Neutral Route

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Neutral Route

Sans leaving a message for the protagonist at the end of the Neutral Route.

Mechanic type

Ending

Please... Young one...

This war has gone on long enough.

You have the power...

Take my soul, and leave this cursed place.

Asgore Dreemurr

The Neutral Route is one of the three primary routes in Undertale. In this route, the final boss is Photoshop Flowey, though after fighting him once (without performing a True Reset or a Genocide Route), Flowey only destroys Asgore's SOUL and his fight is skipped, as he knows the SOULs would revolt again.

On a True Pacifist Route, the protagonist must reach one of the Neutral Endings to unlock the quest line leading to the True Pacifist Ending

Method

This ending occurs when the requirements for either the True Pacifist Route or a Genocide Route have not been met, or if the protagonist on their first playthrough did not kill anyone as a prerequisite to the True Pacifist Route.

There are many versions of this ending, all consisting of Sans calling the protagonist's Cell Phone and leaving a message telling the protagonist of the Underground's fate. However, the content of the phone call is based upon the actions that the protagonist has made throughout the game. The track An Ending plays during the call, except in the Mettaton, Leaderless, Dog, Alphys, and Impossible variants.

Neutral Route Epilogue

In all of the Neutral Route endings (except for after aborting the Genocide Route in Hotland), Alphys says that the protagonist must kill Asgore and take his SOUL because a human SOUL alone cannot pass through the barrier. Consistent across all Neutral Route epilogues:

• Asgore is killed (by the protagonist or Flowey)

• Flowey is either defeated or does not bother to fight

• The six human SOULs are lost

• The monsters remain trapped behind the barrier and assume that the protagonist escapes the Underground.

After the brief, lackluster credits of the Neutral Route, Sans calls the protagonist's Cell Phone to leave a message. He can begin the call with a special comment if certain requirements are met. Sans will only ever make one comment; this table lists them in order of descending precedence. (For example, if the protagonist neither removed the Bandage nor used consumables, and did not kill Papyrus, Sans will give his comment about getting something to eat.)

Requirement(s)

Result

• Never used consumables.

• Never killed Papyrus.

• Never removed the Bandage.

• Is at LV 1.

Sans comments on the protagonist's ability to challenge themself, but tells them not to brag about it.

• Never used consumables.

• Never killed Papyrus.

Sans asks if they ever had something to eat.

• Wearing the Bandage.

• Never killed Papyrus.

Sans comments if the protagonist is still wearing the gross bandage they started out with.

• Never SAVE.

• Never killed Papyrus.

Sans suggests that the protagonist SAVE their game.

• Has a Snowman Piece.

• Never killed Papyrus.

Sans mentions that a certain snowman is really happy.

• Did not meet any of the special requirements listed above or has killed Papyrus.

Sans simply leaves a message for the protagonist.

• Aborted the Genocide Route in Hotland.

Sans immediately hands the phone over to Alphys.

The phone call then branches into their respective ending.

Note: The following names are unofficial.

Toriel Ending Tree

Requirements: Toriel is spared.

Toriel has returned to her throne to rule over the Underground and has instated a policy of non-hostility towards future humans that fall into their world. This ending then branches into one of three variants: the "Family Ending," the "Betrayed Undyne Ending," or the "Exiled Queen Ending."

Family Ending (Flawed Pacifist)

Requirements: The protagonist has befriended Papyrus and Undyne and did not kill any monsters.

Despite the disappearance of the human SOULs and Asgore's tragic death, Toriel rouses the spirits of the Underground's inhabitants and tells them not to give in to despair. Sans likewise encourages the protagonist never to give up.

The call passes to Papyrus, who proudly proclaims his new position as "CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD." This turns out to be a figurehead position, as the Royal Guard (whose primary responsibility was to keep watch for human SOULs) has in fact been disbanded. His only real duty is tending to the garden of the New Home castle.

The former Royal Guard captain Undyne then enters the call and explains that she has found new work as Alphys's lab assistant. She has also been appointed to be the gym teacher of Toriel's new school; she boasts that she can bench-press seven children. She then begins to mourn the loss of Asgore, but then goes on to reassure the protagonist that it was not their fault and that they were just doing what they had to. The next part of this ending varies depending on whether the protagonist has dated Alphys.

• If the protagonist has not dated Alphys: Alphys becomes even more reclusive. However, Undyne confidently states that she can help Alphys work through whatever is bothering her. Undyne also reminds the protagonist that she and the other monsters sacrificed a great deal to help the protagonist return to the human world; for that reason, the protagonist should appreciate life on the Surface to the fullest and make that sacrifice worthwhile.

• If the protagonist has dated Alphys: Undyne ropes her into the call. Alphys first reassures the protagonist that Mettaton is doing okay, and then goes on to mention that she is searching for a new way to free the inhabitants of the Underground. She is working harder than ever, mostly because Toriel is a much stricter supervisor than Asgore ever was.

At this point, it occurs to Undyne/Alphys to ask Toriel to join the conversation; however, Toriel simply tells her that she is busy, not realizing that the protagonist is on the other end of the line. Papyrus and Sans joke that Toriel would probably tie up the line for hours if she only knew the protagonist was on the phone, and that they "HAVE THE MERCY TO SPARE [THEM] FROM HER." Undyne and Alphys (if she was dragged into the call), then suggest calling back anytime as she would love to talk.

The call ends with Sans mentioning that the phone is low on batteries, and everyone says goodbye.

Betrayed Undyne Ending

Requirements: The protagonist spared Papyrus and Undyne while killing fewer than 10 monsters, but did not befriend Undyne or killed monsters after befriending her (Undyne can't be befriended if the protagonist has any EXP).

The first part of this call plays out like in the Family Ending. Toriel tries her best to tell the inhabitants of the Underground not to give up even though their situation is pretty grim. Sans also tells the protagonist that they should not give up either. Sans then hands the phone over to Papyrus, who takes over for the remainder of the call.

Papyrus states that since Toriel disbanded the Royal Guard, he has no idea what to do with his life, but he resolves to continue working hard, "EVEN IF IT'S ON NOTHING AT ALL!" However, despite Papyrus's reassurance that he is doing fine, he states that Undyne has it rough since she lost her job and her house, and he says that he and Sans are taking care of her at their house. Sans has hired her at his illegal hot dog stand in Hotland, except Undyne hates working there. The rest of the phone call branches into three different paths depending on what the protagonist has done. Befriending Undyne simply causes Undyne to hate the protagonist more than ever since they betrayed her trust and killed someone.

• If the protagonist has not befriended Undyne, but spared Mettaton: Undyne simply blames the protagonist for Asgore's death. Papyrus mentions that she has a plan to cross the barrier and beat the protagonist up. Papyrus thinks her plan is impossible but also hopes that it is not since it would mean meeting with the protagonist again, even if it does mean fighting them. Papyrus then tells the protagonist to keep their fingers crossed and to keep in touch to make their plans easier.

• If the protagonist killed Mettaton: Undyne is devastated since not only is Asgore gone, but Alphys has disappeared as well, nowhere to be found by the other characters (it is possible that she commits suicide in the True Lab). Undyne laments that she was not able to protect her, and Papyrus comments that it is hard to get her to do anything. Papyrus suggests that she goes after the protagonist to get revenge, but Undyne says "Revenge won't bring anybody back." Papyrus is unaware of what happened to Asgore and Alphys, so he asks the protagonist to bring Undyne's friends back since she is not doing so well.

• If the protagonist has befriended Undyne, but killed monsters afterward: Undyne hates herself for becoming friends with the protagonist because they had murdered someone shortly after they had formed a friendship. She feels hurt, betrayed, and angry at herself, and does not understand why she let herself be friends with the protagonist. She says that she knew what humans were like, but failed to resist becoming friends; because of her mistake, more people got hurt. Papyrus then suggests the protagonist to "PROBABLY NEVER COME BACK HERE" since Undyne would destroy them and even the queen cannot stop her.

The call ends with Papyrus saying goodbye (forever, if in the third branch) to the protagonist.

Exiled Queen Ending

Requirements: The protagonist has killed ten or more monsters, Papyrus, or Undyne.

Toriel's new policy was met with severe backlash since not only was Asgore killed, but the human SOULs disappeared as well along with the lives of Papyrus, Undyne, or countless other citizens. As a result, a rebellion was formed to overthrow the queen.

• If Undyne is alive: Undyne gets enraged about what happened to Asgore (and Alphys, if Mettaton was killed as well), so she spearheads the revolutions and banishes Toriel back into the Ruins, becoming empress of the Underground in the process. Sans comments that Undyne seems to be more vehement about destroying humanity than Asgore was.

• If Undyne is dead: Toriel just peacefully resigns and returns to the Ruins after hearing about the rebellion, causing the Underground to become an uneasy and hopeless anarchy.

