3 Deltarune Theories We Have After Playing the Game

Undertale creator Toby Fox has just released a new game for free, titled Deltarune. From what we’ve played, it’s safe to say that this is going to be his follow-up to the popular indie game. That said, we still have a lot of questions after playing through it, and here are some secrets we’ve found, and theories we have about the new game.

Do be warned that we’ll be spoiling both Undertale and Deltarune, so you might want to avert your eyes if you haven’t played either game and want to go in fresh.

Deltarune Secrets and Theories

The Dark World Is a Dream

For the majority of your time in Deltarune, you’ll be exploring the Dark World, where the Darkeners dwell. This is kind of the game’s RPG land, where you’re fighting monsters while trying to make your way to the evil king and find a way back home.

However, the interesting thing about the Dark World is that it might not be a tangible place at all. After Kris and Susie return from the Dark World, they appear in the school’s supply closet once again. And if you look a bit closer, you’ll see a few familiar items scattered across the floor. There are playing cards, a chessboard —all items associated with set-pieces you’ve seen in Deltarune’s Dark World.

Not only that, when Toriel first wakes Kris up at the start of the game, you have the option to immediately jump back into bed and go to sleep. This lets you skip the beginning portion of the game and go straight to the Dark World, which lends further credibility to the theory that the Dark World is some sort of dream realm.

What does this mean? Who knows? But one thing’s for sure: the Dark World is not quite the same as the Underground we saw in Undertale. With Asriel’s presence in the Dark World, it could be some sort of realm he’s conjured up in an effort to make contact with Kris.

Deltarune Secrets and Theories

Deltarune Is a Parallel Universe

This much is made pretty obvious right from the get-go, but we figured it’d be worth bringing up anyway. At the start of Deltarune, we see that the monsters are all living in peace, with one key difference: they’re on the surface. However, Deltarune can’t possibly be a direct sequel to Undertale because there are a few discrepancies here.

Asriel is still alive and is apparently in college, Undyne doesn’t know who Alphys is, Sans and Papyrus have just moved to town, and more importantly, there are no humans in sight.

Well, aside from Kris, that is. Near the end of the game, you can talk to an NPC in the hospital and learn about his daughter’s fear of humans, and how she checks under the bed for them. If you head all the way south in town, you’ll also find a large locked door, which looks like it might lead underground.

This is just a theory, of course, but if Deltarune is indeed a parallel world, it’s possible that in this universe, the monsters are the ones roaming the surface while the humans have been trapped below.

Deltarune Secrets and Theories

Kris’ Connection to Chara

But what exactly is the purpose of the Deltarune universe? Well, if you’ve played through a Genocide run in Undertale or watched a playthrough of one, you’ll learn of the existence of Chara. They’re an evil human entity who slowly gains the power to take over Frisk’s soul at the end of the game.

Once you complete a Genocide run in Undertale, Chara becomes bound to Frisk, and they destroy the world you’re currently in before going in search of other worlds to ruin. And after completing a Genocide run, you can choose to play through the game again as a Pacifist. However, in order to see the Pacifist ending, Frisk had to give up their soul to Chara, which results in the Soulless Pacifist ending, and Chara attaining unbelievable power.

Keeping all of that in consideration, it’s entirely possible that this Deltarune universe might be a new realm that Chara is looking to invade. After all, the Deltarune application itself is called a survey, which has two meanings. The more common meaning is that it’s an application used to collect data for research purposes. But “survey” could also refer to scouting or surveying unexplored territory, and maybe that’s what we’re doing here. Chara is in search of a new world to destroy.

This brings us to the ending of Deltarune, where Kris is shown writhing in bed before he conjures up a knife to rip his own soul out and throw it into the birdcage nearby. It’s worth noting that the soul is red, which suggests that it belongs to Frisk. After that, Kris looks to the camera with an evil grin and a red glint in their eye, which is basically emblematic of Chara at this point.

So what does this mean? It means that Deltarune is an alternate universe that Chara has found after the events of Undertale’s Soulless Pacifist ending. However, Frisk (and the player by proxy) has continued to fight back against Chara, which would explain why the birdcage is dented when we first examine it at the start of the game, indicating that Frisk’s soul must have been tossed in and broken out of there multiple times.

In turn, Kris could essentially be a combination of both Chara and Frisk. It’s also no coincidence that Kris is a partial anagram of Frisk, which could be interpreted as Kris being Frisk, but with apart of them missing. With the way Deltarune ends, the rest of the game is likely going to be about the player and Frisk’s efforts to stop Chara from ruining this timeline as well, and hopefully returning the Undertale universe back to normal as we know it.

What other theories do you have about Deltarune? Let us know in the comments down below.