#honestly i just wanted to include Flowey in Deltarune

[megaderping]

Late Night Fandom Frustrations

Honestly, sometimes I worry about how aggressive parts of the Undertale and Deltarune fandoms on tumblr and twitter can be in terms of like.... just general fandom climate surrounding certain characters or views on things. Obviously, it’s hardly a problem exclusive to UT/DR, but it still bugs me a lot. Mostly in terms of more innocuous things like just enjoying characters like Asgore or Berdly, some people will get really up in arms about it. The moment someone casually mentions liking Asgore, you get the same people jumping in and going “he killed kids” like the fans of the character don’t already know that...? It is possible to like a character, while acknowledging their flaws, and it bothers me because it feels like there are weird double standards at play at times. Because Asriel gets all this love and positivity, but he also at one point actively killed people (albeit it wasn’t his first choice when he became Flowey and he only started doing this when he was unable to make meaningful connections and got bored and curious, and he is a very complex and tragic character). But I’ve had friends get harassed and literally stalked for just... drawing cute Asgore art and being told it’s “woobifying him”. And I’ve seen people on twitter just try to talk about Asgore get jumped by people repeatedly tearing into the character and it’s just... it’s okay to dislike Asgore, but it’s just rude to go into a space where someone just wants to have a chill discussion and start spewing flames. And, obviously, it goes both ways. I’ve seen people who like, say, Berdly heckle and pester people who have expressed they don’t like him, aren’t interested in debating it, and just want to left alone. And I think if someone makes clear boundaries, that’s not up for debate. And bashing another character just to elevate a fav isn’t good either- e.g. the “Toriel is just as bad as Asgore” crowd. But also like... another issue I have is the way some people get really aggressive about certain choices or interpretations being the only valid ones. I’ve mentioned it before, but Frisk being Toriel’s child is a big one- the choice is in the game, it’s very sweet, and it leads to a nice resolution with Toriel and brings things full circle, but Toby also included places to go. Calling Toriel mom is an option, and a valid player choice, but so is not calling her mom. Folks can accept neutral routes and no mercy and stuff, so why is it that this one specific choice is held as the only one that matters?

When people push it as the only valid canon and anything contrary is Wrong, it just bothers me because this is a game full of so many choices and routes. A pacifist run can have you be kind to everyone, or you can be rude the entire time and still get the pacifist ending, along with everything in between. And it’s just confusing to me why when so many other choices and routes are acknowledged, Frisk being Toriel’s kid is treated as ironclad rather than just a preference. Places to go opens up a lot of really interesting mysteries- like where Frisk WOULD go, what sort of unfinished business they might have, and why they would come to Ebott.

It’d just be nice if more people in the fandom were open to that, y’know? Or at least acknowledged that however much it IS a popular choice, not everyone has to make that choice or have it be canon to their content. Likewise, a fanwork doesn’t have to treat Frisk as siblings or even friends with Chara or Asriel. It can be cute! But I also think, like not forgiving Asriel, there’s room for Frisk not wanting to build that kind of familial bond.

But it’s not just that. I see it to a lesser extent with things like Gaster interpretations due to the popularization of the years of collective fan lore. If someone wanted to make a Gaster that doesn’t resemble Mystery Man, I feel like it’d get a lot of unfair backlash, and that’s really sad. Likewise, I think the choice not to forgive Asriel is a valid one that isn’t explored that often (but if fanworks do explore it, I’d be curious to see!)

Just... blarg. Sometimes it feels like there’s too much of a push toward only one way of engaging with Undertale’s story and characters.* * No, I do not agree with using he or she for canon they/them characters. I won’t harass people over it, but I personally do not like it, and I consider that different from actual, in-game choices, before anyone tries to argue that here. But at the end of the day, I think it’s good to just... be chill with each other. If someone is being toxic or gross, then yeah, block and stuff, but sometimes people just have different favs or prefer different in-game choices and that’s not the end of the world.

