I don't want to give away any of the real meat of the story for this chapter, but personally, I felt it was largely the weakest so far. It introduces a large number of new Dark World characters, but I didn't feel particularly drawn to any of them the way I did with the likes of, say, Spamton or Gerson. Further, Susie is far more "sensitive" in this chapter than just a few days of fun and adventure makes believable. Most importantly for my lore-hunting brain, though, is that the secrets revealed in this chapter range from confusing to raises-more-questions-than-it-answers. However, they do continue to add to the growing feeling that the rug under your feet is going to be pulled hard, you just can't tell yet in which way.

And for those chasing the "Weird Route"? This chapter has the absolute shortest block of content for that, but the story being told gives me chills. Undertale's Genocide route had me feeling uncomfortable as a player for the needless violence I was perpetrating. But Deltarune's Weird Route has me feeling far more uncomfortable. I am not sad at all that it was short in chapter 5; I am just very, very eager to see where it goes from here.

Each chapter so far has also added something to the gameplay as well. In this chapter, Kris and company acquire a feather which shifts the 2.5D RPG perspective to a fully 2D platformer. While in this mode, Kris can jump, swing their sword, command Ralsei to dangle from hooks to create a new platform, and command Susie to attack targets with her Rude Buster attack. This gameplay is actually incredibly fluid and feels great. The screen will occasionally lock in place and force you to play in this mode against enemies, which was also really fun. Honestly, my only complaint is that this is done so much that the typical RPG combat suffers as a result; it feels like fewer typical enemy encounters than usual, none of which are particularly difficult. Even the "secret hard-mode boss" only took me a few tries to beat.

As for graphics and music, chapter 5 maintains the same level of quality as the rest of the game. None of the songs from this chapter were particular earworms for me, but two tracks are fully vocalized (both in a manner that is actually kind of hysterical). The music and setting inside much of the Dark World follow a Japanese-inspired theme, complete with Japanese castle and ninja beetle guards.

The game runs very smoothly on the Switch 2. I did have a very little bit of lag when running across a large room in a 2.5D room, presumably while the game rendered in the content for the first time, because the lag disappeared as soon as I started running back and forth to see if it would happen again. The 2D platforming content runs as smooth as butter, which it has to in order to pull off some of the quick reflex things the game asks of you. Overall, no crashes, glitches, or other oddities to report.

As for the moral elements of this chapter, just as it may be the worst from a story perspective, it may also be the worst from a moral perspective. Language is about the same here as it is in the other chapters, with words like "d**n" and "a**" being thrown around, as well as harsher words being censored à la Q*bert ("$#&!"). God's name is taken in vain a couple times as well. There's also the typical cartoony violence, with one of the new characters being very fond of knives and wanton violence. This chapter highlights our forced control over an increasingly unwilling Kris in a manner that could be considered possession, and there is a moment that can be seen where it seems like two of the characters are committing suicide together. One of the characters also attempts to kill himself as lawful punishment for a crime he thinks he has committed, though this segment is played for laughs, and it is the player's job to try and thwart his efforts.

Then of course there's the LGBT content. There are numerous homosexual couples featured, including a very long teen romance scene between two female characters. A large amount of story time is given to characters helping one of those characters fully show her love and affection for the other. There is also a moment where a boy dresses up like a princess and says that you can be whichever, it's all in how you present yourself; there's a man who is permanently portrayed as a female ballerina and in a romantic relationship with another man; and another returning character who is very fond of the idea of being in a throuple (to the very obvious discomfort of the other two). There's even a character portrayed as a "two-spirit", where their body and soul are portrayed as two separate sentient entities with their own wants, needs, and thoughts.

All of this is what I expect, however. It's par for the course for a Toby Fox title. What I did find rather jarring was a scene where one character is praying and is approached by someone and basically told that they don't need to pray, they have everything they need to solve their problems, and what good has praying really ever done for them anyway? I'm fully aware that this game's religion is not made to directly mirror any real religion, but given that this character is not seen praying any other time before, along with the jokes made about church and religion in Chapter 4, it's beginning to feel like Toby Fox is taking swings at real life religion and those who do actually follow God.

Deltarune is still a great game overall. The gameplay is built upon in a fun new way, and the graphics and music are still great. This is the slower middle point of the story, so I didn't expect it to blow my mind on that front. On the one hand, I am so excited to see where the story goes from here and to finally have some big questions answered. On the other, I am worried that there are only going to be more digs taken at Christians along the way. I hope I am wrong. Either way, the only knowledge we have of chapter 6 right now is that Toby Fox and his crew hope to release it sometime in 2027.

- maestro_dana