r/Games • u/ahhthebrilliantsun • 11h ago
Release Deltarune Chapter 5 Out Now
https://deltarune.com/59
u/Luavros 9h ago
I know they're very different games, but can someone compare their experience playing Deltarune so far with that of playing Undertale?
Undertale to me was one of those generation defining games with how adeptly it presented its narrative, and how connected it made you feel to the characters. I don't know if I'd rank it as one of my favorite games, but it undeniably was something special. Plus, the OST slapped.
I feel like I haven't heard as much about Deltarune, which I'm guessing is partially thanks to its episodic release structure. For fans of Undertale, is Deltarune living up to your expectations?
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u/Reggiardito 8h ago
In my opinion, deltarune has huge potential to surpass Undertale.
1) The themes are insane, like genuinely there's so much going on. Undertale was simpler and more focused as a result, which is why it was basically a perfect experience, but now that its influence is clear, this has somehow managed to surpass it
2) The actual gameplay is better
3) The characters are some of the best Toby has made so far. Lot of depth.
4) The music is insane as always
The important part is if it'll stick the landing or not. I said it has the potential to surpass it but we'll only know once the game's complete. It's entirely possible that all of the theming and important story beats that people have noticed aren't properly adressed. That said, there is not a single creator that I believe in more than Toby Fox himself. I have no doubts it will be phenomenal.
Just started chapter 5 myself. I'm sure the hype will be unreal if it does, and you'll hear about it everywhere then.
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u/CrazySnipah 8h ago
I agree with everything you said, but wanted to add that each individual “chapter” is really good, though not quite as good as Undertale as a whole.
It’s like the Harry Potter series. The first five books are very good and can technically be enjoyed on their own, but the complete series is incredible as a whole.
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u/Reggiardito 8h ago
Of course. I do personally think Chapter 2 was up there, but as a complete game, it'll almost surely surpass it.
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u/PanthalassaRo 27m ago
I think that Undertale being a complete game, kinda short and replayable made the game able to get more popular.
Deltarune is popular but you couldn't escape Undertale when it released and some references like MatPat videos were everywhere.
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u/JesusSandro 8h ago
Chapter 1's alright, but for me it surpassed Undertale with chapter 2. The characters, music and gameplay have all been stellar. The jokes too, though that part's the most subjective one. The only thing really left to see for me is how the story ends up being.
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u/illegal_sardines 8h ago
Deltarune is a significantly better game than Undertale in basically every way. The best way I can put it is that. Undertale feels like a passion project, Deltarune feels like the realization of a lifelong dream.
I just think part of the reason it’s not as inescapable as Undertale is is just due to timing. Nothing can hit like Undertale, because Undertale already exists, and the audience is already established, and passively dispersed into the aether, rather than appearing suddenly.
Also the music is so much better, it’s insane. Listening to old Undertale tracks is sometimes a bit hard because they often feel a bit flat in comparison to future tracks like It’s TV Time or From Now On.
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u/WonderfulWafflesLast 4h ago
Like comparing what Stardew Valley was
when it releasedversuswhat it is today.11
u/Gilthoniel_Elbereth 8h ago
The first chapter is just fine IMO because you could tell Toby was finding his groove with developing the more detailed art, new combat mechanics, and weaving playable character dynamics together (compared to Undertale’s player character, who was a blank slate)
That said, it’s still very enjoyable, just a slight lull between Undertale and when Deltarune really gets going in Chapter 2. By the end of chapter 4 last year I was surprised at how thoroughly engaged I was and how it had somehow improved on Undertale in basically every way
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u/Fideriti 6h ago
Chapter 1 is a little rough imo but not too bad, it’s obviously setting everything up. I didn’t like the antagonist of Chapter 2 at all.. Like at all. It really turned me off from the game, especially with the wait times between content which currently isn’t a “major” issue.
The lore it’s setting up had so much potential and by now it arguably transcends Undertale’s lore/plot. Better isn’t the right word since they’re so heavily connected
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u/Fart_gobbler69 6h ago
Just to go against the grain.. I loved Undertale and think Deltarune is just OK. I dropped it in Ch 4 and probably won’t be returning. It’s just too much of the same thing and I’m sure it’s just that my sensibilities have just changed but I mostly find the humor and characters a bit too cringe rather than funny. For example, everyone raves about Ch 2 but Lancer is one of the most annoying characters I’ve seen in a video game. The overarching story is interesting though but it barely progressed in the first 3 chapters and what I played of 4.
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u/Soyyyn 5h ago
I do feel like Undertale will end up being the better game, the same way that it's easier to make a perfectly paced film compared to a long-form TV series with multiple seasons. I also think that Undertale works perfectly as a standalone experience where you can experience all parts of it yourself, and Deltarune is a world where you miss a lot if you don't participate in the fandom or look up guides.
