Undertale follow-up Deltarune's next part(s) are “going better than ever”, but don’t expect them anytime soon

The next part of Undertale creator Toby Fox’s current project Deltarune is actually two parts, as chapters 3 and 4 plan to release together. It sounds like that release is still a ways off, according to a recent update from Fox, even as the latest chapter seemingly makes “great progress” and the team eye up work on Chapter 5.

Deltarune, you may remember, arrived fairly suddenly back in late 2018 as a surprisingly free, surprisingly deep and surprisingly sort-of-but-sort-of-not sequel to the beloved comedy-RPG. It took another three years for Chapter 2 to follow on from the roughly three-hour opening section, arriving with similar surprise towards the end of 2021. At the time, Fox confirmed that there would be more Deltarune to come, but he had opted to drop things in episodic fashion rather than as one complete story as originally planned.

That’s probably a good thing for those awaiting Deltarune, as we’re now almost three years on from Chapter 2 - and six from part one, good lord - and chapters 3 and 4 are yet to be seen. Part of that is likely due to the decision to bundle the next two sections together, as Fox announced last year, with Chapter 3 said to be “content complete” back in October.

Since then the team have brought on some new developers to help out, with a latest Spring newsletter update from Fox (thanks, PC Gamer) saying that “Chapter 4 development is going better than ever” as a result and is on track against the team’s own deadlines. “I feel really good about this, champ,” Fox added.

While that may give hope of Chapter 3 and 4 arriving soon, Fox is quick to steady expectations. While around 10 maps, a few cutscenes and a gimmick - similar to the teacup ride in Chapter 2 - are pretty much all that’s left, the team then plan to spend “an unknown amount of time” smoothing out the chapters’ pacing and overall experience.

As such, Fox says that there’s no release date on the cards yet: “Even if Chapter 4 is completed smoothly, there may be surprise factors, so we're not at the point where we can make a solid promise.”

But it all sounds positive, to the point that Fox hopes that by the time of the next update in a few months’ time, some of the team will have already moved over to working on Chapter 5. That was originally meant to join parts 3 and 4 in this combined release, but Fox’s assessment at the time that “I don't think anybody really wants to wait that long to release anything” seems to have been prudent.

So expect a release date maybe sometime soon, but not soon. Given how the previous parts of Deltarune arrived with sudden fanfare, there’s a good chance the next you hear of Chapters 3 and 4 is when they’re out and ready to play.

“In other words, the release is still quite far... but also a very real thing that is weighing on us more and more with each passing month,” Fox said, feeling the anticipation more than perhaps anyone: “I can't wait for you guys to see more of the moments and characters I've had in my head for the past 8 years…”