Snowgrave Route

Snowgrave Route
Beginning the Snowgrave Route by backtracking after meeting Noelle in Cyber City.
Also known as	Weird Route (internally) Alt (internally) Side B (internally) Command Route Pipis Route Genocide Route
Type	Plot Mechanic

Getting stronger... how?
Kris, what are you doing!?

Berdly

The Snowgrave Route is an alternate story route in Chapter 2. It takes place in the Cyber World, and significantly alters the events of the story and the bosses encountered. Despite Chapter 1's claims to the contrary, the player's choices matter when making decisions in this route.

Method

The Snowgrave Route begins after Noelle joins the party in Cyber City.

The first step below is the most difficult part of the route to figure out, since the game gives no hints that this specific step is necessary. Afterward, the player should be able to figure out the rest of the route on their own, since the game immediately alerts the player when the route is abandoned.

1. Once Kris gets to Noelle and has her join their party, the player must backtrack beyond the point where the party originally landed after falling off the rollercoaster, ignoring Noelle's protests that they are going the wrong way.
2. Along the way, the player must defeat every enemy by using Noelle's IceShock spell to freeze them. (One easy enemy to miss is the Poppup disguised as a traffic cone to the right of the trash zone.) After the player has finished backtracking, they must turn around and continue forward again, still making Noelle freeze all the enemies along the way.
   • Frozen enemies will remain frozen on the overworld even after leaving the area and returning. Each time all the enemies in an area have been frozen (or another important route requirement is completed), a brief ominous blippy sound plays that goes down in pitch.
   • Driving off any enemies using melee attacks or sparing them will immediately end the route. (If any route requirement is failed after the route has begun, a brief and bright sound plays that goes up in pitch, enemies will no longer be permanently frozen on the overworld, and the run will permanently remain on the normal route.)
3. After reaching the room with the large Ferris Wheel poster, the player must interact with the shopkeeper who offers to sell the party shoes near the top-right side of the room, and say "We're something else" when prompted. This should cause the shopkeeper to try to sell Noelle a ring. (If it doesn't, the player has not finished freezing all the necessary enemies yet, but they may backtrack and return to the shopkeeper to try again.) The player must answer "Get it" to all of the prompts. The player must not continue past the shopkeeper and complete the next puzzle until this is done.
4. From this point onward, whenever the player is presented with two dialogue choices, one of which is "Proceed," the player must choose "Proceed."
5. Before the player begins the fight with Berdly, the player must have Noelle freeze all enemies available, then backtrack to the Dog Dumpster. (This is at the bottom left of the room with two long car roads, where Kris would normally encounter the Annoying Dog in a car on a normal route. If the dumpster is interacted with before freezing all available enemies, the player will be told how many encounters remain to be frozen.) If the player interacts with the dumpster after freezing all available enemies, they are able to purchase the Thorn Ring and equip it to Noelle. This must be done before the Berdly fight.
6. Noelle should have a new spell when the fight starts. The player must order Noelle to cast it before the fight ends. It is impossible to cast if Noelle does not have the Thorn Ring equipped. She will deny knowing the spell, but the player must continue to tell her to use it.
7. After this point, all route requirements have been met and the run is locked to this route. Returning to the normal route is not possible.

The "Get It" dialogue

Spamton telling the party how many enemies are left.

Berdly's encounter in the Snowgrave Route.

Requirements

There are more requirements to maintain this route than in Undertale's Genocide Route.

• All enemies in all 19 encounters prior to Berdly's second battle must be frozen with Noelle's IceShock spell.
  • Enemies can be damaged with weapon attacks, but Noelle's IceShock must deal the final blow.
  • Defeating an enemy with a weapon attack aborts the route, as unlike in Undertale, enemies normally flee when their HP becomes 0. Sparing an enemy or pacifying one with Noelle's SleepMist also aborts the route.
  • Some enemies will appear that do not appear on the normal route. These must be frozen also.
• When interacting with the Addison who offers the Freeze Ring, the answers "We're something else" and "Get it" must be chosen.
• The first forcefield puzzle must not be completed before the Freeze Ring is acquired.
• After acquiring the Freeze Ring, the "Proceed" dialogue option must be chosen at every opportunity.
• Berdly must be defeated with SnowGrave, which can only be cast by buying the Thorn Ring and equipping it to Noelle.
  • Before entering Queen's roller coaster ride, Kris must have at least two free slots in their weapon inventory or storage. Otherwise, they will not have enough space to carry both rings, which will abort the route as SnowGrave cannot be cast.
  • Three slots are required if the player also wishes to obtain the Bounce Blade.

