Genocide Route

>  if you keep going the way you are now...
>  ...
>  you're gonna have a bad time.
>  — Papyrus in Sunnedout Forest
>
>

The **Genocide Route**, one of two definitions for the **No Mercy Route**, leads to one of the three main endings of *Underswap*. 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 a Genocide Route, subsequent True Pacifist Route endings will be altered – even after a True Reset.

## Method

The Genocide Route occurs when the protagonist kills every enemy in every region: Ruined Home, Sunnedout Forest, Firerise, and Coldsea. (The Core is a sub-region of Coldsea.)

Starting in Ruined Home, 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 "*However, there was nobody.*"

After the protagonist sees this message, the music for the area changes to a distorted ambient track. This track is a .08x speed version of "*Your Best Tem.*" After exiting the Ruins, all overworld songs are lower pitch, slower versions of their Neutral and True Pacifist Route counterparts.

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 abandoned a Genocide Route.

## Requirements

* Exhaust the random monster kill counter in every region. This requirement must be done before approaching the final encounter of that area.
	+ The protagonist can spare any number of random encounters. 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.
	+ 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.
		- **Ruined Home**: 20 kills (Asgore)
		- **Starlight Isles** : 16 kills (Sans)
		- Crystal Springs: 18 kills (Alphys the Alpha)
		- Boreal Bluffs: 40 kills (Napstaton NEO)
		- **Old Home**: No kills (Papyrus) The protagonist automatically kills Toriel and Temmie upon encountering them.
	+ Once the protagonist satisfies the kill requirement, SAVE points display the message "Determination."
* Kill every boss and miniboss. (Secret boss Not Welcome is not required.) All mini-bosses including Aaron) can be encountered even after the kill counter is exhausted, which can be used to obtain extra EXP.
	+ Asgore
	+ Sans
	+ Aaron
	+ Ruins Dummy
	+ Alphys the Alpha (triggered by fighting Asriel)
	+ Bratty & Catty
	+ Grillby
	+ Napstaton 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 a Neutral Route. For example, if Sans's battle is initiated without exhausting the Sunnedout 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 Sans 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.

## Differences

### Ruins

After Exhausting Kill Counter
* If the protagonist exhausts the kill counter, The Kill Counter appears in the STATS menu.
* If the protagonist exhausts the kill counter before finding Happstablook, Happstablook vanishes when the protagonist approaches them.
* The Final Froggit and Parsnik NPCs do not appear.
* In Asgore's Home, if the protagonist checks the kitchen, the flavor text reads "Where are the knives."
* When checking the mirror, the flavor text, "It's me, <Name>." appears instead of "It's you!"
* When facing Asgore at the exit of the Ruins, the protagonist kills him with a single attack.
	+ When attempting to talk to Asgore, the flavor text "Not worth talking to." appears.

After Killing Asgore
* In the next chamber, Temmie identifies the protagonist as the first human.

### Sunnedout

Before Meeting Requirements
* When encountering Papyrus, he is unsettled by the protagonist's lack of reaction to his joke. He then attempts to hide them behind the conveniently shaped lamp, but they ignore him. Sans runs in, and leaves after Papyrus tells him he found a human and does not notice the protagonist. Papyrus then tells the protagonist that they should continue *pretending* to be a human.*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.*" - Papyrus</ref>
* When Sans finally notices the protagonist, he initially does not recognize them as a human.
* The protagonist ignores all of Sans' puzzles, and some of them appear to be solved with Temmie's help.
	+ The protagonist walks through the electricity maze before Sans finishes explaining it.
	+ The word search, when checked, has different dialogue.
		- If the word search is checked and the protagonist interacts with Papyrus afterward, he remarks that he should have made the puzzle a junior jumble, as opposed to a crossword during a Neutral Route.
	+ The spikes are already retracted for the X --> O puzzles, and Sans is absent.
	+ The protagonist cuts off Sans' explanation of the tile puzzle and walks through it before Sans can activate it. After ignoring the puzzles, the music changes to a sad tune.
	+ The "gauntlet of deadly terror" is retracted after Sans feels like the human would not appreciate it. After Sans leaves, Papyrus 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 Sans. He then seems to teleport out of the area.

