Deltarune is a game about system settings.
A long time ago I was a high school student. Not particularly smart, not particularly cool, not particularly ambitious, not particularly popular, not particularly anything. On the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle scale of personality models I didn't fall into a Raph, Leo, Mike, or Don pie slice. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure anyone does.
I was just a person doing time. I woke up every morning to my folks telling me they are tired of having to wake me up three times every morning because I fall back asleep every time they knock on the door, and that I got my nerve getting mad at that because it ain't like they are doing it for fun, or that is what I imagine they said because I was sleeping while they spoke and it all sounded like the muppet babies teachers talking.
Then I would wake up, throw on the closest clothes to the laundry basket, hop in a van with a bunch of rando aquaintances and smoke weed in the school parking lot until it was time for the first period, then walk into class as if no one could smell it, then fall asleep in the back of class and repeat that process until the end of day bell rang oh my god I was a horrible student and this was not a lot of peoples high school experiences and I am just now realizing this. Good to know.
Anyway, I got on the yearbook staff one year because I decided I wanted to be a journalist after reading Transmetropolitan and didn't realise one of the requirements to being on the news staff was being on the yearbook staff wow I was really not an active listener back then this explains so much about me now. Good thing attention to detail is not a requirement for quality assurance or journalism. Please, Cthulu let there be a point to this story.
Oh right, I got fired from the yearbook staff for fighting. I was in the back of class on an old HP doing layout because that job required the least interaction and I only have so much bandwidth when some kid who didn't have anything to do with the yearbook staff walked into the room and slapped the dogshit out of this geeky kid. So I got up, disconnected the keyboard from the desktop and hit him with it. The keyboard, not the desktop. I'm not a monster.
I still don't know why I did it. I wasn't friends with the kid that got slapped, didn't have a history with the guy I hit and am not a person particularly into getting involved in shit that ain't got nothing to do with me. I legit don't know if I thought that the act of fighting that kid was going to make things better for me, or the kid, or anyone.
After the event I didn't become friends with the kid that got hit, actually made the whole room scared of me, they kicked me off the yearbook's staff. Made an enemy for life with the guy I hit, but that was fine, he wasn't a nice person and we were never gonna skip stones in the park. And I got suspended and the event haunted my academic career forever. That one event sent ripples through my life that have yet to subside. And I still don't understand it, it was just a thing that happened.
Ok, so, the point... the point... Oh right, the major question of Deltarune and Undertale seems to be, "Do choices matter?" I don't know, and the games don't seem keen on providing an answer. But I often wonder about my choices, why I made them, and how things would turn out if I did things differently, but how could I do anything differently if I still don't understand the importance of the moment, in the moment.
Anyway, I digress. like I said about Undertale, Deltarune is a great game but one you may not enjoy if you aren't into lo-fi graphics or reading or exploring your emotions through video game characters with emotional depth and pathos or exploring the idea that violence isn't the answer, it's just a convenient plot mechanic.
I know, information, I know. Calm down. Maybe I miss it. Also, Jobs.
The Protoculture Mixtape : Issue : People : Sundry
