Developer Toby Fox followed up their 2015 critically acclaimed and fan-favorite 2D RPG Undertale with Deltarune Chapter 1 in 2018. This chapter was the first in what we’d later learn is a five-chapter top-down RPG with puzzles, bullet hell sequences, and Final Fantasy-inspired combat, and Chapter 1 was released for free. Fox dropped Chapter 2 in 2021 in a surprise announcement, and now, players patiently await the release of Chapter 3. Today, more than two years later, Fox has revealed an updated plan for their Deltarune release strategy.
With Chapter 3 nearing completion, Fox plans to finish Chapter 4 and release Deltarune as a purchaseable product. And following that, development on Chapter 5 will continue and hit the game when it’s ready. To help with this, Fox has hired a producer “whose entire job it will be to speed up the overall game development for future chapters,” according to a new statement released.
You can read Fox’s full statement below:
“So, now that Chapter 3 is nearing completion…I think it’s a good time to re-discuss how we will release Deltarune for purchase. My original plan was to release Chapter 3, 4, and 5 together. However, the finish line of Chapter 5 is still pretty far off…and I don’t think anybody really wants to wait that long to release anything. Especially me.
So, new strategy: No more waiting for Chapter 5. Instead, we are going to focus on putting Deltarune out for purchase once we finish Chapter 4. That should make everything a bit more reasonable! Chapter 4 already has a very substantial amount of cutscenes and enemy work done. Also, I’ve hired a new producer whose entire job it will be to speed up the overall game development for future chapters. So, I feel very optimistic about the next steps of this project.
That being said though, I think I’m going to pause on more detailed development updates for now. Instead, I’ll just let you guys know if the development is getting close to completion, or if something funny happens.”
Elsewhere in the update, Fox says Chapter 3 took a lot of trial and error to figure out how it would work but that with Chapter 4, “I already feel very confident about how we can progress.” They also note that people on the team are already transitioning back into working on Chapter 4 and that everybody is excited to work on that part of Deltarune.
For more about the game, watch the original Deltarune teaser and then check out this Chapter 2 teaser. After that, read Game Informer’s Undertale review.
Are you going to purchase Deltarune with the release of Chapter 4? Let us know in the comments below!