Sans mentions that he decided to accompany Toriel when she returned to the Ruins and brought her books from the library in Snowdin so that she does not have to read the same ones.

• If Papyrus is alive: Papyrus also accompanies Toriel in the Ruins and even plays games with her. Both Papyrus and Sans have also convinced Toriel to leave the Ruins sometimes, as long as either of them stay behind and keep watch for humans. Papyrus says that he loves to stand in for the Queen and is practicing to become a great mom when they come (a possible reference to the Greenlight trailer where Papyrus asks "IS IT ME? AM I THE MOM?"). Sans ends the call hoping "things are better" wherever the protagonist is.

• If Papyrus is dead: Sans calls Toriel a good roommate and mentions how she sometimes talks about how she would like to see the protagonist again. Sans does not have the heart to tell Toriel that they killed Papyrus because she protected them. He then ends the call with "never come back here. you are not welcome."

Undyne Ending

Requirements: Toriel is dead but Undyne is alive.

Undyne becomes the ruler of the Underground and enforces a policy to destroy all humans who enter, and she has militarized the Underground in order to help her do so. She plans to find a new way to destroy the barrier, and once she does, she plans to wage war on humanity and personally hunt down and destroy the protagonist. Sans mentions not being able to reach Toriel and, if Papyrus is dead, implies that he is aware she has been killed and that the protagonist is responsible. He then warns the protagonist to watch themself as "things are lookin real bad for [them]."

However, if Papyrus is alive, Sans simply says that Toriel might not be feeling well, allowing Papyrus to interrupt the call and tell the protagonist that Undyne has appointed him to "THE MOST IMPORTANT ROYAL POSITION," which is a figurehead position where he stands around and looks cute, but he is proud of it. Papyrus says that the protagonist should come and visit, despite the fact that Undyne would probably kill them if they do, but he says that they should risk it.

Regardless of Mettaton's status, it has no effect on the dialogue of this ending.

Mettaton Ending

Requirements: Toriel and Undyne are dead, but Mettaton is alive.

Mettaton becomes ruler of the Underground since Undyne disappeared, and establishes a dystopian society in which he brainwashes the entire Underground with his television show. Sans mentions that he became his agent and then hands over the phone to Mettaton.

Mettaton establishes a policy on humanity that any human that falls can join his fan club for free. He says that among the many statues and monuments he has built in his image, he has built a statue of Alphys as well. Mettaton goes on to say that he was "NOT THE GREATEST TO HER." He says that he was going to apologize to Alphys and ask her to help him rule, but could not find her, and emphasizes "TRUST ME. I LOOKED." Mettaton even implies that she has committed suicide, as he hopes that the protagonist's life after meeting him "HAS BEEN WORTH LIVING." Mettaton then asks the protagonist to think of him always and, if Papyrus is dead, ends the phone call there.

If Papyrus is alive, he then joins the call to mention that he has become Mettaton's second agent. He says that things have gotten a lot better since the protagonist came (excluding the fact that everything sucks for anyone who does not worship Mettaton; according to Papyrus, those people tend to “disappear”), but misses Undyne and asks the protagonist to say "hi" if they see her.

It's Showtime! plays when Sans hands the phone over to Mettaton, but stops when he talks about Alphys's obscure fate and when Papyrus joins the call if he was spared.

Papyrus Ending

Requirements: Toriel, Undyne, and Mettaton are dead, but Papyrus is alive.

By process of elimination, Papyrus becomes the ruler of the Underground, though Sans does most of the work. Sans tells Papyrus that Asgore, Alphys, Mettaton, and Undyne are on vacation. The Underground is improving: productivity is up, and Papyrus cooks everyone spaghetti. The human policy instituted is that they cannot be judged to be all good or all bad; either way, they get puzzles. Once Sans leaves, Papyrus expresses distress on his new responsibility as the ruler when people "WANT TO GIVE UP" and how he misses all his friends; he mentions how Undyne never picks up his calls and assumes that she must be really enjoying herself on vacation. However, Papyrus reassures the protagonist that he is determined to "MAKE EVERYONE GIVE UP GIVING UP", and hopes to get out of the Underground and hang out with the protagonist again.

Dog Ending

Requirements: Only Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, and Mettaton are dead. All other monsters are alive, Glyde and So Sorry included.

A small, white dog becomes the president of the Underground amidst the chaos that ensued due to the disappearances of a number of important people and nobody else being harmed. The dog sleeps on the throne and does absolutely nothing. Sans comments that this seems to be the best life for everyone and thanks the protagonist for the results. "Dogsong" plays during the call just like in the Impossible Ending.

Leaderless Ending

For the other definition of "No Mercy Route", where all possible monsters are killed, see Genocide Route.

Requirements: Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, Mettaton, and at least one (but not every) non-boss monster has been killed.

The Underground is leaderless, and things have gotten pretty bad. The mood is somber, and people feel as if they are just going to die in the Underground, trapped in the dark. Sans says he is not the ruler because he is not cut out for something like that, and he likes to take it easy (which is a joke; he says this is what happens when people like him decide to take it easy). If 20 or more non-boss monsters were killed, Sans remarks on how the Underground is less crowded before telling the protagonist to "go to hell." If fewer than 20 non-boss monsters were killed, Sans simply says "see ya." instead.

A variant of this, where all encountered monsters were killed, is known as the No Mercy or Neutral No Mercy Route, which yields an identical ending.

mus_wind plays during this ending, an ambient track similar to that played when the game is restarted after a Genocide Route and after the battle with Photoshop Flowey (mus_f_wind2).

Alphys Ending (Near Genocide)

Requirements: The protagonist followed the Genocide Route requirements throughout Waterfall but aborted the route during the travel through Hotland.

The protagonist does not encounter Alphys during this route, as the ending requires killing Undyne the Undying, which preempts the protagonist's meeting with Alphys in Hotland. Sans does not address the protagonist when he calls them. After finding the protagonist's contact information, he instead immediately hands the phone over to Alphys, who has now become the new ruler of the Underground.

Alphys explains that after hearing Undyne's last words, her resolve was strengthened, and she proceeded to evacuate the remaining monsters in the Underground to a safe location (presumably the True Lab, as she mentions that if she evacuated everyone, they would have to learn the truth about her). The survivors lauded her as a hero and elected her as the new ruler. Despite her confidence in her governing abilities, she remains anxious around people. After mourning the losses of Undyne, Asgore, and Mettaton, she ends the call saying that she should have killed the protagonist when she had the chance.

No music plays during this ending.

Impossible Ending (Dirty Hacker)

Requirements: The protagonist has somehow met none of the above requirements or hacked the game.

As "Dogsong" plays in the background, Sans says that he has no idea what the protagonist has done to get this ending, and explains that the call is an error-handling message. He goes on to suggest contacting the developer so they can fix the game or add another ending. Breaking the 4th wall, Sans also suspects the protagonist hacking the game before hanging up.

Flowey's Parting Words

After the phone call, if the protagonist had spared Flowey, he appears to talk to the protagonist. His dialogue depends on the protagonist's actions during the Neutral Route.

• If the protagonist had killed some monsters, Flowey wonders if killing is necessary and asks the protagonist if they can reach the ending again without killing, and he will not kill Asgore, and maybe the protagonist will have their "happy ending." Flowey remarks that he intends on watching before leaving.

  • If the player reloads their SAVE and triggers any neutral ending a second time, Flowey assumes the protagonist wants to be friends with him. He proceeds to insult the protagonist, saying that he only cares about one person but ultimately does not truly care about them.

    • If the player reloads their game and triggers the neutral ending a third time, Flowey asks if the protagonist wants to start the Flowey Fan Club. He then tells the protagonist to talk to Papyrus about it, as he started one multiple times. Flowey goes on to say that Papyrus was one of the better characters to mess around with and that it took a long time to get bored of him.

    • If the player reloads their game and triggers the neutral ending a fourth time, Flowey again jokes about the Flowey Fan Club. He then warns the protagonist not to let Sans know anything about them, as he caused Flowey's fair share of resets.

    • If the player reloads their game and triggers the neutral ending a fifth time, Flowey notes that the protagonist is simply bored and just wants to see what he has to say. He then refuses to talk to the protagonist any further.

    • If the player reloads their game and triggers the neutral ending a sixth time and onwards, Flowey simply asks if the protagonist has anything better to do.

  • If the player resets their game and reaches the neutral ending again without kills, Flowey notes that the ending is still the same and tells the protagonist that their choices do not seem to matter. He then tells the protagonist how to achieve a real happy ending: befriend Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys.

    • If the player resets their game and reaches the neutral ending again with kills, Flowey agrees that killing is fine, but proceeds to scold the protagonist for only going halfway. (This dialogue is also possible if the pacifistic ending was the first; see below.)