#dorkvents #undertale #discourse

[canyoureallycallthisablog]

Deltarune but Flowey replaces Ralsei

He gets more tired of everyone's shirt with each chapter

#Deltarune #flowey #ralsei #ralsei deltarune #Deltarune fanart #flowey fanart #Deltarune ralsei #deltarune susie #susie fanart #susie deltarune #deltarune kris #kris dreemurr #kris deltarune #honestly i just wanted to include Flowey in Deltarune #if gaster doesn't pay Flowey more he's gonna start a union #this started because everyone is saying Ralsei can't be evil because he's so cute and small #and I'm like #flowey is literally the main antagonist of Undertale what's your point #so now you get Ralsei Flowey #ralsei flowey au #ralsei-flowey au

[starlightshore]

red souls aren’t determination souls

so we know the colors and souls traits are linked because of the ball game

but note, red doesn’t get listed as determination.

GOLD is what actually is the color for determination.

(ignore how things are orange tinted, i have flux on and its 2am) determination is listed in yellow text.

it flat out says you’re filled with determination every time you use it.

note there are no red flowers, but a very distinct golden flower instead.

and golden flowers are frequently connected with determination. flowey is one injected with dt, chara is buried under the patch of flowers, they’re here underground purely because of chara’s dying wish and desire to use their will past death. one could say it represents that will to live despite everything else, even death itself. which. again, is what determination is.  The will to keep living. The resolve to change fate.

more evidence DT is yellow:

selected text is yellow, not red

as is the SAVE point. hell, even frisk is yellow. the golden heart lockets are yellow. (though, how canon that is up to debate, as we only see it in the collector’s edition as a merchandise, not ingame. but alas.)

yellow/golden is frequently and constantly used to refer for determination. and again, there isn’t a red flower, but rather the golden flower taking it’s place.

now granted, chara does use red text in no mercy and has a red soul judging by their empty casket. but that just means chara had a red soul, not that they were a determined soul! remember, the other humans souls have determination.

“I've extracted it from the human SOULs.”

if you go back without using a true reset, toriel will comment this upon your butterscotch/cinnamon choice. that she feels deja vu with humans, as if shes met them before

RED souls can’t be determination, determination is a trait shared between different soul color humans. to further this, the red soul we control in deltarune is the one we use yes, but we don’t USE determination to save. we use the “power of” something else, like fluffy boys and mean girls. it’s distinctly not a yellow light, its distinctly not listed as the feeling of determination. now, if the red soul was determination, than shouldn’t the power/save be the same?

now, what is the trait or red souls? i speculate below because this post is already fricking so long. i don’t have a concrete answer, but at least i have something?

so again, we know chara and frisk have red souls. chara has red text in no mercy, (though, not solely red text through the whole run) other uses of red are with sans mentioning LV as Level of Violence and EXP as Execution points. (which matches how chara says they are the stats and numbers of the game, including GOLD and LV and such)

another mention is asgore, when toriel brings him up as the one who killed the other humans. (there are more uses of red text as listed on this awesome link, however, these seem to be the biggest standouts. not discounting them, but i don’t really feel the need to add the snail race end into this theory)

now that said i AIN’T saying chara is inherently evil or that red souls being linked to violence/warnings means evil either. afterall, we use a red soul in detarune too, and nothing about the player or kris (tho, kris isn’t likely to be the original owner of the soul) are inherently violent. (and honestly i’m not as well versed with dr as ut, idk if/when red text is ever shown to compare it to.) LV isn’t the ONLY thing chara says they are. 

"HP. ATK. DEF. GOLD. EXP. LV. Every time a number increases, that feeling...That's me."

so maybe less so LV and more so the game mechanics and gui??? they are the flavor text after all? that doesn’t seem right either.

so, no i don’t think red = wrath is fully accurate or necessarily bad. the game itself is about choice, defying the status quo and fate itself to get what you want. maybe the use of determination over coming your wrath/violence is the point? i mean, their wrath is what was their character flaw that got them into this in the first place. them overcoming their mistake and growing from that despite their wrath is their character arc!

and to be clear, chara’s anger is honestly valid because humanity has done inexcusable and horrible things to both them and monsterkind. i mean, no, murder wasn’t the solution obviously, but frankly they’re a kid and the mages designed the barrier with death-ultimatums. Also like, Undyne is TOTALLY framed as heroic and in the right for fighting the player in no mercy. you CAN do true pacifist and punch every monster you meet. violence isn’t inherently bad, and can be used for good. self defense is fine, fighting people who wish harm innocents is fine. ideally don’t kill or be killed.

