Generally how I feel about “Deltarune’s theme is escapism”

good point from cammie at the end - i get frustrated when ppl say susie’s neglecting reality when… this is her reality? there ARE dark worlds, the darkners are sentient, there is a knight kidnapping ppl, and she is fated to experience a tragedy. the danger is v real

Escapism is definitely a major theme of the story but chapter 5 in particular really shows that what Toby might have to say about it is far more nuanced than "Escapism bad" as an umineko fan regardless of whether Toby read all of umineko to really get to those themes, I feel-

This logic applies too all the darkworlds not just church specifically. Like as far as we can tell no ones obsessed with the computer lab. Asgore/kris isnt a massive weeb. The whole point of tv world is its sad it doesnt get used anymore

I feel like the actual theme of Deltarune is that your choices do matter. It’s present in nearly every part of the game. Even one of the narrators talks about it.

I think it's pretty obvious that, the escapism themes are more applicable to Susie specifically, then the entirety of the game. She is getting too comfortable with the dark worlds. The ending of chapter 5 emphasizes it. Things will not go as she wants. And it will destroy her

not every dark world is a stand in for "escapism through x" the dark worlds themselves are a parallel to fiction, if anything the end of chapter 5 with susie going to castle town STRENGTHENS the escapisim themeing, she cant HANDLE that she knows two people got kidnapped ++

I feel like all the "themes and such" narrative analysis that people make for deltarune should wait until the game is finished

?

Atheist doing a one hour stream about Deltarune calling religious worldviews a form of escapism

Does it need to have one core theme? I’ve always interpreted it as escapism being one of the several themes presented in deltarune like the nature of choices, the ability to interpret a piece of fiction in different ways, dealing with an inescapable fate etc.

Escapism can still be a prominent theme in the game without every Dark World being an allegory for some specific method of escapism............

Imo the theme is freedom, many of the darkners are stuck as normal objects in the lightworld, many main characters are trapped with the threat of the prophecy, the secret bosses, even us the players don’t have the freedom we want with our vessel being discarded

I don't see Deltarune having or needing a single overarching theme. Every chapter and every character has their own themes.