To say that characters like Suzie in a small Indie project like Deltarune have similarities to those in a title with Sony’s funding and the scope of Santa Monica Studio behind it is more than a little strange. However, an easy way to dive into studying the type of complex characters that Deltarune offers to players is to start with a familiar thread that more general audiences might be able to relate to, such as God of War‘s Kratos.
One place to begin looking at Suzie is from the primary aspect of her personality that most players will run up against when trying to get her to follow orders in the earlier parts of Deltarune. To put it mildly, Suzie’s key characteristic is that she’s angry, and that anger leads her to violence multiple times over to the point that the player can’t even control how she behaves during combat.
From the player’s perspective, Suzie might come off as the “Mean Girl” stereotype that her initial title suggests, but having to constantly work against her to keep from attacking every enemy can quickly become a hinderance. She’s out of control, and given the way that the developer’s previous title Undertale had emphasized finding peaceful ways out of combat, it’s natural for fans to butt heads against this character that makes that playstyle even harder. This is where the comparisons between Deltarune and God of War start, as the player takes on the role of Atreus, who doesn’t really understand this angry stranger, and Suzie is Kratos, a rage monster wielding an axe.
On a surface level, it’s easy to point out that both Suzie and Kratos are rage monsters wielding an axe that are so dominated by hate that it even fuels how they fight. Specifically for Kratos, this comes into the gameplay via the Spartan Rage mechanic that can give the player the edge they need to beat God of War‘s Valkyrie bosses, among other tough encounters. Though, even though this rage is able to turn Kratos into a killing machine to the delight of the player, it has a troubling effect on Atreus, and much of the narrative revolves around how much of a problem it is. Notably, this is even seen in the milder version of Kratos fans have become accustomed to.
Suzie, on the other hand, uses an axe as her primary weapon, and her rage fuels her to always attack everything she can, whether the player or Kris wants her to or not. This also feeds into the mechanics, where the player has to use their own turns to stop Suzie from attacking, pulling the narrative thread directly into combat mechanics. While the strained relationship in God of War leads to arguments between Kratos and Atreus, the same thing in Deltarune leads to Suzie abandoning Kris and joining the enemy side.
While the characters of Kris and Atreus don’t compare as well to each other, the perspective that players get in Deltarune could be close to what Kratos’ son would have. In fact, it’s possible that players will actually get the chance to see through Atreus’ eyes in the next God of War, if Santa Monica Studio is keen to give into player demands like that. However, what the player sees at first is this monster that won’t listen to anything they say and doesn’t seem to care that this adventure isn’t exactly easy for the Kris either.
Then, as the story progresses, Kris and Suzie are able to reach an understanding as they grow closer and begin to understand that there is hurt taking place on both sides of this conflict. So, as Kris begins to understand that Suzie is really just lashing out from some sort of pain happening outside of their adventure, so does the player. Hopefully, this theme of connecting the more noble Kris to the more rambunctious Suzie through understanding each other is something that Deltarune: Chapter 2 expands on.
There are a few points in Deltarune where players are given Suzie’s direct perspective of the situation, notably when the focus decides to show the player what is happening as she joins Lancer to be a bad guy. This is when she opens up the most, and the player is able to see that there is more under the hood than a thirst for blood and pure rage. It’s a similar situation to what happens when Atreus gets sick in God of War and Kratos faces his past self and the Blades of Chaos that he has hidden under his house.
Kratos has a regret under the skin, for having spent his life killing everything that moves, and his new rage now comes from not being allowed to live the simple life he had hoped to carve out with his new wife and child. In the case of what’s under Suzie’s skin, she might get into it in future chapters of Deltarune, but for now it remains a mystery that some fans have some theories about that can’t quite be confirmed yet. However, the quick glances the player gets at the fact that there is something digging at Suzie is enough to add a similar level of complexity to the rage monster that God of War spends an entire game layering onto.
It isn’t exactly revealed until Deltarune‘s ending, but Suzie isn’t the only one who has some sort of outside pain that is bearing down on her throughout the adventure. Kris is a complicated story, who appears to by attempting to be breaking away from the player’s control by the end of the first chapter. This is specifically accomplished by removing the heart that both symbolizes the player and is the way that the game gives over control of Kris up until the haunting ending scene.
From what players can gather, Kris is suffering from the loss of their family, starting with Asgore and Toriel’s divorce and the abandonment of Asriel leaving off to college. Atreus is suffering from a similar loss with the death of his mother Faye before the beginning of God of War, and is now forced to go on an adventure with the rage monster that is Kratos, who is also suffering from the same loss. Both Kratos and Suzie turn their pain into violence, while Atreus and Kris are just desperate to make some sort of connection with the violent rage monsters that they’re forced together with.
Deltarune: Chapter 1 is available now for PC, PS4, and Switch. God of War is available now for PS4 and PS5.
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