After Meeting Requirements
* Once the protagonist exhausts the kill counter, all Sunnedout NPCs except Asriel evacuate.
	+ The protagonist can no longer sleep at the Inn.
	+ Inspecting the unfinished book in the Sunnedout Library displays the message "Some unfinished book."
	+ A decoy version of the Innkeeper's Child is present.
	+ Due to the absence of the Sunnedout Shopkeeper, the protagonist can steal all of her wares and 758G from the counter.
* Sans 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.
* After killing Sans, the sign "Welcome to Sunnedout Town" is removed.

### Firerise

Before Meeting Requirements
* Encounters are marked by a smiley face above the protagonist's head as opposed to an exclamation point.
* All of the NPCs are absent, except Asriel, Happstablook, and the Flowey Shopkeeper.
* Like Sunnedout, most of the puzzles are already completed.
* Bird does not appear.
* Papyrus is not stationed at his telescope, and the protagonist cannot look through it.
* When Asriel offers to help the protagonist reach the ledge, the protagonist climbs on to the Kid's shoulders roughly.
* The protagonist's actions scared the Glad Dummy so much that it somehow causes them to become incorporeal, turning them into the plain Dummy. Since the protagonist made the Dummy become incorporeal, it immediately offers to spare them, despite being able to show emotion. The dummy must be killed for the Genocide Route to progress.
* Flowey Village is empty except for the Flowey Shopkeeper, who behaves normally, seemingly unaware of what is happening, and the Floweys that watches the protagonist from within the wall.
	+ The Floe Shop has no option to pay for the shopkeeper's college education – this is replaced with the option to buy "Premium" Flowey Flakes at a price of 1000G, making it impossible to obtain the Flowey Armor during a Genocide Route.

After Meeting Requirements
* An additional save point appears before the bridge.
* On the bridge, Asriel approaches the protagonist, saying that Alphys 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, Alphys jumps in and takes the fatal hit. Instead of dying, however, she recovers and becomes Alphys the Alpha, who is significantly more difficult than the ordinary Alphys boss fight.
	+ After being defeated, Alphys dies with a smile, aware that Undyne is evacuating the monsters ahead of the protagonist, and will tell Toriel to absorb the souls she has collected.

### Coldsea and CORE

Before Meeting Requirements
* Undyne is absent in her lab. Instead, Napstaton acknowledges the protagonist's malice and flees.
	+ The console that shows the protagonist says "It's me, <Name>." when interacted with.
	+ The protagonist describes the bag of cat food as "half-empty" (as opposed to "half-full," if no-one has been killed yet), followed by the message "You just remembered something funny." when interacted with.
	+ Upon being inspected, the hole in the wall yields the message "It's just here to complete the look."
* Like Sunnedout and Firerise, most of the puzzles are deactivated.
	+ The lasers are all off.
	+ The puzzles involving shooting the opposing ship are already solved.
* Bratty & Catty are encountered much earlier, at the three steam vents before the entrance to Napstaton's cooking show set, and they attempt to avenge Alphys. They can both be killed in one hit.
* Napstaton's cooking show, news report, and musical performance do not occur.
* The elevator in Firerise can access every floor from the start. Floors L1, L2, and R2 are cut off by force fields, however.
* Grillby does not show up for his bake sale. It is still possible to buy from the bake sale, but this does not prevent the fight with Grillby. Before she is fought, he does not consider the protagonist to be fit to be grilled but attempts to dispose of them regardless.
* The Grillby fight still takes place, though the protagonist can kill him 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 Undyne unsuccessfully attempted to get the embers to evacuate.
	+ The telegram he receives states that despite the protagonist being a hyper-violent murderer, they never blew out an ember since there are no other ember enemies.
* All of the other NPCs other than the Nice Cream Guy are absent.
	+ Due to the absence of RG01 & RG02, the protagonist can steal all of their wares, as well as 5G from their shop. A note can be found which reveals that Undyne came to evacuate them to someplace "super safe," but that RG01 & RG02 wanted to use up their gel pens before leaving.
* Examining the plant in the NTT Resort reveals that "(The potted plant is judging you for your sins.)"
* The elevator in the Core is functional from the start and can be used to bypass the rest of the Core.

After Meeting Requirements
* The Napstaton encounter at the end of the Core becomes a face-off against Napstaton NEO. Napstaton dies in a single hit.

