Not putting a score on this until all chapters are out but yeah, I loved it! Big step up from chapter 1 presentation wise and you can tell Toby having a team has allowed for much more ambition. Music slaps. Funny and touching writing. What more is there to say!
...well one thing! This game got me thinking about why I find Undertale/Deltarune so uniquely funny. Of course there is the writing/dialogue, which personally I think mostly hits but could also probably be described as "tumblr" if you were being a really uncharitable, cynical douche. I do get it though, when it does miss, it misses in a way where I just kind of go "wow this sure would have killed as a shitpost in 2013 but not sure if it lands here." Thankfully at least to me that doesn't happen often and I think the writing is genuinely both funny and charming.
But I don't think that's what makes these games uniquely funny. That would be that Undertale and Deltarune both are games that manage to weave comedy directly into their game design. If you've seen the "Every Frame a Painting" video essay on Edgar Wright and visual comedy I think a great comparison can be made to what Toby does with these games. Don't just settle for dialogue, if the medium is the message, use the medium to its fullest! How can you get a joke out of an attack pattern? How can you get a joke out of a piece of equipment? How can you get a joke out of experimenting with mechanics? It's something that I actually don't see many "comedy games" attempt much at all beyond maybe a throwaway "You got a Thing!!" jingle + pose because haha funny Zelda reference (not that I have anything against that). Just something I had on the brain after finishing this chapter! Can't wait to see where the game goes next.
...well one thing! This game got me thinking about why I find Undertale/Deltarune so uniquely funny. Of course there is the writing/dialogue, which personally I think mostly hits but could also probably be described as "tumblr" if you were being a really uncharitable, cynical douche. I do get it though, when it does miss, it misses in a way where I just kind of go "wow this sure would have killed as a shitpost in 2013 but not sure if it lands here." Thankfully at least to me that doesn't happen often and I think the writing is genuinely both funny and charming.
But I don't think that's what makes these games uniquely funny. That would be that Undertale and Deltarune both are games that manage to weave comedy directly into their game design. If you've seen the "Every Frame a Painting" video essay on Edgar Wright and visual comedy I think a great comparison can be made to what Toby does with these games. Don't just settle for dialogue, if the medium is the message, use the medium to its fullest! How can you get a joke out of an attack pattern? How can you get a joke out of a piece of equipment? How can you get a joke out of experimenting with mechanics? It's something that I actually don't see many "comedy games" attempt much at all beyond maybe a throwaway "You got a Thing!!" jingle + pose because haha funny Zelda reference (not that I have anything against that). Just something I had on the brain after finishing this chapter! Can't wait to see where the game goes next.