I've mentioned in the past that Undertale is my favorite game of all time despite what all the 2016 cringe culture mfs used to say. The game sort of came at the perfect time in my life and definitely had a positive impact on my worldview and creative style in a lot of ways, and even today I obviously still hold the game in very high regard with the gameplay is intertwined with the story through it's multiple endings and how it flips traditional RPG concepts.
I bring this up since, with all that in mind, I was curious to see if there would ever be "more" of Undertale. On one hand, the lore and worldbuilding still had a lot of potential, although with all the replay value (I've definitely played about 100 hours of the game between PC, Switch and Xbox Game Pass, which is quite a lot for a game that's only about 5-6 hours long lol) I felt like what Undertale offered on it's own was very much sufficient and (at least in the case of the True Pacifist ending) does end on an overall positive note. Still, with Toby Fox striking lightning in a bottle like that I would imagine he would have more up his sleeve.
Which is why I was delightfully surprised when Deltarune: Chapter 1 was released out of nowhere on October 31, 2018. I basically ended up playing through at least half of it or so in between my 2 hour-long time period between classes while I was in my senior year of high school and it definitely made a very good impression.
Plot-wise it isn't quite a sequel to Undertale. Sure, many Undertale characters cross over to Deltarune (albeit mostly in the background), but if you've played Undertale multiple times like me you'll definitely notice that, even with the characters that reappear they aren't quite the same as they were in UT. Certain story elements are flipped compared to Undertale, with the most notable I found being Undyne seemingly not knowing who Alphys is despite their relationship and something as subtle as Alphys having a preference for Mew Mew 2 over 1 (which, being someone well-versed in Alphys character to the point of writing an essay of why she's my favorite character, I would definitely notice being different).
This game basically paints itself as being the inverse of Undertale rather than a sequel or prequel. Whereas the main theme of Undertale regarded how your choices mattered, Deltarune Chpt 1 subverts that by having a more linear structure where your choices... don't matter as much, with the story ending up pretty much the same with some slight variances (kind of in line with all the different 'neutral' endings of Undertale, really). This does change a bit in Deltarune Chapter 2 with the Snowgrave Route, although I'm not getting to that yet, one because I haven't played through that route and two because I'm reviewing Chapter 1 for now.
That being said, in terms of tone, this game definitely builds off what Undertale offered - having a lot of humor and 'meta' narrative combined with strong character development, worldbuilding and lore. The main characters are new (albeit Kris and Ralsei seem to have some connection to Frisk/Chara and Asriel respectively but since we're only two chapters in I can't really comment on that), and definitely really enjoyable and fun to watch as you go through the story. Ralsei is definitely my favorite of this chapter's main characters because... come on, he's adorable and a good boye (although I wouldn't say my favorite Deltarune character period when factoring in Chapter 2, but again, I'll cover that when I replay and review Chpt 2), and I do like how his character basically serves as a callback to the morality aspect of Undertale in terms of not having to 'kill' your enemies, and how that contrasts with Susie and her, well, slightly murderous intent. But by the ending, both characters end up sort of meeting in the middle to an extent and, in the process, receive a good amount of character development where their worldviews are both challenged by the situation and events as they unfold. (side note - I'm sort of narrowing this down somewhat to avoid spoilers but I'm planning a Blogger review at some point which goes more in-depth on that note).
And the gameplay is basically Undertale on steroids. The core 'RPG' gameplay combined with the bullet hell combat and 'ACT'ing system returns, but certain aspects fall in line with more traditional RPG games through aspects like the game having separate item categories for Armor and Weapons and characters leaving and entering your party at certain points. There's also a plethora of various gameplay nuances like the 'Tension Point'/Magic system which you can rack up by defending or getting close to enemy bullets without taking damage, or in some cases enemies or hazards attacking you as you traverse the open world itself, which changes things up. It's safe to say Deltarune offers a lot more gameplay variety on this note, and while I still enjoy Undertale's gameplay for what it is, I will say this - those who liked Undertale's story, theming, characters, world and so on but didn't quite enjoy the gameplay will likely get more of a kick out of this game. The enemies and bosses are definitely really fun and spice up the puzzle-battle element with the added gameplay nuances that fit more in line with traditional RPG game mechanics.
That being said, do I like Deltarune (Chapter 1) more than Undertale?
That's... kind of hard for me to say.
Like I said, Undertale was a game that made a big impact on me which I feel Deltarune may have a difficult time truly 'replicating', which may cloud my bias a little bit. That being said, although the gameplay of Deltarune itself offers a greater variety of mechanics and whatnot, I do sort of feel like I prefer the story, characters and tone of Undertale on top of just how Undertale's story was more integrated. Don't get me wrong here, what Deltarune offers in both Chapter 1 and 2 is still very good, but I still feel like I get more of a kick from the different characters of Undertale, how I interacted with them and how they developed throughout the plot, and I still kind of like how Undertale offered completely different endings based off the choices you make. I know with Deltarune Chapter 1 that is sort of the purpose like I said, but I do feel like on that point alone Undertale offered me a bit more replay value as a whole.
But at the same time, I really feel like it's just going to come down to preference to what you prefer and, frankly, I still hold both Deltarune Chapter 1 and 2 in very close proximity to Undertale itself (in fact I would probably put them all among my favorites here if it weren't for the fact that 3/5 of my favorite games would just be Undertale and Deltarune lmao). To put it one way, Deltarune basically feels like Super Mario World to Undertale's Super Mario Bros 3 - a game that doesn't necessarily feel as particularly groundbreaking or innovative when it comes to redefining the core gameplay structure, but instead implements those concepts and mechanics into an overall greater scope and scale. Ultimately it comes down to whether or not you prefer that simplicity and straightforward game design versus the greater scope.
