XCOM 2, skillful tactics and deadly luck: A review

 I actually wrote a completely different review of X-COM 2 over four years ago, and never published it. I never will, since it was incredibly poor quality and I am a professional with standards. So I'm writing a new review for XCOM 2 and doing it better than I did originally, if only to do this game justice. So with that out of the way, let's begin.

So what is XCOM 2? Well, it's the sequel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which in turn is a reboot of X-COM: UFO Defense. From what I understand the whole franchise was published by 2K Games, but only the "modern" XCOM games were developed by Firaxis. This game got a pseudo-sequel spin-off game titled XCOM: Chimera Squad. While Firaxis has not currently said anything official on the matter, rumors are spreading that a hypothetical "XCOM 3" game is in the works. Even though Firaxis is currently working on a licensed strategy game titled Marvel: Midnight Suns at the moment. That much is public knowledge. Anyway, the concept of the franchise is simple. You play the role of the leader of a private military organization called XCOM, which is dedicated to protecting humanity from extraterrestrial and supernatural threats. Basically, think of XCOM as being the unholy love child of S.H.I.E.L.D. from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Men in Black. Unfortunately, the only game I have played is XCOM 2, so I cannot speak for the quality of the other games in the series.

XCOM 2 takes place 25 years after the events of the bad ending of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, but don't worry, you don't need to play the first game to understand the story so long as you know the basic concept (bad guy aliens took over Earth, take it back). But let's do a more detailed recap anyway, for prosperity's sake. In XCOM: Enemy Unknown, XCOM mounted a secret war against these psychic aliens led by these creatures called the Elders. In that game's bad ending, XCOM fails to stop the invasion from becoming public, and the Commander (that's your character, by the way) is kidnapped by the aliens. 25 years later, the aliens, now calling themselves ADVENT, have successfully taken over the entire planet. Every global superpower either surrendered to protect their people or were destroyed outright for resisting. But the dream is not dead, for a small group of rebels (most of whom are either survivors of the first game's war or are said survivors' now grownup children) plan to rebuild XCOM from scratch. But every rebellion needs a Commander. So Central Officer Bradford (who was your second-in-command before everything went to the pits) mounts a rescue operation to save the Commander, who was being psychically tortured this whole time, forced to relive the war over and over in a loop for 25 whole years. How the Commander is even sane at this point is beyond me. What's worse was that ADVENT was using your character's military genius to augment their own soldiers, hence why the rebellion struggled to gain any real footing prior to your rescue.

The rescue op is actually the game's tutorial, walking you through the basics of combat. XCOM 2, like all other games in the series, is turn-based. You move across the map on a board-like grid. Every character in the game has two actions they can perform. They can shoot, move, reload, or use a class-specific skill or ability. Unless an ability explicitly states that it requires both action points, you can use your two actions in any combination you like. You can move and shoot, shoot and reload, use an ability and run away, move twice, or any combo you'd like. The blue outline pictured above shows everywhere the currently selected soldier can run to, using only one action. Moving your cursor outside that outline brings up a second, yellow outline. This shows everywhere you can run to if you use both actions. If you end your turn directly behind certain objects in the environment, you will get a cover bonus. This bonus will make you harder to shoot and reduce the damage on enemy attacks. How much of a cover bonus you get is based on the size of the object in question. A bench for example only provides a half-cover bonus, so it won't protect as well as, say a wall or the side of a truck.  Make sense? I hope so, this game can get pretty complex pretty fast, but that's honestly part of the charm.

The rescue op/tutorial is scripted so that two of your soldiers will get killed off by the end, leaving Central Officer Bradford, starter-character Jane Kelly and yourself as the only survivors. And this is where the XCOM franchise's infamous reputation comes in. This game is hard. Because it's a roguelike. It's difficulty is a selling point. But most importantly, if any one of your soldiers' health hits zero, they are dead, and will stay dead for the rest of the game. Even if you win the battle. The only saving grace is that you can eventually unlock an upgrade for your soldiers called "Stay With Me" which will allow your soldiers to survive one lethal attack with a single hit point remaining (Stay With Me works only once per soldier, per battle, so any lethal attacks after that first one gets blocked will kill). So you have to accept the possibility that one wrong move, one bad strategy, or even just a stroke of bad luck can take away your favorite characters, FOREVER. Is it stressful? Yes. Is it fun? For me, the answer is yes, because I live for that kind of high-stakes strategic combat. It makes your close calls more meaningful, and your losses sting more than they would have if this game was easy. You can adjust the difficulty at the beginning of each playthrough, but keep in mind that it cannot be changed after the fact. If you go in on easy mode (called Rookie mode here) and decide the game is too easy, well too bad, you're going to have to start a whole new playthrough if you want to change it. A major inconvenience, but again, this is a roguelike. But I personally like the high-stakes nature of XCOM 2. It results in some awe-inspiring moments that sometimes feel straight out of an action movie. I still remember this one incident when my Sharpshooter (basically a sniper) got knocked off a three story building and barely survived the fall with one hit point remaining (meaning one more attack from anything will kill), only to get attacked by a very dangerous enemy type known as a Lancer. Despite having every possible advantage, every possible opportunity to kill her, the Lancer somehow missed his attack, and my Sharpshooter was free to limp to safety while the rest of the squad gunned the Lancer down. The mere knowledge that had things played slightly different, my Sharpshooter would be dead where she stood, that's the real magic of XCOM. You care about your soldiers, either because you made them all yourself, or because of scenarios like this. You know these guys aren't invincible. You know that all it takes for one of your soldiers to go down is one mistake; one missed shot, one wrong turn around the corner. Yes, even a stroke of bad luck outside of your control can wipe away your whole squad. The best you can do is prepare for the worst, and pray it never comes to pass.

The soldiers you use, with the exception being Jane Kelly since she's a premade character, are randomly generated and customizable. You can create your own characters and put them into the game, changing their skin tone, gender, hair, facial features, fashionable accessories (such as sunglasses and masks) and even their language/accent, nationality and personality. There's even a biography option, letting you write custom backstories for all of your characters. I love this system. It's simple, but allows for some distinct character designs. My Ranger (a laid back and carefree Australian woman with a wolf tattoo and stylish headband) didn't look or act anything like my Specialist (who was a stoic British man who kept his hoodie up to hide his scar-covered face). And when you're making four-to-six man teams, you want them to be distinct from each other. And if your characters survive a certain number of missions, they can get tattoos and battle scars to show how far they've grown since joining the rebellion.

Every soldier in your rebellion is assigned a class. Classes determine what kind of weapons and abilities a character can use, but when leveling up your squad (done by completing, or at least surviving missions and killing enemies), you're always given a choice between two new skills. Because of this, two soldiers of the same class might have radically different fighting styles because took different sets of skills while they were training. While the skills can be mixed and matched to your heart's content, some skills are meant to be used in conjunction with others. For example, Rangers get to choose from a list of skills that enhance either their stealth abilities or their swordsmanship. The Blade Master skill for example boosts the power and accuracy of all of your melee attacks. Blade Storm allows your Ranger to make a free melee attack at any enemy that runs towards you. And yes, the Blade Storm ability does receive the damage and accuracy boost from Blade Master. And then there's Reaper Stance, where a Ranger can get a free Action every time they kill an enemy with a melee attack (meaning, so long as you keep killing with melee attacks specifically, your Ranger can keep their turn going essentially forever). Again, if you plan on using Reaper Stance, you might as well grab Blade Master to make your melee attacks deadlier. The other classes are balanced this way as well. Well, except for one. 

