Deltarune Chapters 3 4 OST

''Deltarune'' is an episodic role-playing video game in development by Toby Fox as a follow-up to his 2015 video game ''Undertale''. In the game, the player controls a human teenager, Kris, who is destined to save the world together with Susie, a monster, and Ralsei, a prince from the Dark World. During their quest to seal the Dark Fountains prophesied to end the world, the group makes both friends and foes. The combat system is turn-based and uses bullet hell mechanics. Similarly to ''Undertale'', enemy encounters can be resolved peacefully or through violence.

Development of ''Deltarune'' began in 2012, three years before Fox's previous game, ''Undertale'', was released. Though it shares some characters with ''Undertale'' and features similar gameplay, it takes place in a separate setting and uses an overhauled battle system with multiple party members. The game's story is divided into multiple chapters that have been released gradually; its first and second chapters were released for free in October 2018 and September 2021 respectively, the next two chapters released on June 4, 2025, and Chapter 5 is set to release sometime in 2026. Initially, the game was released on macOS and Windows, before being ported to the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in 2019, and the Nintendo Switch 2 and PlayStation 5 in 2025. The released chapters have been largely praised by critics for their soundtrack, narrative, and sense of humor.

Gameplay

Like ''Undertale'', ''Deltarune'' is a role-playing video game with a top-down perspective. The player directly controls a human named Kris, but has a party of other characters which they select actions for during battle. The game includes both overworld and combat sections; in the former, players can solve puzzles, collect items, and interact with characters and the world. The random encounter system from ''Undertale'' has been removed; players can see the enemies in the environment before they encounter them, allowing for the possibility of avoiding or deliberately initiating combat.

The game uses a turn-based combat system, where players can choose from a set of actions each turn: Fight, Act, Item, Magic, Spare, and Defend. As in ''Undertale'', players control a heart-shaped soul in a fixed area, which must dodge enemy attacks in the form of bullets, though the exact mechanics are sometimes unique to the respective enemy. Defending or "grazing" an incoming attack by letting it come close to the heart without hitting increases the Tension Points (TP) gauge, which allows party members to use spells or particular acts. For example, Ralsei can pacify tired enemies with a spell.

Using acts and spells allows a player to spare enemies non-violently; from the second chapter, this can allow them to be recruited to live in the player's Castle Town. Alternatively, fighting an enemy, which also increases TP, can lead to them being defeated violently. When a party member's hit points (HP) drop below zero, they are downed and will not be able to fight until revived. The HP of downed party members will regenerate slowly until it reaches 1, but other healing sources can also revive a downed party member.

Plot

''Deltarune''s narrative spans multiple chapters, of which four have been released, with three more being planned for a later release. Although it features some characters and elements from ''Undertale'', it takes place in a different setting.

Chapter 1 – The Beginning

The game begins with a voice prompting the player to create an avatar, but the "vessel" is ultimately discarded, as "no one can choose who they are in this world.” Instead, the player is given control of human teenager Kris, who arrives to school late. After being paired up with their delinquent monster classmate Susie for a group project, their teacher, Alphys, sends the two to get supplies. However, the supply closet pulls them into a strange realm—the Dark World—where they meet the dark prince Ralsei. He tells them that the three are heroes destined to close the geyser-like Dark Fountains that give form to the Dark Worlds. A new Dark Fountain has created a Dark World east of Ralsei's, guarded by the tyrannical King. Susie, uninterested in Ralsei's story, joins King's son Lancer in fighting Kris and Ralsei, but both are convinced to change sides and join the party.

Lancer refuses to confront his father or to see his new friends hurt, so he imprisons them in King's dungeon. Susie frees Kris and Ralsei and fights Lancer, but reconciles with him and promises not to hurt King. The three confront and battle King, who falls over, exhausted. After Ralsei heals him in pity, King prepares to kill the heroes. If the player has not violently subdued any prior enemies, Lancer leads the Dark World's inhabitants, Darkners, in overthrowing and imprisoning King; otherwise, Susie distracts King, allowing Ralsei to put him to sleep with a spell. After sealing the Dark Fountain, Kris wakes up in an unused classroom with Susie, revealing that Dark Worlds are ordinary rooms transformed, and returns home. That night, Kris rips out their soul representing the player's control, locks it away, and draws a knife, their eye flashing red.

