Deltarune’s third and fourth chapters dropping simultaneously this year was my Silksong. Granted, I haven’t been waiting quite as long as the Hollow Knight sickos. Toby Fox only kept me hanging four years for the latest slice of his episodic Undertale successor.
Still, that’s before I’d started freelancing for IGN, let alone descended into the guide mines in service of my new all-knowing deity, Horace. Life has passed since I hung out with Deltarune’s adorably awkward protagonist, Kris, their chalk-devouring bestie, Susie, and the duo’s goat mage guide, Ralsie. They’re like old friends at this point, and I’ve been frantically waiting to rejoin their excursions to the shadowy alternate universe of the Dark World. After all, I had to see what manner of quirky little weirdos its ability to distort everyday objects into sentient beings would create next. But the wait was worth every agonising minute
Speaking to a friend about Chapters 3+4, I compared playing them back-to-back to a Dip Dab, and I stand by it. If you aren’t a fellow Brit, a Dip Dab is a true national delicacy of a sweet. It’s served in the form of a double-barrelled paper bag, loaded with two sacks of contrasting flavoured sherbet and a single lollipop. You dip the lolly into one side of the sickly sweet dust and, boom, you’re in flavour town. But then you hit the other, and what’s this, you’re in sour city. Now I describe it, it’s gross, but hot damn, it hits, and Deltarune’s third and fourth chapters offer that same one-two punch of contrasting, separated flavours.
Chapter 3 drops us into the Dark World’s twist on Kris’ living room, which has morphed into a glitzy TV studio. Before long, the gang are standing behind plastic podiums on a tacky game show hosted by a suited-up anthropomorphic CRT television named Tenna, and the ensuing three hours crank Deltarune’s signature silliness to full blast.
Each of its game show segments switches out Deltarune’s overworld for a top-down, old-school Zelda aesthetic, complete with puzzles and hidden secrets. And between the action, I was feasting on the gang’s interactions with Tenna, yapping wonderful nonsense. I knew I loved him the moment he fell to his knees sobbing when the gang refused to play his super secret bonus round, only to spring back into action when his pitiable state force them to agree and cut off any complaints with a worm from his sponsors. And no, that wasn’t a typo. He cuts to a split-second ad featuring former Chapter 1 villain, Rouxls Kaard, crying about worms.
Chapter 4 is a tonal reversal of Tenna’s game show. Gone is the colourful car crash of wacky characters and internet-coded jokes, and in its place is a step into the sinister. Set in the Dark World’s twist on Kris’ hometown church, it’s the first episode without a villain chewing the scenery. This step into subtlety, with a story focused on the prophecy that leads our main trio instead, elevates Deltarune. It’s my favourite episode to date.
Chapter 4 deepens so many of the follow-up’s lingering mysteries, and digs into why it’s even connected to Undertale in the first place. It’s impossible to discuss why its reveals worked so well for me without spoiling them. Still, in the months since, I’ve obsessed over how Fox seems to be taking the bones of Undertale, rebuilding them into something familiar but new, and then examining its themes from a flipped perspective.
Chapter 4 was the big unravelling of Deltarune I’ve been waiting for, and I didn’t care that it left the zany tone behind. Chapter 3 was a proper send-off for that style. The combination was the Dip Dab. A hit of zingy, sweet charm in one half, and a blast of rich, deeply moreish story in the other. I imagine Fox will remix the sherbets going forward, but tasting each one separately, back-to-back, made me appreciate them even more.