  • If the player resets their game, reaches Asgore without kills, then kills Asgore at the end of the fight, Flowey scolds the protagonist that they are trolling themself because all they had to do was befriend Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys.

• If the protagonist killed no one, Flowey wonders why the protagonist let him go and why they are being so nice despite leaving the monsters still in despair. He then tells them a way to get a better ending by befriending Papyrus, Undyne, and/or Alphys.

  • If the player resets their game and reaches the neutral ending again with kills, Flowey agrees that killing is fine, but proceeds to scold the protagonist for only going halfway. (This dialogue is also possible if the pacifistic ending was not the first; see above.)

• If the protagonist befriended all the key characters (regardless of the first neutral ending) without exploring the True Lab, Flowey tells the protagonist to see Alphys, as their date has just begun.

• If the protagonist aborts the Genocide Route, Flowey complains that they were so close to real victory, but the protagonist screwed it up. He begins to wonder if they wanted revenge against him but quickly insinuates that they wanted to show the monsters what happiness is like before tearing it away. He then says that he will be "waiting for you."

Trivia

• As some characters have specified, a monster SOUL and a human SOUL are required to cross the barrier. Given that Flowey destroyed Asgore's SOUL and absorbed the other human SOULs before escaping, how exactly the protagonist leaves the Underground is unknown.

• On the Neutral and True Pacifist Routes, sparing Papyrus, Undyne, Mettaton EX, and Asriel Dreemurr causes the encounters in Snowdin, Waterfall, Hotland, and Ruins, respectively, to stop, whereas during the Genocide Route encounters only stop occurring after killing Mettaton NEO.

True Pacifist Route

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True Pacifist Route

The menu screen at the end of the True Pacifist Route in v1.00, featuring all the characters befriended.

Mechanic type

Ending

...but you. you never gained any LOVE.

'course, that doesn't mean you're completely innocent or naive.

just that you kept a certain tenderness in your heart.

no matter the struggles or hardships you faced...

you strived to do the right thing.

Sans judging the protagonist if they have not gained any EXP.

The True Pacifist Route is one of the endings of Undertale. This can be considered the "true ending", as it leads to a happy conclusion and the complete credits.

Method

If the protagonist spares Flowey, he appears after the Neutral Route phone call. He provides a hint on how to earn the True Pacifist Ending (but not if they aborted the Genocide Route). If Flowey was killed, the game immediately returns to the title screen. The protagonist can then reload their SAVE file to fulfill any missing requirements as long as they have not gained any EXP/LOVE. Otherwise, they must reset their game. Note that killing Asgore or Flowey does not acquire any EXP.

The list of requirements are as follows:

1. Defeat Asgore and Photoshop Flowey, completing a Neutral Route. It is possible to combine this with the following requirements (steps 2-6) and simply backtrack after defeating Asgore and reloading the SAVE file.

2. Throughout the game, never kill any enemies or gain any EXP/LV; essentially, only use non-lethal battle exits (spare, flee, or battle-ending ACTs/items). FIGHTing monsters, killing the Dummy in the Ruins, or attacking Mad Mew Mew when she can be spared do not cause this route to be aborted, as they do not accrue EXP. If one accidentally kills a monster, they can simply reload their save file.

3. After fighting Papyrus, visit his house and complete the date/hangout with him.

4. After Undyne passes out from pursuing the protagonist, get a cup of water from the nearby water cooler and pour it on her.

   • Leaving the room while she is still passed out aborts the True Pacifist Route, as she disappears from her spot when coming back. Papyrus is in front of her house and tells the protagonist that she got heat stroke, and they cannot hang out with her.

5. Return to Waterfall and go to Undyne's House. Papyrus is waiting outside. Talk to him to enter the house, then complete the "cooking lesson" and faux battle with Undyne.

   • If Photoshop Flowey and Mettaton EX have previously been defeated, she immediately gives the protagonist her letter. If their inventory is full, she waits to give it to them outside Papyrus's house.

   • Otherwise, go through Hotland and the CORE. In Mettaton EX's fight, get the ratings to 10,000 (12,000 if Mettaton still has legs) to end the battle peacefully (this includes using Alphys's phone upgrade to shoot at his heart during some of his combat rounds).

6. Backtrack out of the CORE towards the MTT Resort, to the bridge connecting the two places. There, Undyne calls the protagonist, asking to deliver a letter for her. This phone call can also be triggered in several other locations if the most recent save is outside of the CORE and New Home.^[1]

7. Talk to Undyne outside of Papyrus's house to receive Undyne's Letter.

   • If the protagonist discards the letter, they can return to Undyne to receive Undyne's Letter EX, which cannot be discarded.

8. Put the letter under the door of Alphys's Lab and complete the "date" with her.

9. Upon leaving the Garbage Dump (where befriending Alphys ends), Papyrus calls and tells the protagonist to meet Alphys at her lab. Return to Alphys's Lab to find a note leading to her "bathroom", which is actually an elevator leading to the True Lab. Upon entering the True Lab, the elevator leading to it breaks down, forcing the protagonist to continue through to the True Pacifist ending at this point.

10. Find the four keys scattered throughout the True Lab and put them in their proper slots to open the generator room. Turn on the generator to trigger a conversation with Alphys. Head back to the elevator near the generator room to be warped to New Home, with the exit blocked off by vines. This signals that the True Pacifist Ending will occur. It is impossible to leave New Home after this point.

Main Story

Completing Friendships

• If Papyrus has not been befriended, backtrack to his house in Snowdin, where he is standing outside. Interact with him to initiate the date/hangout.

• If Undyne has not been befriended, backtrack to her house in Waterfall, where Papyrus is standing outside. Interact with Papyrus to initiate the hangout.

Befriending Alphys

At the entrance to the CORE, Undyne calls the protagonist (at the behest of Papyrus) to ask them to deliver her letter to Alphys.

If Undyne was not befriended in the Pacifist-Neutral Route, and the protagonist returns to Undyne's house after defeating Asgore, she gives the protagonist the letter immediately after befriending her. She says that Papyrus suggested giving the protagonist the letter earlier, but that Undyne still hated them at the time.

After delivering the letter to Alphys, she mistakes the letter as being from the protagonist themself and goes on a date with them.

During Alphys's date, the two go to the Garbage Dump. They bump into Undyne, who decided to deliver the letter herself. Alphys tells Undyne some truths about her "scientific" work, which was just her lazing around, watching anime and reading manga. Undyne expresses her support for Alphys, sending her off to train with Papyrus. She then confronts the protagonist about anime, asking if it is real. Regardless of the protagonist's response, Undyne thanks them, and the event ends.

After the date, Papyrus calls the protagonist and very specifically instructs them to go to Alphys's lab, citing no reason other than a "good feeling" he claims to have about doing so (this may be because Flowey told him to tell the protagonist, but did not want the protagonist to know).

True Lab

The entrance to the True Lab, initially disguised as a bathroom.

Main article: True Lab

Arriving at the lab, the protagonist finds a note from Alphys, in which she declares she is going to "face her own mistakes." The note tells the reader to enter what was previously thought to be Alphys's bathroom to discover the truth in case Alphys does not return.

The protagonist enters the door, which actually leads to an elevator. They take the elevator down to the True Lab, but it loses power and malfunctions, leaving them stuck in the lab. Exploring the lab, they find logs from long ago, detailing Alphys's experiments with SOULs and determination in order to allow monster SOULs to persist after the body turns to dust. Injecting determination into the monsters who had "fallen down" woke them up, to which Alphys comes to believe that they turned out okay despite her disappointment that the experiment failed to get the desired results. However, the experiment went wrong, and the monsters melted and turned into Amalgamates - fusions of several monsters. Several of these amalgamates attack the protagonist, but the protagonist appeases and spares them. The protagonist sees the determination extractor, resembling part of Flowey's form during his boss battle in the Neutral Route, and they learn that Alphys did some experiments with Golden Flowers, which produced a single living specimen who escaped.

Further in the True Lab, the protagonist enters a room with a television and a VHS player. Inspecting the television allows the protagonist to view five different tapes. The contents of these tapes reveal Asriel's interactions with the Fallen Human, specifically how they died and their plan to break the barrier with seven human SOULs, including the Fallen Human's (the story of Asriel and the Fallen Human as told in New Home mentions how the human died, but does not elaborate further other than that they simply "became very ill").

After collecting all the keys, the protagonist switches the power on, restoring power to the elevators. Some Amalgamates appear but Alphys stops them, apologizing that they can be aggressive due to hunger. She further explains that the monsters' bodies could not handle the determination, and thus melted together. Alphys thanks the protagonist for their support and declares to the Amalgamates that they will return home.

Alphys leaves the True Lab, and the protagonist returns to one of the elevators. They receive a call from someone they do not recognize. The voice, implied to be Asriel (Flowey mimicking his voice), calls the protagonist by the name given to the Fallen Human at the beginning of the game, and tells them that "everything has fallen into place" and that they will "see you soon."