Chapter 2 – A Cyber's World

The next morning after school, Kris and Susie return to the closet Dark World and reunite with Ralsei. He instructs Kris to bring the items from the unused classroom into the closet, restoring them to their Darkner forms, then tells Kris and Susie to work on their group project with classmates Noelle and Berdly at the library's computer lab. Arriving there, they discover that a new Dark World has been created, ruled by a computer named Queen, who recruits Berdly to her side and attempts to do the same with Noelle. Ralsei also appears in the Dark World and joins the party. At a fork in the road, Susie runs off with Ralsei while Kris joins Noelle, helping her evade Queen.

Both parties are captured by Queen, but Kris and Susie escape, convince Berdly to change sides, and reunite with Ralsei. Queen reveals that the Dark Fountain was created by the "Roaring Knight", and that any inhabitant of the Light World can open a Fountain with "Determination"; Queen is trying to force Noelle to do so. Queen attacks the party with a giant mech, threatening to kill them if Noelle does not obey her, but Noelle refuses. Queen realizes the error of her ways and tells Noelle to choose the world she wants. Berdly attempts to create a Fountain, but Ralsei warns him that opening too many Fountains will cause an apocalypse known as "The Roaring", drowning the world in darkness. Kris closes the Dark Fountain.

The four awaken in the computer lab, with Noelle and Berdly believing it was a dream. Kris heads home, and their mother Toriel invites Susie to spend the night. While Susie and Toriel are otherwise occupied, Kris secretly rips out their soul, locks it in the bathroom, and leaves the house for a while; it is later revealed that the tires of Toriel's car had been slashed. After everyone else falls asleep, Kris rips out their soul again, opens the front door, turns on the TV, and creates a Dark Fountain in the living room with their knife. The screen fades to black as a smile appears on the static TV screen.

Chapter 3 – Late Night

Kris and Susie both awaken in a Dark World set in Toriel's living room. After meeting back up with Ralsei, he reveals to Susie that Dark Worlds are an illusion, and that Darkners are transformed versions of various inanimate objects. Susie and Ralsei's conversation is then interrupted by Tenna, an anthropomorphized version of Toriel's television who serves as a game show host. He forces the trio to star in various competition segments, presented as a variety of minigames. Upon continuing to participate in these games, they eventually discover Toriel being held hostage by Tenna inside of a giant toy capsule.

The party demands Tenna stop the games, allowing them to seal the fountain and return home with Toriel. He refuses, citing his feelings of abandonment as Kris's family stopped watching television due to the hospitalization of Noelle's father, Toriel's divorce, and Asriel leaving for college. He additionally mentions that the Roaring Knight promised him relevance in exchange for keeping the fountain open. After a fight serving "final challenge," Ralsei and Susie comfort Tenna, explaining that he has already spent years bringing joy. However, he is suddenly attacked by the Knight, who also attempts to capture Toriel.

The party fights the Knight, and upon defeat, is rescued by Undyne (a police officer in Hometown), allowing Kris and Susie to escape to the Light World with the Fountain remaining unsealed. The two follow the Knight and Undyne to a previously sealed-off bunker, which now appears to have a Dark Fountain created inside of it. The door shuts before they can enter, causing Susie to bang on its door until a hidden electronic keypad is revealed. Susie then runs back to Kris's home to rescue Toriel, suggesting Kris come with her. The chapter ends with the bunker door opening itself for Kris.

Chapter 4 – Prophecy

After Kris and Susie close the Fountain in the living room and repair Tenna, Toriel invites Susie to attend services at church. The two ask townfolk about the bunker, and conclude that the most likely source of information is Noelle's mother and the town's mayor, Carol Holiday. They convince Noelle to invite them over to study, and investigate the Holiday house. In the bedroom of Noelle's missing sister Dess, Kris finds a guitar with a note inside detailing the lock code, but before the player can read it, Kris rips out their soul, interrupting them. The player gains control of the soul and infiltrates the house's ventilation to find Kris taking a phone call from an unknown person, who instructs them to keep Susie from finding the guitar. Although Kris fails, Carol returns home before Susie can memorize the note and expels her from the house.

