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Deltarune
Episodic role-playing video game From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Deltarune is an episodic role-playing video game by Toby Fox[a] as a follow-up to his 2015 video game Undertale. The first two chapters were released for free in 2018 and 2021. The third and fourth chapters released together in 2025 as part of a paid version. Future chapters will be added to the paid version as free updates.
In the game, the player controls a human teenager, Kris, who is destined to save the world together with Susie, a monster, and Ralsei, a prince from the Dark World. During their quest to seal the Dark Fountains prophesied to end the world, the group makes both friends and foes. The combat system is turn-based and uses bullet hell mechanics. Similarly to Undertale, enemy encounters can be resolved peacefully or through violence.
Development of Deltarune began in 2012, three years before Fox's previous game, Undertale, was released. Though it shares some characters with Undertale and features similar gameplay, it takes place in a separate setting and uses an overhauled battle system with multiple party members. Initially, the game was released on macOS and Windows, before being ported to the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in 2019, and the Nintendo Switch 2 and PlayStation 5 in 2025. The released chapters have been praised by critics for their soundtrack, narrative, and sense of humor.
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Gameplay
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Like Undertale, Deltarune is a role-playing video game with a top-down perspective.[6] The player directly controls a human named Kris,[7] but has a party of other characters which they select actions for during battle.[8][9] The game includes both overworld and combat sections; in the former, players can solve puzzles,[10] collect items, and interact with characters and the world.[11] The random encounter system from Undertale has been removed; players can see the enemies in the environment before they encounter them, allowing for the possibility of avoiding or deliberately initiating combat.[12]
The game uses a turn-based combat system, where players can choose from a set of actions each turn: Fight, Act, Item, Magic, Spare, and Defend.[9] As in Undertale, players control a heart-shaped soul in a fixed area, which must dodge enemy attacks in the form of bullets,[13][10] though the exact mechanics are sometimes unique to the respective enemy.[14] Defending or "grazing" an incoming attack by letting it come close to the heart without getting hit by it, increases the Tension Points (TP) gauge, which allows party members to use spells or particular acts.[9] For example, Ralsei can pacify tired enemies with a spell.[12]
Using acts and spells allows a player to spare enemies non-violently; from the second chapter, this can allow them to be recruited to live in the player's Castle Town.[13][8] Alternatively, fighting an enemy, which also increases TP, can lead to them being defeated violently.[11]
When a party member's hit points (HP) drop below zero, they are downed and will not be able to fight until revived. The HP of downed party members will regenerate slowly until it reaches 1, but other healing sources can also revive a downed party member. For example, the ReviveMint, which also heals additional health.[15][9]
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Plot
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Deltarune's narrative spans multiple chapters, of which four have been released, with three more being planned for a later release.[8] Although it features characters and elements from Undertale, it takes place in a different setting; it is officially referred to as a "parallel story" to that game.[16][17]
Chapter 1 – The Beginning
The game begins with a voice prompting the player to create an avatar, but the "vessel" is ultimately discarded, as "no one can choose who they are in this world". Instead, the player is given control of human teenager Kris, who arrives to school late. After being paired up with their delinquent monster classmate Susie for a group project, their teacher, Alphys, sends the two to get supplies. However, the supply closet pulls them into a strange realm—the Dark World—where they meet the dark prince Ralsei. He tells them of a prophecy stating that the three are heroes destined to close the geyser-like Dark Fountains that give form to the Dark Worlds. A new Dark Fountain has created a Dark World next to Ralsei's, ruled by the tyrannical King. Susie, uninterested in Ralsei's prophecy, joins King's son Lancer in fighting Kris and Ralsei, but both are convinced to change sides and join the party.
Lancer refuses to confront his father or to see his new friends hurt, so he imprisons them in King's dungeon. Susie frees Kris and Ralsei and fights Lancer, but reconciles with him and promises not to hurt King. The three confront and defeat King, who remains unrepentant. After sealing the Dark Fountain, Kris wakes up in an unused classroom with Susie, that is filled with objects resembling characters, implying that Dark Worlds are ordinary rooms transformed, and their inhabitants, known as "Darkners", are objects within those rooms. That night after returning home, Kris rips out their soul, which remains controlled by the player, locks it away, and draws a knife.