(Ring...) (It's a voice you have never heard before.) <Name>... Are you there? It's been a long time, hasn't it? But you've done well. Thanks to you, everything has fallen into place. <Name>... See you soon.

Mysterious voice to the protagonist over the phone shortly before they are brought to New Home

The elevator appears to malfunction and lands the protagonist at the entrance to New Home. Vines jam the elevator shut.

The Barrier

Before the barrier, it is witnessed that the vines shut off the entrance to the elevator the protagonist came from. While traveling through Asgore's Home, non-combative enemies do not appear, and Sans does not judge the protagonist in the Last Corridor.

At the barrier, the protagonist confronts Asgore. As they prepare to fight, Toriel arrives, incapacitates Asgore, and consoles the protagonist. After reprimanding Asgore for his actions, even going as far as to give him a simpler way to retrieve human SOULs, she is shortly later followed by Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys, who all begin to chat. To Alphys's surprise and horror, Papyrus reveals that a "tiny flower" helped him call everybody to the Throne Room.

Flowey restrains the protagonist's friends before the final battle.

Flowey arrives and traps the other monsters in vines. He then thanks the protagonist for bringing them all to one spot, saying that he absorbed the humans' SOULs while the protagonist's friends were chatting, claiming he will absorb them all as well to achieve his "real form." He then reveals his true motive for causing the protagonist so much trouble - to keep them playing the "game" so that they can "play" with him forever. He gives the protagonist a chance to face him, promising to return everyone's SOULs and break the barrier if they win. As if to deny them even this, he plans to keep them trapped before mercilessly attacking them, saying he is willing to "kill them 1,000,000 times" to prove his point. Before delivering the final blow, the protagonist's friends protect them from Flowey's attacks while both healing and encouraging them to win. Shortly afterward, many of the monsters that the protagonist spared throughout the game arrive, healing the protagonist, cheering them on and seemingly putting Flowey off guard. However, he suddenly laughs at them for their "stupidity" and absorbs all of their SOULs.

The protagonist sees that Flowey is now a young Boss Monster in a striped shirt, similar in appearance to Toriel and Asgore. He calls the protagonist by the Fallen Human's name, then transforms into an older, more powerful looking monster, introducing himself as Asriel Dreemurr. Asriel attacks the protagonist; if the protagonist's HP reaches 0 and their SOUL breaks, the message "But it refused." appears as the SOUL reforms through determination and fully restores its health. After this happens once, the SOUL simply reforms, and the protagonist returns to the battle.

After a certain amount of turns, Asriel attacks with an attack called "Hyper Goner," which resembles a goat skull (similar to the DT Extractor in the True Lab), sucking in bullets (and the SOUL) until the screen turns to white. The protagonist's HP is left at one after this attack if they get hit. Surprised at the protagonist's amount of determination, Asriel reveals that he was only using a fraction of his real power.

Asriel then transforms into a more powerful form of himself, threatening to reset the world's timeline, restraining the protagonist and preventing them from doing anything except struggling. The protagonist realizes that while they cannot save their game, they can save the monsters' SOULs, transforming the ACT option into the SAVE option. They reach out to their friends' SOULs (who are trapped in Asriel's SOUL) and bring them back by restoring their memories. After saving all their friends, the protagonist begins to save Asriel himself and see memories of him befriending the first human. The protagonist's friends' SOULs resonate within Asriel; he begins to cry, and his fire attacks start avoiding the protagonist's SOUL. He then begs the protagonist (referring to them as the Fallen Human's name) to let him win and attacks them with his strongest attack, causing all the protagonist's options to be wiped out leading to the SAVE option to be the only way for the protagonist's turn. The protagonist survives with their HP reduced to one ten-billionth of one point, and then saves Asriel, returning him to his form as a child.

Frisk hugging Asriel.

Asriel apologizes to the protagonist. He tells them that the first human has been gone for a long time, and asks them for their real name, which is revealed to be "Frisk." Asriel tells Frisk that the monsters' SOULs allowed him to feel their emotions and desires - their love for Frisk and their desire for freedom, respectively. He expects Frisk not to forgive him for everything that happened, but they can choose to anyway, surprising Asriel. Using the six humans' SOULs and the monsters' SOULs along with their determination, Asriel destroys the barrier.

Asriel returns the SOULs and tells Frisk that without everyone's SOULs, he will eventually return to a flower. He asks them to forget about him and leave, but Frisk has the option to console Asriel, causing Frisk to approach and hug him. After this decision, Asriel leaves.

Epilogue

All main characters at the ending of the True Pacifist Route.

Frisk wakes up in the room behind the Throne Room, much to the relief of their friends, who all know Frisk's name, but do not remember much about what just happened. Toriel encourages Frisk to do as they wish, whether that be heading for the Surface or going for a walk back through the Underground to see the rest of their friends before they go. The monsters inform Frisk that they will follow Frisk to the surface when they are ready.

Frisk can go through the Underground and talk to NPCs, including the several monsters encountered only during battle. They express their feelings, often about being free at last. In the beginning area with the golden flowers, Asriel can be found tending the flowers and can be talked to.

The End

All the monsters together on the surface at the end of the game.

Leaving for the Surface ends the game.

Frisk and their friends watch the sunset on the Surface. Thinking about the future, Asgore asks Frisk if they would act as the monsters' ambassador to the humans.

Papyrus leaves to make a good first impression on the humans, having declared himself the mascot or ambassador depending on Frisk's decision. Sans retreats to the Underground (presumably through a shortcut) to ensure he does not have to check on Papyrus, while Undyne leaves to help Papyrus, followed by Alphys and Asgore.

With everybody else gone, Toriel asks Frisk what they will do now. The protagonist can choose to stay with Toriel or not, and their decision affects the post-credits scene.

After Toriel and Frisk leave the screen, the True Pacifist Ending Credits starts. The names of all the monsters encountered in the game (except Jerry, non-Pacifist-exclusive Chilldrake, either Mad Dummy (if Mad Mew Mew is encountered) or Mad Mew Mew (if Mad Mew Mew is not encountered), and secret bosses So Sorry and Glyde) scroll down in a list ordered by area of encounter, interspersed with more developed main character animations. After this, a final bullet hell introduced by Asriel is initiated. This section includes the names of Kickstarter backers, and if all of the names are dodged, the Mysterious Door is unlocked.

After the credits, if Frisk is staying with Toriel, another scene plays, showing them in their new home on the Surface. If Frisk responds that they "have places to go," Toriel ends their conversation with "Frisk. "See you around."" As Toriel leaves, Frisk turns north and does not watch her. After the True Pacifist Ending Credits, a sepia photo of Frisk and their monster friends is shown. The Annoying Dog appears after some time on the ending screen. The player can do nothing except quit.

"I want to stay with you."

"I have places to go."

The text that appears after dodging every name.

If the player reopens the game, Flowey speaks to either the player or the first human, telling them that "there's nothing left to worry about." He points out that they are the only threat left, as they have the power to reset everything. He then asks them not to reset the game, which would return everybody to when they were trapped underground and asks them to let Frisk go. Flowey then tells them that if they still wish to reset the game, they need to erase Flowey's own memories as well. Believing they might have heard this a hundred times already, Flowey says his goodbyes to <Name>.

The game's menu has none of Frisk's friends, as they have all left. The menu music is a significantly slowed down version, giving an ominous tone. The player can load their SAVE, which takes place before the ending, and they can replay the credits (and the special thanks) from there, though Asriel does not appear. The menu's reset option is replaced with "True Reset"; this allows the player to rename the Fallen Human. Choosing a name erases most data from the undertale.ini file; exceptions are limited to border data on console versions and the special thanks-dodging flag.

Post-Genocide Game

Main article: Genocide Route#Changes

After the protagonist completes the Genocide Route and restores the world after erasing it, several things are significantly altered.

• If the protagonist chooses "I have places to go" when Toriel asks, the picture in the credits shows all of the characters' faces crossed out, and the protagonist is replaced with the sprite of the first human.

• If the protagonist chooses "I want to stay with you", after Toriel leaves the pie in the room, within four seconds, Frisk would turn in the bed to face the screen, only to reveal the first human's face with red eyes. A low-pitched version of Flowey's laugh plays, and the screen cuts to black.

• The Annoying Dog does not appear to sleep under THE END after the credits.

• The "THE END" text is displayed in red instead of white.

• Anticipation plays at an extremely reduced speed at the end screen (slower than the times it is played in the Genocide Route itself), where Memory would usually play at normal speed.

"I want to stay with you."

"I have places to go."

Trivia

• It is only in the True Pacifist Route that the player learns the protagonist's name, Frisk.

  • Naming the fallen human "Frisk" at the beginning of the game activates Hard Mode.

