Undertale is a beloved roleplaying game on PC that has also been delighting players on consoles. Now, the game has finally arrived on Xbox Game Pass bringing in a whole new audience. It even includes new features like a casino, though it also brings a higher age rating. Undertale has also spawned a sequel in the form of Deltarune, though that one is still only on PC, PlayStation 4, and Switch.
Undertale presents players with a choice unlike most other popular roleplaying games: does one truly opt to kill every enemy, or should the monsters be allowed to flee encounters? This can lead to substantially different routes, boss encounters, and playstyle. Most importantly, special endings can be viewed for completing every encounter non-violently, or conversely killing unnecessary bystanders.
Unlocking Endings in Undertale
Undertale has three base endings that can have variants based on player choices. Some endings will also affect other endings.
Neutral Ending
The standard default ending will play if either circumstance for the other two endings is not met, or players have some mix of objectives. This can include killing any monster in the game, failing to befriend all of the non-playable characters, or missing the optional True Lab area. Even if players are on one of the other routes, breaking one of the mentioned objectives may suddenly put them back into the Neutral game. The Neutral ending must also be seen before the Pacifist ending can be viewed.
The ending itself will have players face off with Asgore as the penultimate final boss, who must be defeated in combat (he will not yield or be talked down). Flowey will be the true final encounter, but the game system changes for the fight. Players will be in permanent evasion mode, and must steer the heart cursor into the “Fight” interface to harm Flowey. As the Neutral route is a balanced route, there are some dialogue differences if the player did kill a combination of important story NPCs like Papyrus, Undyne, and Toriel.
Pacifist Ending
The Pacifist ending can be unlocked after viewing the Neutral ending once. Players do not need to start a new game, as long as they have a save game that completed all the required objectives. The most important is to not kill any enemy in the game, by dodging their attacks and talking them into fleeing. This does leave players at level one, making it much harder if they do suffer damage. It may be advised to master dodging during enemy turns before attempting this ending. Additionally, players must take all steps to befriend Papyrus, Alphys, and Undyne; as well as explore the True Lab.
The True Lab is a section of Alphys’ Lab, which can only be accessed after befriending both Alphys and Papyrus. Players must locate all four colored keys in order to exit. The lab contains lots of information about Asriel, who will become the new final boss for this ending route. As this route is about doing no damage, it is pointless to attempt attacking Asriel, instead opt to dodge and use the act command to raise defenses.
Genocide Ending
The Genocide path can be attempted at the start of the game without the need of seeing another ending. To achieve this ending players must kill every normal enemy within each zone, which will eventually remove all roaming NPCs and shopkeepers from the Ruins, Snowdin Forest, Waterfall, and CORE. Players must kill all boss encounters and not allow them to surrender or flee.
The Genocide route will present new versions of all sorts of bosses including Undyne and Mettaton. Since players will be high level, it is a good idea to use whatever resources to up attacks and crush the enemy. The final boss will also change to Sans, who can dodge every attack thrown at him. Players will instead need to skillfully dodge and heal until Sans runs out of stamina. At this point, he will no longer evade, and be instantly killed from a single attack.
Soulless Ending
After fully clearing the Genocide route once, future endings will be permanently altered to include an extra scene of the player character dying, or a photo of the NPCs being crossed out as if killed. This includes the happy Pacifist ending now concluding on a disturbing note. Normal endings can be restored by deleting the Genocide save data on consoles or clearing out the Undertale user system data on PC.
Befriending Characters in Undertale
Befriending characters is a key step in gaining the Pacifist ending route. Failing to complete all of these steps will place players back on the Neutral ending; likewise, doing some of these while attempting Genocide will also return them to Neutral.
Papyrus
Players must talk down Papyrus during his boss fight, as defeating him will remove him from the game. Afterward, go back to Snowdin and speak to him in order to hangout. Players will also need to spare Undyne during her own boss fight. Go to her house and Papyrus can be spoken to for a second hang out.
Undyne
Players will first need to spare her during the fight. Before exiting the screen, go to the water cooler in the area and splash her with a cup of water. Failing to do so will remove all of her future appearances from the game. After speaking to Papyrus outside her house, Undyne will initiate a second fight where players will need to make a fake attack from the act menu. Afterwards, she will give players a letter as long as they have inventory space. If there is no space, she will go to Papyrus’ house and can be asked for the letter again. If the letter is ever discarded, speak to Undyne another time for Undyne’s Letter EX, a mandatory item.
Alphys
First, players will need to make use of Alphys’ phone upgrade when facing off against Mettaton. This will allow them to reach a score of 10,000 and prevent destroying him. After gaining Undyne’s Letter (or Letter EX), slip it under Alphys’ door in her lab. This will lead to a hang-out in the Garbage Dump. Afterward, Papyrus will call and instruct players to head to the True Lab and make steps toward the Pacifist ending.
While it can take a lot of time to get on everyone’s good side, it can be well worth it to see the diverse differences in Undertale’s endings.
Undertale is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and Steam.