Deltarune

2025-06-06

I'm just gonna open up with an immediate spoiler warning. Go play it if you haven't. It's worth anyone's time.

I'm pretty sure that you already have an opinion on it already, and the weight that this game ends up carrying is vast enough to the point of this review being but a drop in the ocean, which kinda.. leads me to being unsure where to start.

Let's start off objective: Deltarune is an RPG with a mostly linear story, a wide set of characters, a large world to explore and an unorthodox approach to a classic RPG trope, that being of turn-based battles. The game is 2D and is played from a top-down perspective.

On a technical level, the game is as solid as they come, no bugs encountered, no problems running it. Given it's looks, it can probably run well on a raspberry pi 5. One must consider that this is an indie game made by an already well experienced developer who also has the funds to hire teams of people for QA and development. Of course it's gonna run well.

The game is structured in chapters. Chapter one was released .. i think nearly after the covid pandemic, though i am probably wrong on that one. I don't think it matters enough for me to write it up accurately. Chapter two was released in 2022 or late 2021. And now whe got chapters three and four as of time of writing. The end of chapter four annoucnes a release of the 5th chapter at 2026. I imagine I will be making an addition to this post in the future. That being said, it has the usual problem of episodic games. Upon a new release of an episode, one is faced with two choices: replay everything to remember the plot fully, or go in with fuzzy details and hope you remember the gameplay, characters and plot well enough, neither of which are .. optimal. That being said, the game's developer is aware of the problem and does attempt to remedy it in the game through a dialed in difficulty curve and through hints and reminders.

It is also worth noting that one is not forced into playing from the start if they do not have a save file. Special attention is paid to allow players to begin from say, chapter 3 or 4.

In terms of input, I think that the game is best played on a keyboard and mouse. I've played through all chapters on the steam deck, and while it worked perfectly, felt held back by the deck's controller at times. The game requires precise, well-timed directional input, something which is harder to achieve on a joystick, and is less reliable on a d-pad.

And that's about as far as I can go with objectivity..

Even though the game is considred unfinished, there is a lot of content present. A casual playthrough of all of the currently released chapters (1-4) will take between 8 to 12 hours. That is.. honestly a lot of time, and, according to the menus, this coveres a little over half of the entire game. Deltarune is going to be long. Far longer than it's predecessor. That is to say, I do not mean that in the context of, say, a bethesda-made RPG. This is a detailed game. Every nook and cranny is crammed with easter eggs, secrets, jokes, lore tidbits, little silly interactions. When I wrote long, I meant it in the context of how much effort it took. It's easy to make a 30 hour long game if you pad it correctly, if you make the combat encounters in a lazy-enough way. But then you're just going to get a shallow game.

Deltarune, to me is best enjoyed as an entire world. As in, the environent and it's inhabitants, when combined, are what make the game unique. The game's author, Toby Fox, has what I think is an unique talent. He is able to dream up worlds in which people genuinely want to spend their days in. That is to say, worlds wherein lies not only utopia, but struggle and whimsy. Odd combination of words, I know, but I can't think of anything else that is able to capture the notion.

The world of deltarune is not idyllic, but it's not a hellhole either. It's.. it feels real, despite the fantasy elements it contains. That is to say, it carries the unique energy of both good, funny, serious, terrible that is only contained within that which is containing all -- i.e. our world, that's why it feels real.

Deltarune features a 'split' world. A common overworld, containing a realistic north american small town with the usual trappings of one. That of diners, schools, town halls, churches and suburbs, and a 'dark' world, which, tends to differ in between chapters. Lore-wise this is caused by a dark world being a different interpretation of a room or the interior of a building, whereas dark worlds themselves being dynamically located.

Both of which are designed great. That is to say, visually, this game shines in how it presents it's environments. I was about to say that it wasn't too flashy or anything but honestly, this game is sitting near the peak of what can be achieved through pixel art. And it's not due to the detail or the effort put in. Much like undertale, the art of deltarune isn't techincally outstanding. That is to say, it's far from the prettiest pixel art i've seen. What does make it stand out is that it almost always manages to perfectly get the author's intended feeling across. Cozy rooms feel cozy. Sterile areas feel sterile. Glitzy shops feel.. glitzy.

Deltarune's grip on the 'vibe' is absolute. I think this can be best felt in the start of some chapters, where you've just begun to enter a new dark world. It always feels.. creepy and empty, but, the moment you break through that 'barrier' and enter the dark world proper, those feelings vanish immediately, to be replaced with something else. In other words, the game is more than capable of inflicting any emotion it feels like onto you. Much like Undertale could, and this is the reason why I think it deserves to be set apart much like Undertale is. Very few experiences can even approach this claim.

Every single chapter's end has left me with some sort of feelinng of hopelessness or dread. Every single chapter has managed to get at least one good laugh out of me. Every single chapter has also made me glue my eyes to the screen of my deck with it's plot.

I don't think i've written enough, and I don't think I'm at a point where I can consider this review finished, but the game itself isn't either, so here we are. Deltarune is, even in it's non-finished state, among the greats. Go buy it, go play it.