• At the end of the True Pacifist Route, Napstablook is the only known monster whose SOUL was not absorbed by Asriel. Due to this, Napstablook is also the last person to learn Frisk's name.^[2]

• During the epilogue in the Nintendo Switch version, Clam Girl has different dialogue if the fun value is exactly 81. She states that the time to meet an unseen character named "Suzy" "is fast approaching." As she says this, the music is absent and her sprite turns greyscale similar to the Gaster's Followers. Clam Girl disappears after the dialogue advances, with the same sound used for Gaster Follower 2 and the Mystery Man.

  • The Nintendo Switch version of Undertale was released on September 18, 2018, about one month before the release of Deltarune (October 31, 2018). One of Deltarune's main characters is named Susie.

A comparison between the room in the True Pacifist Ending and Ness's room.

• If the protagonist chooses to stay with Toriel, the room they are seen sleeping in bears strong similarities to Ness's room in EarthBound; the rooms are a similar shade of blue, the bed is kept to the far right, the door to the far left, and the window, lamp, and dresser are kept to the back of the room.

• If the True Pacifist Route has been completed before, Sans's Workshop contains a photo of the protagonist "standing with Sans and all [their] friends". This is likely the picture shown at the end if the protagonist chooses not to stay with Toriel.

• The scrapped UNDERTALE Alarm Clock App dialogue is implied to take place after the True Pacifist Route.

• There was a glitch in which the protagonist could fight and kill enemies in the CORE before receiving Undyne's Letter. This glitch allowed the protagonist to reach this ending even after gaining EXP and LOVE. This was patched in version 1.001.

• There was a glitch where if the spacebar was pressed when Alphys and Undyne were standing close to each other, after the faux Asgore battle, their kissing animation would start very early. This was patched in version 1.001.

References

1. ↑ Alternate Undyne Call Locations - YouTube

2. ↑ uh......... also...... this is awkward... but | what's.... your name | everyone seems to know it now, except me..... | seems like i've been missing out lately | i was just sitting at home listening to tunes | there was a flash of light outside my window | i saw the snails on the farm disappear | then i heard a knock at the door | the flash of light wanted to come in... i closed the blinds... | now everyone knows your name except for me | "frisk..." ok, i wont forget it - Napstablook.

Genocide Route

VIEW SOURCE

For one definition of the "No Mercy Route," where all encountered monsters are killed, see Neutral Route#Leaderless Ending.

Genocide Route

Sans warning the protagonist of a "bad time" on the Genocide Route

Mechanic type

Ending

if you keep going the way you are now...

...

you're gonna have a bad time.

Sans in Snowdin Forest

The Genocide Route leads to one of the three main endings of Undertale. It consists of the protagonist killing every possible monster in the Underground.

This route's ending can occur without prior completion of the game. Once the protagonist completes the Genocide Route, subsequent True Pacifist Route and Genocide Route endings are altered – even after a True Reset.

Method

Battle text after the protagonist exhausts the kill count.

The Genocide Route occurs when the protagonist kills every enemy in every region: the Ruins, Snowdin Forest, Waterfall, and Hotland (the CORE is a sub-region of Hotland).

Starting in the Ruins, the protagonist intentionally triggers encounters and kills monsters until encounters with monsters no longer occur; this is similar to level-grinding in other RPGs. After killing all monsters in an area, encounters still occur, but monsters do not appear. In a font size smaller than usual, the battle text reads "But nobody came.", which can also occur in a Neutral Route after killing all monsters in an area. This also changes the SAVE Point text to only say "Determination." instead of the usual lines.

After the protagonist sees this message, the music for the area changes to a distorted ambient track, mus_toomuch.ogg. This track is a part of Your Best Friend playing at 1/13th speed (~0.077x or ~92% slower) with added reverb.

After exiting the Ruins, most overworld songs are lower pitch, slower versions of their Neutral and True Pacifist Route counterparts. Some NPCs no longer appear.

If the protagonist stops meeting the requirements for a Genocide Route at any point, they revert to a Neutral Route where the unaltered soundtrack plays. NPCs still occur in the region where the protagonist aborted the Genocide Route.

Requirements

The first SAVE Point in Snowdin Forest displays the kill counter for the first time.

• Exhaust the random monster kill counter in every region. This requirement must be done before approaching the final encounter of that area.

  • Encounters become increasingly harder to find as the protagonist grinds out the kill counter for each area (except New Home, in which they are scripted).

  • The protagonist can spare any number of random encounters (Snowdrake and Lesser Dog are exceptions, as seen below). Sparing certain monsters allows the protagonist to avoid fighting particular monsters such as the high-defense Jerry. The protagonist can also spare certain monsters so that they can kill monsters that offer more EXP and GOLD, such as Glyde.

  • The following is a table of the number of random encounters only that the protagonist must kill as stated at SAVE Points in red text, followed by the final boss of the area.

    • Ruins: 20 kills (Toriel)

    • Snowdin: 16 kills (Papyrus)

    • Waterfall: 18 kills (Undyne the Undying)

    • Hotland/CORE: 40 kills (Mettaton NEO)

    • New Home: No kills (Sans; The protagonist automatically kills Asgore and Flowey upon confirming their respective dialogues.)

  • Snowdrake and Lesser Dog are unique in that Snowdrake must be killed before Snowdin's kill counter is exhausted and Lesser Dog must be killed if it is ever encountered. Both are also part of the kill counter. They are scripted to appear in at least one random encounter, but it is possible to avoid Lesser Dog's encounter by reaching Glyde's room and encountering it repeatedly instead.^{[citation needed]}

  • Once the protagonist satisfies the kill requirement, SAVE Points display the message "Determination."

• Kill every boss and miniboss (secret bosses So Sorry and Mad Mew Mew are not accessible, and Glyde is optional). All minibosses (excluding Napstablook, Snowdrake, and Lesser Dog and including Shyren) can be encountered even after the kill counter is exhausted, which can be used to obtain extra EXP.

  • Toriel

  • Snowdrake

  • Doggo

  • Lesser Dog (if it is ever encountered)

  • Dogi

  • Greater Dog

  • Papyrus

  • Shyren

  • Glad Dummy

  • Undyne the Undying (triggered by fighting Monster Kid)

  • Royal Guards

  • Muffet

  • Mettaton NEO

Kill counters for different areas have different requirements. If certain events are triggered before clearing an area completely of monsters, the protagonist is automatically sent back to the Neutral Route. For example, if Papyrus's battle is initiated without exhausting the Snowdin kill counter, the cutscene proceeds as if on the Neutral Route. Even if the protagonist is captured and then goes back to finish off the last monsters, re-fighting Papyrus still proceeds as on the Neutral Route. Once a Genocide Route is aborted, it cannot be returned to without reloading to a SAVE before it was aborted or resetting entirely.

There is a glitch if the protagonist enters the fight with Toriel. If there is still one possible encounter left in the Ruins, the fight with Toriel proceeds as normal for a Neutral route; however, if Toriel is killed, the protagonist continues a Genocide Route.

Differences

Ruins

After Exhausting Kill Counter

• If the protagonist exhausts the kill counter before encountering Napstablook, they vanish when the protagonist approaches them.

• The NPCs for Froggit and Vegetoid do not appear.

• In Toriel's Home, checking the cupboard in the kitchen prompts the flavor text "Where are the knives."

• When checking the mirror, the flavor text, "It's me, <Name>." appears instead of "It's you!"

• When facing Toriel at the exit of the Ruins, the protagonist kills her with a single attack regardless of how well the attack is executed.^[1]

  • When attempting to talk to Toriel, the flavor text "Not worth talking to." appears instead of "Ironically, talking does not seem like the solution to this situation."

After Killing Toriel

• In the next chamber, Flowey appears, even if he was killed on a previous Neutral Route, and identifies the protagonist as the first human.^[2]

Snowdin

Before Meeting Requirements

• On the Neutral Route, the Snowdecahedron that usually says "It looks like a snowball... Actually, it's a snowdecahedron." will say "It's a snowball." after the kill counter has been exhausted. On the Genocide Route, this message is displayed by default.

• When encountering Sans, he is disturbed by the fact the protagonist does not react to his joke. He then attempts to hide them behind the conveniently shaped lamp, but they ignore him. Papyrus runs in, and leaves after Sans tells him he found a human and does not notice the protagonist. Sans then tells the protagonist that they should continue pretending to be a human.^[3]

• The SAVE Points, instead of saying that the protagonist is "filled with determination", now start counting down how many monsters the protagonist has left to kill before the Genocide Route can progress (e.g. "16 left.").

• Snowdin Forest marks the first instance of overworld music being slowed down in the Genocide Route; Snowy is played at 0.4x instead of 0.95x speed. However, it is important to note that various events cause music in Snowdin to revert to its normal state (namely after the word search, tile puzzle, and bridge gauntlet segments); the music returning to its normal speed does not indicate a failure of the route.