Chapter 2 – A Cyber's World
The next morning after school, Kris and Susie return to the closet Dark World and reunite with Ralsei. He instructs Kris and Susie to bring the items from the unused classroom into the closet, restoring them to their Darkner forms, but then tells them to focus on a project with their classmates Noelle and Berdly. Arriving at the library's computer lab, they discover a newly created Dark World, ruled by a computer named Queen, who recruits Berdly to her side and attempts to recruit Noelle. They find Ralsei but soon split up, with Kris joining Noelle and helping her evade Queen.
Queen captures everyone, but Kris and Susie escape, convince Berdly to change sides, and reunite with Ralsei. Queen reveals that the Dark Fountain was created by the "Roaring Knight", and that she is trying to force Noelle to open a Fountain, something that any inhabitant of the Light World can do. She threatens Noelle and the party with a giant mech, but they make her realize the error of her ways. Berdly then attempts to create a Fountain, but Ralsei warns him that opening too many Fountains will cause an apocalyptic "Roaring".
Kris closes the fountain and the four awaken in the computer lab, Noelle and Berdly believing it was a dream. Kris heads home, and their mother Toriel invites Susie to spend the night. While Susie and Toriel are occupied, Kris secretly rips out their soul, locks it in the bathroom, and briefly leaves the house; Toriel's car tires are slashed and she calls the police.
After everyone else falls asleep, Kris rips out their soul again and creates a Dark Fountain in the living room by stabbing the floor with their knife.
Chapter 3 – Late Night
Kris and Susie awaken in the Dark World Kris created. After reuniting with Ralsei, they meet Tenna, a Darkner created from Toriel's television, who convinces the trio to star in various game show segments. Sneaking away from Tenna, the party discovers Toriel being held hostage by Tenna inside of a giant toy capsule.
The party demands Tenna stop the games, allowing them to seal the fountain and return home with Toriel, but he refuses; feeling abandoned and obsolete, he explains that the Knight promised him relevance in exchange for keeping the Fountain open. After the party defeats Tenna, Ralsei and Susie comfort him, explaining that he has already spent years bringing joy and can find love and appreciation in another household.
However, he is suddenly attacked by the Knight, who also attempts to capture Toriel. The party then fights the Knight and is defeated, only to be rescued by the arrival of police officer Undyne, who the Knight kidnaps. Kris and Susie chase the Knight through the Light World until reaching a locked bunker which appears to have a Dark Fountain inside of it. The door shuts before they can enter, but they discover a lock requiring three numeric codes. Susie runs back to Kris's home to rescue Toriel. The chapter ends with the bunker door opening in front of Kris.
Chapter 4 – Prophecy
After Kris and Susie close the living room Fountain, Toriel invites them to church. Questioning townsfolk about the bunker, the two conclude that their best lead on the codes is Noelle's mother, Mayor Carol Holiday. They visit the Holidays' house, where Susie distracts Noelle while Kris searches. In the bedroom of Noelle's missing sister Dess, Kris finds a code in a guitar, but Kris rips out their soul before it can be read. The player-controlled soul enters the house's ventilation, finding Kris on the phone with an unknown person, who discusses the Knight's actions and instructs them to prevent Susie getting the guitar. Kris fails to prevent Susie finding the guitar and returns the soul to their body, but Carol returns home and expels Susie from the house before she can memorize the code.
Upon returning to the church, Kris and Susie find it transformed into a Dark World containing depictions of the prophecy. They reunite with Ralsei, and encounter an old man formed from the ashes of dead Light World inhabitant Gerson. Ralsei admits that he has been hiding parts of the prophecy from Kris and Susie because he believes the truth would be too upsetting.
The party encounters the Knight, which opens a Fountain within the Dark World, creating a "Titan", a harbinger of the Roaring. The party defeats the Titan with help from Gerson. Against Ralsei's protests, Susie runs ahead and sees the ending of the prophecy. She smashes it before the player sees, dismissing it as something the party would never let happen. After sealing the Fountain, they return home to find Toriel drunk with new neighbor Sans. Susie leaves and Kris, alone in their bedroom, is reminded by the unknown caller on their phone of a promise Kris made.
Alternate route
During Chapter 2, the player can begin an alternate route (commonly referred to as the "Snowgrave" route, and internally referred to as the "Weird" or "Side B" route)[18][19][20][21][c] by forcing Noelle to use her magic to freeze enemies, with the help of Spamton, a spambot normally encountered in an optional sidequest that leads to his superboss fight, who sells a "ThornRing" that enhances Noelle's power. As the player continues to manipulate Noelle, she is eventually forced to freeze Berdly, becoming shaken by her actions and too exhausted to participate in Queen's plans. Ralsei informs Queen of the Roaring preemptively, preventing her battle. Spamton, who took over the mansion and upgraded himself, tries to stop Kris, but is frozen by Noelle as Kris seals the Fountain. In the Light World, Berdly is found in a coma, and Noelle later questions if the Dark World really was a dream. Chapter 2 ends identically to that of the normal route, with Kris opening a Dark Fountain.
