It’s no secret that Undertale lets you do some messed-up shit. Over the course of developer Toby Fox’s beloved indie RPG, your task is to escape from the underground domain of monsters and return to the surface where humans dwell. Sounds straightforward, but it really isn’t. That’s because Undertale has three main story paths: a neutral route where you fight enemies and gain levels like every other game in the genre, a pacifist route where you resolve all battles without violence, and a genocide route where you kill everyone and everything you encounter. You’ll develop far more interesting relationships with the main cast members if you don’t murder them in cold blood, but the game’s choice-driven progression is surprisingly intricate for seemingly throwaway NPCs too.
The friendly snowman located in the woods near Snowdin ranks among the most memorable examples of this. With his cheerful smile and carrot nose, he can be found on an isolated cliff surrounded by frost-spangled trees. “Hello,” he says. “I am a snowman. I want to see the world… but I cannot move. If you would be so kind, traveller, please… take a piece of me and bring it very far away.” How can you say no to that? If you select yes, a Snowman Piece will be added to your inventory.
If you have the Snowman Piece in your inventory at the end of a neutral playthrough, your buddy Sans will tell you “you made a snowman really happy,” which is pretty heartwarming and definitely feels worth setting aside a slot for. If you complete a pacificist playthrough and return to the snowman during your farewell tour, he asks you to bring the Snowman Piece to the surface, too.
Should you fail to be a responsible steward of the Snowman Piece, the dialogue gets a bit thornier. You can speak to the snowman again and get a replacement. He’s a little annoyed, but it’s not a huge deal. “Please be more careful this time,” he says.
If you proceed to lose that second piece and ask for a third, the snowman will decline your request and become forlorn. “I’m sorry,” he says, “if I give you any more, there will be nothing left of me. I suppose it is true. Traveling beyond our limits is but a fantasy. All of monsterkind are doomed to stay underground, forever.” You can’t help but feel like a jerk after messing up such an easy request.
Like many other consumable items in the game, you can use the Snowman Piece and eat it to restore HP. If you do this while on the same screen as the snowman, he’s understandably horrified. “Did you just… consume the part of me I had given you? In front of my very eyes? I have no words for you… begone!” he says. If you try to speak to him again after this, he’ll say, “I shouldn’t have given myself away so easily.” Oh sweetie, we’ve all been there.
It gets worse on the genocide route, as you can forcefully take three pieces of the snowman and eat them. “Stop… please…” he says. Then he’s just a small white heap on the ground with a carrot sticking out. If you interact with his remains again, the vile protagonist muses, “A useless pile of snow.” What a jerk! But I guess they don’t call it the “genocide route” for nothing.
It’s a long-held cliché of RPGs that the real adventure is the friends you make along the way, and there are no games where that holds more true than this one. It’s this level of attention to the player’s choices — no matter how seemingly insignificant — that makes Undertale so memorable and influential, more than a decade after its release.