The Psi Operative is the most unique class in the entire game, and is completely overpowered once it gets going. And yes, this one class is such a show stealer that it needs its own section in the review. This class is not available right away, but once you build a Psi Lab for your base (more on that later) you can start training your soldiers into becoming Psi Operatives. Now, this class has two main gimmicks. The first is that you have access to all the crazy psychic powers that ADVENT has been using the whole game, letting you give the aliens a taste of their own medicine, so to speak. And the second, which makes this class potentially better than all others combined, is that you don't need to put your Psi Operative in any real danger to level it up. You see, the Psi Operative can continue training from within the safety of the Psi Lab as long as you want with no penalty. Leave them in the Psi Lab long enough, and they can eventually learn every single possible skill that is available to them, all without even once setting foot on the battlefield. The other classes have to spend (in-game) months, sometimes years being beaten and hardened by the brutality of warfare to become powerful. The Psi Operative just has to soak in a funky psychic jacuzzi for a few weeks to not only reach that same level of power, but surpass it. Psi Operatives don't abide by the rules of the other classes, and are obscenely strong because of it. It takes a great amount of restraint and discipline to not just turn every available recruit into a Psi Operative and run several teams of just Psi Operatives once the option becomes available. 

One criticism I will make of the game's combat is that the way accuracy is calculated is rather odd. Basically, XCOM 2 does not calculate the accuracy of your weapon by distance. It instead calculates it by the following factors. Whether the soldier taking the shot can physically see the target, whether or not the target has any kind of cover bonus, the soldier's own Aim stat, any kind of accuracy bonus granted by being in stealth (or using a weapon with a scope attached), any kind of Dodge stat that the target may or may not have and finally, whether or not you have a flanking bonus (shooting from the side or from behind). Because of this, you get odd situations where point-blank shots defy the laws of physics and somehow miss their target completely simply because something in the calculation was in the target's favor. Basically, moving closer to your target will NOT boost the accuracy of your next shot, but doing things like flanking or destroying enemy cover with explosives will.

Combat and character customization are only parts of the game, and the last major component of the gameplay is the base management. You see, the rebellion is based inside a mobile fortress known as the Avenger. The Avenger has several rooms flooded with debris and wreckage. You can spend a few in-game days clearing the rooms out, and then build various facilities to further aid your squads. These facilities include an infirmary (which speeds up the rate at which soldiers recover from injuries), the aforementioned Psi Lab (which is used to create and train Psi Operatives), and Communication Relays. What do Communication Relays do? They allow you contact additional resistance groups across the globe. Which is important, because not only do resistance groups provide resources and potential recruits every month, but they will offer additional missions and operations that your existing soldiers can go on. Another thing to keep in mind about base management. Your resources are limited. The main currency of the game is Supplies, which represents everything a Viking militaristic rebellion needs to survive. Food, water, medicine, ammo, that kind of thing. At the beginning of every in-game month (marked by you getting a progress report from the mysterious Councilman, who is your essentially your boss) a Supply Drop will be placed somewhere on the globe (but always within rebel territory). Taking a quick detour to grab those Supplies while they last is always a good idea. Supplies can be used to build new facilities in the Avenger, buy utility items like flashbangs and med kits, and start crafting specialty armor. You can also have Dr. Tygan and his research team perform autopsies of all the different ADVENT creatures to learn more about them and to unlock even more items to craft. And finally, you can rearrange the Avenger's engineering crew to improve any of the facilities you built. Like say you desperately need to make contact with a new resistance group. but your Communication Relay is maxed out (each Relay can only stay in contact with three rebel groups at a time). You can place an Engineer in the Relay room to manage it manually, allowing you to contact more rebel groups (how many more I don't remember).  

But naturally, most missions aren't as simple as "kill all bad guys." They usually have some kind of additional objective to work on. These can be anything from escorting a VIP to an evacuation point, to hacking a computer, to rescuing a group of rebels trapped in the middle of an ADVENT purge. The vast majority of the missions introduce some kind of time limit to encourage the player to be more aggressive, which is a design choice made in direct response to a criticism of Enemy Unknown. You see, in that game, the best, most optimal strategy was to sit in a corner of the map and play very cautiously and defensively. There was nothing stopping you from doing so and and as such, "turtling" (as this tactic was called) was the safest way to start any and all combat encounters. The enemy had to fight on your terms, not theirs, and you had the advantage of getting better terrain bonuses (such as high points for Snipers). But because of all the time limits in the vast majority of XCOM 2's missions, you basically have no choice but to be aggressive and push your advantage whenever possible. Heck, the entire campaign itself is on a time limit, since you only have so long before ADVENT completes it's mysterious Avatar Project (which will eradicate all human life). You can buy XCOM more time by attacking Alien Facilities. Alien Facility Raids are pretty much the only mission type that are NOT timed in any way, so you can be as cautious and defensive as you want for once. How much time you buy is dependent on how long that specific Alien Facility has been running. So it can add anywhere between a week to a year depending on how long you let that Facility run.

But ADVENT isn't sitting on its laurels while you're out building up a resistance force, for they will improve their own forces over time. Gradually introducing newer, more advanced enemy types. Such as the Vipers, snake women who can immobilize your soldiers by constricting them, or the Archons, angelic cyborgs that fly around and attack from above. There's a plethora of different enemy types, and not only do they all look distinct from each other, but each type requires a different strategy to deal with (Vipers let go of their victims if they get blinded by a flashbang, Archons are free target practice for Snipers). And then there's Dark Events, where ADVENT can place an upgrade on preexisting enemies or hamper your squad out of combat in some way. You can stop these Dark Events by taking on Guerilla Ops, but there will always be at least two Ops available, and you only have enough time to attempt one. So it winds up as a "pick your poison" mechanic where you have to learn which Op stops which Dark Event from happening, figure out what you can live with them getting away with, and prioritize the Op that would counter whatever the more dangerous Dark Event is. Like the Dark Event that makes new recruits 25% more expensive to hire is really mundane next to the one that lets them add twice as many enemies to all mission types. Or the one that lets them speed up the progress of the Avatar Project.

And you want to know the best thing about all this? XCOM 2 has some post-release DLC (downloadable content) that further changes up the game. Sometimes, to the point that XCOM 2 with DLC feels like a completely different game than it does without DLC. To explain the DLC simply, the first one is titled Anarchy's Children. This one adds additional hair styles and outfits to customize your characters. That's it. Frankly it's the simplest DLC of the bunch and unless you somehow aren't happy with the options already provided, this DLC can be safely skipped over. After that is Alien Hunters. This DLC adds three new bosses, all of whom are crazy superpowered versions of fan-favorite enemy types from the base game (so Vipers, Archons, and Berserkers). These bosses, known as the Alien Rulers, have a chance to show up randomly in every mission. They have a literal mountain of health (and more than enough firepower to send whole squads to the infirmary, if they survive at all), but any damage dealt to them is permanent, so if you run into them in future battles, they'll start with less health. Your reward for defeating the Alien Rulers is some custom weapons and armor that emulate their abilities. This DLC is pretty neat, but it makes a hard game even harder, because you know, super bosses that can show up randomly on what should be a relatively chill mission can be a real problem. After that is Shen's Last Gift, a DLC that adds a new story mission that exists to bring closure to Lily Shen, the mechanic whose dad was killed back in Enemy Unknown. It adds a new soldier class, the SPARK. The Spark is a remote controlled robot, and is the textbook definition of a Jack of All Trades, Master of None. It fights primarily by using watered down versions of the other class's abilities, and mostly exists to fill gaping holes in your team after you've suffered a significant casualty.