Differences

Story Changes

Most NPCs and several background and foreground elements disappear. The Addison that offers to sell the party Dating Shoes also offers to sell Noelle a Freeze Ring. When Noelle tries to decline, the NPC calls her an "Angel" and tells her she can't get stronger without better equipment. The player pressures Noelle into "getting" the Freeze Ring until the screen fades to black, the sound effect for IceShock is heard, and the Freeze Ring is acquired. Afterwards, the Addison is missing, presumably trapped in the ring. Noelle's battle animations change to imply her increased power over ice and decreased fear in battle.

Noelle starts having dark thoughts of hurting Kris, which alarms her, and Kris (prompted by the player) begins physically pressuring her to complete puzzles by freezing them solid with her ice magic. At first, she is afraid, but tries to justify their actions by suggesting that they are just helping her get stronger. She freezes the final puzzle without prompt and starts asking if the party should "go find some more enemies."

Spamton also refers to Noelle as an "Angel" and sells her a Thorn Ring which "might sting," which allows her to cast ice spells at half their TP cost but causes her to take significant damage in battle. When the party meets Berdly, Noelle initially asks Kris if they want her to freeze "another enemy". Berdly prompts Noelle to recognize him and asks what she is doing, but she insists that she and Kris are "getting stronger." Berdly tries to fight them to save Noelle, ignoring Noelle's warning to run away. The fight ends when the party obtains enough TP to cast SnowGrave, a "fatal" attack. Noelle refuses the command to use SnowGrave several times until she finally snaps and uses it to freeze Berdly completely solid. Noelle says she doesn't feel so good and leaves the party, unlocking a faster route to Queen's Mansion through the sewers.

Susie and Ralsei rejoin the party just outside the mansion entrance, and the party finds out that the mansion has been taken over by Spamton, causing several differences. Numerous paths are blocked off by forcefields and locked doors, many cutscenes are skipped, and dialogue is changed. Dozens of Pipis have been laid out as traps throughout the Mansion: the room with 48 platters is now a maze of Pipis that cause a battle if Kris makes contact with one, the following room requires the player to avoid exploding Pipis with their SOUL, and the hallway leading up to the shortcut replaces the pottery with Pipis on wheels where (just like with the maze) they can start a battle on contact with any party member (not just Kris).

Susie quickly leaves Noelle's room as Ralsei is concerned about Kris, Queen's first battle is skipped, and the regular final battle is averted as Ralsei explains The Roaring before the battle can start. Susie insists on checking on Noelle while Ralsei tells Queen about the Castle Town, leaving Kris to seal the fountain alone.

Right before the Spamton NEO fight at the Fountain.

Spamton NEO ambushes the player before they can seal the fountain, forcing them to fight him as the final boss solo, making the fight considerably harder than it is on a normal route. To compensate, Kris gains two new abilities: X-Slash deals massive physical damage for 25% TP, and Fried Pipis heals Kris for 120 HP at the cost of 32% TP. The fight itself is mostly the same until Spamton NEO reaches 10% of his HP. At this point, the music changes, and his AT is greatly lowered but his DF is greatly increased. Kris's damage done by normal attacks is capped at 10 (about 0.2% of his HP), and Spamton NEO's HP cannot be reduced below 6% (about 289) as he will automatically recover HP with Pipis whenever this occurs. However, Spamton exclusively uses a weaker, simpler attack that is much easier to dodge until the end of the fight. The battle can only be concluded by ACTing multiple times: first having Kris call for Ralsei and Susie twice each, which ends in failure each time; then having the player call for Noelle, which causes the screen to cut to black, after which she presumably shows up and deals massive damage to Spamton. The player seals the fountain, leaving a few differences to explore in Hometown.

Dark World Differences

The ominous descending-pitch ring plays each time a Stage below is completed, other than the casting of SnowGrave which uses its own sound effect.

Stage 1

Requirements: Freeze the first Virovirokun encounter.

• Kris's status menu description changes to Leader - "Commands."
• Frozen enemies remain on screen and do not disappear when the room is re-entered.
• When selecting "I will ride with you" at the Ferris wheel poster, the unique dialogue options "Noelle will ride with me" and "Sorry" become available.
• In the Trash Zone, when moving to the left side of Trashy's room, Noelle asks Kris if they're sure they aren't going the wrong way.
• In the Trash Zone, in the room to the left of Trashy's room, 2 new encounters (a Virovirokun and a Werewire) appear.
• SAVE Points no longer display dialogue.

Stage 2

Requirements: Freeze all 3 encounters in the Trash Zone (including the Poppup near the city entrance).