Chapter 3 proceeds as normal, but in Chapter 4, Noelle asks Kris if they can talk privately after Kris removes the soul. Entering the ventilation system, the soul overhears a conversation between Kris and Noelle, where it is revealed that during the previous night Kris took Berdly to the hospital and visited Noelle. During their visit, Kris claimed the Dark World was just a dream and removed a thorn, the ThornRing's form in the Light World, from her hand. The soul enters the room, takes control of Kris, and directly communicates with Noelle, revealing to her that the soul can read her thoughts and that the previous events actually happened, before forcing the thorn back into her. Afterwards, Kris furiously throws the soul in a trash can and beats it up, before Carol tells everyone to leave the house. The chapter continues relatively unchanged until the end, where Carol leaves a phone message for Kris, telling them that Noelle is looking forward to seeing them at the festival tomorrow.[22]
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Development and release
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The idea for Deltarune came to Toby Fox in a fever dream he had in 2011 in college.[23] 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. It contained the designs of Lancer, King, Clover and two enemies. Development of the game started in 2012 but was abandoned before Fox created the first room. Some music from this initial attempt was recycled for Undertale, most notably the main battle theme (which became Papyrus' battle theme, "Bonetrousle") and a piece called "Joker Battle" (which was reused for the Toriel fight as "Heartache").[23] Various factors, such as the graphics, an overhauled combat system, and Fox's mental state, made Deltarune a more challenging game to produce than Undertale.[17][24]
Deltarune is being developed in GameMaker Studio 2.[25] The game introduces a new battle system comparable to the one used in the Final Fantasy franchise, contrasting with Undertale's combat system (which shared similarities with that of the Mother series). Unlike Undertale, Fox has stated that Deltarune is planned to have only one ending.[26]
In Chapter 3, Tenna's game show was originally going to include three rounds rather than just two. Despite the third round almost being completed, it was scrapped due to pacing issues.[27] There was also originally supposed to be a "Cowboy segment" in the chapter, which although was teased in the Spamton Sweepstakes ended up being cut.[28][29] However, remnants of the "Cowboy segment" can still be seen in-game during the TV World area and Tenna's boss fight in Chapter 3.
Music
Fox also serves as the primary composer for the game's music; while some of it is completely new, it also incorporates motifs from the Undertale soundtrack.[11][12] It mainly comprises multiple soundtrack albums, released alongside each chapter of the game. These feature guest appearances by Laura Shigihara, Lena Raine, Marcy Nabors and Itoki Hana. Each album is published under Materia Collective.[30][31][32]
Art and character design
Temmie Chang, who previously assisted Fox with character art in Undertale, serves as the main artist for Deltarune. She helped design characters, sprites, and animations.[33] Fox came up with Susie's design after playing Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. He originally based her on Maya Fey, and she would act "nice and cute". However, as her design progressed, she eventually turned into more of a "thug". Fox also stated that he planned to give an unnamed character a fire spell that they would not be good at using but decided against adding it in the first chapter.[23] Ralsei's name was derived from Ralse, a character from an uncompleted RPG Maker game that Fox's oldest brother made when he was a child.[34][35] According to Fox, all the playtesters of Chapter 1 initially thought that Lancer was an adult, Fox added a bunch of dialogue to express that Lancer was a kid.[36] Lancer originally had a walk sprite but it was changed to a single frame of him sliding because Fox thought it was funny.[36]
Queen was initially intended to be more tonally serious, inspired by characters such as the Xenomorph from Alien and the villains in Power Rangers, but she shifted into being "humourous"; her design was simultaneously simplified to make her easier to draw.[37] The secret Spamton NEO boss fight was originally conceived by Fox as an extended Mettaton NEO fight, to compensate for said fight ending in one turn in Undertale.[38]
Initially, Fox intended to create a 3D model for Tenna himself, and in 2016 he purchased a Kinect to rotoscope the character's animation, which was conceived as incorporating MikuMikuDance moves.[39] He planned for Tenna to be rendered in "lineless 3D" style inspired by Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective but this got scrapped as he thought it looked "tremendously bad".[40] The model was eventually created by Chelsea Saunders, who previously worked on promotional material for Undertale, with assistance from Fox and a number of other collaborators, including SmallBü.[41][39]
Initial announcement and release