And last but not least is War of the Chosen. This DLC gives a massive overhaul to the ENTIRE CAMPAIGN. New enemy types and bosses to fight. New soldier classes to play with. A new intro cinematic that explains how Bradford's resistance cell managed to track down the Commander. A new poster mechanic that allows you to make nifty propaganda posters Uncle Sam style to encourage people to join the rebellion. A new fatigue system that forces you to rotate your teams around so that everyone is trained up equally, instead of you power-leveling the same handful of soldiers you started with. New rebel factions to try and ally with, each with their own intricate cultures, lore, and philosophies. There's a new bonding mechanic where two soldiers become soulmates (whether this means they're a romantic couple or just best friends is up to your imagination) and receive a wide variety of bonuses and abilities when they fight together. There's also a new mechanic that lets you send your soldiers on solo missions that they'll do automatically while the rest of the rebellion is doing something else. And those new bosses I mentioned? They are the Chosen, the strongest aliens ADVENT can throw at you. They update their strengths and weaknesses with every encounter, forcing you to try a new strategy to take them down every time. War of the Chosen is massive, and to be honest, it changes so much of the original game that it makes you wonder why Firaxis didn't release War of the Chosen as a separate game entirely. Seriously, with just some tweaks to the overall plot, War of the Chosen could very well be the fabled "XCOM 3" in and of itself.

In terms of presentation, XCOM 2 is a good looking game. Now, it doesn't have a crazy art style and it isn't so hyper realistic that you could mistake it for real life. But the animations on your soldiers and especially the ADVENT aliens themselves are very clean and polished. I like how whenever you deal the killing blow to an alien the game switches from its usual isometric camera angle to give a more cinematic view of the attack. And the cinematic camera angles can give some downright breathtaking scenes. Imagine, one of your soldiers is badly wounded and about to die, and one of the ape-like Berserker type aliens comes barreling at your weakened soldier. But your Sniper was in Over-Watch, and they flip their rifle around and shoot the Berserker right between the eyes, causing its skinless body to tumble and flop like a pathetic fish from the momentum of its charge, and saving that wounded soldier's life. This sounds cool on paper, and the cinematic angle switch makes it even more impressive. There's also some little details that I adore, such as when attempting to shoot through a window your soldier will smash the glass with the butte of their weapon before making the shot, or how if you move indoors but forgo stealth, you squad literally kicks the door down before charging inside. There are some visual oddities however, like the aforementioned physics-defying point blank shots that can still miss their target completely. But I think that's more on the mechanics of the game not really allowing point-blank shots to be useful in general than it is a fault of the animators. I will say that I did play on PS4, and I did notice some mild performance issues, namely the framerate would stutter occasionally. Never in the middle of actual gameplay, but whenever the game finished a loading screen the frame rate would notably dip before correcting itself moments later. I'm not sure if this a problem with the PS4 port specifically or if the game itself has frame rate issues. It's hard to tell when a game obviously designed with PC in mind is then brought to consoles. But over the course of my 70+ hour campaign the only major glitch I noticed was when my game crashed. Thankfully, I had several spare save files so I didn't lose much progress. I've been told by the XCOM fandom that it's always a good a idea to have multiple save files in case the game crashes.

In regards to sound, the music is pretty inoffensive, if somewhat forgettable. It can be heroic and triumphant at times, but notably, when a mission goes horribly wrong (either you fail the objective or the squad is wiped out) the victory music is silent, letting you and the surviving soldiers reflect on their mistakes and shortcomings. The sound effects are great, such as the sound of gunfire and the otherworldly cries of the various ADVENT creatures. The voice acting is generally decent. Bradford sounds exactly how you expect him to sound like; a hardened militaristic man who just wants this war to be over already. It's a shame that his mission banter gets rather repetitive. But out of all the important characters, my favorite in terms of voice acting is the Councilman. The Councilman is voiced by none other than Jon Bailey (who is most well known for his role as the Epic Voice Guy from Honest Trailers) and steals the show with every line. He portrays the Councilman with this deep, guttural baritone that is simultaneously intimidating and hypnotic. And because of his distinct voice, his compliments when you do well in the campaign feel more genuine than they do from everyone else. Likewise, his criticisms of you for performing badly are especially impactful since you really want to stay on this man's good side, and his voice conveys that sense of power over you perfectly. I also enjoy the banter between your custom soldiers. An especially nice touch is how the soldier's accent, mannerisms, and dialogue actually change based on their assigned personality and nationality. Like the way my laid-back Australian Ranger would coyly ask "Impressed yet?" after taking down a powerful enemy with a well-placed slice from her sword will never not be charming. Or how my bubbly and energetic German Psi Operative would cheerfully say something in actual German before blasting a poor schmuck's face off with her mind. But these custom voice lines also have the power to be heartbreaking, since the soldiers have special voice lines for just about everything. An enemy sniper narrowly misses the Medic by a hare? He yells out "I'm pinned down over here!" One of the aliens try mind controlling the Grenadier? He frantically screams "Get out of my head!" And yes, they even have special voice lines for when they get injured or are even killed outright. 

In conclusion, XCOM 2 is a great strategy game. It can be rough around the edges at times, but its still an enjoyable experience. Just don't go in expecting a cakewalk. And remember, there's no shame in save scumming. But if you do save scum, you kind of owe it to yourself to at least attempt a legitimate playthrough one day. The game is very much a thrill ride at its core, and for those looking for a high-stakes roguelike, you can't go wrong with this one. But here's an interesting question. Would I recommend the DLC for this game? The answer is simple. If you really enjoyed what the base game has to offer, go for it. It's your money after all. But I would recommend doing a playthrough of XCOM 2 without War of the Chosen before playing a campaign with that DLC specifically. Not because it's a bad DLC (out of all of them I feel like it's the most worthwhile), but because it changes so much that it makes the base game feel more bare bones and watered down in retrospect. So XCOM 2 gets a "This close to Greatness!" rank from me. 

I feel like I owe long-time readers an apology, really fast. Sorry for disappearing for almost two months without a trace. The truth of the matter is that I've been feeling burnt out. It's hard to work on this hobby of mine without motivation, and as such, I tend to put off working on the blog for perhaps unreasonable lengths of time. 2021 was my least active year in a while, and I have nothing to blame save for my own procrastination and self-doubts. With that being said, I hope you enjoyed the review.

XCOM 2 is the property of Firaxis and 2K games. All images were found on Google Images. Please support the official release.

Metroid Dread, a return to form from a beloved classic. A review

 Imagine, the year is 1986. Nintendo has kickstarted the entire gaming industry, and now everyone is trying to get a piece of that video game action. So along comes Metroid, a game that stood in sharp contrast to Nintendo's usual fare. Instead of a bright and colorful fantasy adventure, like in Super Mario or Legend of Zelda. Metroid was a dark, menacing sci-fi series heavily inspired by Alien. But nonetheless, Metroid rose to the heights of similar classics of the time period, thanks to its unique sense of exploration and atmosphere. It also became well known that if you completed the game within a certain time limit, you would get an alternate ending that revealed that Samus Aran (the main protagonist of Metroid) was a woman the whole time. Keep in mind that female playable characters weren't really a thing at the time. So having a female protagonist (even if the game itself did everything it could to hide the twist) was a really big deal. Nowadays everyone with an Internet connection or a copy of Super Smash Bros knows about Samus' true identity, and as such the more recent Metroid games don't even bother keeping the secret anymore. 

