Deltarune Chapter 4: Major Progress, Release Date TBA

Deltarune Chapter 4 Development Update: Almost Ready, But Not Quite!

Undertale creator Toby Fox recently provided fans with a progress report on Deltarune's upcoming chapters in his latest newsletter. While the simultaneous release of Chapters 3 and 4 on PC, Switch, and PS4 is still planned (as announced in his Halloween 2023 newsletter), Fox revealed that, despite Chapter 4 being nearly complete, the launch date remains some time away.

Chapter 4 is currently in the polishing phase. All maps are finished, battles are playable, but fine-tuning is still underway. Fox highlighted some remaining tasks: minor cutscene improvements, battle balancing and visual enhancements, background additions, and refinements to a couple of battle endings. However, he considers Chapter 4 essentially playable, receiving positive feedback from playtesters.

The multi-platform and multilingual release presents significant challenges, especially since this is the first major paid release since Undertale. Fox stressed the importance of ensuring a polished, bug-free experience across all versions.

Before the release, the team must complete several key tasks:

• Testing new features
• Finalizing PC and console versions
• Japanese localization
• Thorough bug testing

Chapter 3 development is finished (per Fox's February newsletter). While focusing on Chapter 4, preliminary work on Chapter 5 has already begun, with map drafting and battle design underway.

Although a firm release date is still absent, Fox offered a sneak peek at some content: Ralsei and Rouxls dialogue, an Elnina character description, and a new item, GingerGuard. While the three-year wait since Chapter 2 might initially disappoint some fans, the anticipation is high, fueled by Fox's confirmation that Chapters 3 and 4 combined will be longer than Chapters 1 and 2.

Fox remains optimistic, suggesting a smoother release schedule for future chapters once Chapters 3 and 4 launch.