The two try to return home but find the door locked. When they return to the church to ask Toriel for the key, they find a Dark World inside and enter to rescue her. The Dark World is filled with depictions of the prophecy of the Dark Fountains mentioned by Ralsei. Within, they encounter an elderly tortoise-like monster, who helps Susie gain self-confidence. The party seals the Dark Fountain, but find that there is another Dark World in the church behind a locked door. Susie discovers that the old monster is actually a Darkner created from mementos of Gerson, the deceased father of the church's priest, and creates a new Dark Fountain in hopes that he can help unlock the door. However, the new Darkner resembling Gerson is hostile and fights Kris and Susie, who are saved by Ralsei.

The party unlocks the door and find the Knight in the Dark World. The Knight opens another Fountain, which transforms into a "Titan," a harbinger of the Roaring. The party fights the Titan and defeats it with unexpected help from Gerson. Susie runs ahead and sees a mural of the prophecy that Ralsei had been trying to hide, which she smashes before the player can see it. They seal the Fountain and return to the house, only to find that Toriel has been at home with Sans (the town's convenience store "janitor"). In Kris's bedroom, an unknown person calls, reminding Kris to " otforget their promise."

Alternate route

During Chapter 2, the player can begin an alternate route (commonly referred to as the "Snowgrave" or "Genocide" route, and internally referred to as the "Weird" or " Side B" route) by forcing Noelle to use her magic to freeze enemies, with the help of Spamton, a spambot normally encountered in an optional sidequest that leads to his superboss fight. As the player continues to manipulate Noelle, she is eventually forced to freeze Berdly, becoming shaken by her actions and is too exhausted to participate in Queen's plans. Ralsei informs Queen of the Roaring preemptively, preventing her battle. Spamton, who took over the mansion and upgraded himself, tries to stop Kris, but is frozen by Noelle as Kris seals the Fountain. In the Light World, Berdly is found unresponsive, and Noelle later questions if the Dark World really was a dream. The route ends the same way as the normal route, with Kris opening a Dark Fountain.

If the player took this route, it is revealed in Chapter 4 that Berdly is still alive, but remains in a coma, having been carried by Kris to the hospital off-screen. When Kris and Susie are visiting Noelle at her house, after the player attempts to read the note in Dess's guitar and Kris removes their soul, Noelle asks Kris if they can talk privately. Once the player infiltrates the ventilation system and exits Noelle's room, they overhear a conversation between Noelle and Kris. The player can then enter the room to assume control of Kris, and either reassure Noelle or convince her to wear the ring she used in the Dark World, revealing to her that the previous events were not a dream. If the latter occurs, Kris shoves the soul into the bathroom's garbage bin afterwards and furiously beats it up. The game continues similarly until Chapter 4's end, where Carol calls Kris to inform them that Noelle is looking forward to seeing them at the festival the following day.

Development and release

The idea for ''Deltarune'' came to Toby Fox in a fever dream he had in 2011 in college. In the dream, he saw the ending to a video game and was determined to create it. Fox was also inspired by a collection of playing card designs posted on Tumblr by artist Kanotynes. Development of the game started in 2012 but was abandoned before Fox created the first room. Some music from the original project was recycled for ''Undertale'', most notably the main battle theme (which became Papyrus' battle theme, "Bonetrousle") and a piece called "Joker Battle" (which was reused for the Toriel fight as "Heartache"). Various factors, such as the graphics, an overhauled combat system, and Fox's mental state, made ''Deltarune'' a more challenging game to produce than ''Undertale''.

Temmie Chang, who previously assisted Fox with character art in ''Undertale'', serves as the main artist for ''Deltarune''. She helped design characters, sprites, and animations. Fox came up with Susie's design after playing '' Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney''. He originally based her on Maya Fey, and she would act "nice and cute". However, as her design progressed, she eventually turned into more of a "thug". Fox also stated that he planned to give an unnamed character a fire spell that they would not be good at using but decided against adding it in the first chapter.