Anyway, the Metroid series enjoyed a plethora of highly praised sequels, such as Metroid 2: Return of Samus, Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, and the Metroid Prime Trilogy. The series as a whole redefined exploration and character progression, and in case you couldn't tell, Metroid was one of the two games that helped create an entire genre of videogames known as the Metroidvania (the other is Castlevania). Which is coincidentally my favorite genre of video game. Shantae, Hollow Knight, Ori & the Blind Forest, all of these games (and many more) have all pulled inspiration from Metroid and without Metroid's success, those games wouldn't exist. But despite Metroid's impressive legacy, the series is not flawless. Case in point, 2010's Metroid: Other M was so controversial that it temporarily killed any interest Nintendo had in expanding the Metroid universe. That was until 2017 saw the release of Metroid: Samus Returns, a remake of Metroid 2 developed by MercurySteam, which was a big enough hit that Nintendo contacted MercurySteam and basically asked them, "Hey we heard your remake was really good, but wanna try making a brand new game from scratch?" And so MercurySteam was tasked with effectively catching lightning in a bottle twice, and started work on Metroid Dread. Fun fact! The creator of the Metroid franchise, Yoshio Sakamoto, actually had the idea for Metroid Dread's plot all the way back in 2006. The reason why Dread didn't start development back then was because at the time, there wasn't a Nintendo game system that had the kind of technical power behind it to support the scale and ambition he had in mind. So he kept putting the idea on hold... for almost two whole decades. When he got the news that MercurySteam were working on a brand new Metroid game, Sakamoto (who was brought on the project as a designer) took the opportunity to FINALLY put the plot idea he cooked up 14 years ago in action. Guess good things come to those who wait, eh?

Metroid Dread takes place some time after the events of Metroid Fusion, and serves as a kind of grand finale to all the lore and story arcs that have been going on. That said, the game still prioritizes making the actual gameplay as high quality as possible, and the game can generally be enjoyed even if you're unfamiliar with Metroid lore. Though if you want that lore anyway, here's a quick recap. Samus Aran was a little girl that was orphaned at a young age. She was adopted by the Chozo, a race of cool and mysterious crow people who also happen to be warrior-poets. The Chozo discovered a parasitic lifeform known as the X, which can mimic the appearance and abilities of any creature it assimilates. Given the X's ability to spread across an entire planet's ecosystem within minutes, the Chozo were naturally freaked out at the galaxy-ending potential the X possesses. So using their knowledge of genetic manipulation, the Chozo tribes banded together and created the Metroids, a race of jellyfish-like monstrosities that are not only immune to the X, but can also straight up eat the X to become stronger.

 But then the Metroids went rogue, and ironically became an even bigger threat than the X ever did. Metroids were designed to be the perfect beast of war and thus had no natural counter in the wild, and the Chozo tribes were slaughtered by Space Pirates before they could design something to defeat the Metroids. So armed with the last remaining weapons and armor of her people, Samus Aran hunted the Metroids to extinction and became the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy. But then these guys called the Galactic Federation discovered the Metroids' existence, and basically said, "Hey! Why don't we clone this perfect beast of war with no natural counters for our own morally dubious purposes?" So the Galactic Federation started cloning Metroids, and said clones were stolen and released by Space Pirates (the same ones that wiped out the Chozo). So Samus was hired to hunt the new Metroids to extinction again, since she's already done before and is the most qualified warrior for the job. And Samus got to avenge her space crow family while she was at it, and killed all the Space Pirates on her way out.

Now that the Metroids are officially deader than dead, the X parasite came back, and attached itself to Samus, nearly killing her. The only reason she survived was because she was injected with a vaccine made with the last remaining trace of Metroid DNA in the entire galaxy, giving her access to the Metroid's immunity to the X. And since Samus was given Chozo DNA to help her survive on the Chozo's home planet, Samus is technically a three-way hybrid between a human, a Chozo, and a Metroid. And the unique thing about Samus's armor, is that it was designed to update and redesign itself to accommodate any biological changes in the wearer. So when Samus got that vaccine, her armor began to mutate as she adjusted to her hybridized form. And this is the official explanation for why Samus's armor design changes every other game. So anyway, Samus hunts the X parasite to extinction (are you noticing a pattern?), and destroys the research station that was cloning Metroids while she was at it. Everything I just described was the plot of the original four Metroid games (the Prime series are treated as side-adventures and can be safely put just about anywhere in the timeline and still make sense, and Other M is being ignored entirely, for obvious reasons). 

Fast forward to Metroid Dread, where we get a quick primer recapping most of the lore literally five seconds after starting a new playthrough. Some time after the events of Metroid Fusion, the Galactic Federation receives a mysterious video message showing there is at least one X parasite still at large, stranded on a planet labeled Z.D.R.. So the Galactic Federation... doesn't hire Samus to deal with it. They instead send in the E.M.M.I. (pictured above), special androids designed for exploration and research, to go deal with it. And guess what? They lose contact with the E.M.M.I. just mere moments after landing on the planet, and Samus is hired to investigate the disappearance. And to the surprise of absolutely no one, it turns out the E.M.M.I. were compromised. Somebody hacked them, and now they are spooky killer robots that can easily overpower Samus Aran herself if she's not careful. 

To make things harder for Samus, she gets ambushed by a mysterious, rogue Chozo warrior five minutes after arriving on the planet. And the fact that a Chozo is alive and well at all is a big deal, since they were wiped out by the Space Pirates years before Dread takes place. Samus puts up a good fight, but said Chozo warrior eventually knocks her out, and strips her armor down to all but the most basic functions. Basically forcing Samus to start from square one as she tries to escape the planet. It's here that the game officially starts, with Samus having only a simple energy blaster, some basic missiles, and a melee counter. You control Samus with some classic side scrolling, run and gun platformer/shooter gameplay as you slowly work your way back to the planet's surface, collecting upgrades for Samus's armor as you progress. And in typical Metroid fashion, you often need to revisit older areas that you already explored when you get a new ability, since there are usually secrets to be uncovered with that new ability.

And I have to say, the movement and shooting in this game is great. Samus runs surprisingly fast for her size (she's over six feet tall, or just under two meters for readers more familiar with the Metric system). And when you combine Samus's speed with her wall jump, she starts off with tons of mobility that makes navigating the various biomes of ZDR a delight. And her mobility only improves as she gets more upgrades for her armor. You can aim Samus's various weapons in one of two ways. The classic way, where Samus shoots straight forward or straight up. This method can be used while running. But the method I prefer is with Free Aim Mode. Basically, if you hold down the left bumper on the controller, a laser sight within Samus's gun will activate, allowing you to aim in any direction 360 degrees. This allows for much more precision than normal aiming, which makes hitting targets much easier. The only downside of Free Aim is that Samus cannot move while the laser sight is active. You can also perform a melee attack, which if timed right, can stun an enemy and let you get some free hits in. New to this game is a dash attack, that basically lets you punch enemies while running without sacrificing your momentum, which in turn reinforces the emphasis on mobility and speed that the game is running with (pun completely intended). Your options for combat, puzzle solving, and exploration expand tremendously with each upgrade. Samus as whole just feels speedy and powerful, and the controls are silky smooth to boot... Except for one puzzle that requires you to swing around with the Grapple Beam ability like Spider-Man. The Grapple Beam itself is fine, and there are some great puzzles and areas that use it creatively, but this one puzzle was admittedly a little janky if you do it as intended. Although it might just me being bad at the game, but I did find it difficult to aim the Grapple Beam while in midair. I still can't tell if this a controller issue, my own incompetence, or the fault of the game. I'll give MercurySteam the benefit of the doubt and say the problem was probably with myself rather than the game, simply because the other controls work so fluidly it seems unbelievable that this one puzzle would expose a flaw in the control scheme itself. 

