The voice's goals are not known. They frequently praise the player's choices, to which they are curious about, and often describe certain decisions as "INTERESTING". The voice implies that they are aware of several characters in Deltarune to an extent, or are familiar with their names. They seem to aim for a "connection" with the player.[1]
Speech pattern
The voice's dialogue is entirely uppercase. Their general style of speaking is formal and laconic. The voice's text displays at a slower speed compared to that of other characters, suggesting that they speak slowly. Their dialogue is printed in a variant of the standard in-game font, with a blur effect around the borders of the characters.
In the Japanese translation of Deltarune, the voice's dialogue uses a mix of kanji and katakana, an unusual writing style that is not used by almost any other character in Deltarune.
Most in-game assets associated with the voice or the introduction are also internally referred to using all capital letters.[2]
Main story
Chapter 1
The game opens with the voice greeting the player, asking, "ARE YOU THERE? ARE WE CONNECTED?"
Following this, the SOUL appears on the screen, to which the voice directs the player to create a vessel. The voice asks various questions to give the vessel a personality; those include favorite food, color, blood type, and a gift. The voice also asks for the player's opinion on their creation and if they are sincere, before stating there is a "POSSIBILITY OF PAIN AND SEIZURE".
The voice requesting the player to name the vessel, as ANOTHER HIM plays
Once the questions are completed, the voice asks for the vessel's name, then the player's name. The voice's responses differ depending if the player inputs names of Lightners that are main characters, certain residents of Hometown, or if the names of the vessel and the creator are the same.
Once the names are set, the voice thanks the player for their time. The scene then cuts to black and the music stops; the subsequent text is rendered in sentence case — contrasting with the voice's normal uppercase text — and without the glow effect. This text states that the vessel has been discarded, as "No one can choose who they are in this world."[3] Right before this dialogue tells the player their name, the game cuts to Kris's room, with Toriel shouting Kris's name.
If a Game Over occurs and the SOUL shatters at any point during Chapter 1, the voice speaks to the player once more. They acknowledge that the player appears to have reached an end, and asks the player if they want to try again.
If the player chooses to continue, the voice tells them the future is in their hands. The screen fades to white, and the game returns to normal gameplay.
If the player chooses to give up, the voice tells them that the world was covered in darkness. This is followed by the screen turning black and Darkness Falls playing in its entirety. All inputs are disabled for the duration of the track. In the PC versions, the game closes after the track ends; in console versions, the game returns to the Chapter Select screen.
If the player closes and re-opens the game, they are presented with the File Select menu. If Chapter 1 has not been completed, it is implied that the voice narrates the menu's options, as dialogue, word choice and capitalization is similar to their style of speaking.[4] This dialogue does not use the glow effect typically applied to the voice's dialogue.
Chapter 3
The voice asserting that the player is not meant to defeat the Knight, as AUDIO_DRONE plays
If the party loses to the Knight after having previously completed the Chapter, the voice returns to speak to the player, fascinated by the latter's attempts to win despite the encounter seemingly being a guaranteed loss. They allow the player to retry the fight if they choose to go back.[5]
The voice speaks again if the player loses a second time. If the Shadow Mantle was not equipped, they mention the player's lack of it and state that they cannot win with their current equipment.[6] Otherwise, the voice states that the player has lost again. In either case, they ask if the player wishes to try once more.
The voice does not comment on any future losses, unless the player loses after having dealt enough damage to the Knight to lower its HP below 80%. Should this happen, the voice praises the player's power and says they need to endure for a little longer.[7]
The voice seems to be directly acknowledged as "glowing" by the Organikk enemies in the 2nd Sanctuary.[8]
After the credits of Chapter 4, the voice speaks to the player, congratulating them for passing the halfway mark. Then, the voice remarks that 'their' "DELTARUNE" is "STILL WAITING."[9]
On the PS4/PS5 versions of the game, the voice has different dialogue if no trophies were earned. They note that the player "FAILED TO ACHIEVE ANY MARKS". They question what the player is, referring to them by the name they chose for themselves in Chapter 1 or the File Select menu, before saying they are eager to see how future Chapters will unfold.[10]
Outside of Deltarune
Chapter 1 Pre-Release
Leading up to the announcement of Deltarune, the UnderTale and UndertaleJP Twitter accounts had their names and avatars blanked out, and began to tweet cryptic messages. These messages seem to be written in-character, although the character in question is unknown.[11][12] This character speaks in uppercase in English and in a mix of kanji and katakana in Japanese, which is consistent with the in-game text.
Right before the accounts changed, the official Toby Fox Twitter account posted a tweet that read as such: "It's cold. It's as if everything had been enveloped in a black wind... You didn't realize it yet, but... it seems that there's someone who wants to talk to you."[13]
In the first sequence of tweets, posted October 30, 2018, the voice notes that the reader has been looking for them, and claims that they likewise have been looking for the reader. They say that they have something to show to the reader; however, they also say that it is incomplete, and ask the reader to return in "[24]" hours for the voice to ask them "A FEW QUESTIONS". The voice mentions that they intend to use the reader's responses to "APPROACH ITS REALIZATION", likely alluding to the vessel's assembly in the introduction.
In the second sequence of tweets, posted October 31, 2018, the voice thanks the reader for their patience. They note that both of them have been waiting for a "VERY LONG TIME", and express their excitement now that they are on the "VERGE OF CONNECTION" with the reader. They state that they are looking forward to creating a new future with the reader before linking to the Deltarune website.
At the time, the Deltarune website included a message in the same font and style of speaking as the voice's in-game dialogue. The message advised the reader to read the warnings below and "TAKE IT IN [their] HANDS".[14] The website contained download links for a file named "SURVEY_PROGRAM", which was the installer for Chapter 1 Demo.