• Trashy and Nubert disappear from the Trash Zone.
• The cars in the background of Cyber City disappear.
• The cars on the roads before Annoying Mouse Room 1 are replaced with 2 new encounters (an Ambyu-Lance and a Tasque).
  • The traffic control buttons disappear.
  • The Werewire NPC on the left of the room disappears.
• When interacting with the first Queen poster, Noelle responds with "..." and a saddened expression.
• Checking Lancer in Key Items from this point onward displays "(Innocent boys are fast asleep.)."

Stage 3

Requirements: Freeze the 2 encounters on the car roads before Annoying Mouse Room 1.

• The Swatchlings sweeping the road disappear.
• The Addisons in the room with two Ambyu-Lances moving in a rectangular pattern disappear. In the room to the north, Ralsei, Susie, the Addison, and the balloons disappear, and the lights in the background no longer display cat patterns. The Addison offering Dating Shoes becomes the only remaining Addison in the area.
• The cars on the roads before the Ferris wheel poster room are replaced with 2 new encounters (a Virovirokun and a Werewire).
  • The traffic control buttons disappear (the traffic control posts become frozen solid).
  • The Werewire and Plugboy NPCs on the right of the room disappear.
• Icon Man and their friend disappear.

Stage 4

Requirements: Freeze the 2 encounters on the car roads before the room with the Ferris wheel poster, the Ambyu-Lances in the room next to the first Queen poster, and the enemies in the room with the Ferris wheel poster. Speak to the Addison near the Ferris wheel poster and answer their question with "We're something else."

• When stepping into the area a short distance away from the Addison near the Ferris wheel poster, he stops the party and offers to sell them the Freeze Ring for 1 D$ more than the party currently has.
  • The background music in Cyber City stops after the offer is made, and does not start playing again until the route is aborted or proceeds to Stage 5.
  • The Freeze Ring must be obtained by repeatedly selecting "Get it" to continue the route. Noelle freezes the Addison (who disappears) and expresses horror that she did so, but quickly denies that it happened and states that it's "good to get stronger."
    • Note that the requirements do not have to be done in order. If the player has not yet frozen enough enemies, they may still say "We're something else", then backtrack and freeze the remaining enemies, then return to the area to have the Addison offer the Freeze Ring.
• After getting the Freeze Ring, the first forcefield puzzle's cutscene changes. This changed cutscene must be viewed to stay on the route.
• At the first forcefield puzzle, Noelle stands on the first switch while Kris moves to the second switch.
  • In a normal route, Kris stays on the first switch while Noelle moves to the second switch.
  • If Kris repeatedly interacts with Noelle instead of moving to the second switch, she wonders why Kris is staring at her instead of finishing the puzzle. She can sense them staring at her from behind.
  • Attempting to leave the room while Noelle is on the switch displays "(Shouldn't leave now.)"
  • When Kris crosses the disabled forcefield, Noelle twitches in place.
  • Once the forcefield is disabled, Noelle thinks to herself that it's horrible that she considered electrocuting Kris. There are two dialogue responses: "It's horrible" or "It's natural." In either case, Noelle is shocked at the response and assumes she must have said her thoughts out loud.

Stage 5

Requirements: Get the Freeze Ring; complete the first forcefield puzzle; answer Noelle with either option ("It's horrible" or "It's natural").

• Several changes take place in Cyber City:
  • The background music switches to an alternate arrangement with a slower tempo.
  • Most of the background lights, advertisements, and hazard symbols disappear.
  • The traffic lights on the car roads stop swinging in place.
  • All SAVE point descriptions are replaced with "You and Noelle were filled with power."
  • Overworld enemies run away from the party.
• Noelle gains a new set of encounter animations:
  • When Noelle enters an encounter, she is no longer scared.
  • When Noelle is idle, she looks down.
  • When Noelle gets hit, she closes her left eye in pain.
  • When Noelle attacks, she mimics casting a spell instead of frantically waving her hands.
  • When Noelle defends, she constructs an ice wall instead of covering her eyes with her hands.
  • When Noelle ACTs with TakeCareX, she doesn't fall over.
  • Upon victory, Noelle appears to pray, and surrounds herself with a blue, snowglobe-like orb.
• The boxes below the first forcefield puzzle disappear.
• Queen's second interaction (in the room where Berdly's golden statue would normally appear) is replaced by a Tasque encounter.
• Sweet Cap'n Cakes are nowhere to be found in Cyber City, leaving their shop vacant. Up to four CD Bagels can be taken from one of the boxes. The background music does not change upon entering the shop area.
• The Addisons which offer shoe samples, the Mannequin, and the Tea do not appear (the Mannequin itself is also absent).
• The cars in the room with two long car roads are replaced with 2 new encounters (an Ambyu-Lance and a Virovirokun).
  • The traffic control buttons are frozen solid.
• The Dog Dumpster room is changed:
  • When first entering the room, Kris is no longer transported to the room with the Annoying Dog.
  • The room with the man behind a tree is no longer accessible.
  • Spamton occupies the dumpster. He tells the party they are currently weak, but that he will give the party something when they become stronger. He informs them of how many encounters remain to be frozen.
  • The moss in the corner does not glitter. Interacting with it displays "(It's some moss...)" and the party's titles do not change.
• When the party enters Annoying Mouse Room 2, Noelle asks Kris how they should solve the puzzle. The player is given the options "Proceed" and "Let's solve it together!" / "Sorry, I'll do the puzzle" (which aborts the route).
  • Repeatedly answering "Proceed" causes Kris to push Noelle up against the forcefield, frightening her.
  • She eventually freezes the puzzle at the last second, disabling it.
  • The "Annoying Mouse Room 2" background banner is no longer displayed.