anyway, back to the red soul thing equally danger/violence and such. the link i posted earlier mentions its also with undyne’s speech and theres the red “!” in battle to warn players of upcoming attacks. asgore is frequently used in red and his trident is also red. the color theming is clearly pointing to something here. even if its not necessarily LV, i think its within the ball park. again, it doesn’t fully match because as far as i’m aware DR doesn’t hint towards any of this and doesn’t fully explain everything. AND i think its dumb for chara and frisk’s soul trait to be violence. esp when every other trait got a virtue-like feeling to it. it doesn’t hold up.

perhaps... red could mean heroism?

granted, more of a stretch here, but heros are talked about A LOT in undertale. not so much in words, but thematically. papyrus is based off an obscure super hero, undyne has Battle Against a True Hero in her no mercy battle, mtt uses heroism in his dramas/acting. ect.

now, this one feels too vague and nonsuported but it feels REALLY meta and on point at the same time. i mean. the red soul being the hero, the protagonist? oh my god. thats frickin amazing. on-top of that, heros are brought up ALL the time with deltarune. the heroes of light, ralsei insisting they need to be heroic, augh. it fits!

and heroes are so known for their violence too! heroic violence, sure, but its such a more positive note of it when you think of heroes . and chara’s wrath is in part for a heroic reason! perhaps wrath is the sin of the heroic virtue!

i’m really curious to what other people think!

#undertale #undertale meta #undertale theory #personal stuff #ok to reblog #long post

[catboy-syrup]

What about Undertale or Deltarune for the fandom game? ^^

Ooooh, I haven’t touch either fandom in so long, like, maybe sense I was 11 or 12? let’s see here. I’ll go with Undertale (au’s not included)

The first character I first fell in love with: Sans. Like, unexplainable Sans, but honestly, who didn’t like him right off.

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: it’s have to be either River person, Or Grillby, no explainable reason

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: that’s a tough one, maybe Mettaton? I really don’t like him, no particular reason either, I just do not vibe with the robot

The character I love that everyone else hates: is there even a character everyone in the fandom hates? I guess the closest would most likely be Chara?

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: Muffet, I used to like her a lot but then I remembered I have arachnophobia, and like, I still like her, but like, from a distance

The character I would totally smooch: again, Grillby or River person

The character I’d want to be like:  Papyrus. The amount of confidence he has makes me wish I was him

The character I’d slap: no one really I don’t think, maybe Flowey though.

A pairing that I love: there’s only like, have a few pairings for undertale, but my favorite is probably Muffet x Papyrus, Frisk x Sans, or W.D. Gaster x Toriel.

A pairing that I despise: Papyton or Soriel. Like it’s alright if you like both ships, and I can understand how there would be chemistry, but I just, don’t really like them for some reason, guess it’s just preference.

#🍥🍁🍡syrup talks🍡🍁🍥 #undertale #proship #ask game #//age gap ship//

[edelfliss]

So, here’s my take on the fellswap gold au character designs.  The original designs, aside from Papyrus’, really bothered me, so I decided to tweak them.  Another thing that really bothered me was that all of the characters shared the same color scheme (ie. black, white, gold/yellow, and red) and I have no idea why that has been a trend in these AUs.  To me that doesn’t sound or look very creative, so that was the first thing to go.

Sans doesn’t really wear much armor, as he’s very smug about his dodge ability, and uses it very liberally.  Kept the face scars, and added in that he’s blind in that eye.  He got those scars from protecting Papyrus.  I wanted to keep his signature blue color, and keep a sort of casual air about him despite his rank.

Papyrus wasn’t really changed too much, I really like his original design, but I did get rid of the braces as I don’t really know why he has them to begin with.  I opted instead to give him a silver tooth as a call back to the Underfell inspiration.  His original tooth got knocked out during a fight, and Sans insisted they get him a replacement tooth.  It was very expensive.  I’m also giving him eye light pupils, like Sans, kind of just because I want to.  Also switched out his tennis shoes for boots similar to his Undertale ones.

Undyne’s colors were tricky, because she’s not wearing her normal royal guard armor.  I knew I wanted to have her wear green to symbolize her inner kindness, and yellow to reflect her desire for justice for monster kind.  Might change her shirt color, but for now I think it looks ok.  She still wears some armor to protect herself, but she’s made sure it doesn’t bear the deltarune crest on it to show that she’s on the monster people’s side and not the royal’s.  Also, skin spots because yes.

