In 2015, developer Toby Fox released a game called Undertale. To this day, it stands as an incredibly well-received game, with over 100,000 reviews on Steam giving it a positive rating. Three years later, that same developer released Chapter 1 of Deltarune, a “parallel story” to Undertale with new characters and mechanics. And now, three years after that, Chapter 2 of Deltarune was released only a couple of days ago.
There has been a lot of waiting between each of these releases. Even with Deltarune’s currently nonexistent price, it’s still a relatively short indie game that’s been in the works for almost ten years now. Major Triple-A titles and even other wide-scale indie games had more reasonable release schedules.
So, was the three-year wait for Deltarune Chapter 2 worth it? Was enough work put into the game to warrant that wait, and will players have to spend an even longer time waiting for future chapters?
To minimize spoilers, I won’t talk too much about the story itself. However, I will be referencing new mechanics and some of the content in Deltarune Chapter 2. If you want to play without any sort of spoilers, then...you’ve probably already played it. It’s free, after all. But if you’re still waiting to see if it’s even worth playing in the first place, this article is for you.
New World, Old Friends
Like its first chapter, Deltarune Chapter 2 gives players a new Dark World to explore and battle through. With this world comes new puzzles, new music, and of course, new characters. Each new person you meet is a joy even just to speak with, and - as is the classic Toby Fox way - you might even find yourself outright loving the villains. This is all subjective, of course, but if you liked meeting new characters in Undertale or Chapter 1 of Deltarune, you’ll probably enjoy doing the same here.
You’ll see plenty of familiar faces in Chapter 2, as well, both in and out of the new world. As you progress through the chapter, or even if you just poke around enough, you’ll find some of your friends from the Light World getting a bit more character development. There’s plenty of fun conversations and big reveals to be had, so fans of Toby Fox’s story and characters don’t need to worry about that end.
Deltarune Chapter 2’s Expanded Gameplay Mechanics
If you’re more interested in the gameplay than the story or characters, there’s good news for you, too. The new Dark World brings with it numerous puzzles and even some minigames, building on what Chapter 1 established and expanding on it. The same is true for battles, with more control being given to the player depending on which encounters they go up against; you may even end up fighting in new and unforeseen ways if you battle the right enemies.
New to Deltarune Chapter 2 is a recruitment mechanic. By sparing enough enemies of a certain type, you’ll be able to “recruit” them. This allows them to show up in more friendly capacities later, and might even give you some more features or rewards after clearing the chapter. Choosing to fight instead of sparing enemies will cause them to become “Lost”, meaning you can’t recruit them later. This does come with the bonus of your party becoming stronger, though, so different playstyles are pretty well-supported in Chapter 2.
There are even more new things to do with fights, but to say any more would spoil quite a bit. Speaking of which…
Deltarune Chapter 2: Secrets and Missables
The secrets in Deltarune Chapter 2 are even greater than the first chapter, and some of them go further than Undertale’s in terms of how well-hidden they are. Searching through each area’s deepest nooks and crannies, performing favors for characters in the new world, and even using specific forms of magic can lead you to some shocking new surprises.
Minor Spoiler Warning
However, Chapter 2 of Deltarune has a certain oddity about it. Unlike Chapter 1, the player is allowed to save their game after beating the chapter’s final boss. If you do so without having found every secret or recruiting every enemy, there’s no way to go back without resetting your save file. It’s unfortunate, but you can keep yourself from saving at that point if you want to run through the world and make sure you’ve gotten everything.
Overall, Was it Worth the Wait?
Even with everything I’ve stated so far, there’s still so much more to Deltarune Chapter 2. New animations and appearances for old characters, new items you can collect, and a certain secret so great that it would be simply cold of me to reveal it here. With all this in mind, I’d argue Chapter 2 was absolutely worth the wait, and anyone with even a passing interest in Undertale or Deltarune should try out the new release as soon as they can.
For everyone else, however, waiting a little longer might be the way to go. While this latest chapter established a great base for how the rest of the game will play out, it might take quite a while for the next one. The latest status update for Deltarune mentions how Chapters 3, 4, and 5 will be released simultaneously as part of the full release. There’s still a lot of work to be done for this game...but a lot to look forward to, as well.
Disclaimer: All images taken from Deltarune's Steam page and official website