Stage 6

Requirements: Force Noelle to "Proceed" through Annoying Mouse Room 2.

• The switch and mouse control buttons in Annoying Mouse Room 2 are frozen solid.
• The cheese maze is replaced with two overworld Maus encounters.
• Noelle freezes the Annoying Mouse Room 3 puzzle on her own when the party encounters it.
  • The "Annoying Mouse Room 3" background banner is no longer displayed.
  • The SAVE Point in this room is absent.
• A second Poppup encounter appears in the room prior to Berdly's battle.
  • The Poppups are visible as soon as the party enters the room instead of revealing themselves as the party approaches.
  • The Poppups do not move on the overworld and hide when the party draws near.
• Once all enemies have been defeated, backtracking to the Dog Dumpster room allows the party to buy the Thorn Ring from Spamton for 1997 Kromer.
  • Equipping it to Noelle is required to continue the route.
  • It changes her title to LV2 Ice Trancer - Receives pain to become stronger.
• Berdly's battle is modified:
  • Noelle does not recognize Berdly at first, seeing him only as an enemy that she offers to freeze.
  • When she recognizes him, she explains that she and Kris were "getting stronger." Berdly senses that Kris is harming Noelle and threatens them.
  • Berdly's battle theme is replaced by a somber track of militaristic sounding drum beats creating a rhythm similar to a heartbeat.
  • Flavor text every turn is blank after the first round's "Berdly blocks the way!"
  • ACT options other than "Check" are replaced with "Glare" and "Wake."
    • Glare reduces Berdly's Defense by 5 and fills his mercy meter by +13%.
    • Wake increases Noelle's Magic by 3 and can be done up to 10 times.
  • Checking Berdly gives the text: "Enemy Weakness: ICE Try your strongest ice spell."
  • Berdly's facial expression in battle is serious instead of smirking.
  • Berdly does not speak in the battle, except to encourage Noelle to abandon Kris when Kris is downed or react to the first "Glare" ACT.
  • Berdly's Attack stat is reduced, but his attacks are much faster and more difficult to dodge. His "Spear Blast" attack creates twice as many spike projectiles.
  • Berdly only targets Kris until Kris is downed at least once.
    • When Kris is downed, Berdly attempts to persuade Noelle to abandon them, but she refuses, stating that she can "still hear their voice."
    • After this, Berdly attacks both Kris and Noelle.
  • If Kris is down, Berdly does not attack, and Kris gets up immediately after the next round (although he does not prematurely stop an attack that downs Kris).
  • Upon entering the battle, Noelle gains the spell SnowGrave, which must be used on Berdly to proceed to stage 7.
    • SnowGrave normally costs 200% TP, but wearing the Thorn Ring reduces the cost to 100% TP.
    • If ordered to cast SnowGrave, Noelle repeatedly protests that she doesn't know the spell, but eventually casts it anyway.
    • SnowGrave instantly defeats Berdly, encasing him in a prism of ice.

Stage 7

Requirements: Freeze Berdly with Noelle's SnowGrave spell. The route is now locked and can no longer be aborted.

