Recently, I've been running into a couple of issues regarding chapter length in one of my stories, some of them stretching on towards the mid 25k's. And with one of my chapters reaching 25k, forcing me to make a disclaimer about said length, I've come to ask the populous about it to get a second opinion. At what point does a chapter eventually have too many words? On one hand, I want to pair down my chapters to make sure my readers don't get overwhelmed and have to spend days at a time reading a single chapter (As brought to my attention by a few reviews I've gotten in said story). But on the other, my story packs some dense lore and detail. And I want to make sure I get it all there so it's worthy of some credit. So, I ask again. At what point does a chapter have so many words that it's eventually too much?

I've come to ask the populous

populace

At what point does a chapter eventually have to many words?

too

I want to pair down my chapters

pare

so many words that it's eventually to much?

too

You really want honest opinions? Based on this, I wouldn't be inclined to read any of your work at all.

I would gather that chapters hovering around the 10k mark is generally okay for long chapters.

For 20k word chapters, well, it has to be captivating enough that one might consider it a big bonus rather than a point of contention. Emphasis on captivating, usually based on your writing style. According to you, as long as your info dump problem is smartly handled, it should be okay. Take reaction videos for example, we like to see how others react to the info.

But it all boils down to how you've set the tone of the story. If the story builds up to those word counts or maintained it, it would be fine. If it is a one or a few times thing, well, it is also fine since you're setting the tone of the story.

If you are planning on cutting the chapter into two, you could consider getting a character going for a toilet break or performing a long task as a chapter break.

Example of 20k word chapters is Fallout: Equestria.

Example of 10k word chapters with breaks is Life Finds A Way by LiveFreeOrDie

The point of dividing chapters is to mark stopping points for readers. Things get very, very unwieldy after about 10k words, and even 5k words takes a while for most readers to get through; 25k words is absurd. Lore is something you should not just be dumping in heaps on the reader anyways, because it's simply better to try and weave into the narrative.
Just find a point where it can kind of make sense to stop and do a cut there, and try to balance word counts (note that this worked fine for Cadenza's Inside Story).

Chapters should be as long as they need to be to tell the story they need to tell. There's no hard-and-fast rule.

That said, if a chapter feels unwieldy, it is. A chapter should focus on a particular scene, a particular story development, and/or a particular perspective. When that changes, a new chapter break is needed. If your chapter fits that definition, and it's still getting that big, then there are likely issues with how you're writing it, and you may need to pare it back quite a bit. Usually this is the result of going off on long expo-dumps. Those can quickly bloat a chapter or story, cause pacing issues, and are generally unnecessary.

OTOH, if the pacing is good, there are no big expo-dumps, maybe the chapter just needs to be that big.

But on the other, my story packs some dense lore and detail.

That tells me you're probably dealing with big expo-dumps. Lore should flow organically from the character interactions; if you find yourself explaining it through the narrator, you're most likely doing it wrong.

In reality, there is no limit to how long they have to be, so you can make as long as you want it to be, and if others don't like it, then that's their problem, not yours.

7895263 Fallout: Equestria has a 50k chapter and is one of the most well-known stories. As long as you supply the quality, size shouldn't matter.