I think I'll save talking about this game for when I finish chapter 2. Right now, I want to put into writing how grateful I am that I played this when I did: in a time when it feels like everything is going wrong. My life recently has been full of disasters so prevalent and so significant that it's hard to find hope, and I'm anxiously anticipating the moment when the next one strikes. On top of that my passion for video games and for art in general feels like it's waning. I'm not sure if it's writer's block or lack of community or mental health or fatigue at the state of the industry or maybe something else, but I don't play and write about games/film/etc with the same enthusiasm and perspective that I had in the past. And then here comes Deltarune, a free burst of fun from one of the most important and influential developers of the last decade. This game in its brief 3.5 hours felt like a reprieve from life, and towards the end I realized that for the first time in days I felt happy. Deltarune doesn't feel frustrating, unfinished, misguided, underwhelming, or shallow. It just feels like a funny, sincere, worthwhile gift.

I know this says nothing about the game itself, and even with all this said, chapter 1 is not some life-changing personal work for me. But it feels like a random act of kindness that completely changes your mood.