Chapter 3

Deltarune Chapter 3, subtitled Late Night (JP: レイトナイト), is the third Chapter of Deltarune. It was released alongside Chapter 4 on June 4, 2025 for PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5, and on June 5, 2025 for the Nintendo Switch 2.

This Chapter is primarily set in TV World, a Dark World created in the Dreemurr residence's living room. Its antagonist is Tenna, and its Shadow Crystal boss is the Roaring Knight. This Chapter also has a standalone alternate route, the Sword Route.

Synopsis

Susie and Kris wake up in the couch cliffs, a location within a new Dark World. After reuniting with Ralsei, Susie inquires if he can visit the Light World and go to the festival. Ralsei reluctantly explains that, as a Darkner, he cannot inhabit the Light World as the Lightners can. Ralsei states that the Dark World is merely an alternate view of the Light World given form from a Dark Fountain. When the Fountain is sealed, the Dark World, along with its Darkner inhabitants, ceases to exist. Susie confronts Ralsei about his explanation, but they are interrupted by Tenna's sudden appearance. He cues his assistant Mike to play his VHS introductory tape, culminating in Tenna physically appearing in front of the trio.

The party in the Desert Board, as Adventure Board plays

He and Mike then properly set up the game show, Mr. Tenna's Marvelous Mystery Board: TV Time. Susie initially refuses to participate, but Ralsei convinces her to try it. The party partakes in two rounds of The Legend of Tenna, interspersed with visits to the Green Room. Meanwhile, Tenna secretly calls his subordinates about something "in the purple cliffs". When Susie overhears one such call following the second round, the party sneaks out of the Green Room to investigate. They eventually reach the Cold Place and discover Toriel, asleep but imprisoned in a gachapon ball. Tenna catches them hiding and sends them back to the show.

The party refuses to continue the game and demands Tenna let them seal the Dark Fountain. This prompts Tenna to forcibly subject them to a malfunctioning bonus round. As he undergoes a mental breakdown, the party manages to escape into the greater TV World.

Tenna orders his employees to search for the party after they escape.

Tenna, realizing the trio is gone, orders his employees to search for them. As his employees repeatedly fail to find or capture the party, Tenna breaks down further, pushing his subordinates away until they all abandon him, with Mike being the last to leave. Eventually, the party returns to the Cold Place to seal the Fountain, but Tenna blocks the way. He explains his reason for wanting to create a show that would never end: as the Dreemurr residence's TV, the Dreemurr and Holiday families used to gather together and watch him. However, as each member of the group gradually stopped watching TV, Tenna was left completely unused. When the Roaring Knight appeared, he was promised relevancy once more in exchange for keeping the party busy.

Seeing that he cannot convince the party to turn back, Tenna initiates an encounter serving as the game show's "final challenge". Upon his defeat, Tenna admits that he just wants to be watched. Ralsei tries to tell him that a Darkner's feelings are irrelevant, but Susie interjects. She recounts her own feelings of inadequacy and moving from place to place, but notes that she eventually found the right people and now has a group of friends. She promises that if he agrees to let them go, she and Kris will find someone in the Light World who would use him.

The party confronting the Knight, as Black Knife plays

Hopeful and re-invigorated, Tenna agrees to release Toriel. However, as he does so, he is suddenly struck down by the Knight, who attempts to capture Toriel itself. The party engages in battle against the Knight, but they are defeated. As Undyne arrives as a result of Toriel's police call earlier in the night, the Knight turns its attention to her and captures her instead.

Susie and Kris pursue the Knight into the Light World, with the Dreemurr residence Fountain remaining unsealed. The two trail the Knight and Undyne to the previously sealed-off shelter, which appears to have a Dark Fountain inside. The door is closed shut before they can enter, causing the frustrated Susie to bang on it with her fists until a hidden electronic keypad is revealed. Susie then runs back to the Dreemurr residence to rescue Toriel, and the Chapter ends with the shelter door opening in front of Kris.

Sword Route

Main article: Sword Route

HERO_SWORD traversing the Ice Palace, as GLACEIR plays

After each round of TV Time, Kris can play the Original Game in the Green Room's backstage area, which requires an S-rank, T-rank, or Z-rank to access. Each round of the Original Game consists of Kris's in-game avatar HERO_SWORD retrieving a sword and killing the enemies on the board, increasing their LV. Eventually, using the strength gained after reaching LV MAX, HERO_SWORD acquires a key that allows them access to the next board.

Upon returning to the Green Room from the greater TV World, Kris plays the final round of the Original Game and engages in battle against the Shadow Mantle holder. After defeating them, HERO_SWORD leaves the game screen, and Kris obtains the Shadow Mantle, an armor Seam had intended to give to the party in Chapter 2 but could not find.

Chapter 3 characters

Main article: Category:Characters § Chapter 3

Main article: Boss § Chapter 3

Chapter continuation

Main article: Completion FILE § Chapter 3 Completion FILE

Release

On April 2, 2025, in a Nintendo Direct presentation, it was announced that Deltarune Chapters 1–4 would be released on the Nintendo Switch 2's launch day, June 5, 2025. In the same trailer, it was shown that there would be a mini game using the Nintendo Switch 2 mouse controls. Afterwards, it was announced that Chapters 1–4 would be released on PC and Mac (via Steam), Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, and the PlayStation 5.

Development history

Main article: Development history § Chapter 3

Gallery

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  Chapter 3's initial intro animation
• 
  Chapter 3's standard intro animation
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  Chapter 3's intro animation when completion data is detected

Trivia

• Chapter 3 has many properties that are unique to the Chapter as of now:
  • The Light World is not accessible as a gameplay location, and Castle Town is not accessible at all.
  • The party starts out in the Dark World.
  • The whole party is present for every encounter (excluding the Original Game which does not use standard encounters).
  • No Dark Fountain is sealed, contrasting Chapter 4, which is the first Chapter where more than one Fountain is sealed.
  • The Shadow Crystal boss is mandatory to fight, but optional to defeat. Every other Shadow Crystal boss is optional to fight.
  • The process for obtaining the Egg does not involve repeatedly entering and leaving specific rooms.
  • It has more than one icon on the Chapter Select screen.
    • The Chapter's initial icon on the Chapter Select screen resembles Tenna's smile from the final scene of Chapter 2. After the Chapter is completed, the icon changes to resemble the opening of the Knight's helmet.
  • No new tracks with the Don't Forget or The Legend leitmotif are introduced.
• The Chapter's subtitle, "Late Night", may be intended as a play on words. "Night" is a homophone of "knight", which may be alluding to the Knight's appearance late in the Chapter.
• The third installment of the in-universe book series Lord of the Hammer is summarized by the Hammer of Justice as "Chapter 3, The Isles of Northernlight. The heroes travel among the islands and catch a glimpse of a lost land." This parallels the events of Chapter 3; the party explores Island Board in The Legend of Tenna and can briefly see the Ice Palace.
  • In the Original Game, the Island Board's hint at the Ice Palace is "GO TO NORTHERN LIGHT", with the track playing at that location also being titled NORTHERNLIGHT.