Warning: spoilers ahead
A few sleepless days during the work week. Several streamers' of material to go through. This is what happens when you've anticipated something for the past several years.
Ah yes, the long-awaited continuation of Deltarune happened...well, two weeks ago. I didn't find out until this week. Needless to say, the memes are passing around already between me and some coworkers.
According to Toby Fox himself, he released Chapter 2 of Deltarune as gesture of good will.
Regardless how you feel about the past year and half, things have been tough on almost everyone. A little free quality entertainment never hurts anyone.
Chapter 2
Once again, we return to the adventures of Kris, Susie, and Ralsei. This time, they travel to the dark world in the town's library. Except, that's not quite accurate. This chapter features Kris' classmates, Noelle and Berdley. In fact, an entire route dedicates itself
In the cyberspace of Queen's reign, there will be games. There will be memes. There will be interesting love triangles. Or is it some other polygon? There will be explosions, lots of them. In fact, explosions are the only things that have more pixels than your characters.
Most of all, there is more to Kris than the "silent protagonist" we initially thought. Oh, and Punch Out with the power of friendship.
In the end, your choices will matter, even if it didn't seem like it in Chapter 1.
Thoughts
The direction of this chapter was not how I would have expected to go. Much of the fandom had theorized that Deltarune would be about how your choices don't matter. This was clear in Chapter 1 when player choices only led to different dialogues.
In Chapter 2, your choices do matter. The fates of both Noelle and Berdley depend on them. In fact, depending on your choices, Berdley may very well be dead as he does not wake up from the Dark World.
There are constants, of course, as Noelle becomes more assertive than her usual timid self. At what cost? It can vary from gaining confidence to complete personality shift.
This chapter is also an instance where things "deviate" a little bit from what we expect from bosses. The secret boss of Chapter 2, Spamton NEO is the final encounter should you choose the darker path. That's a new twist from Toby Fox. Once again, the air crackles with freedom in this boss encounter.
Contrary to being a silent protagonist, the party members comment on Kris' demeanor. The most notable one for me was their reaction after the Spamton NEO encounter. The party noted Kris was yelling, which seemed out of character for our stoic friend.
At the end of the chapter, Kris opens up a Dark Fountain. This led to many questions. Is it possible Kris is the mysterious Knight? What exactly is the player's role seeing Kris has their disturbing outbursts?
Closing
I'm excited for the lore and story that will come in the future. If anything, I learned that there is no coincidence in Toby's games. Every detail, every reference, has a meaning. Other than that, I enjoyed this chapter's soundtrack. Toby Fox is a great composer. I would say my two favorites are the main theme for the Cyber World and the secret boss Spamton.