''Deltarune'' is being developed in GameMaker Studio 2. The game introduces a new battle system comparable to the one used in the ''Final Fantasy'' franchise, contrasting with ''Undertale''s combat system (which shared similarities with that of the ''Mother'' series). Fox also serves as the primary composer for the game's music; while some of it is completely new, it also incorporates motifs from the ''Undertale'' soundtrack. Unlike ''Undertale'', Fox has stated that ''Deltarune'' is planned to have only one ending.

Initial chapters

After previously teasing something ''Undertale''-related a day earlier, Fox released the first chapter of ''Deltarune'' for free on October 31, 2018. Initially disguised as a "survey program", it was then described as a game "intended for people who have completed ''Undertale''". As he envisioned a larger project than ''Undertale'', he said that he needed to form a team to release the full game, which would be sold as a single package. The first chapter was later released on Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4 on February 28, 2019, after being announced at a Nintendo Direct earlier that month. The console versions were developed and published by 8-4.

Development of the second chapter began in May 2020. In addition to further designing the game's story and characters, Fox spent much time experimenting with game engines other than GameMaker Studio 2. He eventually concluded that GameMaker "still felt like the best fit for the project", and using the first chapter as a base, he began working in May 2020, with Fox and Chang joined by a few other team members. Fox has stated that Chapter 2 is perhaps the game's largest, due to it having the most cutscenes and its usage of a large number of characters, among other factors. In a 2020 update, he revealed that he was considering expanding his four-person team following wrist and hand pain, which had delayed production; this led them to receive over 1000 applications.

During a livestream celebrating the 6th anniversary of ''Undertale'' in September 2021, Fox announced that the second chapter would be released for free on PC and Mac two days later, on September 17. In his blog, he said that this price point was since the COVID-19 pandemic made the world "really tough for everybody recently." The Switch and PS4 versions were updated to include Chapter 2 on September 23, in conjunction with that day's Nintendo Direct.

Paid release and further content

Initially, the third, fourth, and fifth chapters were intended to be released as a single paid title once completed, and by 2022 work on these chapters was being undertaken simultaneously. In September 2023, a version of the third chapter that was playable from beginning to end was finished. Due to the ongoing length of development, Fox announced the following month that the initial paid release would only include the third and fourth chapters. He recruited Robert Sephazon as a producer in the beginning of 2024, and his team set an internal deadline of September 1 for the completion of Chapter 4's main content, which was met. Owing to his wrist issues, by this point Fox used speech-to-text software to input text into his computer, relying on other team members to do the programming.

Later in 2024, Fox stated that the next two chapters were undergoing localization and being ported to consoles, and would be released the following year; he also stated that the fifth chapter had begun production. As development continued, content from Chapter 3 was cut to improve the pacing of the game as a whole. During the April 2025 Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, it was announced that a paid version of ''Deltarune'' will release on June 5, 2025, as a launch title for the Switch 2. On May 9, Fox announced that the game's releases for the PS4, Switch, PS5, and PC will be on June 4, 2025 in the West and on midnight June 5, 2025 in Japan.

The paid release contains the first four chapters, with future content intended as free updates; the game's menu shows a total of seven chapters. The credits of the fourth chapter end by stating that the next chapter will release in 2026.

Reception

Initial chapters

The first chapter of ''Deltarune'' garnered many comparisons to ''Undertale''. Jason Schreier of ''Kotaku'' and Dominic Tarason of ''Rock, Paper, Shotgun'' praised it for refining its elements, with the latter describing it as "a higher-budget production". Although Mitchell Parton of ''Nintendo World Report'' thought that the chapter did not "significantly change up the formula", he did not have a problem with it. ''Nintendo Life''s Mitch Vogel was less positive, being disappointed that after how "fresh" ''Undertale'' was at its release, the chapter ended up being just' more of the same".

A large amount of praise was aimed at the first chapter's music, with Schreier claiming that " e soundtrack should be enough of a selling point." Tarason found that the music had "a fresh new edge to it," whereas Parton described it as "emotional and solid" and expressed surprise at it being composed by one person. Adam Luhrs of ''RPGFan'' praised Fox's "clever use of motifs," feeling that they were incorporated well in the story. The soundtrack was nominated for the Game Audio Network Guild / MAGFest People's Choice Award at the 2019 G.A.N.G. Awards.

