“Your choices don’t matter”

That’s the theme of Chapter 1.

You’re told to build a vessel for your soul. When you finish with it, it’s promptly thrown away.

Our choices here don’t mean anything.

Then Susie says it flat out when bullying Kris in the hallway:

We took that as talking to us through all of Chapter 1. Because, effectively, they didn’t matter.

In contrast to the no mercy run in Undertale, Deltarune’s...doesn’t change anything. Not really. You get a different thing from Jevil and a few snippets of dialogue, you aren’t told you’re welcome back.

But that’s it.

You still beat the king.

You still seal the fountain.

Despite Ralsei trying to encourage you otherwise...

...Your destiny is not your choice. We don’t get consequences for our actions.  The entertainment Flowey got out of replaying things differently is gone. Even the small things, like beating vs hugging the dummy, or choosing what the team name should be, they don’t make any impact on your experience at large.

And then, we have Chapter 2.

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