As someone who doesn’t know what the hell Homestuck is, I can say that there is some stellar writing that breaks the fourth wall and reaches out to the player in a very real and impactful way — because it often does so without being tongue-in-cheek about it.


The idea that the game’s writing makes the player reflect on the “routine” actions that they have taken while playing is just sublime. Here I am playing Undertale, thinking it’s just a weird RPG with some janky sprites, and suddenly I get to the end and it’s explained to me that I am a monster for annihilating all of the denizens of this world, when mercy was always an option.


I was just playing the game the way I’d been conditioned to play RPGs, and that is where the brilliance of Undertale came in.


With Deltarune, Ch.1 it was less about that, and just more about the writing being well done, and operating under the notion that Deltarune will mirror Undertale — which wasn’t the case. In fact, very little ended up different based on what we did; however Chapter 2 broke from that and took us back to the metaphysics of Undertale — the game subtly nudging observant players with: “Kris called out for help” changing to “You called for Noelle” — making it very clear to those players that “You” — the player — were responsible for what was happening in this world.


At one point it is even possible to see the protagonist crack under this pressure, if the player opts to tell allies that they (Kris) are fine, when really Kris is having a lot of trouble with what has just occurred.


It requires a bit of disconnecting from the logical side of your brain and letting the creative/philosophical part kind of take reins. When you allow yourself to accept that characters in fiction exist in their world and believe that they are as real as you or I believe we are in this world — and that we are simply puppeteers or voyeurs: controlling or watching without impunity — without reproach or remorse… well then you’re in the right mindset to enjoy what this game has to offer.


TL;DR – Philosophical greatness.