There’s perhaps no other indie game that exemplifies the genre more than Undertale. Made mostly by Toby Fox (with art contributed by Temmie Chang), it was a game that totally subverted your expectations. At first appearance it looks fairly simple; yet another RPG made with Game Maker. But there was a depth beyond its façade, which only went deeper and deeper as you progressed. Instead of fighting your enemies, you had a chance to sway and spare them, at the cost of never leveling up and getting stronger. What you chose would ultimately catch up with you. Plenty of games before had a morality mechanic, but Undertale took it to the next level, fully showing you the ramifications of your actions if you choose to never repent.

How do you follow up a game known for surprising and subverting your expectations? How do you unexpect the expected? I don’t know how to answer that, but it’s clear Toby Fox does. The sequel to Undertale, Deltarune, released its first two chapters [a few years ago]. Toby has promised there will be 7 chapters total, and as of this year has released 4 of them! Theoretically one could say this isn’t a complete game and therefore we should hold off; however, these chapters are jam packed with plenty to analyze. If we waited until all 7 were out, this article would be too long. So we’ll take a page from Toby’s book and stagger our releases as well.

CHAPTER 1

Chapter 1 feels the most like Undertale, but not in a great way. It’s still an improvement, but when you play what comes after and revisit, you feel how much more restricted combat and exploration is. So what’s different?  Well this go-around, you have a party! You would think a larger party (and therefore larger action economy)would mean combat is more complex – however, in Chapter 1 only Kris can [ACT], leaving the other two stuck on healing or damage duty. If you’re being a pacifist…just healing.  This results in the game feeling ‘solved’ all too easily – just have Kris react each turn, and Susie and Ralsei support. You don’t want to ‘solve’ RPG’s though. The whole point of a role-playing game is that I play the role as I see fit or like best. If there’s only one solution, that’s boring. However, once you get to the last boss fight of Chapter 1, you see how unhinged things are going to be. In fact, unlike Undertale, sometimes your hand will be forced, and you’ll HAVE to fight.

This is actually a welcome change for me from Undertale. Undertale’s radical mercy was fantastic – many of us should strive to forgive 70 times 7 times.  But it also never realized that sometimes, paradoxically, the merciful action is to carry out justice. Deltarune does recognize that sometimes justice must be executed in order for there to be peace. This isn’t exclusionary of mercy, but sometimes a price has to be paid. This also makes the resolutions feel less namby-pamby – we’re not trying to get a genocidal maniac to see love is the friends we made along the way.

Thematically, Chapter 1 is determined to tell us that our choices don’t matter, that nothing will change. It remains to be seen how that will bear out, but it’s an obvious contrast to Undertale where there was so much emphasis on player agency. And it’s also curious because again, Deltarune feels more free than Undertale! Regardless, we’ll talk more on this theme once we come to chapter 4.

CHAPTER 2

Chapter 2 is when Deltarune forges an identity of its own. This chiefly comes about from three things: the changes to combat, a more pronounced divergence of choices, and the dedication to a new environmental theme.

Toby very quickly picked up on feedback that combat was solved and made a simple change: now, Susie and Ralsei can [ACT] on their turns. Kris is now free to defend, attack or use items on their turn, without having to sacrifice the actions that would bring the combat to a peaceful close. This change reopens up strategy entirely, allowing combat the variety necessary for a satisfying RPG experience. 

Variety of choice wasn’t just added to combat: within the story of Chapter 2, you can take 2 very different paths, which hint at the game’s dark undertones. If the genocide run of Undertale made you feel like a bad person, you’ll feel even worse here, as this time you don’t carry out the killings – you corrupt someone else to. Instead of a sinner, you’d feel like the devil. This exploration of choice has a lot to do with what Deltarune is about.

Finally, the environment. While Chapter 1 does have a card-game theme,  it doesn’t feel very fleshed out beyond the NPCs and some puzzles. But every subsequent chapter has its own distinct locale. The music,  art, and characters all work on another level here.  They really do feel like portals into different worlds, as the in-game narrative purports.

Did I mention this music??? I know it goes without saying that the composer that made Megalovania is great at what he does, but I’m compelled to spill even more ink on this well-covered subject.  It’s just so good. While no song from Deltarune has matched the popularity of Undertale’s Megalovania*, the game is still chock full of bangers. (Big Shot is close, but even so is still less frequently memed.) The mood ranges from the electric adventure of A CYBER’S WORLD? all the way to the more somber yet comfortable tones of My Castle Town. Play with the volume turned way up. 

