Previously in Deltarune, the party defeated a Titan spawned by the Knight, Susie destroyed the final unread portion of a prophecy explaining how Dark and Light Worlders lived in balance, and Kris received a mysterious late-night phone call. Got all that? Ready for some payoffs for all the set-ups established in chapters one through four? Too bad, because Chapter 5 reveals almost nothing and aims to be the last moments of normalcy before things get heavy for the final two chapters.
Deltarune Chapter 5 is mostly a filler episode that focuses on characters and a flower festival and a lot of callbacks to Undertale. Also appearing in this chapter is Flowery, a charismatic Darkner formed from one of Asgore’s preserved golden flowers, along with six other colourful flower beings who serve as both obstacles and reflections of Asgore’s past. The party explores gardens, cliffs, and the Flower Castle while dealing with a series of flower-themed bosses and puzzles. Asgore becomes entangled with Flowery and the Dark World, his long-standing regrets and obsession with proving something about the past coming to the surface. The chapter builds toward a confrontation at the top of the castle against Flowery and the other flowers.
Like in prior chapters, Deltarune leans hard on its characters and getting players emotionally invested in them. Asgore confronts his own failings regarding family and a previous tragedy. The story arc delves into themes of family, the risks of escapism, and ties to past events. As the group explores the Dark World, they recruit allies, solve puzzles, and face off against the flower bosses, culminating in a major cliffhanger that sets the stage for final chapters. There’s an alternate route, continuing from prior chapters, that diverges early and focuses heavily on Noelle, ending the chapter much sooner with its own cryptic conclusion. Overall, Chapter 5 leans too hard on levity, and the result is a cringe-inducing whiplash. It almost feels like the writers were obligated to include a pointless arc just to buy time and further develop the impending climax.
While the writing quality is a noticeable dip in quality, the gameplay manages to be fun and interesting. Deltarune Chapter 5 introduces several notable gameplay departures from the series’ established top-down RPG and bullet-hell formula. The most prominent is a recurring shift into 2D side-scrolling platforming segments. In these sequences, the perspective changes, turning exploration and certain combat or traversal challenges into action-platformer-style movement. Party members take specialised roles: Susie smashes obstacles or stuns foes, while Ralsei stretches into platforms, grapple points, or weights that Kris can use. A Petal Feather item further enables fluid switches between traditional top-down views and the new 2D plane for puzzles, climbing, and even portions of boss encounters.
Combat receives a major addition with the debut of Orange SOUL mode, used mandatorily during the final confrontation and associated climbing sections. The SOUL turns orange and orients itself, usually facing right or upward, advancing automatically while the player primarily controls vertical positioning and performs dashes that can break through blue barriers and obstacles. The new combat is a more aggressive, momentum-based dodging style distinct from prior colour modes, which is fitting for the more experimental nature of this chapter.
Overworld and puzzle design also expands with vertical climbing challenges featuring descending bars that force careful timing, with failure partially or fully resetting progress. Additional gimmicks include watering can puzzles, fox-and-mushroom interactions, box-rearrangement machines for keys, and flower-stem sliding. Some boss fights differ from standard damage or ACT patterns. For example, some require collecting and presenting evidence in trial-like sequences, while others demand specific non-violent Acts or resource management. This can include intercepting healing orbs or calming aggressive opponents through feeding mechanics.
The Weird Route takes a different approach by eliminating most of the Dark World content and replacing free movement with sequences that require repetitive button mashing and quick dialogue choices, all under a rapidly escalating visual and audio timer. These changes maintain the core turn-based bullet-hell mechanics while introducing platforming elements, new SOUL behaviours, and chapter-specific traversal tools. As a result, Chapter 5 feels distinctly different from earlier instalments, yet ultimately it never felt like it all amounted to the larger story. A lot happens between some embarrassing side characters who are built up and then are never seen or heard from again. Maybe this is a result of Deltarune‘s development being stretched out over the course of years and multiple chapters and Toby Fox growing/changing as a person during that time. It’s too bad that time, of all things, is what’s taking a toll on the writing.
Dude put a 6 to feel different from the rest.
bro are you high