Tarason liked the first chapter's pixel art, calling it "more detailed and expressive" compared to ''Undertale'', a sentiment that Parton agreed with. ''GameSpot'' Michael Higham further elaborated that its ability to "communicate so much with so little" was one of its greatest strengths, resulting in "vivid displays of personality." Its gameplay was also generally well received, with Parton calling it "unique" and Vogel describing the combat as "an organic and well-implemented expansion of the original". However, Higham also criticized some sequences—such as the Card Castle—as being "a bit barebones".

Allegra Frank of ''Polygon'' stated that the first chapter's sense of humor was one of its "defining features". Vogel concurred, calling the humor "witty" and the story "compelling". Higham stated that it had "witty writing, snappy jokes, and absurdist humor", and Tarason praised the "fresh (and lovable) set of characters". Vogel was more critical of the way that the Dark World was implemented, opining that despite it looking slightly better than ''Undertale'', it "hardly feels like a cohesive or living place". He also stated some areas had "very little in the way of interesting design or presentation", resulting in a chapter that was overall "not very pretty... to look at." Parton also listed the game's infrequent save points as a negative in his summary.

''Screen Rant'' rated the second chapter 4.5 out of 5, saying that " e quality of the experience matches that of a full-price game, and it makes the wait for the next chapters even harder", describing it in comparison to the first chapter as " eelinglike a game that's more confident in its direction, and more willing to let players shape the fate of its characters." Ana Diaz of ''Polygon'' described Chapter 2's world as "welcoming" despite being a "harsh challenge", praising its humor and noting that it "complicates the moral and ethical questions posed by the game's predecessor, ''Undertale'', while adding to the story started in Chapter 1."

Paid release

The initial version of the paid release, containing chapters 1-4, also received positive reception from reviewers. Brendan Graeber of ''IGN'' described ''Deltarune'' as "something incredible" that he was "not likely to forget", and Ana Diaz called it a "phenomenal expression of ox'ssignature idiosyncratic style" in her review for '' PCGamer''. Errielle Sudario of '' Checkpoint Gaming'' stated that the additional chapters were "worth the wait" and contained "humour and heart" and more "polish, challenges, and questions".

Allisandra Reyes, writing for ''Game8'', stated that the combat design "takes risks and most of them pay off". ''GamesRadar+''s Alan Wen described the variation and creativity he saw in each combat encounter as "delightful". Sudario said some of the later-game combat took "some time to master", but with a "payoff hatis worth it". Conversely, ''TechRadar'' reviewer Vic Hood criticized some attacks for being "near impossible" to avoid on the Nintendo Switch 2, as opposed to the accuracy of a keyboard.

Multiple reviewers praised the art direction, with Hood calling it "stunning", and Wen regarding the pixel art as "crude but charming" but also possessing "richer use of sprites, color and animations" compared to ''Undertale''. Stating that the game benefited from Fox also being the primary composer, Graeber claimed it had an "embarrassment of phenomenal music", which ''New York Times'' writer Harold Goldberg described as being "remarkably diverse". While she praised the overall art direction, Sudario criticized some parts of the fourth chapter for being too dark to navigate.

The game's plot and writing was also praised by reviewers; Sudario said the later chapters "expand meaningfully and emotionally" on the plot of the earlier game. Hood stated that the game's characters began to feel like "real friends", stating that this was a "feeling I've not had with a game before", and Wen praised them for being uniquely "memorable, goofy and flawed". Multiple reviewers praised the game's humor, with Goldberg commending its "riffing, improvisation and satire". Graeber described the plot as having hidden "intrigue, beauty, and unpredictability", saying it raised "unsettling questions" about the connection between a player and the character they control. Reyes also praised the "deeper and more emotionally resonant" nature of the story, though she criticized the "meandering" nature and pace of Chapter 3, perceiving it as a "detour" rather than a progression of the story.

Player count and revenue

After the release of ''Deltarune''s demo containing Chapters 1 and 2, it attracted around 100,000 concurrent players on Steam, far higher than ''Undertale''s lifetime record. Chapters 3 and 4 attracted around 130,000 concurrent players on Steam, which was higher than the peak concurrent players for the demo despite it now being a paid release. ''Deltarune'' was also one of the highest-grossing games on Steam in terms of revenue upon the initial release of Chapters 3 and 4.

Notes

References

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