Despite Samus's power and mobility, she is completely helpless against the E.M.M.I. robots. There are seven of them in total, and with the sole exception of one, they are all formidable opponents. The E.M.M.I. can kill Samus with one attack, and though that one attack CAN be countered with Samus's melee move, the timing is so strict that doing so is a last resort and an act of pure desperation. Instead, you have to use stealth to sneak past them, like in the picture above. And I love the E.M.M.I. myself. The way they're animated is so unnerving, the way their limbs twist and contort as they squeeze through gaps seemingly too large for their body. The way the E.M.M.I. move and climb around the environment honestly reminds me of the Xenomorphs from Alien. And given that Metroid borrows a lot of inspiration from Alien anyway, I have a feeling the resemblance is at least somewhat intentional. And the E.M.M.I. get progressively more dangerous as you progress, starting out slow and dull, and gradually becoming faster and more intelligent. The only way defeat the E.M.M.I. is to get a temporary upgrade known as the Omega Cannon, and even then only a perfect headshot will put them down permanently. The only saving grace is that the E.M.M.I. can only enter certain rooms, all of which are marked by spooky, pixelated entrances, so you always have a rough idea of where to expect them to be. The E.M.M.I. are an intimidating foe, and I find myself "dreading" every encounter with them (pun also intended). 

The highlights of the game (at least for me) are the boss battles. Almost every boss battle in the game is a spectacle. From a giant Space Pirate locked up in a volcano, to a scorpion-like monster that turns invisible, to X parasites mimicking fallen Chozo warriors, this game has a ton of bosses. And they all feel tough, yet fair, with hard hitting attacks but fairly obvious patterns you can dodge through. And if you pull off the melee counter successfully, you can start these interactive cinematics called Grab Sequences, where Samus grabs ahold of the boss's weak point and you are free to fire missiles into it point blank for free damage. And the animations for the Grab Sequences are some of the coolest animations in the game and help remind you that Samus isn't just a bounty hunter, she is the greatest warrior in the whole galaxy. The only boss I wasn't a fan of was Escue, a giant X parasite beetle with lightning powers. The only reason I dislike Escue is because the boss coats itself in a lightning aura periodically, rendering it invincible. The only way to get past the invincibility is to wait for it to wear off naturally, which takes a surprisingly long time. And I personally don't care for bosses who can become invincible with no manual way to remove said invincibility. That kind of boss design just stretches what would be a decent fight out to a point where it feels monotonous. But the fact I only disliked one boss speaks volumes to the boss battle quality over all. Every fight feels like a deadly dance as you slowly learn your opponents patterns and gun them down when the opportunity arises.

I also enjoyed the story. I won't spoil anything, especially since Metroid Dread isn't even a full month old yet (it was released on October 8th). But I did enjoy the story, and it did wrap up story arcs from the lore pretty nicely. And again, without spoiling anything, Metroid Dread's final boss is one of the best final bosses I've seen in a while. I'd rank it as being on par with the Nightmare King Grimm battle from Hollow Knight, which is high praise considering how amazing that fight was. But I can't think of a good way to segue into my next point, but I'm bringing it up anyway. Metroid Dread can, at times, be a difficult game. It's never unfair, but the tutorial is fairly minimalistic. MercurySteam have clearly designed the game working under the assumption that the player is capable of figuring out everything by themselves. As such, you're never pointed in a specific direction aside from the Adam AI's vague instructions to reach "the surface." And if you ever get stuck, keep in mind that Metroid as a franchise LOVES putting hidden passages that only reveal themselves if you shoot specific parts of the terrain, and Metroid Dread is no exception. Destructible terrain will usually have some minor visual differences to make them stand out more, like being a shade of color brighter than the rest of the room, or having small cracks in them. So basically, search every nook and cranny you can, and you will (usually) be rewarded.

In terms of presentation, Metroid Dread is (at least in my opinion) gorgeous to look at. The early game areas are bleak, cold caves and sterile laboratories, but as you get closer to the surface, the colors and location design grows warmer and more inviting. It starts off dark since MercurySteam is trying their hardest to instill the sense of dread that the game is named for, but as Samus gets closer to her goal, the sense of dread fades and is replaced by a sense of wonder instead. The creature design is also top notch. The alien monsters Samus contends with walk a thin line between sleek and grotesque. And the lighting is amazing. Like there's a section in the third major area where Samus enters a pitch-dark facility, and the only light in the building is the green glow of her armor, and the red eyes of the alien monsters, shining faintly in the darkness. It was a really cool idea, one that I liked a lot. And Samus herself looks great. This is probably the best design for her armor yet, sporting snow white accents that somehow synergize with Samus's usual colors. Honestly it looks so good that seeing Samus without the white accents now looks a little strange. And credit to the animation team. Samus goes through the entire game barely any dialogue, and yet her animations convey so much emotion and personality. And they did an excellent job at making Samus look cool. Like her reaction to seeing a giant Space Pirate named Kraid show up is to silently stare at him dismissively. She entered the room fully expecting a fight (and entered a battle stance as soon as she stepped inside), and she relaxes her guard once she realizes she has to kill yet another Space Pirate. This is just another day on the job for Samus, and a lone Space Pirate (especially one that's been chained up) is so far beneath her that she doesn't treat him as a threat at all. This isn't the only moment where Samus's body language does all the talking, this is just the most prominent example I can give without delving into spoiler territory. Also, even though we don't get to see Samus's face often, the few times we do, they manage to convey a lot of emotion in just her eyes, and I think that's impressive.

In terms of sound design and music, Metroid Dread is pretty good. The most distinct sound in the game is definitely the various beeps that the E.M.M.I. use while searching for you. They sound almost cute without context, but those beeps are nerve-wracking when you're trying to sneak past them. What makes it worse is that the beep will often be the first thing you hear when you enter an E.M.M.I. room, and you can use the loudness of the beeping to figure out how close the E.M.M.I. are to you. The music in general is moody and atmospheric, so while it's great to listen to while exploring the depths of planet Z.D.R., it isn't the kind of soundtrack you listen to by itself. Not that it's a bad thing. MercurySteam wanted the music to set the tone for the adventure, one of intensity and "dread", and the soundtrack succeeded in pulling that vibe off. I will say the fanfare when you get a new item or start a new playthrough is always a joy to listen to, and is by far the most heroic sounding piece of music in the whole game. The voice acting is few and far between, but what little there is, I enjoyed. The most talkative character that actually speaks English in the game is Adam, the AI companion that guides Samus on her journey. And his voice is literally a text-to-speech program, so there isn't a lot to comment on in terms of vocal performance. All the other voiced dialogue is in the (fictional) language of the Chozo (yes, even Samus herself only speaks in Chozo, because, you know, she was raised by them). And I must give my compliments to the voice actors for making the Chozo language sound like a believable language that could potentially exist in real life. You know your fictional language is good when it sounds like something a real person can speak in. They put Tolkien levels of effort into designing a fictional language, and I can respect that.

Before I finish with my overall conclusion, I want to mention something about Metroid Dread. The game does have some hidden unlockable secrets as a reward for certain milestones. For example, you can unlock bonus artwork for collecting every item in a given area, or from beating the game on higher difficulties, or from beating the game within a certain time limit, or any combination of the above. Metroid Dread is a relatively short game, taking me only 11 and a half hours to play through the entire game casually. And I can see the short length being a turn off for some people. And indeed, this game made me think about the "value" of video games. Dread is currently priced at $60. And there are Metroidvania games out there just as long, if not longer, than Dread with a much cheaper price. Hollow Knight is a massive game, with roughly 70 hours of content to go through (most of it is optional), and yet that game is sold for $15. But here's an interesting debate. Is a game inherently better if it has more content to go through? I'd say no. In my mind whether a game is worth its price is dependent on the quality of the experience, rather than the quantity of the content. And in my opinion, Metroid Dread definitely feels like it's worth the price with how well made the game is. And the short length might be a blessing in disguise, since it makes the game easier to speed run, if you're interested in the hobby. 