Alphys was fairly simple.  She doesn’t look too different from her Undertale counterpart, but I did give her the swirly glasses (you can kind of make it out).  Gave her some pink because of her obsession with Mew Mew Kissie Cutie, and gave her a dark skirt to hint at her underlying regrets and stressors.  And skin spots for her too because it looks good.

Went in an Underswap direction for Asgore, but with a more beaten down and unkempt look.  Gave him simple robes and some dead golden flowers for his messy hair.

I knew I wanted Toriel to look dignified, but also intimidating.  I took a lot of inspiration from Jumbletale Toriel, specifically this design (I hope it’s ok that I referenced it, aaaaaa).  I specifically made her colors dull to try and reflect the dismal state she and her people are in.

Mettaton was a lot of fun.  He’s a killing machine, so of course he needed to have red, but I also threw in some pink and magentas to reflect his inner most feelings.  And what Mettaton design would be complete without a hot pink chainsaw and matching microphone.

I almost forgot to include Chara, as I was originally going to have Flowey be in the story, but the more I thought about it, I felt that Chara would probably fit better into this setting.  Made their skin color a bit darker/desaturated to hint at something being off about them.  And I added more stripes to their sweater because I honestly forgot how many their original in-game sprite had, but whatever.

So yeah, these are just the first passes of the character designs as this was mainly done to get their overall color schemes set and in place before tweaking their designs a bit more.

#undertale #fellswap gold #artists on tumblr #Character Design #my art #sans #papyrus #undyne #alphys #toriel #asgore #mettaton #chara

[kryptsune]

16 and 48!! 💖✨ (If you have answers for these in regards to Deltarune as well I'd love to hear them?? 👀)

16. Which UT character would be your best friend? Why?

🌼Hummm that is a hard one. I get along with most people as far as I have been told. It’s going to sound obvious but Pap and I have very similar humor. I feel like it would be either Pap or Sans. I am not the pun master that he is but I love people who make me laugh and just genuinely want to have a good time. I can imagine them doing fun movie nights with everyone. I also do happen to love puzzles. I grew up playing point and click adventure games and I feel like Pap would really enjoy playing those with someone to figure out all the puzzles. I don’t canon Papyrus to be a sweet innocent bean like most of the fandom just due to some of his dialogue so I look at him a little differently. Also, who doesn’t want to be friends with THE GREAT PAPYRUS, hello?🌼In Deltarune it would probably be Ralsei. I love that fluff boy. He is such a sweetheart and I feel like he would be fun to spend time with, probably stopping any of Lancer’s shenanigans. I think that is one of the great things about UT and Deltarune. They feel like genuine “people” that you could spend time with. It is really difficult to strike that with just a character on a screen. 

 48. What are your favorite theories?🌼Oh stars. Ummm most of the theories I agree with are actually incorporated into my own AU. I still think that Sans was a lab tech if not one of the main scientists that were working with soul experimentation, along with Gaster of course. I think something went horribly wrong and pushed his research too far gaining abilities that extend far past what monsters are capable that includes Boss monsters. His ability to remember is also suspect. Usually, when it comes to “Fallout” with experiments the scientist is greatly affected by it in a negative way or positive it doesn’t matter it impacts their life from there on in. If you are lucky enough you may see Flowey pop up but you can also see Sans silhouette from time to time but it’s rare and I have only ever seen it once. I wish I could screen cap it. He is following you the entire time I know that for a fact. 

🌼With Delta, it is a lot more. I did so much theory diving when it was released it made my head hurt so I will keep this brief. My favorite theory is that the “world” of Deltarune is a simulation. An experiment by Gaster. There is just too much that does not add up to me and yes you could say it is an alternate universe but... I don’t know I feel like that is kind of a cop-out explanation and for someone like Toby it doesn’t fit to me. I could be horribly wrong and there is nothing wrong if that turns out to be the case but his wording in his informational posts are suspect. 

