Deltarune

Deltarune
Three figures standing in front of a blue flame, with the words "Deltarune" and "Chapter 1" written in a stylised font above them Promotional artwork for Deltarune: Chapter 1, featuring the game's playable protagonists
Developer(s)	Toby Fox
Publisher(s)	Toby Fox
Writer(s)	Toby Fox
Composer(s)	Toby Fox
Series	Undertale
Engine	GameMaker Studio 2
Platform(s)	macOS Microsoft Windows Nintendo Switch PlayStation 4
Release	Chapter 1 October 31, 2018
Genre(s)	Role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Deltarune is a role-playing video game created by American indie developer Toby Fox. The player controls a human, Kris, in a world where monsters live on the surface of the Earth. Kris and a classmate named Susie fall from Earth into a place called the “Dark World” where they meet Ralsei, who informs them that they are heroes destined to restore balance to the world. The players meet various beings who call themselves "Darkners" during a prophesied quest to seal the dark fountain. Mainly through the combat system, the player navigates through different kinds of bullet hell attacks by enemies, which can be resolved peacefully or through violence. The first chapter of the game was released on October 31, 2018 for Microsoft Windows and macOS for free, with later Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 released on February 28, 2019. The game's graphics are reminiscent of 16-bit Japanese role-playing games such as EarthBound, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Chrono Trigger.

Deltarune is a spin-off of Fox's previous game, Undertale (for which Deltarune is an anagram), but its setting is "not the world of Undertale", according to Fox, though characters and settings may bring some of Undertale's world to mind. As of December 2018, Chapter 2 is planned, but no release date has been announced yet.

Gameplay

The updated combat system of Deltarune. In contrast to Undertale, Deltarune includes a multiple party member system, a "TP" (Tension Points) bar, the ability to defend, use magic, as well as a complete graphical overhaul and other miscellaneous changes.

Deltarune, like Undertale, is a role-playing game that uses a top-down perspective. The player controls a human named Kris and has to complete objectives in order to beat the game. During some parts of the game, the player is allowed to choose attacks of other characters in the game. Similarly to Undertale, Deltarune has bullet hell sections, in which the player must move Kris' SOUL around a boxed area while avoiding enemy attacks. Getting close to the attacks (without actually touching them) will give the player TP (Tension Points), which allow team members to use spells such as "Pacify". Defending also increases TP, albeit by a much larger amount than dodging attacks. Combat is performed similar to most standard turn-based role-playing games, choosing from a set of actions such as "Attack" or "Spare". While the goal of the game is implicitly to avoid fights and spare monsters, this is made difficult in that Susie, who is not initially controlled by the player, would rather attack enemies than spare them, and thus the player must also determine actions to prevent Susie from hurting enemies if they want to show mercy.

Plot

Chapter 1

Upon booting up the game, the player is invited to construct an avatar. However, upon completion, the game deletes the avatar and informs the player that "no one can choose who they are in this world."

Additionally, inputting specific names proceeds to a short Easter Egg message about the name. Entering "Gaster" hard resets the game upon entering the last "r" letter. If the names "Sans", "Papyrus", "Alphys", "Undyne", "Toriel", "Asgore", "Asriel", "Kris", or "Gerson" are entered, the game spits out a random message of either:

• How interesting. "<name entered>". Thank you for your time.
• What an interesting coincidence.

If the names "Susie", or "Ralsei" are entered, the game will always return with ""<name entered>". You are about to meet someone very, very wonderful."

If the same name is entered for both the vessel and its owner, the game will return "Of course of course. Of course they are the same.".

The player begins the story as Kris, a human who lives with their adoptive mother Toriel, a monster. Toriel drops Kris off at school, where Kris attends a class taught by Alphys. Kris and Susie, a delinquent monster classmate, are sent to get chalk for the blackboard. Upon entering the supply closet, both of them are pulled into the "Dark World". There, they meet Ralsei, a prince of the dark, who tells them that the three of them are heroes destined to close a geyser of dark energy to restore balance to that world. However, the King has seized control of the Dark World and is determined to spread darkness.

