5/5 ★ – EthanTheHuman's review of Deltarune: Chapter 4.

Guys I think this game might be peak fiction This chapter is the longest one by far and is the wildest in terms of the story. This isn't play time at the kindergarden anymore this is REAL MAN SHIT I'm standing on business. This renewed sense of urgency had me so engaged with this game's narrative. I was in there with Kris and Susie feeling the same dread and anxiety and desperation that they were. I was on the edge of my seat in the crazy scene in Noelle's house, I was just sitting there with shock on my face going wtfwtfwtfwtf the whole time. And I thought the chapter was about to end BEFORE YOU EVEN ENTER THE DARK PALACE. And then I thought it was going to end again after I did the secret boss by accident but there was EVEN MORE after that and it was some crazy final fantasy bayonetta levels of crazy stuff happening that I wasn't ready for, and the previous chapters haven't prepared me for. That being said, the actual dark fountain itself... not my favourite. It's not really the game's fault, because the darkness mechanics were executed well, but just personally I don't enjoy all the moments where you're in absolute darkness and have to find your way around, or rely on audio queues, or guide a little light around and not see what's happening. Fortunately, there's also a lot of great stuff about this dark fountain to balance it out like the piano puzzles and climbing mechanics, plus this is the most metroidvania-like of the maps so being able to go around and backtrack and find secrets was a great piece of variety to combat those linear allegations. I'm glad I did the secret boss though, because I don't know if you'll have to replay the chapter to get this one too and I don't want to go through that darkness stuff and the final boss again until a bit later.