In conclusion, Metroid Dread is an excellent return to form for the franchise. It's an intense, heart-pounding adventure that manages to strike a nice balance between being heroic and uplifting, and spine-chillingly spooky. It's a delight to navigate its sprawling world, and the game is tough without ever feeling unfair or poorly balanced. The fact it manages to wrap up 30+ years of lore in a satisfying finale is also rather impressive. Honestly, given everything Dread manages to accomplish, it might be my vote for Game of the Year. With that being said, Metroid Dread gets a "This is Beautiful!" rank from me. Or five out of five stars for normal people. 

Disclaimer: All images were found on Google Images. They are not mine. Metroid and Metroid Dread are the property of Nintendo and MercurySteam.

deltarune, UNDERTALE's true successor. A review (of the first two Chapters)

2015 was a special year. Why? Because it was the year in which a gentleman by the name of Toby Fox released one of the most prominent indie video games of the decade. UNDERTALE was born, and immediately garnered a following in pop culture thanks to its charming world and lovable characters. The game was an overwhelming success, which is especially impressive when you remember that Toby Fox had a very small team and even fewer resources to work with. Fast forward to 2018, and Toby Fox was becoming increasingly prominent in the gaming industry. He got to make music for Game Freak (the guys in charge of making Pokémon games) and even managed to convince Masahiro Sakurai to include Sans the Skeleton (UNDERTALE's unofficial mascot) in Super Smash Bros as a Mii costume. Then one day, he made some spooky posts on his social media accounts and then casually released AN ENTIRELY BRAND NEW GAME, FOR FREE, on Halloween, without warning. And given Toby Fox's reputation as a trickster and goofball, I can safely say that him just dropping a new game out of nowhere on a national holiday is perfectly on brand for him.

The game that was released was deltarune: Chapter 1. And as the title implies, this first chapter is just the first entry in a very ambitious project Mr. Fox has been working on. deltarune is currently planned to be a seven-part series (Chapters 1 and 2 are already available), with each Chapter being about 6-7 hours long. Oh, and Toby Fox himself admitted he's been planning out the main storyline for deltarune since 2012. But shortly after Chapter 1's release, Toby realized that his team is too small and it might take far too long to finish the project, so from Chapter 2 onwards he'll be working with a larger dev team. But anyway, deltarune is a story-driven RPG with a focus on comedy and solving problems in creative, nonviolent ways. So, basically, just like UNDERTALE. deltarune takes place in the same universe as UNDERTALE, but Toby Fox has stressed that it is NOT a sequel or a prequel. It's an alternate timeline where certain events played out differently. And I should warn you, you should probably play UNDERTALE before playing this game. Why? Because the game literally warns you straight up that knowledge of UNDERTALE's story and lore is pretty much required. And you know what that means, right? IT'S RECAP TIME, BABY!!! *ahem* If you never played UNDERTALE, basically your character gets trapped in the Underground Kingdom of Monsters. The Monsters themselves are not actually evil and are mostly benevolent, but are trapped because of a war they lost centuries ago. You either become an impromptu therapist for the monsters and help them out with their problems as they try to escape to the surface, or kill them all in a bloodthirsty rampage. Oh, and there's also some time travel shenanigans since the act of saving your progress and manipulating save data is an in-universe ability that your character stole from the main villain, and not just a gameplay convenience. 

deltarune meanwhile takes place in an alternate timeline where the war that wounded up banishing the Monsters seemingly never happened, letting the Monsters live full and happy lives in the surface world. And deltarune wastes no time in establishing the biggest difference between it and its predecessor. You see, when you first boot up the game, a mysterious voice instructs you to create a body for your character. No matter what options you pick, your creation will be discarded and replaced with a premade character, a teenage human named Kris. The voice says that no one can choose who they are in this world, and the whole game tries to reinforce this one central theme; That your actions don't really matter that much, and you just have to roll with whatever life gives you. Which is pretty much the exact opposite moral of UNDERTALE, which is every choice you make will have consequences and you can't run away from them.

Anyway, Kris is the adopted child of Toriel, the kindly goat-like Monster Queen from the first game, who is running a school in this timeline. And while driving to said school, Toriel casually remarks about Asriel (Toriel's biological son and Kris' "brother") is supposed to be back from college soon. The fact that Asriel is even alive in this timeline is a very big deal, since his death kickstarts the entire plot of UNDERTALE. And honestly I love seeing all the little hints into this timeline's Asriel's life. Because we never really got to see what Asriel was like when he was alive (the closest we got to that was a brief conversation with his ghost/spirit), and the fact that this version of Asriel is described as that perfect Christian kid that got straight A's in school and goes to Church ever Sunday is oddly heartwarming. Also, fun fact, there's some dialogue and flavor text in Chapter 2 that implies that Asriel has a thing for dragon girls. So, uh... That's a thing.

Anyway, Kris arrives in school and is late for class. And since they were planning out group projects, Kris has to "choose" a partner. Reinforcing the "you have no control over these characters" theme, no matter who you choose, you'll be paired up with Susie, the school bully. And Susie herself tells Kris to their face that they shouldn't bother answering her questions precisely because Kris (and by proxy, the player) have no real agency in the project. But once the teacher's chalk goes missing, Susie and Kris are sent to the supply closet to get more... Only to get pulled into another dimension known as the Dark World. Which is inside the closet. Cue the Chronicles of Narnia jokes. The bulk of the first Chapter is spent exploring the Dark World, with Kris and Susie meeting new friends like the adorable yet secretive Ralsei and the wacky and cartoonish Lancer. Ralsei also informs Kris and Susie that they are (probably) the heroes described in a prophecy, predestined to save both the Light World and Dark World from certain doom. Susie, being an edgy rebel, refuses to partake in the prophecy and beelines for the exit. And indeed, up until the very last area of the Chapter, Susie will not listen to the player's commands, and prefers to do her own thing. …Which is kicking tail and chewing everything even remotely edible. And she's all out of edibles.

The only way to exit the Dark World (at least initially) is to track down these places called the Dark Fountains and close them up, which is something that only Kris can do. So Susie reluctantly cooperates. At least until she befriends Lancer, who is the son of the King of Spades, the main villain of this Chapter. Lancer tries very hard to be a villain himself, but his idea of "evil" is comedic and harmless, and he and Susie form this kind of Team Rocket style dynamic. And honestly, not only are Susie and Lancer's antics hilarious, the friendly bond they form is rather heartwarming. Eventually Lancer switches sides once he realizes that Lightners (the catch-all term for creatures born in the Light World) aren't that bad, but his loyalty to his tyrannical father leaves him conflicted. So Lancer decides to imprison his new friends for the sake of their safety. Susie does not take kindly to this, and we get this super intense showdown between Susie and Lancer. And I love the showdown scene. Lancer refuses to back down despite Susie's intimidating demeanor, but he doesn't willingly harm her at all during the ensuing boss fight. And Susie can't bring herself to kill Lancer, despite lashing out violently against every other enemy she faced up until this point. Lancer reveals the reason he trapped the Lighteners was to protect them from his father, who has a murderous hatred of everything from the Light World. And Susie learns that sometimes, brute force isn't necessary and from here on out, she'll actually listen to the player's commands.

So our heroes go to confront the King, and in a franchise all about compassion and mercy, the King of Spades lacks both of these. He's pretty much the only antagonist that cannot be reasoned with or talked down, nor does he have any characteristics that make him sympathetic or relatable. He's a despicable monster in every sense of the word, and that is a breath of fresh air. All of the villains up to this point (and even back in UNDERTALE) are either tragic anti-villains with legitimate reasons for their actions, or comedic goofballs who weren't that evil to begin with. The King, meanwhile, wants to commit a literal genocide and uses his own son as a meat shield. And when he's weakened enough, he feigns surrender so he can take a cheap shot at the heroes. Once he's defeated, Susie and Ralsei have a surprisingly meaningful conversation that I think delivers the main moral of this Chapter; That while trying to solve problems with peaceful solutions is preferred, there are some people in the world who are sadly too dangerous to be reasoned with, and have to be confronted with force.