### Old Home

* The present box in Toriel's Home that otherwise contains the Worn Dagger now contains the Real Knife, and the text "About time." displays.
* The present box in Toriel's Home that otherwise contains the The Locket now contains Heart Locket, and the text "Right where it belongs." displays.
* Examining various objects throughout Toriel's Home yields unique descriptions.
	+ Padlocks, first time, if no keys are used: "She 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 Temmie: "My drawing."
	+ Bookshelves / Toriel's closet: "Nothing useful."
	+ Toriel's dresser: "Still has that muu-muu."
	+ 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 Toriel's Home, Temmie talks to the protagonist, even if he was killed after the last True Reset.
	+ Unlike in other encounters, the fallen human's name does **not** appear during the dialogue encounters with Temmie.
	+ He tells the protagonist about his life ever since he was a temmie, his own ability to SAVE, and why the protagonist started killing.
	+ He even proceeds to break the fourth wall and insult "those sickos that stand around and WATCH it happen" (meaning the people watching videos about the Genocide Route) for not playing the Genocide Route themselves.
	+ Temmie 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, he finally realizes, in horror, that he is not above this and, eventually, the protagonist kills him. He runs away afterward.
* In the Final Corridor, Papyrus does not judge the protagonist but instead warns them that they will have a bad time. He fights them as an attempt to stop them from destroying the timelines of all worlds. He is widely considered to be the most difficult battle in the game, followed by Alphys the Alpha.
* Within the room with all of the coffins, the red coffin says "It's as comfortable as it looks."
* Within the throne room, Toriel mentions having never seen a Temmie crying (referring to Temmie's attempts to warn Toriel of the protagonist). The protagonist then proceeds to attack Toriel, killing her in one hit. Temmie finishes Toriel off, and then, with his face and voice turning to Monster Kid, he begs the protagonist not to kill him. The protagonist kills Temmie regardless.
* Instead of leaving the black screen and returning to the Throne Room, a track consisting of high-pitched wailing and echoing heartbeats begins to play as Frisk appears on the black screen and talks to the person in front of them: not the protagonist, but the player. The window name becomes blank.
	+ Frisk explains that the player's determination was the reason that they came back and that the player taught them the reason for their return and gave them the means to do so. It was the player's SOUL and determination that allowed them to destroy everything so that they could achieve this goal. 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."
		- If the player chooses "ERASE," Frisk calls the player "a great partner."
		- Choosing "DO NOT" causes Frisk to be seemingly surprised at the player's refusal, thinking that the player must have misunderstood them. Frisk then asks the player "SINCE WHEN WERE YOU THE ONE IN CONTROL?", which then causes a jumpscare. Frisk then approaches towards the screen with a horrifying facial expression while apparently laughing, emitting a horrible noise as the screen shakes while flashing red and black.
	+ 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 then closes.

### Misc.

* Encounters become considerably harder to find as the protagonist progresses (except Old Home).
* After killing all monsters in the Ruins, a kill counter is added to the Stats menu.
* Various events cause music in Sunnedout to revert to its normal state; the music returning to its normal speed does not indicate a failure of the route.
* If the kill counter is not yet exhausted for Firerise, a dialogue box appears between the second and third flowers on the path of Room 131 (room\_fire19), reading "Strongly felt <number> left. Shouldn't proceed yet.".

## Aborting

The Genocide Route ends 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 ended by sparing Sans, then the protagonist may only hang out with him as they cannot flirt with him during the battle. Papyrus will be at his post in Firerise, thanking the protagonist.
* Sparing Asriel results in the game entering the Neutral Route, and the protagonist can fight Alphys normally.
* There is a specific neutral ending that can be gained by entering the Neutral Route at Napstaton NEO by not killing every monster in the Coldsea and CORE before the fight. Napstaton 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, Papyrus hands the phone to Undyne.
	+ If the Genocide Route is ended by sparing Grillby before facing Napstaton, the protagonist enters the Neutral Route, however, NPCs in Coldsea still do not appear, including Grillby himself after being spared. This also leads to the Undyne ending.
* If the Genocide Route is aborted midway through if Temmie is spared, Temmie 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. At the beginning of the next playthrough, Temmie wonders why the protagonist had reset before telling them to do whatever they want.

If the protagonist has gone past the point of no return in a Genocide Route (Napstaton NEO fight), they can simply reset their game as long as they do not give an answer to the final question from Frisk.

## Post-Genocide Game

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

Frisk reminds the player that they destroyed the world and then questions if the player thinks they are above consequences.