• When Papyrus finally notices the protagonist, he initially does not recognize them as a human. The music slows down and becomes lower pitched when this happens.

• Doggo shivers when the protagonist approaches him.^[4]

• The protagonist can take three Snowman Pieces from the Snowman until they become a "useless pile of snow."

• The protagonist ignores all of Papyrus's puzzles, and some of them appear to be solved with Flowey's help.^[5]

  • The protagonist walks through the electricity maze before Papyrus finishes explaining it. The music speeds up and becomes higher pitched after this happens.

  • Sans and Papyrus have different dialogue regarding the word search when it is either checked or skipped.

    • If the word search is skipped, Sans remarks that he should have made the puzzle a Junior Jumble, as opposed to a crossword during a Neutral Route.

    • If the word search is checked, Papyrus complains that he "CAN'T WORK IN THIS ENVIRONMENT" before leaving.

  • The switch in the snow puzzle has already been pressed down by vines.

  • The spikes are already retracted for the X --> O puzzles, and Papyrus is absent.

  • The ice bridge for the ice X --> O puzzle is already expanded.

  • The protagonist cuts off Papyrus's explanation of the tile puzzle and walks through it before Papyrus can activate it.

  • The Gauntlet of Deadly Terror is retracted after Papyrus feels like the human would not appreciate it. After Papyrus leaves, Sans warns the protagonist that they will "have a bad time" if they continue the way they are currently going, specifically mentioning the protagonist's upcoming battle with Papyrus. He then seems to teleport out of the area, and the music stops.

• If the protagonist kills Greater Dog and has yet to kill Snowdrake, all the SAVE Points say "That comedian..." until he is killed.

  • If Snowdrake is not killed before the kill counter is exhausted, the SAVE Point text changes to "The comedian got away. Failure." and the Genocide Route is aborted.

After Meeting Requirements

• Once the protagonist exhausts the kill counter, all Snowdin Town NPCs evacuate, except Monster Kid.^[6]

  • Shop is played at 0.2x speed.

  • Snowdin Town is played at 0.25x speed.

    • If mus_toomuch.ogg is triggered in Snowdin Forest, that music plays instead.

  • The protagonist can no longer sleep at the Inn.

  • Inspecting the Christmas tree at the center of town displays the message "Nothing for you."

  • Inspecting the unfinished book in the Snowdin Library yields the message "Some unfinished book."

  • The Innkeeper's Child is replaced with a decoy version.

  • Due to the absence of the Snowdin Shopkeeper, the protagonist can steal all of her wares and 758G from the counter.

  • Due to the absence of the Punk Hamster, the protagonist can climb onto the counter in Grillby's.

Papyrus confronting the protagonist

• The ball at the Ball Game disappears. Checking the hole says "There's a hole here." instead of "Ah! Wow! Woah! It's a "Hole"."

• Papyrus tries to convince the protagonist to be a good person and immediately offers to spare them. Even after being killed, he still believes that the protagonist can do better.^[7]

Waterfall

Before Meeting Requirements

• On the Neutral Route, most of the Echo Flowers produce a message stating "It's strangely silent." after killing Undyne. On the Genocide Route, the flowers produce this message by default.

The smiley face appears when encountering a monster.

• Starting in Waterfall, encounters are marked by a smiley face above the protagonist's head as opposed to an exclamation point.

• Like Snowdin, most of the music is slowed down.

  • Waterfall is played at 0.13x speed.

  • Quiet Water is played at 0.5x instead of 0.9x speed.

  • Shop is played at 0.2x instead of 0.925x speed in Gerson's shop.

  • Temmie Village and Tem Shop are played at 0.5x speed.

  • Pathetic House is unaffected.

• All of the NPCs are absent, except Monster Kid, Gerson, and the Temmie Shopkeeper.

• Due to the absence of Ferry and the Small Bird, the protagonist cannot return to Snowdin or any earlier point in Waterfall until Undyne is defeated.

  • All the areas between the first Undyne encounter and the room where the protagonist climbs on Monster Kid's shoulders also become permanently inaccessible preventing the protagonist from getting the Ballet Shoes and the Dog Residue if they have not already.

• Like Snowdin, most of the puzzles are already completed.

  • Rocks are not falling down the waterfall in the rock puzzle room.

  • The Bridge Seeds are already aligned.

  • The northern wall in the Wishing Room is already open.

• Onionsan does not appear.

• When Monster Kid offers to help the protagonist reach the ledge, the protagonist climbs on to the Kid's shoulders roughly.^[8]

• The protagonist's actions upset the Mad Dummy so much that it causes them to become corporeal, turning them into the Glad Dummy. Since the protagonist helped the Mad Dummy become corporeal, they immediately offer to spare them. The dummy must be killed in order for the Genocide Route to progress.

• Neither Napstablook, nor the snails show up in Blook Acres, meaning that the game of Thundersnail cannot be played.

• The "Ghouliday", "Spookwave", and "Spooktune" CDs do not appear in Napstablook's home.

• Gerson remains in his shop, and sells his items as usual, albeit with different dialogue.^[9] He also appears to have some meta-knowledge, knowing that the protagonist cannot harm him as shopkeepers cannot be fought, and thus their threats mean nothing.

• Temmie Village is empty except for the Temmie Shopkeeper, who behaves normally, seemingly unaware of what is happening, and the Temmie that watches the protagonist from within the wall.

  • The Tem Shop has no option to pay for the shopkeeper's college education – this is replaced with the option to buy "Premiem" Temmie Flakes at a price of 1000G, making it impossible to obtain the Temmie Armor during the Genocide Route.

• If the kill counter is not yet exhausted for Waterfall, a dialogue box appears between the second and third Echo Flowers on the pathway to the bridge (room_water19), reading "Strongly felt <number> left. Shouldn't proceed yet."

After Meeting Requirements

• An additional, unnamed SAVE Point appears in the room before the bridge and disappears after the bridge sequence.

• On the bridge, Monster Kid approaches the protagonist, saying that Undyne told them the protagonist had done bad things and began to see the truth in her words. They try to fight the protagonist, but when the protagonist retaliates, Undyne jumps in and takes the fatal hit. Instead of dying, however, she recovers and becomes Undyne the Undying, who is significantly more difficult than the ordinary Undyne boss fight.

  • After being defeated, Undyne dies with a smile, aware that Alphys is evacuating the monsters ahead of the protagonist, and will tell Asgore to absorb the SOULs he has collected.

• After killing Undyne the Undying, the "Welcome to Snowdin Town" sign is removed, although its hitbox is still present.

Hotland and CORE

Before Meeting Requirements

• Alphys is absent in her lab. Instead, Mettaton acknowledges the protagonist's malice and flees.

  • The lights are already on.

  • The console that shows the protagonist says "It's me, <Name>." when interacted with.

  • Upon being inspected, the hole in the wall yields the message "It's just here to complete the look."

• Like Snowdin and Waterfall, most of the music is slowed down.

  • Ooo, Another Medium, Hotel, and CORE are all played at 0.5x speed.

  • Alphys does not play at all.

  • Dating Start! is played at 0.25x speed in Bratty and Catty's shop.

  • Shop is played at 0.4x instead of 0.7x speed in the MTT-Brand Burger Emporium.

  • CORE Approach is unaffected.

• Like Snowdin and Waterfall, most of the puzzles are deactivated.

  • Most of the lasers are off. The only exceptions are the first opposing ship puzzle to the left (as soon as the protagonist approaches the laser, it turns off automatically) and the three lasers on the conveyor belt on floor 3 (these lasers are still active even if the puzzle in that room has been solved in the Neutral Route).

  • The puzzles involving shooting the opposing ship are already solved.

• All NPCs are absent except the River Person.

• The Royal Guards are encountered much earlier, at the three steam vents before the entrance to Mettaton's cooking show set, and they attempt to avenge Undyne. They can both be killed in one hit.

• Mettaton's quiz show, cooking show, news report, and musical performance do not occur.

• The elevator in Hotland can access every floor except for R3 from the start. However, floors L1, L2, and R2 are cut off by force fields, preventing the protagonist from getting the Stained Apron and encountering So Sorry.

  • The force field that cuts off elevator L1 disappears after reaching elevator R3.

• Muffet does not show up for her bake sale. It is still possible to buy from the bake sale, but this does not prevent the fight with Muffet.^[10] Before she is fought, she does not consider the protagonist to be fit to eat but attempts to dispose of them regardless.

  • If mus_toomuch.ogg is triggered in Waterfall, that music plays in Muffet's bake sale even if the kill counter has not yet been exhausted. The reason for this may be because the track that plays at the bake sale in other routes is Quiet Water, a track that plays in many areas throughout Waterfall along with its eponymous track.

