Deltarune Chapter 4 Update: Completion Nears, Release Unknown
Deltarune Chapter 4: Almost Ready, But Still a Way Off
Toby Fox, the creator of Undertale, recently gave fans a progress update on Deltarune's upcoming chapters in his latest newsletter. The news is both exciting and slightly disappointing: Chapter 4 is nearing completion, but the release of Chapters 3 and 4 remains some time away.
Fox confirmed the simultaneous release of Chapters 3 and 4 on PC, Switch, and PS4, as announced in his Halloween 2023 newsletter. However, while Chapter 4 is largely finished – all maps are complete, battles are playable – some polishing remains. This includes minor cutscene improvements, battle balancing and visual enhancements, background work, and refining ending sequences for a couple of battles. Despite this, Fox considers Chapter 4 essentially playable, and it's received positive feedback from testers.
The multi-platform and multilingual release presents significant challenges. Fox explained that unlike the free release of the first two chapters, the upcoming release is the team's first major paid release since Undertale, necessitating extra care to ensure quality.
Before launch, the team must complete several crucial tasks:
- Testing new features
- Finalizing PC and console versions
- Japanese localization
- Thorough bug testing
Chapter 3 development is finished (as stated in Fox's February newsletter). Interestingly, while finishing Chapter 4, some team members have already begun preliminary work on Chapter 5, including map creation and bullet pattern design.
While a specific release date remains unannounced, the newsletter offered a preview of Ralsei and Rouxls' dialogue, Elnina's character description, and a new item, the GingerGuard. Although the three-year wait since Chapter 2 has understandably disappointed some, the promise of Chapters 3 and 4 being longer than Chapters 1 and 2 combined has maintained excitement. Fox anticipates smoother releases for future chapters once Chapters 3 and 4 are launched.
