What's this? Two blog posts in one day? That's a new record (I
think).
Last year, I attempted to live-post about my experiences with
Deltarune's latest chapters at the time. However, after a while, I
started to noticed how quickly I was burning myself out: from
playing, to cropping screenshots, to drafting thoughts, to laying
them out on a webpage. While it captured my excitement at the time,
it no doubt contributed to my exhaustion with writing up blog posts,
and I didn't follow up with Chapter 4 as promised until a year
later.
So for this year, I wanted to try a new strategy, starting with
taking notes as I played, and polishing them up afterwards for
publication. I feel like this will be a healthier way of engaging
with the game as it gives me plenty of time to write about
afterwards instead of marathoning half-written thoughts for a
self-imposed deadline.
However, I wanted to keep the predictions around as I thought they'd
be fun to look back at to see how much I got it right and wrong.
That's what this post is about.
After replaying Chapters 3-4, I've made several predictions (or
theories as the cool kids say) and I figured "I have a blog sitting
around, why not use it to its full potential?" So here they are.
Predictions for Chapter 5 specifically
Asgore boss fight. This one
seems like a safe bet. Not to mention how ecstatic I'd be to hear
his boss theme again. It would be heartbreaking too if we had to
defeat him as Kris.
Solo boss fight with Ralsei.
I've seen a couple animations after 3+4 released last year, and I
think it'd be a cool parity to match up Kris and Susie having to
fight on their own. We never really had to fight with Ralsei,
either, so this would be a good way to show what he's truly
capable of doing on his own. As for who gets to fight him alone,
Asgore would be an interesting pick, but I'm not sure if we can
have both a chapter end fight against him and a solo (Shadow
Crystal) one.
Hometown will be engulfed in darkness.
Due to info from the most recent email ARG, as well as other clues
on the deltarune.com site, probably not, but it was in the back of
my mind since last year. What if the charred garden foreshadowed
by Gerson is in reference to this?
Sans's true purpose in Hometown will be revealed.
Anyone who's kept up with the secrets in Undertale will know about
the strange invention in Sans and Papyrus's house back in Snowdin,
unlockable by returning to talk to him in the Last Corridor.
Initially, I thought Chapter 5 would've been too early to reveal
this kind of connection, but if a Titan can show up halfway
through the story, why not this detail as well? Plus, the secret
invention room in Undertale does kinda look like the convenience
store in Deltarune, from the perspective of behind the cash
register.
The rest of these predictions I've been brewing since last year,
especially after Chapter 4. I will agree some of these are a bit
far-fetched, but what's a little exaggeration gonna do when making
predictions up? Especially when we're nearing the end of the game's
development. They're meant to be fun, and I'd love to be proven how
wrong some of these are.
Predictions for the rest of the game
Papyrus will either be
not found in this universe, or
he will have
a radically different personality
compared to his Undertale counterpart (probably taken from his
proto design from the Undertale art book). This could be used to
drive the separation between Undertale and Deltarune even more as
well as to suggest that something is clearly wrong to the player.
There is more than just one Knight.
We still don't really know how the Knight works, but it's evident
that some characters are in on Dark World shenanigans: Kris,
Asgore with a Shadow Crystal, Carol with the bunker. If it's
possible to masquarade one's form in the Dark World, then maybe I
can see this happening. Would it be a little deflating? Maybe. But
I dunno; I'm still thinking back to the closet door in the church
after fighting the Titan in Chapter 4, and how it both mentions
how a large person can fit inside of it, as well as Kris refusing
to open it. Obviously Kris doesn't want the SOUL/player to know
any more info about their actions, so maybe they knew someone was
hiding inside of the closet (maybe someone like Asgore?). I'm not
mad if it does turn out to be one person (or even Dess, as many
people suspect), but we simply need more info on this.
The Cell Phone will be necessary for one cutscene toward the end
of the game.
Probably as a means of contacting the mystery/forgotten man? Or
some higher being perhaps.
