Toby Fox’s pet project and now-signature work, Undertale, is one of the most notable examples of an indie gaming success in the 2010s. Having developed almost the entire game by himself, Fox was met with overwhelming praise, and not without reason. Undertale’s unique approach to deconstructing the RPG genre has become iconic and influential, credited with spawning more indie games with Mother-like aesthetics. Unsurprisingly, Toby Fox was not done with game development after seemingly releasing his magnum opus. A couple of years after Undertale’s release, the first chapter of Deltarune came out, receiving acclaim similar to that of Undertale.
Unlike Undertale, Deltarune strives to be more straightforward. Counterparts of Undertale’s famous routes were eventually introduced, but do not function in a complicated way like their predecessors. The gameplay is much more like a traditional RPG, with the presence of a party. Lastly, Deltarune stars completely different characters in a setting that can only be described as a parallel universe, related to Undertale. Despite the obvious similarities between the two games, Deltarune is still a standalone work. Any connections to Undertale have been ambiguous for the most part. The game should aspire to continue this creative decision and tell its own story.
Undertale References in Deltarune’s Story
As mentioned before, Deltarune is a game that is closely related, but nonetheless independent of Undertale. The game incorporates several elements from its unofficial predecessor’s premise. This is reflected through a few members of the cast. While the likes of Susie, Noelle, Berdly, and Lancer are completely original and have roles that deviate from what Undertale has established, there are a couple of characters from Deltarune with vague relations to the Undertale cast.
Kris, whose name is a clear reference to “Frisk” (the canon name of Undertale’s protagonist), lives with their adoptive family, the Dreemurs. This family most notably includes Toriel, one of the first major characters to be introduced in Undertale. Additionally, while Kris is seemingly based on Frisk in terms of their appearance and personal life, their nightmare-inducing “episodes” with the SOUL mirror The Fallen Human and Frisk’s relationship. To top it all off, Chara, the aforementioned Fallen Human, was adopted by the Dreemur family, just like Kris in Deltarune.
Ralsei, whose name is an anagram of important but spoiler-heavy Undertale character Asriel, is clearly meant to invoke a sense of familiarity. Although Ralsei is a goat boy like his namesake, the connections end there. As of Chapter 2, Ralsei’s role is undoubtedly a positive one, but his motives and what he truly knows about the game’s world remain to be seen. Despite remaining rather mysterious, Ralsei shares Asriel’s pre-Undertale innocence. However, the connections are clearly only thematic, and Ralsei will hopefully develop into an even more fleshed out individual that with an independent role from the Dreemurs, despite his appearance.
If the player decides to explore the monster town in Deltarune, other characters from Undertale will show up. For example, Alphys is shown teaching Kris, Noelle, and Berdly’s class. Undyne is a police officer instead of a misanthropic one-eyed warrior, while Sans owns his own grocery store. Their personalities are generally the same as their Undertale counterparts, with the differences being products of their circumstances. Alphys is still passive and nerdy, Undyne remains bombastic, Sans keeps his trademark lower case dialogue as well as his cheeky and laidback attitude, while Toriel is the motherly figure fans love.
The reason why Deltarune brought these characters back is currently unknown, both in and out of universe. It is possible that Toby Fox reintroduced these characters to please Undertale fans without any deeper meaning, especially due to the game’s approach to RPGs being the complete opposite of Undertale’s.
However, some aspects like Kris having Chara-like outbursts and being part of the Dreemur family, and Sans knowing about different “timelines” could imply that Deltarune takes place in one of many “saves” from Undertale. Although interesting, these tidbits should just be that; small references to the original game that fans will appreciate. While Kris’ relationship with the Dreemurs will most likely be explored, diving into the other cameos could densify the game for nothing.
The remaining chapters of Deltarune will be released together, so fans will likely wait for a long time, leading to inevitable theorizing. That being said, the game would suffer if most of its connections to Undertale become less ambiguous as time goes on. Deltarune thrives by being tonally and aesthetically similar to Undertale, while establishing its own identity. Said identity is partially based on its Undertale-related roots, but too much emphasis would neuter the game’s individuality.
Deltarune is out now for PC, PS4, and Switch.