Anyway, Kris and Susie seal the Dark Fountain in the King's Castle and return to the Light World. Their adventure took up most of the day, so all the students are returning home at this hour. And to my surprise, you can actually explore the town and talk with all the major residents before returning home yourself. Most of the conversations are lighthearted and jokey, but there is some meaningful lore stuff in there as well. Like the fact that Sans the Skeleton has returned, this time running a grocery store. And during the conversation he makes a joke about "befriending" Kris' mother... So that argument I had with my friend many years ago about whether Sans and Toriel were romantically involved have now come full circle. Thank you, Toby Fox. Very cool. Anyway, we also get snippets of Kris' backstory through their interactions with the various residents of this quiet rural community. Namely, they were apparently a rather mischievous prankster before we took control of them, playing morbid pranks on their neighbors. They also used to be quite talented with the piano, but it appears that they can't play it well when influenced by the player. And I bring all this stuff up because in UNDERTALE, the player was supposed to be a separate entity from your character. You're not supposed to self-insert in this universe. You are attached to the main character, but you aren't literally them. And deltarune is making a similar connection. Kris is a person with a preestablished history and personality, you're just using their body to interact with the game. And in both this Chapter and the next, when you make certain dialogue choices the other characters will react to any implied inconsistencies between your desires as a player and Kris's desires as a person living in this world. And I think that's cool, personally. Because no other game series tries to make the player themselves into an important entity in the story. And it makes the final scene of Chapter 1 that much more... Concerning.

This next section contains massive spoilers for the end of Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, so feel free to skip. So in the final scene of Chapter 1, just before Kris goes to bed, they rip out the Player Soul (which you've been using to control Kris's body this whole time) and brandish a knife. In the real-life three year gap between the release of Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, there were hundreds of theories of what this ending was supposed to mean. These ranged from Kris simply freeing themselves from the player's influence while they go cause mischief in the night, to Kris secretly being Chara all along (Chara being the narrator of UNDERTALE, who potentially turns evil if you complete the No Mercy Run). Personally, I gravitated to the "Kris is Chara" theory because Kris looks like an older, more mature Chara (they even have the same color scheme when in the Light World). And Chapter 2 answers these questions, with a lighthearted joke about Kris sneaking out to eat some pie behind Toriel's back. Somehow, Toby Fox turned a genuinely unsettling cliff hanger ending into a joke. And then he turned around and revealed that "free" Kris is an actual danger to the universe, since the Chapter 2 ending strongly implies that without a Player Soul stopping them, Kris is the one creating the Dark Fountains in the first place. Which is bad, because if there's too many Dark Fountains in the universe, these creatures called the Titans will awaken and destroy everyone, Lightner and Darkner alike.

Okay, spoilers over. Overall, I enjoyed Chapter 1. It was a great introduction to a new cast, and the main characters are just as enjoyable, possibly more so than UNDERTALE's cast. I love Ralsei and how he manages to be simultaneously cute and wholesome and yet so knowledgeable of the greater world around him it's actually kind of concerning. He teaches you the controls and mechanics, and in any other franchise I wouldn't bat an eye at this but this is a Toby Fox game, and I know he likes to turn mundane game mechanics that players take for granted into canon in universe abilities (for example, manipulating save data is treated as in-universe time travel). So anyone showing even the slightest hint of knowledge towards game mechanics in this franchise has me concerned. On a lighter note, I also really enjoyed Susie's growth from a violent bully to a proud protector of her new friends. The writing and dialogue are as great as ever, with that signature wit and borderline surreal commentary that Toby Fox has become known for. And the combat system has dramatically improved from UNDERTALE. It still has the Fight/Spare system (while you can fight by attacking with your weapons repeatedly, you can instead have Kris use context-sensitive commands called Acts to calm enemies down peacefully), but now with the addition of additional party members and the ability to cast magic spells, there's a lot more variety in your options and in some cases, there's now more than one way to Spare enemies. The Bullet Hell sections (where you have to avoid enemy attacks by maneuvering a little cartoon heart around various obstacles) have also been improved, with more diverse attack patterns and even Bullet Hell traps that activate outside of combat while exploring.

But if you think we're done talking about the story, boy are you wrong! That's right, I'm covering Chapter 2. You can technically start your playthrough from here, but I wouldn't recommend it. Not only do you miss out on some story context (like Susie's character development or Ralsei's true form), but despite the game telling you your choices don't matter, there actually is some carryover from certain actions taken back in Chapter 1. Like in Chapter 1, you get "tricked" into designing a robot for Susie and Lancer (you can customize the robot's appearance), and in Chapter 2, a flamboyant puzzle maker named Rouxls Kaard (pronounced "rules card") uses that exact same robot during his boss battle. In fact, Chapter 2 seems to have more branching choices that actually have a consequence. I mean yeah, the ending is still roughly the same no matter what, but while Chapter 1 had virtually no difference between a Pacifist Run and a No Mercy Run (the only difference is what kind of reward you get from the bonus boss; Armor for Pacifists, and a new weapon for the Merciless), Chapter 2 has a unique Snow Grave Run. Which is somehow darker and more disturbing than anything you did in UNDERTALE's No Mercy Run. But more on the Snow Grave Run later. Chapter 2 picks up one day after Chapter 1, with Kris being sent to school once more. Only this time, Susie showed up on time and is no longer bullying everyone else (the worst she does now is some lighthearted banter). We get (re)introduced to two class mates in particular who made cameo appearances in Chapter 1; Berdly and Noelle. The former is a cocky and arrogant bluebird and the latter is a sweet but timid reindeer. I bring them up because if Susie and Lancer were the stars of Chapter 1, Berdly and Noelle are the stars of Chapter 2.

Noelle walks in on Susie and Kris just as they try to reenter the Dark World for a new adventure, but rather than causing trouble for our heroes, she invites the two over to the local library so they can all work on their group projects together. But why Kris and Susie specifically? Simple! Noelle has a positively enormous crush on Susie, and Noelle's been looking for an excuse to hang out with her specifically. But guess what? The library has been consumed by a new Dark Fountain, transforming into a new Dark World. And while Chapter 1's Dark World is themed around various card games and board games, this new Dark World is themed around technology and the Internet. And thus a new adventure begins, this time in the Cyber Dark World. And I LOVE this chapter. It's wild, wacky, and brings in new lore. For everything. And I really like the two new additions to the main cast. Noelle is a sweet yet awkward nerd, and her interactions with the other characters (especially Susie) are adorable. And Berdly is an absolute buffoon. Arrogant to a fault and hilariously inept. And honestly, Berdly gets some of the best jokes in the whole Chapter (even if most of them are made at his expense). From building a statue of a much manlier version of himself, to confessing his love for Susie upon realizing that she is a TRUE GAMER(tm). The dude is literally every "neckbeard" stereotype rolled into one, and the whole thing is played for laughs. Honestly, I was half-expecting to see him refer to himself as an "Alpha Male" unironically.

But I have to talk about the best character in the entire Chapter; Queen. Queen is a chaotic mess of computer terminology and Internet "lol so random" meme-humor, and I absolutely adore her. Because Queen is literally an anthropomorphic personification of the Internet. She started out as a peaceful program only wanting to make people happy, but has been twisted into a toxic and misguided tyrant, and has in turn converted the Cyber Dark World into a crazy theme park of madness. Also, she gets the best jokes, from customizing her prisoners' cells based on their search history or demanding Kris pick up bananas that appear inexplicably in the middle of the street. Queen steals the show with every scene she's in, and she is by far my favorite antagonist in the whole franchise. It also helps that she has one of the most unique and interesting boss battles so far, with her using a brainwashed Berdly as a weapon in the first phase and changing the entire combat system to a loving homage to Punch-Out! in the second phase.

