Deltarune: A Promise Yet Unfulfilled?
I think all of us here have high expectations for Deltarune. Most of us were deeply impacted by Undertale in our own ways, and we feel Deltarune promises its own unique experience. We are now presumably more than halfway through the story.
So. Has it delivered yet?
I really love many things from Chapters 3 & 4, but many other things trouble me. I still highly trust Toby but I regret some of his choices. See the first and last paragraphs for the most glaring criticisms.
I'm perplexed by the fact that Toriel comments nothing at all of her TV suddenly being damaged or entirely missing (plus other objects), of the cops never arriving, and that she still doesn't know who slashed her tires or why. Did I somehow miss something? These look like blatant plot holes. I need a sanity check here, please.
Kris's incompetence in containing the SOUL was also shocking. They clearly know a cage would do the job. Why didn't they just place a heavy box on top of the box they placed the SOUL in, or something? The first time can be weakly excused as carelessness, but then they find out the SOUL escaped. They proceed to stash it away in exactly the same manner. I'm beginning to think they might not be all in on the Roaring plan, as that seems more compelling than them suddenly being incompetent.
I understand plot conveniences and afford Toby a whole lot in that regard, such as the fact that Toriel takes precisely as long in her shopping in Undertale as the player takes to reach her house. But this is ridiculous.
To a lesser degree I also disliked the fire extinguisher telling us the password at the end of Susie's dark world.
I fought Gerson on all my saves, but it's my understanding that he shows up to the Titan fight even if you don't fight him. Same dialogue, same actions. I don't see how those players wouldn't be bewildered by the sudden appearance of the Old Man in armor, with a theme they have never heard before? From their perspective the Old Man is just that, a wizened author.
The Titan felt way too easy to defeat considering the gigantic buildup the story made. The Titans will supposedly end the world—how come we defeated one with no sacrifice at all? It was like closing a regular fountain. I also find its prominent wings weird—I would have thought such wings would be reserved to the Angel.
Then again, I got the Black Shard on all runs so that made those fights way easier and shorter.
The password to Mike's room annoyed me. I scoured the TV world for like half an hour and found nothing. It ended up simply being the numbers that spell "Mike" on a telephone.
I get we are barely finishing Chapter 4 of 7, but the Weird route was underwhelming (except for the Noelle scene of course). Before entering the Church dark world, there's this creepy moment when Susie asks Kris a question and the screen freezes up, tinted red. It reminded me of Doki Doki Literature Club and made me excited for how Toby would mess with us. But once again, the Chapter was nearly devoid of Weird Route changes (I liked Gerson's interactions, but they didn't lead anywhere in the end). Ah, and I found Susie's mention of "maybe things took a weird route right now..." in the Church to sound unnatural and not really add to the scene.
To be fair though, the Sword Route is about and felt like the Weird Route in spirit.
I also found some of the emotional scenes to feel a bit hamfisted. In Tenna's sad recollection of everyone ceasing to watch him, the track Flashback (Weird Route) plays. I found this wholly inappropriate. To me, that track brings to mind that scene with Noelle in the hospital, where she's terrified of us having the watch. It's an interesting scene and it made me excited of what the Weird Route will explore. Everyone abandoning Tenna is sad for him, sure, but not nearly enough to use that track. It dilutes its power.
I also didn't love the execution of Susie finding Gerson's hammer in the Light World.
Finally, I expect Deltarune to be special in a way that's difficult to describe. I can explain many strengths of the media I love most, but other aspects are hard to put into words. Things like the unique character and feel of OneShot's world. The settings of my favorite book series that I remember the same way I remember real places. The wonder of exploration in Terraria. And, of course, the love I have for Undertale.
I hunt for this sort of value in the media I peruse. For instance, Omori and OFF are in my sights as, judging by the way people talk about them, they might bring me this unique value.
I yearn for Deltarune to bring this value. Yes, I have loved its characters and music thus far, and that's highly valuable. But it's not the unique, hard-to-describe value I speak of. I believe Deltarune's story and what it explores (such as the relation between player and protagonist, and the nature of free will and prophecy) have that potential.
The story is far from over, but I expected some of this value in Chapter 4. When I looked at the Church towers in the background of Deltarune's website I was reminded of Super Paper Mario (a bizarre game compared to the rest of Nintendo's, in a great way) and got excited. What would Toby put us through now? I eventually reached Susie's dark world, and looking at the switched-up lighting and music I thought of this right away. What are the consequences of returning to a dream where "the lighting of the mind has changed"? But then... nothing happened. It was just more "regular" dark world. The closest thing to what I sought was Gerson's statue, but that mostly felt like a tease of what could have been.
Surely Toby could have come up with something much more compelling? Replace some of the "regular" dark world (of which there was plenty) with experimentation and wonders. He's independent, has a full team and it seems his audience adores him. Few artists have as much artistic freedom as he does. Why is he seemingly not using it?
Deltarune is a promise yet unfulfilled. I hope and trust Toby will ultimately deliver.
Posted Jan 14, 2026, 3:08 AM UTC