After previously teasing something Undertale-related a day earlier, Fox released the first chapter of Deltarune for free on October 31, 2018.[17][42] Initially disguised as a "survey program",[43][44] it was then described as a game "intended for people who have completed Undertale". As he envisioned a larger project than Undertale, he said that he needed to form a team to release the full game, which would be sold as a single package.[26] The first chapter was later released on Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4 on February 28, 2019, after being announced at a Nintendo Direct earlier that month.[45][46] The console versions were developed and published by 8-4.[2]
Development of the second chapter began in May 2020.[5] In addition to further designing the game's story and characters, Fox spent much time experimenting with game engines other than GameMaker Studio 2. He eventually concluded that GameMaker "still felt like the best fit for the project", and using the first chapter as a base, he began working in May 2020, with Fox and Chang joined by a few other team members.[5] Fox has stated that Chapter 2 is perhaps the game's largest, due to it having the most cutscenes and its usage of a large number of characters, among other factors.[47] In a 2020 update, he revealed that he was considering expanding his four-person team following wrist and hand pain, which had delayed production; this led them to receive over 1000 applications.[5]
During a livestream celebrating the 6th anniversary of Undertale in September 2021, Fox announced that the second chapter would be released for free on PC and Mac two days later, on September 17.[48][49] In his blog, he said that this price point was since the COVID-19 pandemic made the world "really tough for everybody recently."[4] The Switch and PS4 versions were updated to include Chapter 2 on September 23, in conjunction with that day's Nintendo Direct.[50][51]
Paid release and further content
Initially, the third, fourth, and fifth chapters were intended to be released as a single paid title once completed,[4][52] and by 2022 work on these chapters was being undertaken simultaneously.[53] In September 2023, a version of the third chapter that was playable from beginning to end was finished.[54] Due to the ongoing length of development, Fox announced the following month that the initial paid release would only include the third and fourth chapters.[55] He recruited Robert Sephazon as a producer in the beginning of 2024, and his team set an internal deadline of September 1 for the completion of Chapter 4's main content, which was met.[3][56][57] Owing to his wrist issues, by this point Fox used speech-to-text software to input text into his computer, relying on other team members to do the programming.[58]
Later in 2024, Fox stated that the next two chapters were undergoing localization and being ported to consoles, and would be released the following year;[59] he also stated that the fifth chapter had begun production.[60] As development continued, content from Chapter 3 was cut to improve the pacing of the game as a whole.[61] During the April 2025 Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, it was announced that a paid version of Deltarune will release on June 5, 2025, as a launch title for the Switch 2.[62] On May 9, Fox announced that the game's releases for the PS4, Switch, PS5, and PC will be on June 4, 2025 in the West and on midnight June 5, 2025 in Japan.[63] Fox stated that making each chapter of Deltarune felt like making another game, adding that making Deltarune Chapters 1 to 4 was like making "2 and a half Undertales".[27]
The paid release contains the first four chapters, with future content intended as free updates; the game's menu shows a total of seven chapters.[64][52] The credits of the fourth chapter state that the next chapter will release in 2026.[65][13]
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Reception
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Initial chapters
The first chapter of Deltarune garnered many comparisons to Undertale. Jason Schreier of Kotaku and Dominic Tarason of Rock, Paper, Shotgun praised it for refining its elements, with the latter describing it as "a higher-budget production".[66][43] Although Mitchell Parton of Nintendo World Report thought that the chapter did not "significantly change up the formula", he did not have a problem with it.[67] Nintendo Life's Mitch Vogel was less positive, being disappointed that after how "fresh" Undertale was at its release, the chapter ended up being "'just' more of the same".[10]
Schreier claimed that the chapter's "soundtrack should be enough of a selling point,"[66] and Adam Luhrs of RPGFan praised Fox's "clever use of motifs," feeling that they were incorporated well in the story.[68] Both Parton and Tarason liked the pixel art, with the latter calling it "more detailed and expressive" compared to Undertale, and GameSpot's Michael Higham praised its ability to "communicate so much with so little".[43][67][12] Conversely, Vogel criticized some areas as having "very little in the way of interesting design or presentation", resulting in a chapter that was overall "not very pretty... to look at."[10]