* If the player affirms by selecting "YES," Frisk simply says, "Exactly."
* If the player selects "NO," Frisk asks the player, "Then what are you looking for?"

Frisk suggests that they could compromise and that they will bring back the world in exchange for the SOUL. If the player agrees to this exchange, the game closes and appears to load normally the next time it is opened. If the player declines the offer, Frisk leaves the player and does not reappear unless the game is restarted and the player waits for ten more minutes. Frisk will then offer the deal again.

Once the offer is accepted, 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"). A "true reset" is also available after this offer, which erases everyone's memory, and hence the player will fight Photoshop Temmie on the next Neutral Route gameplay if it is used.

### Changes

* At the end of the Soulless True Pacifist Route, Frisk appears to have taken over Chara's body.
	+ If Chara chooses to stay with Asgore, when the latter leaves some pancakes before leaving the room, after four seconds they turn over in bed in the final scene and face the camera to reveal Frisk with red eyes having taken full possession of Chara. A lower pitched version of Temmie's laugh plays to accompany this reveal.
	+ If Chara says they "have places to go," the photograph of Chara and friends shown in the final scene changes - Chara is replaced with Frisk, and the faces of all the other characters have been crossed out with a red X, implying Frisk has killed them all.
	+ "The End" text changes from white (or yellow) to red, and the Annoying Cat does not show up to sleep under the text.
* At the end of another Genocide ending:
	+ Frisk calls themselves "The demon that comes when people call its name." It does not matter when and where, that time after time, they will appear, and with the Player's help, they will eradicate the enemy and become strong. Frisk then lists the various stats that the Player increases throughout the game as the very feeling they have whenever they are increased. Frisk then comments that they and the player are not the same, stating that their SOUL has twisted feelings they no longer understand. Frisk now wonders on what reason the player continues to recreate the world, and why they continue to destroy the world. Frisk then harshly states that the Player is wracked with a "perverted sentimentality." Frisk 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, Frisk points out that this very feeling is what they had been talking about. Frisk then comments to the player that unfortunately, regarding their choice, "YOU MADE YOUR CHOICE LONG AGO." This causes another jump scare, and once again closes the game.
	+ However, no black abyss appears once the player reopens the game. Instead, the regular title screen plays as if the game was reset.

## Demo

After completing a Genocide playthrough In the Underswap Demo, the ending screen appears with red text that reads "That was fun. Let's finish the job.". 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 Temmie.

## Trivia

* Since Napstaton NEO did not have any attacks in his battle, and Undyne did not encounter the protagonist during this route, Yellow Mode was not used, making it the only SOUL Mode that did not make an appearance during this Route.
* The Ruins is the only area that does not have a slowed down song (except Home), nor solved puzzles, as the Genocide Route was not initiated yet.
* If Sans is killed, the track Papyrus. stops completely after inspecting Muffet's.
* Before Alphys dies on the Genocide Route, she states that Undyne had told Toriel to absorb the six human SOULs, but when the protagonist encounters Toriel, what Alphys said is apparently not true.
* Sans is the only character in the game to continue to believe the protagonist can "do better" and redeem themselves for the greater good after the genocide of Sunnedout and getting himself murdered by the protagonist.
	+ He is also the only main character in the game that does not attack the protagonist despite the latter committing genocide and Sans attacking the protagonist on the Neutral Route.

## References

1. ↑ "*H...Human, you really hate me that much? Now I see who I was protecting by keeping you here. Not you... But them!*" - Asgore, 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.*" - Temmie*
3. ↑ "*There's a switch here. It's been covered in Temmie Flakes.*" - Flavor text for one of the Sunnedout's puzzles
4. ↑ "*Howdy! Everyone ran away and hid somewhere. Adults can be such idiots sometimes, haha... Don't they know we've got Alphys to protect us!?*" - Asriel
5. ↑ "*ST... STILL! I BELIEVE IN YOU! YOU CAN DO A LITTLE BETTER! EVEN IF YOU DON'T THINK SO!*" - Sans
6. ↑ "*Owww... try being a little less rough.*" - Asriel
7. ↑ "*...And even if they gave us money, ...I heard...*" - Grillby
8. ↑ "*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.*" - Frisk
9. ↑ "*Give it to me. And I will bring this world back. Then it is agreed. You will give me your SOUL.*" - Frisk
10. ↑ "*Then stay here for all eternity.*" - Frisk