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Spoilers for Chapters 1-4

I'm just going to say it outright: this game is easy. Now, you can make your game as easy or hard as you want, but Deltarune loses some immersion for me because of its difficulty. Aside from Jevil, the Knight, and the Shadow Mantle, you can beat any boss in a couple tries at most. This would be fine if the easiest bosses weren't ones that have big story moments. The Knight, while difficult, is a scripted loss for most players. The Titan, on the other hand, is a mandatory "big moment" boss that I beat first try. I'm not going to be scared of a rock just because I can't tear it apart with my bare hands and I feel like that's what the Titan fight is. My hottest take (and probably most subjective one) is that Deltarune plays more like a visual novel than an actual RPG. Sure, the RPG elements ARE there, but since you can breeze through enemies in a couple turns you're probably going to be spending most of your time in the overworld or reading dialogue. That's fine, the game doesn't need to be mechanically complex or deep, especially if you're already invested in the story and play the game for it anyway (which is what I do) but I don't ever find myself replaying it. Only really doing so out of obligation to "get all the best items" and "prepare my save files for the next chapter".

The game also likes to introduce new mechanics instead of evolving on previous ones, which is disappointing at times. I beat Spamton NEO on my second try when chapter 2 released. I think Toby backed himself into a corner wanting to introduce the yellow soul mechanic, while also wanting to make the attack patterns easy to avoid frustration. I get it, though. While he could've introduced it earlier and then gradually ramped up the difficulty with the NEO fight being the ultimate test, it's clear he wanted the big shot yellow soul stuff to be reserved for the big shot character. I just wish something more was done. Deltarune IS an unfinished game, so there's always a hope this mechanic will come back in a more challenging way.

The same can't be said for the target system from chapter 1. It's a shame because it could've been evolved upon so elegantly. Fighting an enemy that is vulnerable to rude buster? Then make that enemy target Susie with the more difficult attacks. It can also tell you a bit about the opponent's personality depending on who they target specifically, especially if there's no gameplay reason. How cool would it have been to have the Knight target Susie and Ralsei, but never Kris? Or have Spamton NEO target Kris more than the other two? It's not a huge loss, but still makes me a little sad that we never got to see it at its full potential.

Likewise, you can say goodbye to complex enemy encounters. In chapter 1, only Kris could use ACTs against enemies. This made fights drag on longer but I believe it worked because you would never encounter the same enemy too many times. Each of them felt unique enough because you had to choose personality specific actions in order to make them happy. From chapter 2 onwards, Susie and Ralsei gain the ability to increase the enemy spare meter. Now, instead of charming an enemy with specific options, there's just a meter that you have to fill. This is my least favorite change to the battle system. The whole thing with Deltarune is that your choices don't matter, but there was always that little bit of hope that MAYBE if I spare all the enemies, make friends, change fate, etc, things could end up different. Now, your choices really don't matter. Fight an enemy or spare it, the battle is over in the same exact amount of turns anyway. You aren't going out of your way to desperately try to change the ending, you're just making some meaningless choice. It completely removes any personality from the enemies, because rather than cute little flavor text that makes them like you (and, in turn, makes you like them), you just watch a yellow bar fill up until you can press spare.

I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, the overworld puzzles are BORING. For example, in chapter 1, half of the puzzles are just pushing boxes, with half of THOSE being in a straight line. But okay, it's chapter 1, it's supposed to be easy. Except chapter 2 isn't any harder. The puzzles are a different flavor, but it doesn't force you to think a whole lot harder than chapter 1. Chapter 3 doesn't have puzzles unless you wanna count the entire Legend of Tenna segment as one. The segment isn't even mildly difficult, most of it is just walking around. And now, four chapters in, the puzzles are still as easy as they were in chapter 1. You walk through a section, avoid enemies or getting hit, click a button, get a music sheet that you memorize (except you don't, because the game just shows you the code you just got at the piano you have to play it), and then walk back and play the notes and then boom: puzzle beaten. If the puzzles are going to stay the same with a different coat of paint each chapter why even have them at all? What purpose do they serve that couldn't be filled by a larger room or, you know, an enemy encounter? I do like the moving bookshelf puzzle, though.

Not everything sucks though. The bullet patterns are designed well enough that it never feels unfair. If you get hit, it's on you. The TP system is also well designed, rewarding good bullet hell gameplay with turn-based mana. Some fans think the game should give the characters new spells to learn, but I don't think it's necessary. You already have your high damage spell, your healing spell, and your pacify spell. Adding more spells would just clutter up the spell menu and there wouldn't be a reason to use them over others. One of the most well-designed mechanics in the entire game is the warning from chapter 1. You had to play around the fact that Susie wants to beat up darkners, and, if you wanted to spare them (which you had an incentive to do back then), you'd have to warn the opponent first before doing your ACTs. This made fights longer, which was okay because there were enough attacks to keep it from feeling stale. It showed that Susie was a detriment to your party through gameplay alone. That's it. That's all I have to say.

Update: CHAPTER 5 IS FUN AS F $ # % !!!