i replayed undertale last year to prepare myself mentally for this game and wow this is a fucking ride

disclaimer: I played this game 2 times one last year and one the other day because I took so long to write this review I was starting to forget stuff and I wanted to see what happened if I went genocide well now the answer I got is that nothing fucking happens ♡ I wasted time of my life but at least I replayed this in preparation for deltarune 2 so it wasn't that useless after all

now undertale was one of the most groundbreaking games of the last decade not only because it was a cool game but because it pushed the videogame media into Internets every corner with memes on memes on memes and fandoms and music and whatever the fuck now as some years passed i can finally play this game without thinking how bad the fandom stuff was I can distance myself from this and enjoy this game fully

you follow main character kris who is basically a carbon copy of undertales character in the fact that he's another mute boy now tho with a holy mission then theres scary spooky lesbian crocodile (?) gal susie who has probably the weirdest name because in my mind susie brings a docile feminine gendered person but she's actually absolutely crazy like bully archetype pushed to the furthest points of hell but with a sweet heart within and then theres my little sunshine the reason why I am still alive to this day the sweetest champion and weed loving baby ralsei he's just so beautiful I love him dearly

story wise there's not that much in this department its clearly a prologue for deltarune as a whole since you see the setting where there's a world where monsters and humans finally live together with recurring characters from undertale now if you ask me what's the correlation between this game and undertale I have no fucking idea since its not explained (yet) why there would be sans undyne asgore and gang in this world just minding their business but we don't care about them

kris and susie in some events get sucked into this underworld and meet with ralsei who shows them the prophecy of the lightners heroes and whatever the fuck he's on about every time you try to kill some monsters

then theres lancer who I actually hated in the beginning but I grew to like him slowly and steadily since he's just damn fun and kind of a sweet boy but apart from that the story is pretty straight forward as you will be able to assess yourself if you play the game this time im not gonna spoil stuff lets get it

clearly the shining star this time (and it was undertales case too anyway) it's the characters and their interactions and also some quirky sense of humor all around and they're great I actually can't wait to see what they're gonna do with them after this chapter to be honest they've been somehow explored but I just KNOW there's some more stuff underneath and i can't wait to get to know my sweet little baby ralsei more I know he's a traumatised kid I just know it give me the sad backstory no yknow who else will have 100% a sad backstory . susie that's it I already know it mark my words

the other characters (undertale ones + some other peeps in the underworld) aren't that explored anyway and for the undertale ones kind of stay there to remind you that this game is actually related to undertale in some way idk if they're reincarnations or an AU I have no fucking idea but it was kind of fun to go to them and be like undyne wheres alphys and shes like who THE FUCK is alphys I'm a policewoman show some respect peak comedy if you ask me

now art direction is actually more polished this time not that undertales wasn't but sprites are a lot more clean and the underworld and overworld have a lot of characterisation in the pixelly department which is a great thing if you ask me

gameplay wise and in particular battle wise it's actually undertale but expanded and now starring more people in your party so you will have more actions and a lot of party interactions that I was not expecting but yeah in a way they just reflect some more traditional rpg style with the specific little square mechanic and heart from undertale so it's a good blend of both + there's still a lot of crazy boundary breaking around like if you fought against jevil (the secret boss) yknow how much of a blast that fight is and how majestically it uses the simple mechanics for some incredible attacks and anyway all boss fights are actually well done

there's also some puzzles but they're fine don't worry about them frfr

lastly this time again the music is beyond words just listen to the battle theme or this field theme or jevils battle theme which is a fucking blast

as always toby fox delivers in the ost department with bangers emotional songs and leitmotifs everywhere and putting all these amazing songs into a 2 hours game is honestly an achievement of a kind and they all stand out as unique or quirky like talent can't be bought frfr

all in all its a great prelude for an upcoming great saga which is a hundred percent gonna stab me in the heart and tear it apart like undertale did years ago and I'm so fucking ready for it im already in love with basically every new character and seeing the old ones actually made my heart crumble

will play ch 2 soon we hope

hope they foreshadow the fact that ralsei has a boyfriend that is currently writing this review

goated and also I want to know whats the deal with noelle im pretty sure she's gonna be some major (side?) character in the next chapters since they gave her some insights in this one + she wants to do kissy kissy things with susie I know what you are