As a writer, you are constantly using specific words to get a point across. It is one of the main reasons I never call WTU Sans, RED, not yet anyway. That holds special significance to both him and the story.  Toby stated that DELTARUNE was not Undertale and no it is not but my question is... does he mean the DND style game that Kris and Suzie are playing? or does he mean the main Title of the game itself? My copy’s name has never changed to Deltarune mine stays the same as a Survey Program. So that is a little suspicious to me. In addition... writing 101 never add information and point it out and never come back to it. Why is the character creator bit in the beginning if this game doesn’t have ties to Gaster? In addition, I personally feel this is Gaster running simulation after simulation to try and get a different outcome but every time it turns out that the power of DETERMINATION corrupts and it is out of his control. In other words, Gaster is either displaced doing these experiments OR this happening before he falls into The CORE. I feel the latter. A theoretical simulation of the Underground and all its habitants if they made it to the surface. Hence why Gerson is passed. Why Undyne is not missing her eye. He wouldn’t know about Alphys and Undyne’s relationship. I am sure Sans plays a role in this idea... think of him as a mediator in the simulation. It’s a neat idea but I honestly have no idea. I do like exploring the idea that we don’t know what is real and what is not. 

[audaciousanonj]

Setting aside "murder Papyrus AUs" what are some of your favorites by other creators? Also, if you feel like ranking and/or reccing your own stuff, I'd love to read epic tome size infodumps and behind-the-scenes ramblings.

an inexhaustive list of aus i like (that are not made by me): most anything by @drundertalescum, ESPECIALLY echo papyrus, dorked’s @invertedfate, @insanelyadd‘s skelechara au, @thunderstruck-edgelord, @bloodsbane‘s echo au, @undertalethingems​‘s …most everything but Unexpected Guests especially, look there’s just?? a lot????? of good stuff?????????

an inexhaustive list of undertale aus that i have (that are not fanfics of fanfics):

Name the Fallen

This is the au I’ve publicly worked on the most, and it has ACTUAL CONTENT which can be found at @namethefallen​. I started it before deltarune came out, any thematic similarities are either coincidence or something i went along with after deciding it could work. one of the two. check it out!

Manhattan/Meat Eater/Predator amalgamau

These three aus bleed into each other so often, so I’ll just list them as one.

The Manhattan Papyrus is an au where papyrus was created to be a weapon, but his child self was sent to the future and so his adult self had to keep everyone from finding that out.

Meat Eater is basically any au where Papyrus eats people. It’s also the driving force behind this one comic thats been getting notes again lately (warning: cannibalism). 

Predator is basically me taking the “Papyrus was created as a weapon and doesn’t have a good relationship with the concept of self” and combining it with “Papyrus is an obligate carnivore”. Other things in the predator au include the Agomphosis fic concept. Other things in this category include the concept behind Alphys + The Machine

The Groundhogs

a fun little drabble i did where humanity really can adjust to anything. I may visit that universe later.

Hyperdynamal Thaumic Disorder

ok basically papyrus has like. a medical condition that makes his magic generation go out of control. that’s it that’s the plot. more on ao3 (not a fic. just more.)

Changeling/Shifter au

basically, little papyrus is a genius who traded himself for a changeling so that his baby brother could be raised by someone who would both protect him to the utmost and had the ability to get a job. it also has more details on ao3

God-king Papyrus

i don’t think i actually discussed this anywhere, but it’s basically an au following the king papyrus ending where papyrus mercy-kills a little girl named jade by letting her play in the snow, and then singing her a lullaby while she fell asleep. in the snow. and then collected her soul. she agreed to it after he told the story of his people, but how consensual an adult king asking a little girl for her soul can get is an exercise i leave to you, the reader. From there, he goes to the surface and gets six others to agree to give him their souls, and uses those to transport the underground to another planet (which he has to keep in orbit, or else they will fall into the sun.)

The rest of the au mainly focuses on how life develops as papyrus outlives his friends and family and everyone but flowey, and the mythology that springs on this new planet Ebbott. Also, the god-king’s name is lost to time, and written only with an unpronounceable symbol. Flowey still remembers it, but respects papyrus’ wishes for his name to be lost to time, just like the names of both his and flowey’s siblings were forgotten by them both. =)

Oh, and Papyrus is in hibernation. He also melted his eyes shut. =)

ask me more about the mythology of planet ebott!