• The frozen Berdly remains on the overworld. He does not appear for the rest of the chapter.
• Noelle leaves the party during the battle screen. She only appears off-screen for the rest of the chapter until the player returns to Hometown.
• The paths to the left and right of the Berdly fight area become blocked off by traffic cones, preventing backtracking and exploring the rest of the city.
  • The sequence where Kris dodges traffic does not occur, thus the small car cannot be recruited to Castle Town.
  • Kris's initial meeting with Spamton does not occur. His shop and the items he sells are likewise inaccessible.
  • The scenes where Noelle explains her past to Kris, her meeting with Ralsei, and her encounters with Queen do not occur.
  • Cyber City Heights and its fireworks/puzzles are inaccessible.
• The traffic cones to the north of the frozen Berdly are moved, opening a new path leading to a manhole. The SAVE Point that normally appears here is slightly displaced to the left to make room (and also no longer displays dialogue). Using the manhole directly skips to the front of the Queen's Mansion, where Kris meets up with Susie and Ralsei.
  • Susie and Ralsei ask if Kris is okay, taking note of their "hurt" facial expression.
  • Once the manhole is used, it closes, preventing a return to Cyber City.
• The party enters Queen's Mansion through the front door instead of being imprisoned.
  • The Warp Door cannot be used to return to earlier areas.
  • Rouxls Kaard fully turns to stone and blocks off the entrance to Swatch's shop, trapping Swatch and the Swatchlings in the cafe and preventing the party from buying anything from the shop. This also prompts Ralsei's explanation about Darkners' incompatibility with other Dark Worlds.
  • Checking Lancer in Key Items from this point onward reveals that he has also become a statue.
• Due to Queen's preoccupation with Noelle and her search for Berdly, Queen is absent from her mansion and Spamton takes control of it.
  • A slowed-down version of Deal Gone Wrong (Spamton NEO's "meeting" theme) plays throughout the mansion, including during battles.
  • Various advertising symbols appear in the mansion's entrance, and an NPC tells the party that the Swatchlings are all trapped in the cafe, Queen is nowhere to be found and "a strange force has taken over the mansion."
• The ordinarily-secret path at the bottom right of the entrance hall is open immediately.
  • The door to the first-floor dining room is locked. The KeyGen barrier is removed, making it possible to interact with the basement door immediately, but it too is locked.
  • Interacting with the basement door causes Spamton to recognize Kris, telling them that he's busy changing forms and "BECOMING [God]" and to "GO PLAY [Minecrap]" instead of bothering him.
    • The design of Queen's face that normally appears on mansion doors is scratched out on the basement door.
• Every SAVE Point normally present in Queen's Mansion is removed except the one in the entrance hall (which also no longer displays dialogue).
• Most cutscenes, NPCs, and puzzles in the Queen's Mansion are either skipped or completely missing, and numerous paths are blocked with forcefields or locked doors. The minibosses are all encountered in different locations and are noticeably stronger.
  • The Chain Mail, Glowshard, Revive Mint, and Revive Dust cannot be obtained.
  • From the entrance hall, the stairs to the left and right are both blocked by forcefields.
    • The rooms with items based on various Hometown residents' search history are no longer accessible.
  • The shortcut to the second floor is open immediately and must be used to progress. After reaching 2F, a forcefield blocks the player from backtracking the 'usual' way to 1F.
  • All paintings of Queen are replaced by paintings of Spamton, and none of the paintings emit fire.
  • On the second floor, the door to the kitchen is locked and the Mauswheel miniboss instead roams the area outside the kitchen. It is now an optional battle.
  • The dining room now contains a maze made up entirely of Pipis, an enemy that never appears as its own fightable opponent outside of this route and otherwise only appears as part of one of Spamton NEO's attacks. Bumping into one triggers a battle.
  • The next two rooms also contain different types of Pipis encounters. The "throne of the gods" side room is now blocked with a forcefield and another side room is locked.
  • The Tasque Manager miniboss appears in the hallway before the lift to the third floor. Her mercy meter can no longer be filled by correctly answering quiz questions.
  • After reaching the third floor, Werewerewire appears in the room to the left (instead of appearing on the rooftop). The film portraying a dark fountain is no longer present.
  • The battery acid lake cannot be crossed. As a result, the party does not reach the point where they would battle Rouxls Kaard, and the Thrash Machine never makes an appearance.
  • The shortcut from 3F to the entrance hall may be unlocked normally. The shortcut from 3F to the rooftop is open immediately and must be used to progress. A forcefield prevents the player from backtracking the 'usual' way from the rooftop down to 3F.
• The party reaches the door of Noelle's room together instead of Berdly and Susie reaching it off-screen on the normal route. Susie enters, and when Ralsei asks Kris to "wonder how they are doing," Kris refuses to respond, concerning him. As a result, the scene between Susie and Noelle happens entirely off-screen.
  • When Susie exits, Ralsei begins to protest with "H-huh? What!? W-wait -- wait!? Wait, we were supposed to --", but is cut off.
  • Ralsei requests an explanation of what happened. Susie says that she told Noelle everything was a dream and that now she feels better.
  • She tells Kris that she'll explain what happened in more detail later, irritating Ralsei.
• The room that would normally feature the boss battle against Queen and Berdly is now completely empty.
• Queen's cutscene before she becomes GIGA Queen contains unique dialogue, explaining how her sensors could not find Berdly anywhere, and that Noelle "is in no condition to assist her now."
• When Queen becomes GIGA Queen, Ralsei prematurely explains the Roaring to her, causing her to offer to "not stay in [the party's] way any longer." As a result, Queen never fights the party.
• Susie doesn't come with Kris to the Dark Fountain, instead offering to check on Noelle before leaving.
• An additional room is added just before the Dark Fountain, containing a SAVE Point and a vending machine which sells "pre-fountain refreshments" (CD Bagels) for 120 D$ each.
• Spamton NEO fights Kris alone at the fountain, replacing GIGA Queen as the final boss of the route.
  • He cannot be spared.
  • His Defense stat is reduced to -27, causing Kris to deal 81 more damage when selecting FIGHT.
  • The Snap and SnapAll ACT options are replaced with X-Slash, which deals a large amount of damage at the cost of 25% TP, and FriedPipis, which heals Kris for 120 HP at the cost of 32% TP.
  • Upon reaching 10% or less HP, he activates a "[Bluelight Specil]," lowering his Attack and exclusively using the Pipis "exploding heads" attack, which is easier to dodge. However, his HP cannot drop below 6% (about 289) and all weapon damage done by Kris is capped between 5 and 10.
  • Kris's ACTs are limited to calling out for Ralsei and Susie, to no effect, prompting Spamton to mock them.
  • ACTing for the fifth time has the player ("You") whisper Noelle's name. The screen turns black, while she quickly appears and defeats Spamton off-screen with three IceShock spells.
  • Spamton NEO's Shadow Crystal and Puppet Scarf are silently obtained; it is impossible to obtain Dealmaker.
• Kris seals the Dark Fountain in silence and with the screen pitch black.
• After witnessing the cutscene with Noelle and Rudy in the hospital, the SAVE Point in Castle Town reads "After a long day, you have returned to the castle town. But, you still feel the power in your hands..."

