Deltarune is an indie RPG developed by Toby Fox as an spin off of his cult classic Undertale but most importantly as his passion project that he had dreamed of releasing since before even making Undertale and finally had the chance of publishing the first chapter on 28/February/2019 with chapter 2 being relased in 23/September/2021 as a free update and chapter 3 and 4 being released for 25 dollars on 05/June/2025

It follows the story of Kris Dreemurr, a middle scholeer human that we take control of, living in Hometown, a small town primarely inhabited by monsters where a mysterious antagonist known as the knight is spontaneously opening dark fountains and the 3 main characters have to seal them and go on a fantasy adventure in the dark worlds where they can befriend or attack the darkners, but none of that matters since it will all lead to the same ending (right?)

One of the main appeals of the game are it's characters, they're all unique and really charismatic, and it's protagonists are a great example of that, starting with the main character Kris who seems like the clasical mysterious RPG protagonist who is meant to be a self-instert of the player so they don't really have much of a personality to make them easier to see ourselves in them but Kris is the complete opposite of that, they're a prankster who loves dogs, videogames and playing the piano but they are completely unable to express that because of the player's control, Kris' entire life is limited by what another person chooses and we only get glimpses of their true personality through a few moments where they use a loophole in the game's mechanics to not do exactly what the soul asks of them

Ralsei's mere existence is a tragedy, he's been alone for such a long time and never had any friends with his only company being the knowledge of the prophecy that will one day give his life meaning so when he finally meets the lightners he's estatic to be able to help them and be part of the adventure, he feels as if his entire existence is determined by his usefulness to the lightners and he doesn't believe he deserves to have any desieres that aren't related to serving the lightners but all of that is starting to change as he grows more attached to his friends

But while Kris and Ralsei are representations of a lack of freedom and a life determined by an external force Susie is the very personification of freedom and the ability to change fate, she's rebellious and a symbol of justice who refuses to accept any outcome she deems as unfair and the only character so far who can defy the player's control, when we first meet her she's an antisocial bully who feels unlovable and doesn't want to open up out of fear but after chapter one when she meets people who truly care about her she changes into someone friendly and fun, she's meant to be the representation of the ability to change and the option of freedom

One aspect that I belive really favors the world building is the way the dark worlds can be interpreted as a methaphor for escapism with every dark world so far representing a diferent way people escape realiity as a literal different world that is way more fun than the real one where all the lightners are having a way better time than in the real world and is a fun twist in their boring lives, all of that makes the dark worlds seem like a win for everyone but if they aren't sealed in time they will unleash the roaring, all of them very well parallels how escapism works, it's a fun way to escape your miserable life but which will ultimately only harm you

And with Kris' inability to live for themselves and Ralsei being completely helpless against the prophecy with Susie trying to convinve him they can change the ending it's clear the main theme is the illusion of choice with one of the very first lines you hear being "No one can choose who they are in this world" and the publicity constantly reminding you that the game will only have one ending which for the most part seems to be true, you can take whatever desicions you want and the only diferences will be diferent dialoge and interactions but the overall events of the game will happen no matter what but is that really true? since chapter 2 people have discovered the infamous "weird route" a route that you can only access through a series of extremely oddly especific steps (so especific that it was only discovered by data mining) where you torture Noelle Holiday, Kris' childhood friend into becoming stronger by exploiting a loophole in the game's mechanics, you're not allowed to kill enemies but you can freeze them, the weird route gives you completely different events in both chapter 2 and 4 but even if it would let you get that alternative path you desire so much, is it really worth it? the weird route sacrifices everything Deltarune stands for a more "traditonal" RPG but in a world where everything is predetermined it offers the opportunity to take control for the better or the worse

But to me what truly makes the game shine is the gameplay, the fight system is really really fun, there's a certain level of strategy that you need to utilize to be more efficient and utilize each character's unique strenghts to lead the way to victory and the enemies have an amazing characterization

As for a more personal opinion, Deltarune is one of my favorite games, aside from havimg to wait so long for a new chapter what is there not to love? the music is full of bangers, the comedy is hilarious, the gameplays is insanely fun, the art is beautiful, the story is interesing and there's so much amazing contentnt that you have no idea how hard it was to summarize it because I didn't had a ton of time to finish