Deltarune Chapters 3 & 4 Review – Tomorrow Comes Today

Deltarune Chapters 3 & 4 on Nintendo Switch 2

I remember being stunned when Toby Fox shadow dropped Deltarune back in 2018. While I can’t really say that its predecessor, Undertale, impacted me in the same way that other role-playing games had, seeing a sequel to it release for free, sport the same high quality as that Indie gem, and leave a plethora of unanswered questions that teased more to come was a bold move to say the least.

Fast forward seven years, and a second chapter was released in 2021. However, with years of radio silence in between instalments, fans were probably right to question when more Deltarune content would be available to play. At this point, its slow progress and obfuscated nature made it just as elusive as Hollow Knight: Silksong. We knew it existed, but we had no idea when we would be able to get our hands on more content!

Now, with the assistance of 8-4, we finally have the chance to experience Deltarune Chapters 3 & 4. This update not only marks the end of the free demo bundling chapters one and two, officially pricing the game at US$25, but also coincides with the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2. And you better believe the first game I played for my shiny new Switch 2 was Deltarune. Sure, Mario Kart World looks spectacular and is fun in the same way that only a Mario Kart game can be, but Deltarune channels something different. Something quirky. Something special.

Describing the plot of Deltarune is somewhat challenging, mostly because detailing the plot of Chapter 3 would also mean spoiling some of the events of Chapters 1 and 2. At its most basic level, Deltarune follows a human child named Kris, a monster girl named Susie, and a fluffy prince of a realm of darkness named Ralsei.

The three of them are tasked with closing fountains of darkness that threaten the balance between the world of light, where humans and monsters —also known as lightners — live, and the world of darkness, where darkners like Ralsei reside. In Chapter 3, you’re thrust into a world of television where you’re forced to compete on a game show by the desperate and larger-than-life host, Mr. Tenna, and Chapter 4 sends you into a Church to explore its halls in search of answers.

Deltarune Chapters 3 & 4 do a great deal to provide context for lingering questions about what is happening in the plot. While Chapters 1 and 2 were fun and had plenty of memorable characters, you can definitely feel that something was going on behind the scenes that you weren’t privy to. Now, Chapters 3 and 4 are here to peel back the curtain even further and raise the emotional stakes in several ways that players were desperate to see for years. Characters will bare their souls to each other, confide in each other their fears, and even previously relevant characters are dragged into the plot in notable and dark ways.

It’s not all serious, mind you. A Toby Fox game wouldn’t be complete without his odd brand of humour, with plenty of puns, stupid gags, deadpan reactions, and gameplay sequences that exist solely to be a punchline. Chapter 3 is absolutely chock-full of these moments, which makes it an entertaining episode, but it does make certain moments feel like padding. A part of that is intentional by the game’s own admission, but padding is still padding, even if it is presented as a joke. Chapter 4 feels much more narratively fulfilling for the larger story, even if the humour isn’t quite as prevalent. Taken together, Chapters 3 and 4 will remind you exactly why you fell in love with Deltarune in the first place.

If it’s been a while since you played Deltarune, it’ll take some time to readjust to the gameplay. While overworld navigation is pretty straightforward, combat isn’t as simple. While you can attack enemies like any other RPG, you’re incentivised to ACT. ACTing can take many different shapes and can involve multiple party members. ACTing can weaken enemies, make them fall asleep, or, most importantly, pacify them. When you pacify a certain number of enemies, they’ll join your town, and you can interact with them whenever you visit it.

By deciding to ACT instead of attack, most combat encounters turn into puzzles as you try to figure out how to pacify enemies. While this is happening, enemies will attack you, with their attacks taking the form of brief bullet-hell minigames. You’ll dodge their attacks to avoid damage, but if you get close enough to their attacks, you’ll gain TP, which can not only be used for ACTing, but for healing and launching powerful attacks in the few moments where you are forced to fight enemies. It’ll take a lot of practice to dodge the attacks of all of the new enemies successfully, and there is a good chance you’ll die a lot in the process, but it’s incredibly easy to dive right back in and try again.

While the first two chapters featured plenty of activities outside of combat, the same is true of Deltarune Chapters 3 & 4. Chapter 3 in particular is stuffed to the brim with minigames, while Chapter 4 will have you exploring the light world in greater detail than ever before. They’re two very different extremes, with Chapter 3’s manic pacing in stark contrast with Chapter 4’s more deliberate pacing. I wouldn’t say that one approach is better than the other, but players will probably gravitate to one chapter over the other. Do you prefer a more wacky, standalone, and faster-paced chapter, or a slower, more grounded instalment that builds on many of the story threads from Chapters 1 and 2?

Regardless of which you prefer, while you can blaze through each chapter in about three hours, fans of Deltarune know that there’s more to each chapter than just reaching the end. Each chapter includes plenty of hidden content, whether that’s an alternate story route or a super boss. And it’s those superbosses I actually have issues with here in Deltarune Chapters 3 & 4.

For the first two chapters, the superbosses were tough challenges that were tricky to find, but not impossible to overcome. Exploring a little bit would take you to places and items that don’t seem to serve any initial purpose other than to get you to a superboss. These were firm challenges, but oftentimes were the most exciting moments in each chapter. Superbosses are back in Deltarune Chapters 3 & 4, but they’re far more aggravating and annoying to get to.

While Chapter 4’s two superbosses are more in line with how Chapter 1 & 2 handled theirs, Chapter 3’s is just downright annoying. It involves mastering several minigames, and failing to master them on your first attempt can lead to softlocking any subsequent attempt to reach the superboss. When I realised this, all I felt was frustration at how and why the developers would design it the way they did. I like the gimmick surrounding it, especially at how it evokes different genres of games and peeling back some of the backstory of Chapter 3’s setting, but unless you know exactly what you’re doing from the moment you start Chapter 3, you’re most likely going to have to replay the chapter multiple times through no fault of your own.

Annoyances aside, it’s clear that everyone involved spent years refining nearly every aspect of Deltarune Chapters 3 & 4 from a visual and auditory perspective. The spritework is as crisp as always, and the new visual styles on display are to die for. I love how Mr. Tenna acts and moves like a jittering bit of claymation, and having not one, but two new scores to listen to is going to make my commutes to work all the better.

If you’ve never played Deltarune before, I obviously wouldn’t recommend starting your Deltarune experience with Chapters 3 & 4. I don’t think it’s likely that you would, given the title, but honestly, if you already like Deltarune, you’re already sold on the most recent chapters. It builds upon what was established earlier, incorporating concepts and mechanics logically and necessarily.

Deltarune Chapters 3 & 4 may not be the best jumping-on point for the series, but now’s the best possible time to get into Deltarune. It’s available on more systems, is in a nice and convenient package, and is extremely affordable. It’s a strange little RPG that earned a cult following for a reason, and I can only hope we don’t have to wait another four years for the next chapter.

Deltarune is now available on Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.