Review for Delta Rune. PC game, Expected to be released in 2018
Toby Fox is one of the nicest and most ambiguous figures on the world indie scene. Through his debut title as a developer, Undertale, he has managed not only to achieve success beyond all expectations, but also to affirm his character, becoming in his own way an icon in the gaming market. The authoritativeness of this developer consists of a strong non-sense humor (in addition to the strong use of metanarrative) that he brings both within his works and in everything that goes around him: twitter account, trailers, merchandise etc ...
When, a few days ago, Toby Fox started giving clues about the release of Delta Rune, he was not taken seriously by many; yet on October 31st a site appeared from which a “Survey_Program” could be downloaded for free, which would later turn out to be nothing more than the new Fox project. The author asked to wait 24 hours before speaking openly about the contents of this program, and in the respect we have towards his initiative we have decided to wait a couple of days before talking about this Delta Rune.
Anyone who has already finished what the Survey_Program contains may wonder why we chose to review it. The best way to answer this question is by explaining to those who do not know what we are talking about what is contained in that program. Survey_Program turned out to be nothing more than an entire playable chapter of Delta Rune, anagram of Undertale, next project by Toby Fox. This chapter 1, however, is not to be confused as a normal teaser or a demo: Survey_Program offers from 3 to 5 hours of play, reaching the same longevity as the original Undertale. Although therefore the game ends with a clear cliffhanger, we decided to review it given the good longevity and the amount of elements worthy of an analysis.
Delta Rune is a title that aims a lot to be a sort of "Undertale 2", this not so much for the general story or gameplay - elements that have changed a lot compared to the title mentioned - but for the presence of many characters from Toby Fox's previous work ., although they play, for now, a marginal role in the narrative. The protagonist we're going to check is different from the one seen in Undertale, as is every character with relevance in the self-concluding plot of this first game chapter. Nevertheless the narrative formula offered by Delta Rune is extremely similar to Undertale and shows the clear signature of Fox, with funny and naive villains who accompany the protagonist's adventure more as companions than as opponents. The typical humor of the author shines particularly in Delta Rune, where non-sense dominates most of the dialogues, still being very acute and intelligent in every context.
The sector where an enormous evolution can be highlighted is that of gameplay. Undertale's combat system meets much more classic elements resulting in a compelling and extremely interesting formula. First of all the protagonist will now be able to count on a party consisting of a dps, a tank and a healer, who will be able to use specific spells by consuming the TP bar, which fills up with every action performed during the battle. The combat system remains virtually unchanged in its structure, which allows you to choose between attack, action, object and escape, which results in a bullet-hell section that represents the enemy attack to be dodged. However, there have been small changes to adapt this formula to the presence of a party with tanks and healers, with the possibility therefore to heal or weaken enemy attacks. In fact, now the bullet-hell sections are much more difficult than in Undertale: in this chapter 1 we happened to run into a couple of game overs between optional bosses and final bosses, something that in Fox's first job didn't happen until final bars. The party structure is present for a very specific reason: it must be used in the best possible way to overcome the obstacles that the game proposes.
The graphic style of these battles has also evolved, passing from an Earthbound-style menu to one more similar to Final Fantasy, which shows enemies and allies on the same battle change. It seems trivial, but it is these stylistic choices, these trifles, that allow a title like Delta Rune to have its own identity despite the similarities with Undertale. Being able to give an identity to a pseudo-sequel to Undertale was not an easy job: the risk of a more of the same was real, yet Fox has turned the situation around with aesthetic gimmicks like this.
Another very important aesthetic detail is the use of colors: the color palette used is not only different from that of Undertale, but is very suitable for the atmosphere of the title, creating settings that we preferred to those of the predecessor. Different speech for the music: Delta Rune has a great soundtrack, but the impression we got is that Toby Fox is saving the 90 pieces for future chapters. If we have to find a flaw in Delta Rune, this lies in the design of characters and enemies, often very simple and sometimes even unsuitable for the setting in which they are inserted.
Delta Rune came out with expectations of being "Undertale 2" and, in a way, it is. The style and soul of Undertale are present, as well as being set in the same universe, but they are more connected by both being born out of the fantasy of Fox who has an attempt to be a true sequel to Undertale. If Delta Rune turns out to be a sequel, then it's the kind of sequel we prefer: brave to innovate and with its own identity. Toby Fox's new ideas are fully promoted and the narrative manages to introduce adorable characters into a simple but interesting story, crowned by a cliffhanger that has left us stunned and eager to applaud for the developments it can bring. In short, Delta Rune starts off on the right foot, so much so that we are faced with a title that could become the next independent giant in the market.
► Delta Rune is an Action-type game developed and published by Toby Fox for PC, Expected to be released in 2018