Regardless, I feel like they're both amazing games that if you haven't tried, you definitely should lol.
I bring this up since, with all that in mind, I was curious to see if there would ever be "more" of Undertale. On one hand, the lore and worldbuilding still had a lot of potential, although with all the replay value (I've definitely played about 100 hours of the game between PC, Switch and Xbox Game Pass, which is quite a lot for a game that's only about 5-6 hours long lol) I felt like what Undertale offered on it's own was very much sufficient and (at least in the case of the True Pacifist ending) does end on an overall positive note. Still, with Toby Fox striking lightning in a bottle like that I would imagine he would have more up his sleeve.
Which is why I was delightfully surprised when Deltarune: Chapter 1 was released out of nowhere on October 31, 2018. I basically ended up playing through at least half of it or so in between my 2 hour-long time period between classes while I was in my senior year of high school and it definitely made a very good impression.
Plot-wise it isn't quite a sequel to Undertale. Sure, many Undertale characters cross over to Deltarune (albeit mostly in the background), but if you've played Undertale multiple times like me you'll definitely notice that, even with the characters that reappear they aren't quite the same as they were in UT. Certain story elements are flipped compared to Undertale, with the most notable I found being Undyne seemingly not knowing who Alphys is despite their relationship and something as subtle as Alphys having a preference for Mew Mew 2 over 1 (which, being someone well-versed in Alphys character to the point of writing an essay of why she's my favorite character, I would definitely notice being different).
This game basically paints itself as being the inverse of Undertale rather than a sequel or prequel. Whereas the main theme of Undertale regarded how your choices mattered, Deltarune Chpt 1 subverts that by having a more linear structure where your choices... don't matter as much, with the story ending up pretty much the same with some slight variances (kind of in line with all the different 'neutral' endings of Undertale, really). This does change a bit in Deltarune Chapter 2 with the Snowgrave Route, although I'm not getting to that yet, one because I haven't played through that route and two because I'm reviewing Chapter 1 for now.
That being said, in terms of tone, this game definitely builds off what Undertale offered - having a lot of humor and 'meta' narrative combined with strong character development, worldbuilding and lore. The main characters are new (albeit Kris and Ralsei seem to have some connection to Frisk/Chara and Asriel respectively but since we're only two chapters in I can't really comment on that), and definitely really enjoyable and fun to watch as you go through the story. Ralsei is definitely my favorite of this chapter's main characters because... come on, he's adorable and a good boye (although I wouldn't say my favorite Deltarune character period when factoring in Chapter 2, but again, I'll cover that when I replay and review Chpt 2), and I do like how his character basically serves as a callback to the morality aspect of Undertale in terms of not having to 'kill' your enemies, and how that contrasts with Susie and her, well, slightly murderous intent. But by the ending, both characters end up sort of meeting in the middle to an extent and, in the process, receive a good amount of character development where their worldviews are both challenged by the situation and events as they unfold. (side note - I'm sort of narrowing this down somewhat to avoid spoilers but I'm planning a Blogger review at some point which goes more in-depth on that note).
And the gameplay is basically Undertale on steroids. The core 'RPG' gameplay combined with the bullet hell combat and 'ACT'ing system returns, but certain aspects fall in line with more traditional RPG games through aspects like the game having separate item categories for Armor and Weapons and characters leaving and entering your party at certain points. There's also a plethora of various gameplay nuances like the 'Tension Point'/Magic system which you can rack up by defending or getting close to enemy bullets without taking damage, or in some cases enemies or hazards attacking you as you traverse the open world itself, which changes things up. It's safe to say Deltarune offers a lot more gameplay variety on this note, and while I still enjoy Undertale's gameplay for what it is, I will say this - those who liked Undertale's story, theming, characters, world and so on but didn't quite enjoy the gameplay will likely get more of a kick out of this game. The enemies and bosses are definitely really fun and spice up the puzzle-battle element with the added gameplay nuances that fit more in line with traditional RPG game mechanics.
That being said, do I like Deltarune (Chapter 1) more than Undertale?
That's... kind of hard for me to say.
Like I said, Undertale was a game that made a big impact on me which I feel Deltarune may have a difficult time truly 'replicating', which may cloud my bias a little bit. That being said, although the gameplay of Deltarune itself offers a greater variety of mechanics and whatnot, I do sort of feel like I prefer the story, characters and tone of Undertale on top of just how Undertale's story was more integrated. Don't get me wrong here, what Deltarune offers in both Chapter 1 and 2 is still very good, but I still feel like I get more of a kick from the different characters of Undertale, how I interacted with them and how they developed throughout the plot, and I still kind of like how Undertale offered completely different endings based off the choices you make. I know with Deltarune Chapter 1 that is sort of the purpose like I said, but I do feel like on that point alone Undertale offered me a bit more replay value as a whole.
But at the same time, I really feel like it's just going to come down to preference to what you prefer and, frankly, I still hold both Deltarune Chapter 1 and 2 in very close proximity to Undertale itself (in fact I would probably put them all among my favorites here if it weren't for the fact that 3/5 of my favorite games would just be Undertale and Deltarune lmao). To put it one way, Deltarune basically feels like Super Mario World to Undertale's Super Mario Bros 3 - a game that doesn't necessarily feel as particularly groundbreaking or innovative when it comes to redefining the core gameplay structure, but instead implements those concepts and mechanics into an overall greater scope and scale. Ultimately it comes down to whether or not you prefer that simplicity and straightforward game design versus the greater scope.
Regardless, I feel like they're both amazing games that if you haven't tried, you definitely should lol.