CHAPTER 3

The stakes keep getting bigger! After a portal is opened in Kris’ living room, the party is transported to a world of televisual wonder. After what felt like a long wait between Chapter 2 and 3, I was worried that this new chapter couldn’t be as good.  Thankfully it proved me wrong from the outset, once again surprising me from the very start.  

Toby’s ability to create unique and strange characters is a foundational block of why people find his games so compelling. Each chapter there’s a new antagonist you can’t help but get attached to. Tenna is no different. The embodiment of entertainment, Tenna will do whatever he can to keep your eyes glued to the screen. What starts as a game show turns into a meta video game, but what’s behind the curtains is just as interesting. Tenna is a nightmare boss behind the scenes, demanding his workers get what he wants accomplished or they’ll be punished. At his worst, he always wants to be the center of attention. But Deltarune has a habit of making us reconsider people at their worst.

This game show format allows Toby to pull whatever he wants, and as such mini-games abound. It feels insulting to call one of the mini-games that, as it’s such a well-done homage to the original Zelda and it takes up a decent portion of the chapter!  While Chapter 3 doesn’t expand on the broader mechanics like Chapter 2 did, it does feel like a refining of them. The [ACT]’s in combat are more interactive, adding even further variety. There’s even a stealth section!

Ultimately, this chapter is made or broken by Tenna. Earlier I said at his worst that Tenna needs to be the center of attention. While it is true that he is attention-crazed, at the root of it there’s a true pleasure he gets from entertaining. He wants to see you smile, ultimately for your sake and not his own. Heel-turns and face-turns are Toby’s specialty, and he once again works his magic in getting you to care for another of his characters. 

This chapter was the funniest and most fun by far. Deltarune continues to keep you on your toes here, and that novelty and excellent writing is what elevates this chapter above all the others. 

CHAPTER 4

So far, each chapter has had an underlying theme. In the card game chapter, you are constantly reminded that what you do does not ultimately matter.  In other words, the game is rigged. In Chapter 2, there’s a bit more nuance – I’d argue it’s about the desire for connection and the isolation that can paradoxically ensue from using the internet, based on Queen’s motives. Chapter 3 is all about attention: wanting it, acting out for it, and doing whatever possible to keep it. Chapter 4 is an elevation of the game’s main thesis: this is fate, and the prophecy cannot be changed. And yet, hope might still be found.

Each of these chapters tell us something buried deep about the characters. Kris is lonely, Susie would rather push others away, and Ralsei has NO sense of self-worth. While some solace is found in the relationships between these characters as the story goes on, deep down these are still hurt, defeated people who are seeking consolation and have yet to find it. When the pleasures of the world can’t provide it, some people look deeper.  That’s right, in this chapter,  Deltarune goes to church. 

Speaking as ecumenically as I possibly can, this church really sucks. It’s meant to, the game makes no qualms about that. The sermons put you to sleep, the lector decides to improv her own reading instead of read what she’s meant to, and it’s undetermined what this church actually professes to believe. In one chapter the priest says there is no sin or confession in the religion, yet in another dialogue Toriel is reminded of church because someone says “sin”. There are wafers and wine found on the grounds, but if there was some equivalent to a eucharistic celebration they didn’t celebrate it in Chapter 4. The idea of religion in this world is so tepid and lukewarm I’m not sure it even crosses the threshold into being “belief” or “faith”. It’s enshrined relativism, really. If that’s what faith really was, then just like Susie and Kris, you shouldn’t respect it. Paragraph 32 of Veritatis Splendor has some choice things to say about this:…

Certain currents of modern thought have gone so far as to exalt freedom to such an extent that it becomes an absolute, which would then be the source of values. This is the direction taken by doctrines which have lost the sense of the transcendent… To the affirmation that one has a duty to follow one’s conscience is unduly added the affirmation that one’s moral judgment is true merely by the fact that it has its origin in the conscience. But in this way the inescapable claims of truth disappear, yielding their place to a criterion of sincerity, authenticity and “being at peace with oneself”….

Once the idea of a universal truth about the good, knowable by human reason, is lost, inevitably the notion of conscience also changes. Conscience is no longer considered in its primordial reality as an act of a person’s intelligence, the function of which is to apply the universal knowledge of the good in a specific situation… Instead, there is a tendency to grant to the individual conscience the prerogative of independently determining the criteria of good and evil and then acting accordingly. Such an outlook is quite congenial to an individualist ethic, wherein each individual is faced with his own truth, different from the truth of others. Taken to its extreme consequences, this individualism leads to a denial of the very idea of human nature.

