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True Pacifist is the nonlethal route. You kill no monsters, gain no EXP or LV, befriend Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys, and explore the True Lab. Genocide is the lethal route. You must exhaust the enemy kill counters in the Ruins, Snowdin, Waterfall, and Hotland/CORE, including their bosses. The two routes also end in opposite places: True Pacifist breaks the barrier and lets monsters leave the Underground, while Genocide destroys the game’s world.
The rest of this guide covers the requirements in the order you will meet them, what happens when a condition is missed, and what each ending changes. Ending details are marked as spoilers.
True Pacifist and Genocide at a glance
| Factor | True Pacifist | Genocide |
|---|---|---|
| Prerequisite | Complete a Neutral Route first | Not stated as requiring a prior completion; it can begin without one |
| Monster treatment | No kills, and no EXP or LV gain | Kill the enemies and bosses in the Ruins, Snowdin, Waterfall, and Hotland/CORE until each area’s counter is exhausted |
| Friendships | Befriend Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys | Not required |
| Exploration | Explore the True Lab | Not stated as a requirement |
| Missed condition | Falls back to a Neutral outcome | Reverts the run to Neutral; it cannot resume without reloading an earlier save or resetting |
Sources: route requirements are from the Undertale Wiki’s route reference pages.
True Pacifist: what the route requires
The route needs a completed Neutral Route before it can be pursued. You do not have to start a fresh game from the beginning every time if the save can be reloaded after that ending, but the route’s conditions still apply from that point forward. Three conditions define it: no monster kills, no EXP or LV gain, and the friendship and exploration steps below.
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The friendship chain
Follow these steps in order. Each one depends on the one before it.
- Visit Papyrus after his battle and complete the hangout at his house.
- When Undyne collapses while pursuing you, get water from the cooler and pour it on her.
- Later, return to Undyne’s house and finish the hangout.
- Progress through Hotland/CORE as needed.
- Deliver Undyne’s letter to Alphys and complete the date with her.
- Follow the lead from Alphys to the True Lab and explore it.
Fighting is not the same as killing
“Pacifist” does not mean you may never press FIGHT. Fighting without killing does not by itself abort the route, because the route checks for kills and EXP or LV gain. The practical rule is to avoid defeating monsters and to avoid any action that awards EXP.
Genocide: what the route requires
Genocide is managed by area. You must kill the required enemies and bosses in each named region until that region’s counter is exhausted. The four regions are the Ruins, Snowdin, Waterfall, and Hotland/CORE, and the route begins in the Ruins.
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- Ruins: exhaust the area counter first.
- Snowdin: exhaust the area counter after the Ruins.
- Waterfall: exhaust the area counter after Snowdin.
- Hotland/CORE: exhaust the area counter to complete the route’s kill requirements.
Reading the counter
Once an area’s counter is exhausted, the game’s encounter text includes “But nobody came.” That line tells you the region is finished. The route is not a general instruction to kill everything you meet. A player who reaches a required checkpoint too early, or who skips a required encounter, can lose the route.
What happens when a requirement is missed
Missing a requirement at any point reverts the playthrough to Neutral. The route cannot be resumed from that point. To continue toward Genocide you must reload a save from before the abort or reset the game.
Neutral: the outcome in between
Neutral is a real third outcome, not a failed attempt at either route. It results when you:
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- have not befriended all of the key characters,
- have not explored the True Lab, or
- have killed some monsters but not every one required for Genocide.
Because Neutral can come from any of these, a run that spares everyone is not automatically True Pacifist. It also needs the friendship and True Lab steps.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Endings and what carries over (spoilers)
Spoiler warning: the rest of this section describes how each route ends.
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True Pacifist ending
The barrier is destroyed and monsters are able to leave the Underground. The route includes the full credits.
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Genocide ending
The Genocide ending destroys the game’s world. Later True Pacifist and Genocide endings change in dialogue and cutscenes, even after a True Reset. On console versions, those post-Genocide changes apply to the player profile used to finish the route, according to the Undertale Wiki’s route reference.
Terminology and character dialogue
“True Pacifist Route” and “Genocide Route” are convenient labels for this comparison. “Pacifist Route” is not an official in-game name, although the route is a distinct ending. Fans often use “True Pacifist” to separate it from a Neutral run that spares every monster but lacks the friendship and True Lab requirements.
Sans delivers the in-game line “you’re gonna have a bad time.” That is character dialogue from the game, and it is attributed to Sans, not to Toby Fox or anyone else.
What these sources do and do not establish
The route requirements in this guide come from the Undertale Wiki’s route reference pages. Those pages are community-edited and can change, so check the current version before relying on a specific step, especially the exact order of the friendship chain. The sources do not provide player percentages or survey figures for either route, so none are given here. The numbers in this guide are game mechanics, such as area counters and the EXP and LV rules, not published statistics.
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