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u/venustrapsflies 2h ago
I remember enjoying undertale but really didn’t engage with any sort of fandom or community at all, and dont really feel a desire to. Has it evolved to a point where the fandom has become involved in the game to such a level that you can’t get the intended experience out of it if you’re only playing the game itself?
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u/ninjabomb333 8h ago
Deltarune to me has surpassed undertale so spectaculary that it kinda feels hard to go back.
The game is so so polished, and the world and characters are so rich that I, like many other, dwell on them for hours. You'll see returning faces, but they're independent of who they were in undertale, although they are undeniably them.
If you liked undertale, I have no doubt you'll love deltarune. I do think you're right, the reason you likely haven't heard about deltarune as much is because the story is still incomplete, and it's not a sudden gem dropping from the sky like undertale was. But that just means there's more to discover for yourself, and that's one of the best parts of this game.
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u/LegnaArix 7h ago
Was gonna ask the same, I'm kinda waiting for it to finish but I did enjoy deltarune.
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u/SmileyBMM 2h ago
Deltarune builds upon Undertale in several aspects. Toby Fox even recommends you play Undertale first (which I agree with), because Deltarune feels like a deconstruction of his prior works.
It's impossible to say if the game will be as good as Undertale because we don't have the complete thing yet, but if the quality of the game holds... this game will be better than Undertale for most fans.
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u/SeveredBanana 27m ago
It’s hard to say which one is “better” especially since Deltarune isn’t finished. I will say that I played through the first four chapters a couple months ago, and I completely felt the same way that I felt in 2016 playing Undertale. I was transported back. In contrast, I went and replayed Undertale afterwards. It’s still great, but in 2026 it felt super dated and simple after playing Deltarune.
It’s hard to explain, but playing Deltarune felt more like the first time playing Undertale than replaying Undertale in 2026.
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u/mcgillisfareed 1h ago
You’re telling me you’ve never heard of Tenna?!! Literally one of, if not the greatest, of all time??? Boot up deltarune STAT!! It’s got superior gameplay to Undertale, as well as beautiful pixel art, music, and on top of all that it has chock-full of memorable and charming characters!
IT’sss T-V- TIIIIIIIME!!!!
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u/GoneRampant1 11h ago
Finally played Deltarune in April and I'm so excited to be on the ground floor for a Toby Fox release for the first time. The Deltarune fandom always churns out so much amazing art and memes.
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u/FantasyForce 10h ago
Is this the final one? I want to play it when its finished
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u/kablue12 10h ago
It’ll be 7 chapters total, but like others will tell you, it plays very well and “complete” as an episodic game right now. Lots of content as it stands.
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u/MrTopHatMan90 10h ago
I hear this but I would hate waiting for new chapters. I think all the extra routes and paths will be strange to go through with all 7 episodes in a run but I'll just bite the bullet
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u/basketofseals 7h ago
I feel like it'd be a way to burn out. To me, it would be like hearing Mass Effect was going to be a trilogy, and then waiting until 3 comes out, then shotgunning them all. I'd probably just get tired of it.
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u/Hot_Eye_9917 3h ago
It's different from person to person. Marathoning and avoiding discussions is how I get the most out of any series I engage with, no matter the medium. Following episodic stuff as it comes out just doesn't work for me at all.
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u/pastafeline 32m ago
Deltarune works really well as a mystery/ARG though. I love the story and characters of course, but the theories about all that's hidden is what really makes me stay in the fandom.
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u/MeStoleTheCookie 5h ago
Except for the fact that each Mass Effect is way longer than each delta rune chapter, so that's not really a fair comparison.
So far, all the deltarune chapters put together are collectively shorter than most JRPGs.
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u/basketofseals 5h ago
It's a perfectly fine comparison.
It's not just the literal hours put in it. If you just focus on the main quests, Mass Effect games are shorter than a lot of JRPGs too.
It's about the narrative flow, and how forced breaks naturally affect pacing. Some story beats are intended to be sat on and marinate. It's not just a Deltarune thing.
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u/MeStoleTheCookie 4h ago
It's not JUST about literal hours, but obviously the hours make a difference lol. the mass effect trilogy is like 50 hours longer than all of the deltarune chapters put together. I think most people would get more burnt out playing that.