Something about Susie being able to control Kris and Ralsei's game
controllers in Ch.3 has me thinking whether
she'll become the main protagonist
at one point. I've seen a couple fan animations about this idea as
well, and yeah it'd be pretty cool to see. Though, the scenario
for this to happen (a higher power removing the soul, Kris
betraying the Fun Gang, etc.) is still unclear.
Noelle is the final boss of Deltarune.
This only really fits with the actions performed in the Weird
Route, and perhaps a reading one can derive from the tragedy panel
Susie shattered in Ch.4. But given the whole speech from Queen in
Ch.2 about finding a peon, it might be more likely than one might
think. Again, no real evidence aside from Weird Route.
Susie will be the final boss of Weird Route.
Throughout the game, she's developing into a true hero (not unlike
Undyne's role in Undertale). She has hope written in her heart,
and would stop anyone from committing any more atrocities. Would
that be tested if the resulting tragedy came from the hands of one
of her best friends? It would be heartbreaking for sure, but
ultimately, we are the threat to this world, and if that
means stopping a fellow ally through any means necessary (it's the
player's fault but Kris is the one who faces consequences), then
this prediction might be possible.
In addition,
a future fight Vs. Susie will use Megalovania as her boss theme.
I don't really want to entertain this one, partially because I've
yet to listen to a remix that I click with, and part because she
already has her own theme. It's true that Toby Fox has allowed
Megalovania to be used as the climax of a character's story (be it
Vriska (I'm only assuming for this one), Dr. Andonuts (fanon),
Sans), but would the trend continue in Deltarune? I'm not sure. It
would definitely keep the distinction between the two games if he
ditches it, that's for sure. Maybe I'll warm up to it if I catch
wind of a remix I like.
Some sort of "lock-on" detection could be implemented for
detecting Undertale save files.
I'm not sure how possible this one is. Does Steam and console
manufactorers still allow games to detect saves of other games? If
so, then this would be pretty simple. If not, maybe this is too
convoluted to be taken seriously as a prediction.
Probably my hottest take:
all routes of Deltarune will end the same way;
however,
the interpretation to them is what's different.
There was a story I remember reading in high school (I believe it
was Beowulf?), and in it was a person who spoke in equivocations.
It's a logical fallacy, so you can interpret his words one way or
the other, making him technically correct about anything you
discuss with him.
Thinking back to this dubious panel in Undertale's CORE while
writing this out.
This might be reading into the Prophecy and how there is only one
ending, as well as the "your actions don't matter" messaging
established earlier into the game, too literally. But it'd be
interesting to see how an ending that open-ended can be crafted,
one which can be read as good or bad (not unlike Mother 3, which
has a similar ending). For example, a hypothetical ending of the
game can end with the words "and so Hometown is left quiet," with
one route of the game reading it as a town left in peace and
harmony, and another as an abandoned residential area.
Well, there you have it. This is about as public as I'm going to be
in making predictions for this game. I know many people are tired of
hearing about others' convoluted reasonings, and I get that. But as
long as you aren't insisting that yours is correct and everyone else
isn't, it's fine to get a bit silly with them sometimes.
That's the beauty of making these: a work of art has made an impact
on you so much that you're just trying to see where you can connect
the dots. And whether you get it right or wrong, you're still
exercising your brain with thoughful reasoning. It's a good time.
Thanks for entertaining my thoughts lol. I hope to see you now once
Chapter 5 has been beaten 👋
BUT NOT BEFORE MAKING ONE LAST PREDICTION
GASTER WILL BE REAL.
HE'S GONNA SHOW UP AFTER THE CREDITS, WAITING FOR YOU TO ENTER A
SECRET CODE BEFORE REVEALING
THE TRUER LAB. INSIDE YOU'LL COME ACROSS SANS,
PAPYRUS, DECEMBER, DIRTY BROTHER, AND BABY BONES, AS THEY TRY TO
MERGE THE TWO TIMELINES TOGETHER, BUT NOT BEFORE DESTROYING YOU
FIRST FOR KNOWING TOO MUCH. GASTOR WILL GO