• The Muffet fight still takes place, though the protagonist can kill her in a single attack, so long as the attack is well-executed. If not killed immediately, she has unique dialogue referencing the Underground's evacuation.

  • She talks about how Alphys unsuccessfully attempted to get the spiders to evacuate.

  • The telegram she receives states that despite the protagonist being a hyper-violent murderer, they never harmed a spider since there are no other spider enemies.

• All MTT Resort NPCs other than Burgerpants are absent.

  • Due to the absences of Bratty and Catty, the protagonist can steal all of their wares, as well as 5G from their shop. A note can be found which reveals that Alphys came to evacuate them to someplace "super duper safe," but that Bratty and Catty wanted to use up their gel pens before leaving.

• Examining the plants in the MTT Resort reveals that "(The potted plant is judging you for your sins.)"

• A Dimensional Box appears in the lobby of the MTT Resort.

• The elevator in the CORE is functional from the start and can be used to bypass the rest of the CORE.

• The monsters that ambush the protagonist near the entrance to the CORE and before the second laser puzzle are absent, though the monsters that ambush the protagonist along the "warrior's path" are still present, even if the kill counter has already been exhausted.

After Meeting Requirements

• The Mettaton encounter at the end of the CORE becomes a face-off against Mettaton NEO. Mettaton dies in a single hit, and the protagonist's LOVE is set to 19 regardless of their LV beforehand. Encounters no longer occur in any region after this happens.

New Home

• Small Shock plays at 0.6x speed in the place of Undertale.

• A Dimensional Box appears in front of Asgore's Home and in the Last Corridor.

• The present box in Asgore's Home that otherwise contains the Worn Dagger now contains the Real Knife, and the text "About time." displays when equipping it.

• The present box in Asgore's Home that otherwise contains the Heart Locket now contains The Locket, and the text "Right where it belongs." displays when equipping it.

• Examining various objects throughout Asgore's Home yields unique descriptions.

  • Padlocks, first time, if no keys are used: "(He leaves them in the kitchen and the hallway.)"

  • Padlocks, otherwise: "(There are two keys.)"

  • Padlocks, while unlocking: "(I unlocked the chain.)"

  • Closet: "Our clothes."

  • Left bed: "My bed."

  • Right bed: "His bed."

  • Drawing of a flower: "My drawing."

  • Bookshelves / Asgore's closet: "Nothing useful."

  • Asgore's dresser: "Still has that sweater."

  • Photograph: "..."

  • Refrigerator: "No chocolate."

  • Kitchen note: "I've read this already."

  • Journal: "The entries are always the same."

  • Stovetop: "Stovetop."

  • Mirror: "It's me, <Name>."

  • Calendar: "(The date I came here.)"

• While walking through Asgore's Home, Flowey talks to the protagonist. His dialogue replaces the story of Asriel and the first human on the Neutral Route.

Flowey's dialogue in New Home. The lack of name in the bottom left is unedited.

• Unlike in other encounters and like the encounters in New Home in the Neutral Route, the fallen human's name does not appear during the dialogue encounters with Flowey.

  • He tells the protagonist about his life ever since he was a flower, his own ability to SAVE, and why the protagonist started killing.

  • He even seems to break the fourth wall and insult "those sickos that stand around and WATCH it happen" for not playing the Genocide Route themselves.

  • Flowey reiterates his "Kill or be killed" mentality, saying that he and the protagonist would not hesitate to kill each other if the need arises. However, Flowey finally realizes in horror that he is not above this, and that the protagonist would eventually kill him too if given the chance. After the protagonist appears to aggressively approach him, Flowey flees.^[11] The music changes to a slower, low pitched version of "Anticipation" when this event occurs.

• In the Last Corridor, Sans does not judge the protagonist but instead warns them that they will have a bad time. In an attempt to deter them from destroying the timelines of all worlds, Sans challenges the protagonist. His battle is widely considered to be the most difficult in the game, followed by Undyne the Undying.

  • Sans's death automatically sets the protagonist's LV to 20.

• Within the room with all of the coffins, the red coffin says "It's as comfortable as it looks."

Flowey begs for his life as the last enemy on the Genocide Route.

• Within the throne room, Asgore mentions having never seen a flower crying (referring to Flowey's attempts to warn Asgore of the protagonist). The protagonist then proceeds to attack Asgore, killing him in one hit (on the console versions, the borders around the game window are immediately disabled upon engaging Asgore). Flowey finishes Asgore off, and then, with his face and voice turning to Asriel's, he begs the protagonist not to kill him. This is the final point where the game can be reset without consequences, as pressing any of the action buttons causes the protagonist to kill Flowey.

• Instead of leaving the black screen and returning to the Throne Room, Chara appears on the black screen. They begin speaking to someone, either the protagonist or the player directly, without a dialogue box. After their introduction, a high-pitched wailing sound and echoing heartbeats will play.

  • Chara explains that the protagonist's determination was the reason that the former came back, and that the player taught Chara the reason for their return, power, and gave them the means to gain it. It was the protagonist's SOUL and determination that allowed them to destroy everything so that they could achieve this goal. Chara then lists the various stats that the player increases throughout the game as the very feeling they have whenever they are increased. They offer to destroy the world so that the two of them can move on to another world. At this point, two prompts are given: "ERASE" or "DO NOT."

    • During this conversation, the player cannot use the ESC button.

    • If the player chooses "ERASE," Chara calls the player "a great partner" followed by hollow eyes and stating that Chara and the player will be together forever, resulting in the world's destruction.

    • Choosing "DO NOT" causes Chara to be seemingly surprised at the player's refusal, thinking that the player must have misunderstood them. Chara then asks the player "SINCE WHEN WERE YOU THE ONE IN CONTROL?" with hollow eyes, which then results in a jumpscare. Chara then approaches the screen with a horrifying facial expression while apparently laughing, emitting a horrible noise as the screen shakes while flashing red and black. The game's window also vibrates (in the Windows versions) during the jumpscare.

  • Following either option, a larger slash animation is seen followed by the screen shaking and filled with "9's," resulting in the world's destruction, and the game closes. In console versions of Undertale, the screen instead blacks out with nothing happening for 30 seconds until howling wind plays.

• The window name is absent after Flowey is killed. After the giant slash animation, the entire window of UNDERTALE (in the Windows versions) shakes violently side to side, implying that the attack was damaging the world itself. The game automatically reverts to Windowed mode during Chara's jumpscare and the numerous 9s.

Aborting

The Genocide Route is aborted if the protagonist either completes an area by sparing the boss or reaches certain points in the game without exhausting the kill counter. Future areas appear as though in a Neutral Route, but any previous areas remain affected by the Genocide Route attempt.

• If the Genocide Route is aborted at any point before reaching New Home, the SAVE Points stop displaying the kill counter and stop displaying "Determination" once it has been exhausted, even in areas that the protagonist exhausted the kill counter in before the route was aborted, and go back to what they usually display. Exceptions to this rule are as follows:

  • After sparing Toriel

  • After sparing Papyrus (the music in Snowdin Town remains unchanged from when the route was still in effect)

  • After sparing Glad Dummy (the SAVE Points still display the kill counter, the music is still slowed down, and encounters are still marked by a smiley face)

  • After killing Mettaton NEO without killing every monster in Hotland beforehand (similar to Glad Dummy, which means that the encounters that tell the story of Asriel and Chara are marked by a smiley face)

• If the Genocide Route is aborted by sparing Papyrus, the protagonist may only hang out with him as they cannot flirt with him during the battle. Sans is at his post in Waterfall, thanking the protagonist. Sans does not offer to take the protagonist to Grillby's, as Snowdin is already evacuated.

• If the Genocide Route is aborted after reaching Waterfall, encounters stop being marked by a smiley face and go back to being marked by an exclamation point.

• If the Genocide Route is aborted by sparing Monster Kid, the protagonist fights Undyne normally.

• There is a specific neutral ending that can only be reached by fighting Mettaton NEO without having killed every monster in Hotland/the CORE beforehand. Mettaton tells the protagonist that they were "holding back" after taking (significantly lower) damage from the protagonist, exploding after his speech. In the ending's phone call, Sans hands the phone to Alphys.

  • If the Genocide Route is aborted by sparing Muffet or the Royal Guards before facing Mettaton, the protagonist enters the Neutral Route. However, NPCs in Hotland still do not appear, including Muffet and the Royal Guards themselves after being spared. This also leads to Alphys's ending.

• If the Genocide Route is aborted and Flowey is spared, Flowey chastises the player for aborting the Genocide Route before asserting that they just wanted to see what peace was like before taking it all away.

  • If the player resets after leaving the Ruins and before the world's destruction, Flowey confronts the protagonist at the beginning of the Ruins and wonders why they had reset before telling them to do whatever they want.

If the protagonist has gone past the point of no return in the Genocide Route (killing the last monster in Hotland/the CORE before the Mettaton NEO fight), they can simply reset their game as long as they do not give an answer to the final question from Chara.