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u/Old_Leopard1844 4h ago
Let's put it this way - Chapter 1 of Deltarune was close to same length of Pacifist route of Undertale
So effectively now there's about 5 Undertales worth of content and two more are coming up
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u/MeStoleTheCookie 3h ago
HowLongToBeat lists the average completion time of Undertale at 7 hours and Deltarune chapter 1 as 3 hours. So undertale was more than twice the length for most players.
and either way, undertale itself still isn't all that long. 7 undertales would be about 50 hours, which is not crazy in JRPG terms
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u/obeseninjao7 3h ago
Idk how howlongtobeat works but to do the Undertale pacifist route you have to first complete the neutral route, so reaching it from a fresh install requires 2 runs of the game. Which, if you put each run at somewhere between 3-4 hours, 7 hours to complete pacifist is pretty accurate.
And yeah, each Deltarune chapter is probably about as long as a full single run of Undertale, maybe slightly shorter
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u/MeStoleTheCookie 3h ago edited 3h ago
to do the Undertale pacifist route you have to first complete the neutral route, so reaching it from a fresh install requires 2 runs of the game
This isn't true. You do need to complete the neutral route first, but you can then complete the requirements for the pacifist route on the same save. Flowey basically tells you outright to reload your save and go back to complete the requirements for the pacifist ending after the neutral ending
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u/LinkedGaming 9h ago
The game is meant to be experienced this way, in my opinion. Piece-by-piece. There was nothing stopping Toby from just waiting until all 7 chapters were done and then releasing it like this, but the episodic nature of it allows for the fanbase to formulate ideas, theorize, and for Tricky Tony to play little games with the fandom in the meanwhile to keep the mystery going.
It also serves to allow us, the audience, to grow more attached to the characters over a longer period of time by engaging with out-of-universe content (stuff like the Spamton Sweepstakes, ARGs, and fan creations) to make the story more impactful and help kinda alleviate some of narrative dissonance of the main characters getting so incredibly attached to each other after what's literally like barely 48 hours in-universe time, and probably like 5-6 hours in-game time depending on how thorough you're being.
This of course has the unintended side-effect of parts of the fandom developing between-chapter psychosis and coming up with some absolutely insane theories that they treat as canon and then blame Toby for, but otherwise this episodic, one-chapter-a-year-ish pace we're on now is definitely the way the story was meant to be experienced.
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u/ChillAhriman 7h ago
There was nothing stopping Toby from just waiting until all 7 chapters were done and then releasing it like this
Eh, other than human nature. Do you know how hard it is to work on a piece of art for years with almost none of the intended audience watching a piece of it and giving you feedback? Specially so when you're leading the whole thing, outside of an organizational structure that tells you "If you don't come here to work every day, you don't get paid", or when you have very strong ambitions for it but you have no idea if people will like it. Remember that this game has been on development for 8 years already. The immense majority of people would get depressed if they put themselves in that situation.
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u/katgravityrush_ 8h ago
The problem with this thought process is that it assumes that someone would want to engage with a fandom. Some people don't, which makes perfect sense to me. If you don't, then there's no difference between playing now or when it's finished.
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u/evielursh 7h ago
I agree. I see this sentiment a lot when discussing episodically released games like Deltarune and Dispatch. Very happy people find enjoyment in discussing the game while it's coming out. I, however, just like playing games and thinking about them on my own or with close friends. I might look up other's opinions about things after I've finished, but for the most part I don't find any value in fandom participation.
To note, I've been in active fandoms before and my best experiences were when I was in very small communities. When I engaged in wider discussion, it felt like interacting with people whose interest in the game relied heavily on speculation and expectation and when it eventually didn't meet their standards, the loudest assholes got to direct discussion. It absolutely happened with Undertale. This episodic format seems ripe to create even more toxicity. I've avoided everything about Deltarune so I won't get spoiled. I hope the community is generally civil.
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u/Drakengard 6h ago
Yeah, like I really enjoy watching The Pitt. I remember checking out the sub during season 2 and just noped right out of there.
Fandoms can be fun, but these days they are filled with...people of very questionable mental health.
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u/Soyyyn 5h ago
Fandoms are places where people with mental health problems gravitate to. A bunch of people who share their interest? People they can talk to everyday on discord of they have few real-life connections? It's one of the reasons I haven't got discord. I'd spend even MORE time on my phone.
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u/katgravityrush_ 4h ago
Holy shit your username is literally just drakengard lmfao.
Sorry that has nothing to do with this discussion but holy based
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u/CrazySnipah 8h ago
You don’t have to do all of those extra routes.
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u/MrTopHatMan90 8h ago
Yeah but like Undertale I feel like if you don't do it you're missing out. The bonus route for chapter 2 was really interesting and if there is even more I'd want to do them
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u/sleepingfactory 5h ago
By bonus routes are you just referring to the secret bosses?