But this Chapter in particular has a bit of a dark side. And that is mostly relegated to the Snow Grave route. …Which is officially called the Weird Route in the game's source code, but the fandom has collectively decided that "Snow Grave" describes it better and sounds a lot scarier. But what exactly is the Snow Grave route? To make a long story short, it's the equivalent of a No Mercy Run, but somehow darker and more disturbing. In this optional story line, you help Noelle become strong enough to defend herself... By turning her into your obedient attack animal. Despite the fact that you wind up with a smaller body count than the No Mercy Run, it's still disturbing in the sense that you are manipulating and mentally abusing a sweet and innocent high schooler into committing mass murder on your behalf. It even culminates in you forcing Noelle to murder Berdly with the titular Snow Grave spell, which instantly kills him by freezing him solid. And Berdly's death is the point of no return. No matter how many enemies you Spare afterwards, you can't undo the blood on your hands once you kill Berdly. And it gets worse. Once Noelle realizes that she killed her closest friend, she tries her hardest to convince herself that everything was just a bad dream. And then, when you return to the Light World in the epilogue, you can give her a quick little reminder that the events of the Snow Grave Route were real, which only serves to traumatize her further. The whole route is dark, and is quite possibly the creepiest thing Toby Fox has ever put into a game. Of course, I haven't even touched the Snow Grave route myself (can you believe I actually LIKE being a good person in video games with branching morality?), and I doubt I will until all the remaining Chapters have been released, so that we can see the full consequences of this storyline. I mean, I appreciate the fact that the Snow Grave route exists, since I can't really think of a game that lets you alter the course of a main character's growth and development in such a drastic (and frankly horrific) manner. But I also like that you don't HAVE to go down this path if you don't want to. You can either corrupt Noelle and turn her into a weapon, or support Noelle through her struggles and help boost her self-confidence in a positive and healthy manner that DOESN'T involve murdering her best friend in literal cold blood. The Snow Grave Route is completely optional, and is so well hidden that it is literally impossible to stumble across by accident, since the requirements to start it are so specific. 

Overall, Chapter 2 was amazing. It's significantly wackier than Chapter 1, and has some of the most creative puzzles and boss battles yet. It also has the nightmarish Snow Grave Route that exists to remind us all that Toby Fox really likes putting creepy alternate storylines in his goofy games about quirky creatures and pacifism. But the locations were great, the comedy was great, the story was great. Great times all around. I'm not entirely sure how Toby's team could top this Chapter, simply because it has set such a high bar for future Chapters.

As for presentation, in terms of artwork, deltarune just looks better than UNDERTALE ever did. Yeah, it's still fairly simplistic pixel art meant to invoke the imagery of 90's era games like Earthbound, but the sprites are cleaner and more detailed. They have more expressive animations and there's some very distinct color choices for the locations and characters. I especially like the new character designs. Every single character is unique and instantly recognizable, and even though the generic enemies are mostly goofy and comedic (most of them being walking puns), there are some enemies with legitimately cool-looking designs. Namely the Were Wires from Chapter 2. The dialogue portraits for the Lightners (such as Susie and Noelle) are still monochrome, like in UNDERTALE, but Darkners (like Ralsei and Lancer) get fully colored dialogue portraits. Personally I would prefer having everyone's portraits be fully colored, but at least there's an easy visual distinction between the two races. And on a darker note, the animation for the Snow Grave spell does admittedly look really... "Cool." One could say it's a "chilling" animation. Oh, don't give me the "cold" shoulder, you "snow" these jokes are so n(ice). In all seriousness the Snow Grave spell's animation is very impressive and honestly looks like an attack animation from a more traditional RPG. Unfortunately, deltarune is anything but traditional, and you can't fully enjoy the spectacle of Snow Grave without being hit with the reality that you mentally abused a reindeer just to get a neat magic spell, then forced her to murder her best friend with said spell.

In regards to music and sound... haha... HAHAHA!!! Do you really think I can get through a Toby Fox game without gushing about the music!? Toby Fox is a master at making catchy music that fits the scene perfectly. He even brought back some remixes of songs from UNDERTALE. Although I find the fact that Sans' theme song sounds exactly the same as it did in the original game with no changes whatsoever to be amusing. After all, Sans being too lazy to change anything about his own theme song is perfectly in-character for him. But on the subject of new tracks, I loved Field of Hopes & Dreams, which plays early on in Chapter 1. It's punchy and heroic while also somehow being full of whimsy and playfulness. And Rude Buster (the song that plays when fighting generic enemies) is leaps and bounds better than its UNDERTALE counterpart, Enemy Approaching!. Queen's theme is gaudy and pretentious, invoking the imagery of a prideful noblewoman. And of course, the theme songs for the two secret bonus bosses are also fantastic and catchy. The Chapter 1 bonus boss, Jevil has The World Revolving as his theme, and it's this insane carnival track that has the chaotic clown energy of Jevil himself. The Chapter 2 bonus boss, Spamton NEO, gets BIG SHOT for his theme, and is much more techno compared to the rest of the soundtrack and has this deliberate glitchy effect on it. Makes sense, since Spamton NEO is a malfunctioning robot. The sound effects are also charming. That little "beep" when you navigate the menus is oddly soothing, if that makes sense? Oh, and also Lancer's cartoon "Splat!" noises are hilarious for how unexpected they are.

In conclusion, deltarune manages to be a worthy successor to UNDERTALE, and in some ways it manages to surpass the original game. With a cast of colorful creatures, a soundtrack full of catchy and memorable songs, and some pretty neat lore going on in the background. And yet, deltarune is forever linked to UNDERTALE, so it's difficult to judge one without comparing to the other. But does it stand on its own? The answer is... Kind of? Not really. This game's entire premise is that it takes place in the same world as UNDERTALE and operates on the same "rules", but it follows the adventures of a different cast of characters and some events in the timeline played out differently. Basically, if you ever watched Marvel What If...? then you have the basic idea. And because of that, if you don't know anything about UNDERTALE, you likely wouldn't understand the changes deltarune makes fully, or why those changes are a big deal. Like I said, Asriel is alive in this timeline, and his death is literally the incident that kickstarts the plot of the original game. The monsters are already living on the Surface World, implying that either the war the Monsters lost never happened or that the Monsters won and defeated humanity (I think it's the former rather than the latter myself, if only because it more easily explains why a family of Monsters would adopt Kris, who is clearly a human). Mettaton and Dr. Alphys never meet in this timeline, meaning the former never became a celebrity thanks to the latter's technology. And that's just the changes I can think of off the top of my head. But anyway, if you enjoyed UNDERTALE chances are you'll enjoy deltarune because of how connected the game's are. If you haven't played UNDERTALE but are still interested in deltarune, my advice is to try it out. And if you like it, why not track down UNDERTALE so you can see just how far Toby Fox and his team have come? With that being said, deltarune: Chapters 1 & 2 get a "Oh, this? This is Beautiful!" rank from me. Now all we have to do is wait another three real life years for the next Chapter. But before I finish this review, I just want to point out that the word "deltarune" is literally just an anagram of "Undertale" (meaning that the two words are spelled using the exact same letters, just with the order of said letters changed around). Just a neat bit of trivia.

Disclaimer: All the images used in this post I found on Google Images. They are not mine. deltarune and UNDERTALE are owned by Toby Fox.