Susie chooses not to help, only wanting to return to her own world. However, the three encounter Lancer, the King's son, who tries to stop them from proceeding with various poorly thought out plans. Susie eventually decides to join Lancer, leaving Kris and Ralsei on their own. As Kris and Ralsei make their way to the King's castle, Susie befriends Lancer, and the four ultimately become a team. Upon realizing that they will have to confront the King, Lancer runs off to the castle and arranges for the King's henchmen to throw Kris, Ralsei, and Susie into the dungeon.

Susie escapes the dungeon and confronts Lancer, who explains he wanted to keep Susie and the King from hurting each other. Susie promises Lancer she won't hurt the King. Kris, Susie and Ralsei go to the top of the castle and confront the King in battle. Eventually, the King falls to the ground in exhaustion and Ralsei takes pity on him, healing the King. However, this is revealed to be a ruse as the King quickly incapacitates the three heroes, threatening to kill them all. If the player has resolved enemy encounters without violence throughout the game, Lancer turns the King's men against him and imprisons him, taking his father's place. Otherwise, Ralsei subdues the King with a magic spell.

The group closes the dark geyser, so Kris and Susie can return to their own world. There, Susie says goodbye, expressing interest in going to the Dark World again. The player can explore the town before having Kris go home to bed.

That night, Kris, without player input, shakes in bed, then falls on the floor, and limps to the center of the room. Kris tears into their chest and rips out their SOUL, throwing it into a birdcage in the corner of the room. The player can move the SOUL around the birdcage, but cannot do anything else. Kris draws a knife and turns toward the viewer. They smile, with their right eye flashing red.

Development

According to a 2019 interview held to promote the game's Nintendo Switch release, the idea for Deltarune came to Fox in a dream he had in 2011 while he was at college. In the dream, he saw the ending to a video game, and was determined to create it. Fox was also inspired by a collection of playing card designs posted on Tumblr by artist Kanotynes, which were used in the final game. Development of the game started in 2012, although it was abandoned before Fox completed one room. Some music from the original project was recycled for Undertale, most notably the main battle theme (which became Papyrus' battle theme), and a song called Joker Battle (which was reused for Toriel's boss fight). After the Kickstarter success of Undertale, Fox decided to make a game combining the two.

Deltarune was developed by Fox in GameMaker Studio 2. The game introduces a new battle system influenced by the Final Fantasy franchise, contrasting with the original game's combat system (which was inspired by that of the Mother series). Some of the music in the game remixes much of the soundtrack of Undertale, but most pieces are new. The game's battle music is similar to Breath of Fire III music, and Lancer's theme is fairly similar to J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai's opening theme. The game also has many similarities with Undertale in the name of characters, for example, Ralsei (one of the main characters) is an anagram of Asriel (a character from Undertale) and Kris (the main character from Deltarune) is almost an anagram of Frisk (the main character from Undertale). The name of the game, Deltarune is an anagram of Undertale. Temmie Chang served as the main artist for the game, designing characters, sprites and animations. Chang previously assisted Fox with character art in Undertale.

Release

After previously teasing something Undertale-related a day earlier, Fox released the first chapter of Deltarune, a game "intended for people who have completed Undertale", on October 31, 2018 for Windows and macOS for free. Fox stated that this release is the first part of a new project, and considered the release a "survey program" to determine how to take the project further. Fox clarified that Deltarune will be a larger project than Undertale and once he anticipates getting a team to help develop and more, and when it is ready, will release the game as one whole package. Fox plans for Deltarune to have only one ending.

A Nintendo Direct released on February 13, 2019 announced that the first chapter of Deltarune would be released on Nintendo Switch on February 28. On February 21, 2019, the official PlayStation Twitter account announced that a PlayStation 4 version of the first chapter would also be released on February 28.

Reception

Awards

The game was nominated for the G.A.N.G. / MAGFEST People's Choice Award at the 2019 G.A.N.G. Awards.

External links

• Official website