Another God-King Papyrus au

ok so the previous au idea reminded me of another one where, also king papyrus aftermath, papyrus ends up waging secret war against the humans by turning the underground into an underground bunker, and then sending out monsters to collect souls from humans that he stores in the vault. I think Sans was sent out to harass the human leaders into starting a nuclear winter? Yeah, that was the reason he got called the winter king while papyrus was the summer king. Also, the remaining humans were rounded up and then the monsters began farming them for their souls. This was a thing that happened over generations. Also, monsters began increasing in size once they were out of the underground, but child monsters still remained tiny? Also children would get their first treated human soul when they started going through puberty (treated so that the human consciousness couldn’t wake up of course). these may all be disparate bits of aus.

Also papyrus may or may not have credited alphys with discovering the secret to immortality first (that being: flower + dust + determination), and reviving her, asgore, undyne, toriel, etc…

That may have been a different au. I like weird post-king-papyrus aus. 

Abusive Aster

ahah hah. major warnings apply here folks! it’s basically bad brother au meets echo papyrus meets my underflower. it’s got some pretty messed up themes in it. Basically, Papyrus was turned into a flower a la flowey, and he blames sans for his soullessness.

Underflower

ok honestly? i’m not saying this au was an excuse for another soulless papyrus, but i’m not not saying that. I just posted it on ao3 a few minutes ago.

Trust Au (AKA Sans/Readerchan)

listen this was supposed to be a parody/deconstruction of sans/readers, but talking about it would just spoil it. idk if i want to do it or not.

#undertale #p buns #Anonymous #AJ Answers

[sorio99]

Deltarune Chapter 1: The Official Undertale AU

At 6:00 AM PST, on Halloween 2018, the official Undertale twitter account released what is essentially a demo for the next game by Toby Fox, deltarune. Between the baffling intro, the odd relationship with the original Undertale, and the implied involvement of a certain missing doctor, everything about this game was shrouded in mystery.

And I loved it.

(Spoilers and Review below the cut)

Part 1: The Story

At first glance, most people assumed this mysterious new game would be a sequel (or possibly prequel) to Undertale. After all, it involves a number of shared characters, the titular rune was prominently featured in Undertale, and even the name “Delta rune” is an anagram for “Undertale”.

However, the relationship between the two is much stranger, and the plots are largely unconnected.

After creating an avatar and having the game unceremoniously throw it in the garbage, you play as Kris (that lovely person up there), the human child of Asgore and Toriel, and younger sibling to Asriel Dreemurr. Right off the bat, about a million questions are raised, especially since later conversations indicate Kris has at least been living with the Dreemurrs’ since they were too young to know their species, but we’ll come back to that.

Toriel drives you to school, though still get there late, and Alphys (who is your teacher here) puts you in a group with Susie, the only student to show up after you, to work together on a group project. However, when she realizes she doesn’t have any chalk, she sends the two of you to go get some from the school’s broom closet. You catch Susie eating chalk, she threatens to eat your face but doesn’t, and you head off to the broom closet.

Then things get weird.

After that, it sort of follows a plot line similar to the original: you fall into another world, there’s a bunch of monsters you can either fight or spare, and you just have to keep going up and to the left to fulfill a prophecy & get to the exit, all while dealing with ambiguously evil characters who are more silly than dangerous. It is, however, a bit shorter, with only about ten unique enemies and only three areas in the whole game. But hey, it is technically just the first chapter, so what do you expect.

Of course, what really makes an Undertale is the characters. Since you’re in a different world for most of the game, the returning characters from Undertale don’t have much of a presence outside the very beginning and very end. Instead, we focus on a handful of new characters, all of whom are pretty well-rounded and developed, with the exception of Kris, our silent, somewhat-ambiguously-gendered protagonist. Susie, in particular, goes through a pretty nice character arc, going from someone who’d casually threaten to rip your face off and eat it, to an actual antagonist at one point, before eventually working her way back to being a good guy and someone you can actually be friends with! It’s definitely the strongest arc in the game so far.

There’s also Lancer!

He’s a villain.

And not a skeleton.

Just trust me on this.

Part 2: Presentation

Just to get it out of the way, the music is fantastic. Of course it is. It’s an Undertale spinoff and, more importantly, it’s made by Toby “Radiation” “I could shit out a better soundtrack than most of you will ever even imagine” Fox.

