It’s been a winding road for the quasi follow-up to indie RPG darling Undertale. Deltarune’s episodic release has left fans waiting for a long time between installments, with Chapter 1 hitting in 2018, Chapter 2 releasing in 2021, and Chapters 3 and 4 available in 2025. The fifth part is still in development for 2026. On Switch 2, you can purchase a version of Deltarune that includes the first four chapters for $24.99 — and it seems like fans are jumping at the chance, based on eShop sales numbers.
As of July 2025, Deltarune is the most successful game on the Nintendo eShop, followed by titles like Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, Mario Kart World, and Minecraft, according to a report from research firm Newzoo. Most of these inclusions are to be expected. Of course Nintendo’s flagship Switch 2 launch game is selling well; it’s only natural for Minecraft, one of the best-selling games of all time to continue its streak on a new platform. Welcome Tour might be a glorified console manual, but it’s also only $9.99 and apparently a genuinely good experience.
Deltarune leading the pack in eShop sales is slightly unexpected, if only because much of the chatter around the Switch 2 is that third-party games aren’t faring so well. The protracted development time and episodic nature also carried the risk of confusing some consumers, and it’s been a decade since Undertale’s turn-based morality adventure swept players off their feet.
Then again, providing all available parts in one package timed to the release of a major new hardware, and making the game free for anyone who purchases it on either Switch console is a stroke of genius. There are likely many people who were curious about Deltarune but wanted to jump in when it was more of a complete experience, and while the Switch 2 version isn’t the entire thing, it’s the closest thing we’ve got. And with the promise of making Chapter 5 free down the road, folks have plenty of reasons to jump into Deltarune right now. Knowing that the Switch 2 version has a special room where you can use the mouse controls also doesn’t hurt. And without spoiling anything, another factor in its success lies in the knowledge that Deltarune continues Undertale’s tradition of save file surprises and unusual combat twists.
“I do feel like calling each episode a ‘Chapter’ really undersells the fact that creating each one is like developing its own game,” Fox said in an interview with Nintendo Life earlier this year. “I’ve made the equivalent of like 2 and a half Undertales at this point. Continuously.”
The sentiment that Deltarune has been a massive undertaking has been reiterated in one way or another throughout the years via blog posts. At one point, Fox said it felt like he was “duct taped over, tied up to a chair, locked in a box, thrown to the bottom of the ocean, dragged around like an anchor, etc., etc.!”
In light of its gargantuan development, the fact that Deltarune has been a smash hit on Switch 2 and has received a positive critical reception is a heartening one. But it seems like Fox is intent on finishing the journey regardless of sales.
“At this point, I’ll make this game regardless of whether anyone else cares or not…” Fox wrote earlier this year.