Post-Genocide Game

Chara speaks without a dialogue box in the void.

Upon relaunching the game, only a black screen with howling wind appears, and the game's window is unnamed. Inputs do nothing, and the player must wait ten minutes before Chara addresses them.

Chara reminds the player that they destroyed the world and then questions if the player thinks they are above consequences.^[12]

• If the player confirms by selecting "YES," Chara simply says, "Exactly."

• If the player selects "NO," Chara asks them, "Then what are you looking for?"

Chara suggests that they could compromise and that they will bring back the world in exchange for the protagonist's SOUL.^[13] If the player agrees to this exchange, the game closes and appears to load normally the next time it is opened, while the console versions immediately reset. If the player declines the offer, Chara leaves the player^[14] and does not reappear unless the game is restarted and the player waits for ten more minutes. Chara then offers the deal again.

Once the offer is accepted, the game closes. When re-opened, the game functions as if the player just installed the game, as a naming prompt is given. All future True Pacifist and Genocide endings are altered. Neutral Route endings remain unchanged. Routes completed after the player sells their SOUL are often referred to as "soulless" routes (i.e., "Soulless True Pacifist Route" and "Soulless Genocide Route"). The player fights Photoshop Flowey on the next Neutral Route.

Changes

The True Pacifist Route ending is noticeably altered.

• At the end of the Soulless True Pacifist Route, the following occurs:

  • If Frisk chooses to stay with Toriel, when the latter leaves a piece of pie before leaving the room, after four seconds they turn over in bed in the final scene and face the camera to reveal Chara with red eyes having taken full possession of Frisk. A lower-pitched version of Photoshop Flowey's laugh plays to accompany this reveal.

  • If Frisk says they "have places to go," the photograph of Frisk and friends shown in the final scene changes – Frisk is replaced with Chara, and the faces of all the other characters have been crossed out with a red X.

  • "The End" text changes from white (or yellow) to red, and the Annoying Dog does not show up to sleep under the text. The track Anticipation plays extremely slowly three seconds after the "THE END" text appears.

• At the end of another Genocide ending:

  • Chara calls themself "The demon that comes when people call its name." It does not matter when and where. Time after time, they will appear, and with the player's help, they will eradicate the enemy and become strong. Chara then lists the various stats that the player increases throughout the game as the very feeling they have whenever they are increased. Chara then comments that they and the player are not the same, stating that the protagonist's SOUL has twisted feelings they no longer understand. Chara then wonders why the player continues to recreate the world, and why they continue to destroy it. Chara then states that the player is wracked with a "perverted sentimentality." Chara then suggests that should they recreate the world once again, a different course of action would be advised.

    • The same dialogue occurs even after doing the Genocide ending more than twice.

  • If the player selects "DO NOT" this time, Chara points out that this very feeling is what they had been talking about. Chara then comments to the player that unfortunately, regarding their choice, "YOU MADE YOUR CHOICE LONG AGO." This causes another jumpscare, and once again closes the game.

  • However, no black abyss appears once the player reopens the game, even after choosing to erase the world. Instead, the regular title screen plays as if the game was reset.

  • In the console versions, after the world is destroyed again, the game does not close, and instead the screen blacks out for about 30 seconds before the regular title screen plays again.

Consequence Avoidance

The first two sub-sections only apply to the computer versions and the third only applies to the console versions.

Save Locations

Default save locations are as follows:

• Windows:

  • Windows XP: %SystemDrive%/Documents and Settings/%USERNAME%/Local/Application Data/UNDERTALE

  • Windows Vista and later: %LOCALAPPDATA%/UNDERTALE

• Linux:

  • DRM-free: ~/.config/UNDERTALE_linux

  • Steam: ~/.config/UNDERTALE_linux_steamver

  • Steam (later versions): ~/.config/UNDERTALE

• Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/com.tobyfox.undertale/

Modifying/Deleting Files

To return to a playable state, the player can enter their save data folder and either:

• Delete the last directory in the aforementioned save location for the player's respective system; this removes everything the player has done in the game as if it is being played for the first time.

• Delete or rename the files system_information_962 and system_information_963 in the aforementioned save location. This removes any effects of having done the Genocide Route. The system_information_962 file is created after erasing the world, and system_information_963 is created after the player gives their SOUL to Chara.

• Uninstall the game and do a fresh reinstall.

GOG players using GOG Galaxy may need to disable cloud saving before carrying out any of these steps. Also, these methods are not sufficient for players of the Steam version, as the Steam Cloud backs up the acquisition of the system_information_962 and restores it if deleted (even if cloud synchronization is disabled). Players of the Steam version have to wait 10 minutes and accept the offer, changing system_information_962 to system_information_963. This deletes system_information_962 from Steam Cloud and does not upload anything. Players can delete system_information_963 in the save location later. There is also a way to render the system_information files unreadable by Undertale by modifying their security settings under file properties to deny read permission.

Console versions

In the console versions, the consequences of the Genocide Route can be removed if the player simply deletes the Undertale save data from the console's storage.

Demo

After completing a Genocide playthrough in the Undertale Demo, the ending screen appears with red text that reads "That was fun. Let's finish the job." replacing the credits while playing Anticipation at a very slow speed. Also, all the pages of the manual but the first and last are replaced with said ending screen, and the last page is replaced with a picture of a faceless Flowey.

The faceless Flowey image.

The ending screen.

Trivia

• The Ruins is the only area that does not have a slowed down song (except in Toriel's Home), nor solved puzzles, as the Genocide Route was not initiated yet.

• Papyrus is the only character in the game to continue to believe the protagonist can "do better" and redeem themself for the greater good after the genocide of Snowdin and dying to the protagonist.

  • He is also the only main character in the game that does not attack the protagonist despite the latter committing genocide and Papyrus attacking the protagonist on the Neutral Route.

• If the Genocide Route is aborted by sparing Muffet or the Royal Guards after the kill counter for Hotland has already been exhausted, Mettaton NEO still sets the protagonist's LV to 19 as if they are still on a Genocide Route.

• Since Mettaton NEO lacks attacks in his battle, and Alphys does not encounter the protagonist during this route, Yellow Mode is not used, making it impossible to be seen during this route. This is shared with the Nintendo Switch exclusive SOUL Mode of Mad Mew Mew.

• Before Undyne dies on the Genocide Route, she states that Alphys had told Asgore to absorb the six human SOULs, but when the protagonist encounters Asgore, he has not.

  • Evident by Asgore's lack of urgency at the end of the route, it is possible any message sent to him warning of the human was intercepted.

• In version 1.00, the Snowdin SAVE Point message, "That comedian...," appeared even if Snowdrake was already killed. According to Toby Fox, the message appearing so often was a bug^[15] and was fixed in version 1.001.

References

1. ↑ Y... you... really hate me that much? Now I see who I was protecting by keeping you here. Not you... But them! - Toriel, Genocide Route

2. ↑ You're not really human, are you? No. You're empty inside. Just like me. In fact... You're <Name> right? We're still inseparable, after all these years... Listen. I have a plan to become all powerful. Even more powerful than you and your stolen soul. Let's destroy everything in this wretched world. Everyone, everything in these worthless memories... Let's turn 'em all to dust. - Flowey

3. ↑ well, i'll be straight- forward with you. my brother'd really like to see a human... so, y'know, it'd really help me out... if you kept pretending to be one. - Sans

4. ↑ H... hey! I can't stop shivering all of a sudden. Who... who's there!? - Doggo

5. ↑ There's a switch here. It's been depressed with vines. - Flavor text for one of the Snowdin puzzles

6. ↑ Yo, everyone ran away and hid somewhere. Man, adults can be so dumb sometimes, haha... Don't they know we've got Undyne to protect us!? - Monster Kid

7. ↑ ST... STILL! I BELIEVE IN YOU! YOU CAN DO A LITTLE BETTER! EVEN IF YOU DON'T THINK SO! - Papyrus

8. ↑ Owww... Yo, try being a little less rough, haha. - Monster Kid

9. ↑ I wouldn't buy your chitzy garbage at knifepoint. - Gerson

10. ↑ And even if they gave us money, I heard... - Muffet

11. ↑ ... H-Hey, what are you doing!? B... back off!! - Flowey

12. ↑ Interesting. You want to go back. You want to go back to the world you destroyed. It was you who pushed everything to its edge. It was you who led the world to its destruction. But you cannot accept it. You think you are above consequences. - Chara

13. ↑ Give it to me. And I will bring this world back. Then it is agreed. You will give me your SOUL. - Chara

14. ↑ Then stay here for all eternity. - Chara

15. ↑ the "that comedian" text showing up that often was actually a glitch that i just fixed lol - @FwugRadiation on Twitter, September 21, 2015. [deleted]