“DELTARUNE,” an Indie Video Game by developer Toby Fox, is such an underrated gem in the RPG genre, but it can be overlooked by people who don’t play story-driven games.
Most fans of Toby Fox know him as the developer behind “Undertale,” and will instantly recognise the familiar art style and graphics.
When Chapters 3 and 4 of the game were released, it sold over 600,000 copies during its first month and even crashed Steam, a game launcher and digital store.
Deltarune is a Bullet-Hell themed RPG, where the player is a human teen named “Kris,’’ who, along with a classmate named Susie, accidentally falls into a “Dark World” within their school, which changes the contents of an ordinary classroom into an entire world.
Deltarune has a unique approach to player-driven storytelling, but it is often dismissed by people who take one look at the graphics or look at the fandom’s reputation and judge it based on that.
The demand for games with higher graphics and overly competitive gameplay (e.g., Call of Duty) causes indie games, such as Deltarune, to be overlooked simply because of their visual appearance or lack of PvP. Last time I checked, video games were meant to be enjoyed, and not for you to get screamed at by a ten-year-old. Games that don’t prioritize competitiveness aren’t bad, but instead feel like reading a captivating book, one that makes you feel like a part of the story.
Deltarune takes immersion to the next level, which has taken me off guard at times. The game is aware of the player’s presence, which can make for moments of shock and suspense. It takes meta-storytelling even further by expanding it into interactive media outside of the game, making you feel attached to these characters as if they were real people.
What makes the game so special and different from other games is the supposed illusion of choice. The game constantly tries to push you in a certain direction, telling you that your choices don’t matter, and you will get the same outcome no matter what you do, while letting you go “off script” and find things that feel like they shouldn’t be seen. The player can follow the intended path or ignore the game and find secrets. When you play Deltarune, the game can make you question whether or not what you’re doing is wrong, and it even shows the impact of your choices on other characters, who might remember what you did.
While it’s easy to look at this game at first glance and think, “Oh, it’s a sequel to Undertale,” the game features a completely different story, so you don’t have to worry about missing out on key details if you didn’t play “Undertale”. With the next chapter of the game coming out on June 24th, and the first two chapters being completely free, there’s no better time to play the game than right now.
