Deltarune's second chapter was released for free earlier this week, bringing players back into the beloved indie RPG series from Undertale creator Toby Fox. Both Deltarune and Undertale introduce players to two unique worlds with a ton of lore hidden behind the scenes. With how fleshed out and detailed these two Toby Fox games are, the question naturally comes up as to whether or not they're connected in any way.

Some fans already know that Deltarune is an anagram for Undertale, but the two games are actually a bit more connected. There's the fact that both games share characters such as Sans, Alphys and Undyne. The games also share similar themes and gameplay elements, though how the world of these two games connects is a question that a lot of fans have had for some time. As it turns out, the worlds of both Undertale and Deltarune may be far more intertwined than some fans know.

One of the more popular theories is that the world of Deltarune is either a prequel or sequel to Undertale, though there are a few clear points against this. For one, some of the returning characters have elements to them or memories that conflict with Undertale's established lore. Undyne's never met Alphys, Asriel is still alive and the monsters are living on the surface without any humans besides Kris.

Instead, Undertale and Deltarune may actually take place in different worlds, or even different realities. The biggest piece of evidence for this comes from Deltarune's own Steam Store page, in which the game is called "Undertale's parallel story." The specific wording here may point towards Deltarune taking place in a parallel universe to Undertale's world. One of the biggest mechanics in these games even supports this idea.

The ability to SAVE the game has an in-universe explanation, as SAVEing directly manipulates the world's timeline. This also leads to Undertale's multiple endings all technically being canon and with certain characters retaining knowledge between different timelines. Deltarune could very much be a parallel universe or timeline to Undertale where different events transpired that fundamentally changed the story.

There are also some interesting in-game connections that, while a little weaker, may also connect these two worlds. In Undertale, players who investigate the mystery of W.D Gaster may uncover a character in Waterfall named Clam Girl. Clam Girl, during the True Pacifist epilogue, will tell the player that they never got to meet her daughter Susy. While it's a different spelling from Deltarune's Susie, there's still a notable connection that is made even stronger by an easter egg on the Nintendo Switch version of Undertale.

On certain playthroughs, Clam Girl may end her dialogue by becoming greyscale and saying that the time that players will meet her is fast approaching. Greyscaled sprites are often associated with W.D Gaster and are known as both Gaster Followers and Goners. Gaster has also already been connected to both the opening narrator of Deltarune and the tweets put out by the official Undertale and Deltarune Twitter account that seem to be written by Gaster.

Given that W.D Gaster is said to have been split across space and time after falling into the CORE from Undertale, it makes sense that he could appear in both games. While the mystery man sprite from Undertale has yet to appear in Deltarune, things like Clam Girl in Undertale may point towards these games being set in parallel timelines rather than universes. While there certainly seem to be some nods towards the relationship between these games, what exactly they mean is more so up to interpretation.

There isn't much evidence if any, that points to what this connection between the two games may mean. It could relate to how Deltarune's Steam page mentions there's only one ending to the game, though that sentence does end with a question mark. Deltarune: Chapter 2 introduces similar pacifist and genocide mechanics that players would remember from Undertale, though it not leading to a different ending would certainly be an interesting concept.

Regardless of the direction that Deltarune's story goes with its connected timeline to Undertale, it certainly seems as though Deltarune will subvert a lot of what players knew from Undertale. Deltarune already has done this quite a bit, such as with characters like Undyne and Sans only appearing in brief cameo roles. All of these connections and parallels are certainly interesting to point out, as they may just be building towards something in Deltarune's full release.

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