We’ve talked about relativism on the site before, and it is truly a large concern of our times. Truth is of the utmost concern, and so the path to finding it matters. But what I find most boggling in the current context is the idea of building organized religion around the system of relativism. If that’s not the shiftiest sand to build a house on, I don’t know what is. And yet, I can’t deny that Deltarune’s depiction of religion isn’t a result of this exact train of thought. That being said, there is an example of faith here we can analyze that truly is admirable. 

In discussing faith in Deltarune with a friend, he mentioned the Holiday family, which in particular came into the spotlight in chapter 4. The question the family is implicitly asking is, “what does faith mean when it doesn’t, from your perspective, seem to be helping the ones you love?” Each member of the Holiday family chooses something different – Carol and Dess both abandon the faith, whereas Noelle and Rudy uphold it. But what also has to be considered is the way they present their faith. Carol banishes any devotion within the home, but has her political face to consider and so outwardly maintains a facade of faith. Dess outwardly abandons the faith, but based on various accoutrements found within her room it can be gleaned that she still believes and hopes to lead a good example for Noelle. Noelle outwardly and inwardly upholds the faith; not really a surprise, she’s a good egg. And Rudy is funnily enough most like Dess – inwardly, he is confronting a lot with his illness, and could be pushed towards doubt. But he continues to maintain the habits of his faith, holding on to them as a comfort. This is a big distinction, enough that we can tell Rudy still has some belief. This family is a microcosm of what faith means, for faith only takes its full meaning when it’s tested – otherwise it’s just an untried belief. We’ve all likely been various people in this family at different points in our lives. (Hopefully we don’t stay Dess too long.) But it’s ok to bend when tests come, because ultimately the question I asked  is a red herring. Faith is constancy – so what do we do when it doesn’t seem to be helping the ones we love? We keep on. Not in isolation – we do our best to help others as well. Faith is carrying the cross, and at first it will seem we only carry it to our deaths. But far greater is what awaits us after that trial.

Fate, Control, and Freedom

Much has been said about the judgment of player choice in these games. The freedom discovered in Undertale was intoxicating to players – it was rare to see such attention to player’s narrative choice at the time of release! Toby specifically wanted to make a game where the consequences of your choices were fully explored, to the point where it became the chief virtue touted for Undertale. It makes sense that the illusion of choice would be explored in the sequel.  The idea that our freedom isn’t as effective as it seems is not a new one; determinism has been around for a while. It is an odd bent for an RPG however, given their natural propensity for choice and player-driven action. It naturally chafes against the idea of determinism, which creates a lot of narrative tension in the background. Interestingly, even the metanarrative of Deltarune reinforces this determinism. In Undertale, the good route was called the pacifist route and its opposite was the genocide route. But in Deltarune, there is no pacifist route, and its opposite is called “the weird route” – as if something is going against what it was programmed to do.  

As Catholics we believe in free will, and most determinists do not. They believe there’s no changing fate, and whatever will happen has already been decided. In this vein of thinking, some people have wondered how we can have a God who is all-knowing whilst still retaining free will. It seems like determinism is necessary for God to retain his all-knowingness. However, this argument assumes God is a creature bound by time. He is not; time is one of God’s creations, and so He is outside of it, within eternity. He can look to the future before we’ve decided something and see what we will choose, simply because from eternity’s perspective it was “already” chosen. All present moments are currently happening for Him. This retains our freedom in the present moment whilst keeping God’s all-knowing nature.

As for Deltarune: while the game on the outside seems deterministic, due to its negative portrayal it can be surmised that freedom is what is truly revered in Deltarune. Ralsei has been fighting fate for a long time in hopes that things can change. Susie, upon seeing the prophecy that us players can’t, is fully resolved to not let that happen. And Kris’ character has been an embodiment of freedom and constraint this whole time: Kris is essentially “possessed” by us while we control them, and there are moments where we’re cast out by Kris and they get to control what happens in the game. So knowing what we know about the real world, is there a fate that we too can subvert?

As previously alluded to, we are free to choose what we want; there is no fate per se. However, God does have a perfect will for us, wherein we carry out the virtuous acts He desires us to. God respects our freedom so much that he doesn’t abrogate it due to our sin though; the good we fail to achieve is allowed underneath his permissive will. So while God’s perfect will is what He intends, his permissive will is what allows us to choose differently. In those instances, He will work with what we give Him and still give us the best He can. So while there’s no fate in a negative sense, there is a life we are called to live; we are free to choose it or reject it.

Overall, Deltarune is a great game with a lot of fun mechanics, and the writing is levels better than it was even in Undertale. While its moral content is sometimes questionable, its exploration of true friendship and redemption still rings true.

About Matt "PBnJ" Palardy