I will however say that I prefer Deltarune’s sound design in general to Undertale, though. Don’t get me wrong, Undertale still has the better OST (for now at least), but Deltarune’s sound effects JUST beat it out in my books. In particular, I felt like the text sounds for most of the characters was, on average, less annoying than in Undertale. Again, don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Undertale’s voices, but some of them could get a little ear-grating, especially for characters who talked a LOT throughout the game. Here, with the exception of one returning character (where the irritation was kind of the joke anyways), all of them work really well. There’s even a tiny bit of voice acting from a couple of the more important characters! So, big thumbs up there.

More pressingly, however, are the visuals. In case it wasn’t obvious from the above screenshots (aside from that second one of Lancer, maybe), the graphics have gotten a MAJOR glow up since the last game. Temmie Chang, aka “Most Precious Meme”, is still the main Artist for the game, and Undertale is by no means a bad looking game. However, in general, the games’ art went from “Beautiful and sometimes even breathtaking” to consistently “HOLY SHIT MY EYES ARE NOT EQUIPPED TO COPE WITH SUCH SHEER BRILLIANCE!!!”

You think I’m exaggerating, but I legit dropped my jaw at a lot of this game’s visuals. I mean, just look at this one End-game animation!

I think this one short scene has more detail and frame than Asgore’s overworld sprite got in the entirety of Undertale.

On the slight downside, however, we no longer get the full-body monochromatic battle sprites from Undertale, as enemies appear in battle almost identically to how they appear in the world. Still, with this much more detail in overworld sprites, it’s not even a slight loss.

Speaking of battle...

Part 3: Gameplay

Yep, the gameplay has gotten a major overhaul over the past three years. First, as the screenshot should make obvious, you have a team now! Yep, in addition to Kris, you can get up to three additional party members over the course of your adventure, including Susie! 

In general, what you can do in battles with Kris is mostly the same; you can Fight by hitting the button at the right time, Act in certain ways to make the enemies not want to fight you, use an Item really quick, or Spare an enemy who you don’t want to kill. You also have the option to defend, which will lessen the damage you take if you get hit during the obligatory bullet-hell attacks your enemies dish out.

Where things get really interesting, though, is the team mechanics. You see, every character is different, and everyone but Kris can use magic (although some of Kris’s ACT commands kinda seem like magic?). However, only Kris can directly ACT, with other party members only being able to preform certain set spells. So, instead, Kris can command the other party members to perform actions, or Kris can ACT while the others defend, use items, or attack. If you use a Team ACT, the other party member(s) involved won’t be able to do anything else that turn, but said Team ACTs are usually more powerful or potent as a result. The whole thing can set up for actually strategic choices in battle: In Undertale, since most enemies only had one or two ways to spare them, the most strategy you could use on a Pacifist play through was “Which enemy should I deal with first?” Here, you have to figure how you’re going to handle each encounter. Do you have Kris ACT first, then have another party member spare that monster in the same turn? Or do you act WITH that party member, and next turn be able to spare at least two monsters?

In addition to the battle system being reworked, there were a number of smaller, quality of life changes:

You now have three item categories: Items (your standard consumables), Gear (your armor and weapons), and Key Items (your cellphone and a couple other important things).

You can sell at pretty much every shop in the “Dark” world, which makes sense, since you’re mostly selling food, armor, and weapons-things people in this world would need to survive.

Each character in your party uses a different kind of weapon, but all of them use the same armor, and you can give them all two pieces of armor each, so you can stack defense and get extra boosts!

Choices are mostly presented in a cross pattern, so you just have to pick a direction and confirm to choose that option.

THERE IS NOW A RUN BUTTON AND IN THE OPTIONS YOU CAN CHANGE SO YOU AUTO-RUN AND THE RUN BUTTON IS JUST A WALK BUTTON!

And speaking of which, YOU CAN ACCESS THE MENU FROM WITHIN THE MAIN GAME! THANK YOU!

You can also have up to three save files at once, although I’ve heard each file has some minor differences in flavor-text across the game, so be on the look-out for that.

Overall, I feel like I honestly prefer the game play to Undertale. In fact, with the exception of the story (which is mostly underdeveloped because, again, this is basically just a very long demo), I honestly prefer most of Deltarune to Undertale. While it isn’t technically a sequel, per se, it does do what any good sequel should do: use the original as a starting point and just improve almost everything. It’s almost like the Bioshock Infinite to Undertale’s Bioshock, if that makes sense.

