has played them yet.
I don't think that playing it "safe" versus incorporating new mechanics was a significant consideration in the design process. I think the game was made mostly for its story, and Fox's attachment to the previously scrapped ideas and characters featured therein. The basics of Deltarune were actually conceived prior to Undertale's completion, and as I understand, the reason we got Undertale instead was because at the time, Toby Fox was unsatisfied with his attempts to implement a party combat system. And I don't see the similarities as an issue. The game is about story first, and succeeds in that.
X-morph defense still has no review?
I wanted to at least play a demo of Undertale before I took the plunge, but since chapter 1 of Deltarune was free, I decided to make that my entry point. I disagree that you NEED to play Undertale to get this as it seems to be an inclusive story rather than iterative from Undertale as I was able to invest, and understand, how this game works just fine. I love its humor, nostalgic nods, self-awareness, soundtrack, ludicrousness (which DID remind me of Earthbound in that regard), and the fact that it doesn't take itself seriously at all, so it's a winner in my book. Completely taken by surprise that I'd like it, I played Chapter 1 through to completion. The battle concept is refreshing for me. Needless to say, I think I'll go back and scoop Undertale for sure when it hits another sale, or might even roll on out with the rest of Deltarune before I double back to Undertale. We'll see. Color me impressed and entertained
@MeloMan there's actually a free pc demo for Undertale, but it's more of an earlier version.
Since it is free I wouldn't mind trying it. I still haven't played Undertale though.
@AxeltheBuizel Cool, I'll give that a go, thanks!
you cannot kill any enemies in this game and the outcome only slightly changes depending on if you beat everyone up or not. you guys might want to spruce up on the details.
@dkxcalibur @Dpullam As someone that's played through both, I can tell you right now the only real benefit you get from playing Undertale first is getting to acknowledge any little details that may have first appeared in it.
Deltarune is otherwise its own story, with no real connection to Undertale. In fact, it's easier to play through than UT (though it could be because it's merely Chapter 1 of what is meant to be an elongated package)
Not really sure why Toby Fox implemented that prompt in hindsight, but there you go.
@RyanSilberman Good to know! I just figured I should play his first complete game before I try this one, so that I can appreciate (and perhaps be spoiled) of what it is trying to do.
@MeloMan you're welcome! I hope you enjoy it!
@Dpullam That is definitely something you can do - Undertale is a great game!
I cannot wait for the full release of this game!
@RyanSilberman That's good to know, but since it's been deleted from my system, I'm doubtful I'll give it a try now....there's just too many other games that I already own.
@iRiS There’s a reply button you can use for replies. Use it
Does anyone know why it's not available on the eshop anymore? I can find the game on my cell phone, but there's no button to buy/download. On the Switch it's not even available on the eshop....
Edit: I just couldn't download the game on the US eshop but when I logged in my UK account, I was able to do it
@WinterIceFox
I'll tell you exactly how.
@Loonyhed I have issues with lots of stuff especially the puzzles in this game, but i also know that i am not alone in that. The puzzles in my opinion are not integrated well at all. It just feels like an unnecessary pause to the game.
I played a bit of this on PC, but I'm looking forward to really digging into it on Switch. It's definitely hard to beat the price.
For the record, I really liked Undertale. It's one of the best indie games I've ever played.
I feel pretty slow right now, only just realised deltarune is an anagram
Undertale was really nice, but I kinda feel like it was a one-trick pony. Maybe that's just me? Deltarune didn't click with me, I stopped playing it pretty early.
Not completely unrelated: I really ought to try EarthBound someday
7/10 for Nintendo Life, 10/10 from me.
"there are multiple different story paths depending on just how peaceful or violent you choose to be". This was true in Undertale. The whole point in Deltarune is that "your choices don't matter". As others have pointed out, there are minor differences in the story depending on what you do, but only one ending.
I'm a big Undertale fan, but the opening area of that game, which is also offered as a free demo, was horrid. The level of quality present in Deltarune's demo implies that the full game will be even more phenomenal.
@amiiboacid I disagree it was horrid, but it is the worst part of the game and also has MUCH more annoying an encounter rate in the demo. But it was also more novel, so it was also far easier to give it a pass.
its free which is of course the best price so why only 7/10?.
@Daftbomb count me as even slower — you just pointed it out to me!
This is next on the queue after Hellblade and FFX
@Daftbomb, I actually came to the comments to see if anyone knew that. I noticed it just the other day. It's symbolic given the debate on here about how related the two games are.
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