The “Weird” route, otherwise known as the “Snowgrave” route, shows the darker side toDeltarunein a very similar fashion toUndertale’sgenocide route. There are lots of small dialogue changes where the player can be slightly crueler to the rest of their adventuring party and other characters, though these don’t have much of a wider impact on the story. Despite this, it would be out of character for the creator ofUndertaleto completely free you from the consequences of your actions if you made some morally questionable decisions.
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR CHAPTERS 3 & 4 OF DELTARUNE
You may think that your past actions won’t affect you after you’ve completed chapter three, as there aren’t really any major differences during this part of the game. There is one mini-game which is very reminiscent of the Snowgrave route, but you may still encounter it in a pacifist run, and it isn’t very substantial. However,the fourth chapter is where things really start to kick off if you went down the weird route in Chapter Two.
5Kris Acts Differently Toward Noelle And Susie In The Church
In the pacifist route, Kris will need to help Susie build up the courage to ask Noelle to hang out at her house. Of course, Noelle accepts, which triggers an adorable cutscene where Susie runs back to give Kris a high-five.During the Snowgrave route, Kris isn’t as happy for Susie and Noelle,and appears to get oddly possessive over Noelle. Although judging by later developments, this is probably the player’s influence rather than Kris' true feelings.
Instead of encouraging Susie to go up to Noelle in the first place, it’ll be Noelle who approaches the pair instead to invite them over. Susie turns to Kris for a high-five in the same way she would on a regular run, but Kris won’t react to it, leaving her hanging.Compared to a regular playthrough, this makes this part of the game considerably shorter.
4Berdly Is Hospitalized And Can’t Be Found In The Library
During Chapter Four Of The Snowgrave Route, Berdly Will Be In A Coma
One of the main changes you might notice is thatBerdly is missing in the weird route, when you usually find him in the library.If you forced Noelle into attacking Berdly in chapter two, he will be in the same hospital as Rudy in a different room. He is unresponsive, and won’t be seen anywhere else for the whole chapter. Interacting with him will reveal that he feels cold to the touch, which is definitely a reference to Noelle’s ice powers in the dark world.
This is one of the biggest pieces of evidence players have regarding how exactly the different dark worlds affect the light world. We know Berdly didn’t die in chapter two of the Snowgrave route since he didn’t turn to dust, but Noelle completely froze him. In the light world, this manifested as him being stuck in a coma-like state. Thankfully,if you want to show Berdly a bit of mercy, there is a way to make his hospital stay a bit less rough.
There’s a heater next to his bed, and turning it up will result in different text if you interact with him again, this time stating he seems to look a bit more comfortable.Having Berdly in this state means that he won’t call Noelle at the start of the study groupto invite her to the festival, and it will be her mother, Carol, who will call her instead. This tiny interaction being different greatly changes the tone of the following scene, since Carol’s demeanor is far from Berdley’s silly, eccentric personality.
There is actually a third fate for Berdly which is a bit less common among players.As shown inHypergodZero’s Reddit post, allowing his arm to get fried by Queen in the second chapter will also cause him to end up in the hospital instead of the library. Unlike the full weird route though, albeit injured, he’ll be fully conscious, and the player can properly talk to him.
3The Study Session With Noelle Goes A Lot Differently
The Player Starts To Really See How Their Actions Have Effected Noelle
Kris tries to separate the player from their body no matter which route you take,but the scenario plays out differently during the weird route. Kris will always rip out their soul to stop the player from finding the code to the shelter, but when they’re looking for a place to trap it, they will bump into Noelle, which doesn’t happen along the pacifist route. Noelle will then ask to speak to Kris privately, which is the reason she took the initiative to invite them and Susie over. After Noelle disappears into her room, Kris hides the soul as normal.
Instead of finding Kris in the kitchen, the player will have to locate Noelle’s roomthrough the vents. Noelle and Kris will be sitting on the couch, and Noelle will vaguely talk about the events of Chapter Two, where she was encouraged to kill monsters in the dark world with her ice magic. The interesting part of this conversation is how she describes Kris talking to her afterward, apologizing for playing a cruel prank on her.