Hometown Differences

• Berdly does not wake up and doesn't leave the computer lab after Kris exits it. His fate is left uncertain.
• Noelle's dialogue changes once she wakes up.
  • She describes her 'dream' as a nightmare and says that she's glad she woke up.
  • She notices that Berdly hasn't woken up, but dismisses it as him simply falling asleep from studying too hard.
  • Instead of attempting to look for Susie's tail, she directly asks if Susie has a tail, indicating her increased boldness and implying that the "romantic" scene between Susie and Noelle on a normal route still happened off-screen.
• After Noelle leaves the computer lab, Susie remarks that "it doesn't feel like [they] just saved the world." On the normal route, Susie instead excitedly tells Kris that they just saved the world.
• When checking the sliding bead toy in the hospital, one of the blue beads is broken and torn off.
• The conversation between Noelle and her father in the hospital has altered dialogue:
  • Noelle doesn't want to give up control of the game, and suggests to use Ice Shock instead of Fire Shock on the boss she's battling.
  • Noelle notices Kris before Susie right before she leaves her dad's hospital room. Susie stays behind when Kris tries to leave, due to Rudy asking to have a conversation in private. This triggers a scene where Noelle is talking to herself about how strange Kris has been acting, both in her 'dream' and in the real world, noting that she heard a strange voice that wasn't Kris giving her orders. Noelle wonders to herself why Kris keeps coming to the hospital, to which the player can respond with either "To see you" or "To see your father." Either way, Noelle is shocked by Kris's presence.
    • Noelle asks herself why Kris's voice just sounded so terrifying, recognizing it as the voice that had been commanding her in the Dark World. Kris can respond with either "Because it wasn't a dream" or "...", but Susie interrupts and the game progresses the same regardless of the choice.
      • If Kris has the Silver Watch equipped, Noelle asks in a shaky voice "Why are you wearing... my watch? Wh... when did you..." Kris can instead respond with either "In your dream" or "...", but Susie interrupts as usual.
    • Player control is enabled during this scene. Stepping once towards Noelle once cuts the dialogue to the part where Noelle notices Kris is present. Stepping twice makes Noelle exclaim "S-stop! Don't come any closer!" with a shaky voice. At this point, the message box cannot be dismissed except by stepping towards Noelle a third time.

