chapter 1: 2018
Deltarune came as a surprise. No build-up, no official announcement, just a few shady tweets on the Undertale Twitter account and a link to an application called SURVEY_PROGRAM. The suspicious application turned out to be an entire game, something that seemed like a sequel to Undertale...?
Personally, at the time, I was not super interested in the game. I was out of the fandom at the time (and in the Eddsworld fandom), and heard of it through the only social media I had at the time, Scratch. It took me a few months to download SURVEY_PROGRAM, and when I did, it wasn't the nuclear bomb to my psyche that it would become. I enjoyed it, drew some fanart, talked about it with friends... The interest lasted a year or so, and then dwindled with time. My favourite characters were Ralsei and Lancer.


I honestly don't remember what happened, but sometime after that, I had gotten into it again. I think around 2021? My memory of 2020-2022 is really fuzzy, but I remember I watched the 6th Undertale anniversary stream when it happened, so I must have gotten back into it at some point... But that's enough about my history with this chapter! It's time for my current thoughts.


Favourite Tracks: Vs. Susie, The Legend

Favourite Encounters:

Favourite Dark World Characters:

Favourite Area: Field





What do I think of Chapter 1 now? I think it's a perfectly great start to the game. It's fluffy and exciting enough to get you pumped for a new quest. Ralsei leads you through the world and describes your purpose as a hero of legend, and the formula becomes obvious to the player. You discover a dark world, dive into it, make friends and defeat darkners, and seal the fountain at the end of your journey. However, it has juuust enough to show that something deeper is happening. The intro sequence where a mysterious voice speaks to you, a jester driven mad with dark knowledge, and the mystery of where these fountains are coming from.

This chapter makes me very nostalgic. It's cute. I also really enjoy the almost Alice in Wonderland aesthetic that it has going on, the colour palette is super iconic. And Susie's character arc is built up and executed so well. Susie and Lancer's developing friendship is a standout, and makes me really sad that Lancer stopped having as much narrative importance. I LOVEEE Lancer in Chapter 1.


post-chapter required reading

UNDERTALE 6th Anniversary So We Play DELTARUNE Chapter 1 For Some Reason - Toby Fox and 3 dads play Deltarune . Concept art, commentary, exclusive behind-the-scenes information.

lancer from deltarune raps - This is painfully dated but it literally the perfect representation of what we were like in this fuck ass fandom in 2018.

Time Lapse Meme (Deltarune comfirmed 2) - My 12 year old brain's baby. This isn't required reading but it is hazardtoons lore.

2016 Deltarune Capture - A WBM capture of the deltarune.com website. It contains a single image that says THIS NEXT EXPERIMENT SEEMS VERY VERY INTERESTING, in wingdings font.