When running the installer, the text in the installer's license agreement only says "YOU ACCEPT EVERYTHING THAT WILL HAPPEN FROM NOW ON." It is written in uppercase, and is the exact same line that appeared on the official website.[14]
The tweets and website messages are heavily implied to be related to the Introduction sequence at the beginning of Chapter 1.
Chapter 2 Pre-Release
After the announcement of Chapter 2, the UnderTale[15][16][17][18][19][20] and UndertaleJP[21][22][23][24][25][26] Twitter accounts once again tweeted in-character in the lead-up to the Chapter's release, in the voice's style of speaking. The voice notes that it had been a long time, commends the reader for their perseverance and proposes a second connection.
Chapters 3 and 4 Pre-Release
Around thirty minutes before the official release of Chapter 3 and 4, the UNDERTALE/DELTARUNE Twitter[27] and Bluesky[28] accounts were taken over, with the same blank names and avatars as with previous releases.
The voice acknowledges that time has passed, but that no matter how much time passes, "IT STILL TREMBLES",[29][30] "IT" referring to either time itself or the connection between the voice and the reader.[31] The voice remarks that they and the reader are "LUCKY" to "NEED EACH OTHER IN THIS WAY",[32] then asks the reader if they will "PARTAKE ONCE MORE",[33] before finally revealing the "THIRD EPISODE" and the "FOURTH FATE".[34]
Chapter 5 Pre-Release
Around twenty minutes prior to the release of Chapter 5, the UNDERTALE/DELTARUNE Twitter[35] and Bluesky[36] accounts were once again taken over.
Commenting that "THE RESONANCE HAS QUICKENED", the voice questions if they and the reader "WILL BE MEETING EACH OTHER LIKE THIS MORE OFTEN".[37][38] They then conclude that they and the reader "NEED NO PREFACE" if this is the case,[39][40] and introduce "'THE FIFTH FIELD".[41][42]
Undertale
The voice shares numerous similarities with the character of W.D. Gaster, who is unseen throughout Undertale:
One of the two global.typer values used in the introduction for Chapter 1 is 666.[43] The global.typer value used for Entry Number Seventeen in Undertale's room_gaster is also 666.[44]
The 0.6.6.6. version and product number In the properties for SURVEY_PROGRAM's installer, the "Details" tab lists the installer's file and product version numbers as 0.6.6.6.
The voice's use of uppercase lettering, as well as odd spacing between sentences and words, is very similar to the text of Entry Number Seventeen.
The text in the installer's license agreement for the Japanese version of SURVEY_PROGRAM is Japanese transliterated into all-caps English letters.[45] Similarly, the Japanese translation of Entry Number Seventeen uses Japanese transliterated into all-caps English letters, before being displayed with the Wingdings font.
ANOTHER HIM shares its leitmotif with Gaster's Theme, which is labeled mus_st_him in Undertale's files. Additionally, both tracks utilize the piano instrument from Chrono Trigger's soundfont for the lead melody.
The vessel created during the introduction is referred to as "GONER" in the files. The word "Goner" refers to many characters in Undertale, which appear to have connection to the Gaster followers. Similarly to the Goners and the followers, the vessel's sprites are mostly grayscale.
Naming the vessel and/or the creator "GASTER" during the introduction returns the player to the start of the currently selected Chapter. In Undertale, naming the fallen human "Gaster" returns the player to the prologue.
Leading up to the announcement of Deltarune, the voice stated they had something to show that they believed the player would find "VERY, VERY, INTERESTING",[46] directly quoting Entry Number Seventeen.[47]
Furthermore, the names of the UnderTale and UndertaleJP Twitter accounts were changed to six blank characters; Gaster's surname is six letters long.
The voice also says "VERY INTERESTING." in their comment to the player after the latter is defeated by the Knight on a completed SAVE file.[5]
References
↑ ARE YOU THERE? ARE WE CONNECTED? ... EXCELLENT. TRULY EXCELLENT. — The voice, Chapter 1
↑ WHAT AN INTERESTING BEHAVIOR. — The voice, upon overwriting a SAVE file when all of the files are identical
1 2 VERY INTERESTING. YOUR LOSS HERE IS ALL BUT GUARANTEED. AND YET YOU PERSIST... IF YOU ARE SO DETERMINED TO TRY ONCE MORE THEN SHALL WE HASTEN? — The voice, Chapter 3
↑ VERY INTERESTING. YOU ARE MISSING SOMETHING IMPORTANT. YOU WON'T WIN LIKE THIS. STILL... WILL YOU PERSIST? — The voice, Chapter 3
↑ INCREDIBLE. I FELT IT THERE SHINING. YOUR POWER. A LITTLE FURTHER. — The voice, Chapter 3
↑ It was glowing. The voice was glowing! — Organikk in battle, Chapter 4
↑ WELL DONE. THE HALFWAY MARK HAS BEEN ATTAINED. BUT IT IS STILL WAITING. HOW MUCH LONGER NOW...? MY DELTARUNE. — The voice, Chapter 4 credits
↑ INTERESTING. YOU FAILED TO ACHIEVE ANY MARKS. WHAT ARE YOU? "[Player's Name]" I VERY MUCH LOOK FORWARD TO THE NEXT. — The voice, no trophies obtained on console versions, Chapter 4 credits
↑ It's cold. It's as if everything had been enveloped in a black wind... You didn't realize it yet, but... it seems that there's someone who wants to talk to you. — Toby Fox (@tobyfox) on Twitter, October 30, 2018.