(Would that make System Shock 2 Homestuck? Am I over thinking this?)

Now, with the actual review out of the way, we can get to the main event.

Part 4: Co̞͞n̤̠͎̙̥̗n̸̰̜̳͚͓͇͍e̸͈͉̳̺c̭̮̬̖̭̗̳͠t͍͓͘i̖̺͙͇̟̫o̢̰̜̦n͈̮̼͈͎͖̦s͈͝ ̹̙̦͈̯̜A̡̟̥ņ̥͙̗d̛͙̤̦͈̹̪͚ ̺T͍̞h̡̜̝̟̬e͏̱̹̲ͅ ͕̯̰͍̜͇͍D͝oc̜t̸̺̱̯͙̠o̷̱r͈̟̣̤̯

As I mentioned before, this game isn’t technically a sequel to Undertale. None of the events of Undertale seem to have occurred in this universe, including (seemingly) things from before the game even began. This becomes especially apparent after you leave the “Dark” world and can explore town, talking to various people. Character relationships are almost universally reset, there is no mention of the “Underground”, and considering Asriel is still alive and in college, it’s safe to say there is no Flowey in this world. It could almost be passed off as a complete alternate continuity, or even a reboot, if it weren’t for a few...

oddities.

Yep, among the returning characters, Sans makes an appearance, having apparently just moved into town and never having met you before. Despite having apparently met Toriel the night before in the grocery store, and having a business relationship with your teacher, Alphys. Plus, there's the fact that what used to be Grillby’s and the Bone Brother’s house both look WAY too close to there original versions (no other building looks that similar), the fact that of ALL the returning characters, only Sans looks the exact same (no redesign, visible aging, or even new clothing), and the fact that some of Kris’s dialogue choices seem to reference things that haven’t happened in this universe, and other characters notice them acting...different.

Plus, you know, there’s Chapter 1′s ending.

Yeah.

(Plus, as you might have noticed at the top of this part, there’s a monster who is the only one in either game who looks similar to this Gaster Follower)

All of this seems to point to something much more sinister going on. And, for those who haven’t seen it, the tweets leading up to the demo’s release might just explain why.

Now, we aren’t quite sure who this is supposed to be, but judging by their vocabulary and how they type, it’s a pretty safe assumption we’re being chatted to by our favorite former royal scientist. And, sure enough, most people are assuming that this entity is at least some version of Dr. W. D. Gaster. Why is he doing this? What does it all mean? Why was the Delta Rune even slightly relevant to the plot of this chapter aside from there being three prophesied heroes?

Well, I suppose only time will tell.

Until then...

L̴͙̖̠̕è̘̝͚̯̩̘ͅt͔͎͖̝͎̼͘͢ ̷͎̮͘ù̴̹̘̮̰̙̮̮̘͝s̵̷̫̠͎̯͙̥͟ͅ ͍͍̤̟͇͕̺ͅh̨̼̼͕̠ą̶̛̦̫̼v̺͞e̸͎̭̱͍̭͞͠ ͖̩̳͕͔͚͚̝̱s̘̭̩͜͟ơ҉̥͖̯͟m̞̠͈e̷͔͖̭ͅ ́҉̤͔͎̫̣̥̱͚̲ḿ̶̩̼̙̪̻̝̥͟o̗͇̩͇̠͍͟r̡͖͇̤̗͔͈̕͠e̶̝̠͔͈̭̟ ̷̫̬̺̮͔̣F̢̗̘̟̯͈̜͖͕͈͞Ų̴͍̜͚̘̠̞͈͇̀N҉̡̣̺̝̩̘͓ͅ.̷̩̹͓̯͝

S̛̪̦͉͎̙̀h̴͇͈͡á̤̣̫̬l̷̬̤͓͈͟ͅl͚͚̙̦̙̣̱̺ ̳̗̩͍̱̤̦͈̣w̡͔é͔̝̹̻̜͎̞͝?͜҉̣̣̥̫͎͎ͅ

#undertale #deltarune #delta rune #deltarune spoilers #delta rune spoilers #tagged both ways because i'm not sure which is the correct formatting #and no I will NOT stop doing this. ever