Undertale and Deltarune creator Toby Fox recently reported on the progress being made on Deltarune Chapter 4 via the Undertale/Deltarune newsletter. The full text of his statement can be seen below, but what is highlighted is that Chapter 4 will not be released anytime soon, that Chapters 3 and 4 combined are longer than Chapters 1 and 2 combined, and that some members of the team are busy working on Chapter 5.
“Greetings everyone! DELTARUNE Chapter 4 is making great progress overall.”
“As [of] time of writing this (7-23-24)…”
“All the cards are ready. All battles are playable. Only 2 scenes need minor improvements. One battle needs to be balanced and the visuals completed. One battle needs a better background. Two battles have improved ending sequences. There are still some things to fix and places to polish.”
“Three of my friends were able to play the entire unfinished Chapter 4. They all liked it and had no major criticisms. Phew! (Except for one friend, who kept mentioning that I should name all the chairs because the existence of ‘Chairiel’ implies that all the other chairs should have names too… I probably won’t do that…)”
“I’m not sure if chapter 2 is still the longest chapter, but chapters 3 and 4 combined are definitely longer than chapters 1 and 2 combined. It’s a little crazy to think about…”
“The initial development of Chapter 5 is also ste adily progressing. Most of the team is still focused on Chapter 4, but a few people are going ahead and creating initial drafts of Chapter 5 maps, working on bullet patterns, etc.”
“So what?”
“Chapter 4 is basically playable without a bit of polishing!! So it must seem like chapters 3 and 4 will be out soon, right!?”
“…”
“Actually, the exit is still far away!!! We have come close to 3 months, but there is still a long way to go!!!”
“Why!? How does this horrible fact that causes despair and gnashing of teeth that keeps me awake at night even make sense!? I want them out NOW!!!”
“Well… I’ll tell you!”
“What’s left before release?”
“That’s right!!! CREATING a chapter is just the first step!”
“PUBLISHING a chapter… is a whole other ordeal.”
“It wouldn’t be a big deal if the game was free… But since this will be our first major paid release since UNDERTALE, we really need to take the extra time to make sure it’s perfect!”
“Our goal is…to release console and PC simultaneously, in English and Japanese!”
“So… what do we have [left] to make?”
“Well… It’s long, so click below if you’re curious!!!”
The link at the bottom then leads to a page that lists all the tasks the developers need to complete until the two chapters are ready for release. Toby Fox previously said they wanted to release Chapters 3 and 4 simultaneously – which would explain why the team split their efforts between the chapters instead of focusing on Chapter 3.
While waiting for the sequel, fans can revisit Deltarune Chapters 1 and 2, which are free on the Nintendo Switch eShop.