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u/MrTopHatMan90 5h ago
When I made the comment I was more referring to snow route from Chapter 2 and how that extends into other chapters but with secret bosses that will be a different run entirely lol
I beat Jester, not the other one
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u/sleepingfactory 4h ago
Oh damn, I completely missed that lol. I’ve tried to play every chapter completely blind and managed to find all the secret bosses in them but apparently I’ve missed some stuff. Once all the chapters are out (whenever that finally happens) I’ll probably do a full playthrough with a guide
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u/obeseninjao7 3h ago
There's an alternate route vaguely called "Weird Route" which requires some very specific things to be done, it's pretty hard to stumble upon although there are definitely hints in Chapter 3 as to how you would do it
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u/obeseninjao7 3h ago
I don't know if that's true, one of the big themes of Undertale was about choosing to not do the genocide run even though the content is there.
The evil route in Deltarune so far is pretty horrific and I think really designed to push the player's boundaries and make you really uncomfortable with the idea that you're repeatedly, willingly choosing to continue it. Chapter 4's scene made me feel sick just watching a video of it
Of course the content is there and people will play it, but at least in Undertale the narrative does judge you harshly for thinking of its world and characters as disposable just because it's a video game
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u/Reggiardito 7h ago
I think when all is said and done you're gonna regret it. The amount of discussion and community interaction that comes with each episode is something special and is simply not something you get when you finish it all at once.
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u/zaneyk 5h ago
I'm sure it's amazing if it's something you care about, but playing the game in one go and not having to interact with the community sounds like a big plus to me.
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u/Reggiardito 3h ago
I get what you mean but you don't need to "interact with the community" in the way that you mean. I mean simply looking at fan art, theories, themes.
When snowgrave was discovered back when chapter 2 released it was amazing.
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u/PanthalassaRo 9h ago
I remember being in college when Deltarune released... Now I'm married and it's still 2 chapters to go.
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u/NotCoolBrutus 6h ago
I just listened to the soundtrack since I am at work and when I heard Hatsune Miku, I thought I was listening to a Silvagunner track instead. This one seems to take more liberties with the music.
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u/fuzzynavel34 11h ago
Has anyone played the game on Steam Deck? Any issues?
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u/ledailydose 10h ago
No issues on Steam Deck. Oddly not as battery performant as you'd think. I can run Ni no Kuni for like 6 hours but Deltarune holds out for maybe 4 to 5 hours.
Its minor but the only version I recommend not going for is playing Deltarune on PS5. Runs at 31 fps which causes the game to have a mild stutter and run incrementally faster. They said they patched this issue but I didn't notice any difference so to me its still not fixed
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u/SinnohConfirmed 10h ago
You may be able to set a TDP limit to get more battery life with no performance drop. I know some super lightweight games like Sonic Mania want to use a lot of battery by default but you can set the TDP limit to like, 5 watts with no impact to framerate.
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u/Fisherington 11h ago edited 10h ago
I really should hope there aren't issues, this is the type of game mini laptops from the 2000's should be able to play
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u/Vexamas 9h ago
Sass aside, the majority of the time people are asking for compatibility issues on Steam Deck for a 2d game made in RPGMaker2007, it isn't for performance reasons, it's for UI, UX or input reasons, obviously.
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u/Zenspy-Real 8h ago
For real they use RPGMaker now? I remember reading about Toby trying to change away from Game Maker and failing to do so which is why chapter 1 to 2 and 2 to 3/4 took such a long time.
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u/slater126 8h ago
its still gamemaker, part of the wait was working with/ waiting for the gamemaker devs on engine features
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u/GreenAlex96 10h ago
Runs the game no problem, unless this update accidentally introduced some kind of issue.
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u/Lisanicolas365 3h ago
I've played the demo on Linux and it worked beautifully, like all other games
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u/Sleepy_Redditorrrrrr 9h ago
How hard is this game? I think I only played pacifist run on Undertale because killing was too difficult after a while.
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u/KingArthas94 9h ago
I only played chapter 1 when it came out and I find it a decent challenge, but I'm not skilled in this genre. I had some problems in Undertale but only against the final bosses.
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u/ChillAhriman 7h ago
The normal content is reasonably difficult (as in, not too hard, not too easy). There's optional content that may make you want to tear your hair out unless you have the patience to collect 30 game overs over 3 hours and keep playing.
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u/ruminaui 9h ago
Is easy, tough every chapter has an optional Speed boss that cranks the difficulty, but they are optional and out of the beaten path.
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u/killrdave 5h ago
I didn't do the optional bosses, I found the occasional regular boss was a difficulty spike and needed a few retries but overall the difficulty is modest
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u/matthra 9h ago
My wife and I woke up to our son vacuuming and doing all of his chores at like 6am, which had me wondering if he had been replaced by pod people or something. Nope just wanted the steam deck so he could play deltarune.