The player has a few different opportunities to save Noelle from whatever fate awaits her off-screen during this sequence by assuring her that the events that happened in chapter two weren’t real, or otherwise staying away from the “proceed” option when others are available.
Noelle notes that it feels like it’s been a long time since she’s heard Kris' actual voice,and she’s happy that they’re back to normal. She then describes how Kris pulled a thorn out of her finger, which was definitely what manifested as the “Thorn Ring” in the dark world - the item which granted Noelle her powers. There’s a lot theplayer doesn’t know about Kris, and this drills in the fact that they’re a much different person when not being controlled, and they most likely hate how they forced Noelle to commit such violent acts.
If Kris sees the player sneaking up on them again, they will grab Noelle and run out of her room.If you reach Kris quickly enough, a disturbing scene ensues.Kris repeatedly places their hand over Noelle’s mouth to stop her from talking, because they know the player can hear them both. Noelle picks up on this, though she assumes Kris can hear her thoughts since she’s unaware of the presence of the player, though she does notice Kris' change in tone.
Undertalehad a very similar premise to this, holding the player accountable for their actions instead of Frisk, but these themes are a lot more prominent inDeltaruneas we see Kris actively struggling against the player throughout the story.
The player will now have no choice but to control Kris into forcing the Thorn ring back onto Noelle, and the all-too-familiar “proceed” option will repeatedly appear. The scene descends into a panic, and ends on a black screen with an ominous red crack where Noelle was. We don’t see what happens to Noelle, as the screen cuts to Kris trying to destroy their soul after throwing it into a trashcan.This is one of Deltarune’s most harrowing scenes thus far,and it’s very impressive that such a disturbing sequence wasmade entirely with pixel art.
2Kris Has Different Reactions To Thinking About Noelle
Other Characters Pick Up On Something Strange Between The Two
Gerson has some slightly different dialogue with Kris during the Snowgrave route,and can apparently tell that Kris is having “relationship trouble.” To say the least, this is a very lighthearted interpretation of Kris and Noelle’s dynamic. Ralsei seems to pick up on something between them as well, and appears to be rather concerned about it. At the start of chapter three, he will try to talk Kris out of going to the festival with her if they tell him they plan to during the weird route, but encourages them to go with Susie and Noelle on a regular playthrough.
Ralsei Regular Dialogue
Ralsei Weird Route Dialogue
“Umm… I’m sure if Susie was with you, too… Noelle would probably really appreciate it!”
“Kris… I… I think that’s… a bad choice.”
We see the player’s possiveness over Noelle again when Ralsei encourages Kris to think about Susie after she walks away on her own. In a pacifist run, if the player doesn’t want to think of Susie, they can think of the Roaring Knight;the Snowgrave route opens up an exclusive option to think about Noelle.After picking this option, Kris will hear Noelle say the words “thank you” in a shaky voice, which is absolutely chilling. When the game pans back to Kris, they seem to be in some sort of odd trance, though Susie snaps them out of it.
Oddly enough,this isn’t the only time players can illicit a strange reaction from Kris by making them think about Noelle.When interacting with the candles outside the first Dark World of the chapter, Kris can pray for a select few characters, with one option being Noelle. Usually, choosing this option will lead to them to praying for the health of Rudy, Noelle’s father. On the weird route, choosing to pray for Noelle immediately causes Kris to kick the candles, destroying the display.
1A Different Ending
Carol Doesn’t Seem To Mind The Ruckus Kris Made In Her House
The final major difference between the normal and Snowgrave routes ofDeltaruneare their different endings.The normal ending has Susie outside Kris' window, asking them to promise that they won’t allow the prophecy to come to fruition - but in the weird route, Kris doesn’t get up from their bed at all.Their phone will ring, and they’ll play a voicemail from Carol, confirming that Kris intends to go to the festival.
“Noelle said… she’s really looking forward to seeing you” - Carol Holiday
Since during the normal route it’s usually Susie who plans to take Noelle to the festival,with Chapter Five in development,we may soon see some not-so-friendly competition between her and Kris. Carol ends off by telling Kris that Noelle is “really looking forward” to seeing them. Since we never see what exactly has become of Noelle, this could have some terrifying implications for the future ofDeltarune’sstory, as she was petrified of Kris when we last saw her.
