To sum it up, DELTARUNE is some sort of sucessor to UNDERTALE. They share much of the cast and various concepts, although there’s no continuity between the games and it seems more like an alternate universe than anything. It carries over some ideas and elaborates upon them for a generally more polished experience.
In each of the game’s 7 (5 currently pending) chapters, Kris and their new friend Susie enter magical dark worlds that transform a room’s objects into greater locations and characters. These worlds are given form by dark fountains that are thrusted from the earth by an ambiguous Knight. The objective is to defeat each world's ruler and seal the fountains so that the imbalance of light and dark won’t bring about catastrophic, world-ending events. If you choose pacifism you may recruit darkners to join your Castle Town, or you can choose to fight to gain power.
I’m pretty indifferent about the JRPG genre. However, I took a liking to this game and its predecessor because of its unique mechanics like real-time attacks from enemies that can be avoided entirely with enough skill, and having a dynamic, meaningful choice between fighting and sparing enemies. These are welcome differences that do well to give the games their own identity. The gameplay is much improved from UNDERTALE, featuring a better menu, more complex mechanics in the battles, and faster overworld movement.
The gameplay, story and interactions throughout the game are pretty excellent, especially in a blind playthrough. I played chapter 2 when it first released which went a long way in investing me in the game. I feel like it’s a general rule of all games, but discovering everything it has to offer for yourself makes it feel more special. Unfortunately, once you’ve already gone through the game a couple of times and have seen everything from the elusive secret bosses to fascinating alternate routes, I found that a lot of it besides the battles consists of skipping through text you’ve already seen and doing simple puzzles. It’s not detrimental to my enjoyment of the game, but I definitely have the most fun playing the first time. My next proper playthrough will likely be just as the next batch of chapters launches, so I can refresh myself on the events of the existing chapters, look for updates, and then dive into the new things.
DELTARUNE has plenty for its fans to dig through and stay hooked for. Even over a year after chapter 2 and with the help of the Spamton Sweepstakes event, people are still trying to solve the many mysteries Toby Fox’s games hold. If the gameplay alone won’t keep you coming back, the admittedly deranged theory crafting community certainly might (if you're willing to take a tumble down that rabbithole). Overall, DELTARUNE is a good little game and I’m quite excited to see what comes of the next 5 chapters.