Its gameplay was also generally well received, with Parton calling it "unique" and Vogel describing the combat as "an organic and well-implemented expansion of the original".[67][10] However, Higham also criticized some sequences—such as the Card Castle—as being "a bit barebones".[12] Allegra Frank of Polygon stated that the first chapter's sense of humor was one of its "defining features".[69] Higham stated that it had "witty writing, snappy jokes, and absurdist humor", and Tarason praised the "fresh (and lovable) set of characters".[12][43]
Screen Rant rated the second chapter 4.5 out of 5, saying that "[t]he quality of the experience matches that of a full-price game, and it makes the wait for the next chapters even harder", describing it in comparison to the first chapter as "[feeling] like a game that's more confident in its direction, and more willing to let players shape the fate of its characters."[70] Ana Diaz of Polygon described Chapter 2's world as "welcoming" despite being a "harsh challenge", praising its humor and noting that it "complicates the moral and ethical questions posed by the game's predecessor, Undertale, while adding to the story started in Chapter 1."[71]
Paid release
Reception
Initial paid release (2025)
The initial version of the paid release, containing chapters 1–4, also received positive reception, with 100% of reviewers recommending it on OpenCritic.[72] Brendan Graeber of IGN described Deltarune as "something incredible" that he was "not likely to forget", and Ana Diaz called it a "phenomenal expression of [Fox's] signature idiosyncratic style" in her review for PCGamer.[14][8][11][75] Errielle Sudario of Checkpoint Gaming stated that the additional chapters were "worth the wait" and contained "humour and heart" and more "polish, challenges, and questions".[74] Mitch Vogel, writing again for Nintendo Life, thought that the game alleviated his previous criticism by establishing a "distinct identity" which made it a "worthy follow up to Undertale", but viewed its unfinished nature as leaving a "lingering feeling of dissatisfaction".[73]
Shaun Cichaki, writing for Vice, described the combat design as being more "refined and elegant" than that of Undertale, and GamesRadar+'s Alan Wen saw a "delightful" variation and creativity in the design of the game's encounters.[76][13] Sudario said some of the later-game combat took "some time to master", but with a "payoff [that] is worth it".[74] Conversely, TechRadar reviewer Vic Hood criticized some attacks for being "near impossible" to avoid on the Nintendo Switch 2, as opposed to the accuracy of a keyboard.[8]
Multiple reviewers praised the art direction, with Hood calling it "stunning", and Wen regarding the pixel art as "crude but charming" but also possessing "richer use of sprites, color and animations" compared to Undertale.[8][13] Stating that the game benefited from Fox also being the primary composer, Graeber claimed it had an "embarrassment of phenomenal music", which New York Times writer Harold Goldberg described as being "remarkably diverse".[11][77] Vogel said the "deep and varied" soundtrack demonstrated Fox was a "master of creating atmosphere".[73] While she praised the overall art direction, Sudario criticized some parts of the fourth chapter for being too dark to navigate,[74] and Vogel still described the game's visuals as "middling" and "a tad underwhelming", though he noted that the style worked well with the game's humor.[73]
The game's plot and writing was also praised by reviewers; Sudario said the later chapters "expand meaningfully and emotionally" on the plot of the earlier game.[74] Hood stated that the game's characters began to feel like "real friends", stating that this was a "feeling I've not had with a game before", and Wen praised them for being uniquely "memorable, goofy and flawed".[13][8] Multiple reviewers praised the game's comedy, with Cichaki commending its "slapstick humor immediately pivoting into existential dread".[14][76][77][11] Graeber described the plot as having hidden "intrigue, beauty, and unpredictability", saying it raised "unsettling questions" about the connection between a player and the character they control.[11] Alisandra Reyes of Game8 also praised the "deeper and more emotionally resonant" nature of the story, though she criticized the "meandering" nature and pace of Chapter 3, perceiving it as a "detour" rather than a progression of the story.[75]
Awards, player count and revenue
The soundtrack was nominated for the Game Audio Network Guild / MAGFest People's Choice Award at the 2019 G.A.N.G. Awards.[78]
After the release of Deltarune's demo containing Chapters 1 and 2, it attracted around 100,000 concurrent players on Steam, far higher than Undertale's lifetime record.[47] Deltarune was also one of the highest-grossing games on Steam in terms of revenue upon the initial release of Chapters 3 and 4.[79] The game was also the best-selling digital game on Switch 2 upon the console's launch, beating Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour and Mario Kart World.[80]
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Notes
- The route is referred to as "Weird" or "Side B" in the game's internal files. "Snowgrave" is a fan nickname based on the spell which Noelle uses to freeze Berdly. "Genocide" is another fan nickname which refers to the fan nickname of the Undertale route where the player kills every monster.
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References
External links
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