Recently, Toby Fox, the creator of Undertale, offered yet another update on the development of Deltarune Chapter 2. It sounds like the next chapter has entered the next phase of development, having been given to a friend for beta testing. It's unclear what this means for a release date, but hopefully, it'll launch in the coming months.
Though Deltarune may seem like a sequel to Undertale, it's actually been in development longer than its predecessor, officially starting in 2012, but it was shortly after abandoned. And while Undertale took Fox less than three years to create mostly on his own with the help of a few others, Deltarune's development timeline is significantly longer. The first chapter released back in 2018, nearly three years ago. After the most recent update regarding Deltarune's beta version, some fans are wondering why development is lasting so much longer.
Deltrarune's Length Compared to Undertale
There are a number of possibilities as to why Deltarune's development is taking much longer than Undertale's had, the most obvious being that Deltarune will be a much longer game than Undertale, which is finished in about 6 hours on average per run. Of course, this doesn't factor in the many different ways the game can be completed, such as Undertale's Pacificist Route, which leads to the best ending, or contrarily, the Genocide Route, which unpacks equally as much lore.
On the other hand, Deltarune is being broken down by chapters. It's unclear how many chapters the game will be, but it's officially listed as "more than three." This means Deltarune will most likely be in development across several more years.
Undertale's Developer Toby Fox
As many know, Fox also composed Undertale in addition to developing it, becoming one of the most well-received soundtracks in gaming. But he also composes for other projects as well, including the Undertale-inspired indie OMORI and Pokemon Sword and Shield. So it's clear that Fox does other work than the ones he's created. However, late last year, reports of a wrist injury have impeded his ability to develop and compose Deltaruneand slowed even further by the ongoing pandemic.
It's also worth taking into consideration how Fox feels about his own game. In a statement, the developer explained that, similar to Dan Salvato and Doki Doki Literature Club, he was overwhelmed by how popular Undertale had become and how passionate it had made fans. This passion ultimately leads to expectations from fans that Deltarune might be able to provide the same experience. Even though Fox has specifically stated otherwise, the fact that fans' expectations have been running rampant could have had an impact on the game's development.
It's quite possible that Deltarune in its current state acts as a standalone game, building on the world of Undertale. Since its release, fans have been theorizing exactly how the game ties back to the original as well as the characters Frisk, Chara, and Asriel, who bear striking resemblances of characters in Deltarune. It looks like those questions may receive answers, but if the game is somewhere around 5 to 7 chapters like fans believe, it'll be a long time before they arrive.
Deltarune Chapter 1 is out now for PC, PS4, and Switch.