Aborted Route Differences

• Choosing the "We're fine" prompt when talking to the Addison selling the Freeze Ring aborts the route, with Noelle saying "Y-Yeah, we don't need anything like that. (Though if Susie bought me a ring...)"
• Choosing the "Let's solve it together!" or "Sorry, I'll do the puzzle" prompt at the second annoying mouse puzzle aborts the route, with Noelle saying "Y... Yeah, you're right, Kris! (I thought Kris was acting strange, but... I guess it was just another joke...?)"
• Choosing the "I'm protecting her from you!" prompt at the Berdly encounter aborts the route and results in unique lines.
• Sparing Berdly after choosing "Proceed" aborts the route, though Noelle has unique lines after the fight where she contemplates Kris's behavior and eventually decides that they must have been trying to prank Berdly.
• Defeating Berdly by FIGHTing or using IceShock after choosing "Proceed" aborts the route without any unique lines, but unlike sparing, this causes the SnowGrave spell to remain as an option in Noelle's Magic menu. (As a result, aborting a Snowgrave Route is the only way to see the spell's description from the party menu within Chapter 2.)
  • Prior to v1.0.5, the spell would remain even if Berdly was spared.

If the route is aborted at any time:

• A bright increasing-pitch sound is played to indicate that the player is no longer on the Snowgrave Route.
• Kris's title changes back to "Tactician" or "Bed Inspector."
• Noelle's title remains, but can be overridden by finding the Moss, changing her description to "Moss Neutral."
• Noelle's encounter animations return to normal.
• All areas return to normal as if the route never happened, and all frozen enemies disappear on room refresh.
• The Freeze Ring and Thorn Ring do not disappear. (As a result, aborting a Snowgrave Route is the only way to see Susie and Ralsei's reactions to the Thorn Ring within Chapter 2.)
• If the Freeze Ring is acquired, the Addison who it was obtained from does not reappear.
• If the Thorn Ring is acquired, defeating Spamton by depleting his HP results in altered dialogue in which he comments on Kris buying the ring.

Name

This route does not have an official name. The name "Snowgrave Route" is currently the most popular name in the community, and comes from the key spell that defines the route.

Internally, several different names are used for the route:

• "Weird Route" is used in the names of several objects, such as gml_Object_obj_weirdroute_manipulator
• "Side B" is used in the name of the object gml_Object_obj_ch2_scene_sideb_noelleroom
• The filename of Cyber City's alternate music that is used during this route is cybercity_alt.ogg

Deltarune developer Fred Wood consistently refers to the route as the "Weird Route".

