“The Beginning” is the first chapter of Deltarune, first released on October 31, 2018. It is distributed alongside Chapter 2 as a free demo.
Being the opening chapter, it the debut of the three main heroes, as they explore the Card Kingdom, a Dark World created in the School.
Its secret boss is Jevil.
Plot[]
SPOILER WARNING: Plot details follow.
The chapter begins with a mysterious voice instructing the player to make a vessel for a SOUL. However, upon completion, the vessel is immediately discarded, with the voice telling the player that “no one can choose who they are in this world.”
We instead play as Kris, a human teenager who lives in a town inhabited by monsters. Their mother, Toriel, drives them to school, where their teacher, Ms. Alphys, assigns the class a school project. Unfortunately for Kris, they get paired with Susie, the class bully, since the two of them both came in late.
Ms. Alphys orders Susie to get some chalk, but when she takes too long, she has Kris check on her. They find Susie eating some chalk in the hallway, and she, believing Kris will rat on her (thus getting her expelled), considers tearing their face off, but ultimately decides against it. Instead, she suggests they both look for some more chalk in the closet.
The closet proves to be unnerving to both Kris and Susie, but they build up the courage to go in, but find no chalk. However, when they try to leave, the door suddenly closes shut, and the floor crumbles, causing the two of them to fall.
Kris and Susie wake up in some strange place, and their appearances are altered. They try to explore the place, but are suddenly ambushed by somebody. The two escape to an abandoned town, where they meet a cloaked figure.
The figure introduces the prince of the place they’re in. He explains that they are in a Dark World, and that the three of them are the heroes in the Legend of Delta Rune, who are destined to seal the Dark Fountains and banish the Angel’s Heaven. Recently, a new Fountain has appeared, and therefore they must seal it. However, just as the prince finishes explaining, he is suddenly attacked by Lancer, a spade-like Darkner who has been sent to stop the heroes. He is defeated by Kris and Susie.
Afterwards, the prince suggests the three of them set off to seal the fountain. However, Susie wants nothing to do with the prophecy, and goes off on her own, leaving Kris and the prince, who we learn is named Ralsei, to do so themselves.
Eventually, the two catch up to Susie, who joins the party. However, she proves to be uncooperative, always attacking every enemy they come across despite Ralsei’s suggestions to spare them. Eventually, Ralsei criticizes her actions, causing her to realize she’s been a bad hero. So instead, she decides to join Lancer in being one of the bad guys. Of course, Kris and Ralsei later defeat the two, so Susie rejoins the party, along with Lancer.
As the heroes draw closer to the castle, Lancer becomes conflicted about helping his new friends. He doesn't want them to fight his father, the King, and suddenly leaves. When the three get to Card Castle, they are suddenly ambushed and locked up in the dungeon. Kris and Ralsei are locked up together, while Susie is separate.
With Kris' help, Susie manages to escape her cell, but overhears Lancer ordering a guard to make sure the heroes never get out (especially the "purple girl"). Enraged by Lancer's betrayal, Susie attacks him, only to miss the last attack when Lancer doesn't fight back. The two reconcile, and Susie promises Lancer she and the party won't hurt the King. She frees Kris and Ralsei, and the team proceeds to confront the King.
When the Lightners eventually make it to the top of the castle, they see Lancer attempting to reason with his father. When King asks Lancer if the Lightners were disposed of, he is enraged when he learns that they are still alive, even more so that his son has befriended them. When he notices the heroes' presence, he picks up his son and threatens to throw him off the roof if they refuse to bow to him. Lancer, however, manages to attack his father from behind, causing him to drop Lancer and giving him a chance to escape. The heroes then proceed to fight King.
Eventually, after enough fighting, King has had enough. He explains that he has not always been the way he is, and wishes to live in peace with the Lightners again. He never wanted to have a war against the Lightners. When Ralsei heals King's wounds, however, he attacks the heroes, knocking them down. King then picks up Kris, saying that quiet people "piss him off." Before he can land the finishing blow, however, he is attacked by Susie (who also said the exact thing to Kris in the beginning of the chapter), warning him to put Kris down.
Depending on the route the player is doing, the fight will end in one of two ways.
- If the player defeated at least one enemy through FIGHTing, Ralsei will use the opportunity to cast his Pacify spell on King, putting him into a deep sleep. Lancer then shows up, claiming that the Darkners are trying to barge through the door, and that Kris and Susie better leave.
- If the player defeated everyone with MERCY, including warning them about Susie, Susie will distract King long enough for Lancer to show up, who had gathered the minions that King mistreated. Lancer will then announce that he's overthrowing his father, and promptly throws him into the dungeon.
Either way, Kris and Susie go off to seal the Fountain, and suddenly wake up in an unused classroom in the school. The room is full of cards, toys and board games that resemble the Dark World and the characters they met, leading Susie to wonder if it was all a dream. But they agree to return to the Dark World the next day, and head home.
That night, Kris suddenly gets out of bed, rips out their SOUL, and throws it in a birdcage (inside the cage, the SOUL can be moved around by the player). Kris then goes to the center of the room and takes out a knife, glaring at the player with a menacing grin, ending the chapter.
Spoilers end here.
Characters[]
Main[]
Minor/Supporting[]
- Jevil (debut)
- Rouxls Kaard (debut)
- Clover (debut)
- Seam (debut)
- Noelle Holiday (debut)
- Berdly (debut)
- Alphys (debut)
- Undyne (debut)
- Toriel (debut)
- Asgore (debut)
- Sans (debut)
Development[]
- Main article: Deltarune#Development
Trivia[]
- Chapter 1 is called SURVEY_PROGRAM in the game Files
- At the end of the Toby Fox Anniversary Stream when he played chapter 1 in a stream, there was poppup text saying "Continue to Chapter 2" Toby Fox also revealed that the release date of chapter 2 was not very far away.