Trivia

• Noelle's Coldness stat increases for every enemy frozen.
• The Snowgrave Route shares several similarities with Undertale's Genocide Route and could be seen as a successor to the concept.
  • It is triggered by choosing exclusively aggressive/violent options in battle and causes significant changes in dialogue, story, and encounters as a result.
  • Music in the overworld and some battles becomes slowed and distorted.
  • Puzzles in the overworld become disabled, either automatically or by actions outside of the player's direct control.
  • Optional areas are blocked off by forcefields, forcing Kris along a more linear path.
  • The dumpster displays the number of enemies remaining in the area, a trait shared by Undertale's SAVE Points after starting the Genocide Route.
  • The final boss of the route is significantly more difficult than the standard final boss. Even though Spamton NEO can be encountered optionally on the normal route, only Kris is present during the fight on the Snowgrave Route, increasing the difficulty further.
  • The final boss also attempts to stall Kris out at the end of the fight, giving up on offensive tactics in favor of ones designed to indefinitely delay defeat.
  • During the final phase of the battle with Spamton NEO, attempting to call on Ralsei or Susie displays the text "... but nobody came." This is a recurring phrase in the Genocide Route, usually displayed when all the monsters in an area have been killed.
• The sound effects that indicate progress on the Snowgrave Route and canceling it are internally named snd_ominous and snd_ominous_cancel, respectively.
• There are various hints to the Snowgrave Route throughout the chapter.
  • If Lancer is checked in the inventory right after Noelle first joins Kris, he notices her and asks "Can we make them a bad guy?"
  • Usually, when winning fights violently, the game states that the party has grown stronger; however when with Noelle the game states "Noelle got stronger" instead.
  • It is possible to force Noelle to "Proceed" through the first Annoying Mouse Puzzle on a normal route, as there is no obstacle actually blocking the path toward the next screen. Kris can thus walk to the exit by simply travelling over the button, and can then command Noelle to do the same.
  • If Spamton is defeated violently on the normal route, he points out their cruelty and states "YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE ALL THAT EARLIER! AND BEEN THE FIRST TO OWN MY [Commemorative Ring]".
  • If the player is unaware of the Snowgrave Route but has paid attention to the Chapter 2 OST (even though it does not have any Snowgrave Route-exclusive tracks), the track "Deal Gone Wrong" is played at a significantly lower pitch compared to the only time it is played on the normal route (when meeting Spamton NEO for the first time). This may hint that there is some occasion in-game when it plays near this lower pitch (in Queen's Mansion during the Snowgrave Route).
• The Snowgrave Route is unlike any other route in Undertale or Deltarune in that it requires the player to backtrack.
  • This leads to a key difference with Undertale's Genocide Route, where the player is deliberately misled about the meaning of EXP and LV, making it possible for players "grinding" enemies to start the route without looking for it.
  • If the player figures out that freezing all enemies with IceShock is required, but does not realize that backtracking is also required, then the route stalls at Stage 1 but also does not abort until the first forcefield puzzle is completed. If the player misses snd_ominous_cancel playing, then there are almost no indicators that the player has broken the route requirements.
    • Kris's description is no longer "Commands.", but the player may have missed this during the route. The player may notice that frozen enemies no longer stay on the overworld after re-entering a room, but this requires backtracking. The next enemy also isn't until after the cutscene featuring Queen and the Berdly statue, which is relatively far away from where the player broke the route requirements, which was right after joining up with Noelle and failing to backtrack.
  • Conversely, if the player does successfully backtrack even once, several indicators of the route show up quickly:
    • The player is immediately able to ignore Noelle's protests, hinting at one of the core mechanics of the route.
    • The first Virovirokun changes its location to guarantee the player encounters it first, it is the only enemy to have low enough HP that Noelle's weakest Ice Shock freezes it instantly, and it is the only enemy to always play snd_ominous when frozen. This means a player deciding to use freeze on their first enemy will immediately witness many of the key mechanics of the route.
    • Several enemies appear in places that don't normally have enemies, and freezing only 3 of these is enough to make NPCs start disappearing, one of the distinctive parts of Undertale's Genocide Route.
• If the player aborts the Snowgrave Route at the last moment by attacking Berdly without casting the SnowGrave spell, snd_ominous_cancel plays immediately after Berdly's HP becomes 0, meaning that Noelle displays her normal end-of-battle animation. It also causes Noelle's idle animation to switch from her Snowgrave Route version (where she looks down) to her normal version (where she looks forwards) for a handful of frames before the end-of-battle animation starts.
  • However, if the player instead spares Berdly, Noelle displays her Snowgrave Route end-of-battle animation, and the sound does not play until after Noelle finishes talking after the battle.
• Prior to the v1.0.5 update, the final three damage numbers inflicted to Spamton NEO used the color of Kris (blue). It is now the same color of Noelle's damage numbers (yellow).
• There are several indications that Kris's actions in the Snowgrave Route are being done by the player against the character's will, and it is implied more so than it is in Undertale:
  • Noelle describes the voice she heard coming from Kris as different than what they usually sound like.
  • Susie and Ralsei notice Kris seems off and possibly hurt after the fight with Berdly, which could indicate they are distraught.
  • If Kris is downed during the fight with Berdly, Noelle comments on how she can still hear their voice, hinting that it isn't Kris's voice she's hearing. She also argues as normal when asked to use SnowGrave even if Kris is down.
  • When calling out for help from Susie and Ralsei, the game refers to "Kris." When calling out for Noelle, the game refers to "you," which could be the player in the second person.
• The first forcefield puzzle has specific Snowgrave Route and normal route cutscenes, but an oversight makes it possible to get the puzzle temporarily "stuck" on the normal route version.
  • If the player is on the Snowgrave Route, skips the Freeze Ring, then goes to the puzzle anyway, then starts it by pressing and walking past the first button, and only then backtracks to obtain the Freeze Ring, then returns to the puzzle, the normal route cutscene will play (which will abort the route if completed) instead of the Snowgrave Route cutscene. The puzzle's cutscene can be "unstuck" by leaving and re-entering the whole room after obtaining the Freeze Ring.

Casting SnowGrave on enemies other than Berdly causes them to break apart instead of running away.

• Prior to v1.12, it was possible to cast SnowGrave once on a regular enemy within Chapter 2. If the player aborts the Snowgrave Route but keeps SnowGrave (by choosing "Proceed" before the Berdly battle and then hitting him to 0 HP without casting SnowGrave), the player can then backtrack to the now-reverted cheese maze puzzle, starting a battle with 2 Maice. Casting SnowGrave on them makes them turn red and break into square pieces, an otherwise-unseen animation in Chapter 2.
  • Normally, this is not possible because Noelle does not battle in Chapter 2 any time after the second Berdly battle, and all enemies before have been frozen.
  • In v1.12, the cheese maze no longer regenerates if the player aborts the Snowgrave Route in this way.
  • Part of the animation (without the red tint) is still visible normally, if a Pipis is attacked and its HP is reduced to 0. Instead of fleeing, the Pipis will fade out as it breaks into fragments (identical to the Snowgrave animation without the red tint).
• Overworld Tasques do not appear in Cyber City outside of the Snowgrave Route.