Game Over

<Name>! Stay determined...

Asgore

In Undertale, a Game Over occurs when the protagonist's HP is reduced to 0 during an encounter. After a brief dialogue from Asgore, the player is sent back to the last autosave (often the most recent SAVE Point).

If a Game Over occurs during a battle with a substantial amount of dialogue leading up to the encounter, the dialogue will often be abbreviated or skipped entirely during the next attempt.

Standard Game Over

Upon receiving a Game Over, the protagonist's SOUL splits in half, then shatters. If they are under the effect of a unique SOUL mode, the SOUL reverts back to red before splitting in half. When the Game Over screen appears, Asgore's voice can be heard as he offers words of encouragement, and the track Determination plays in the background.

The following lines of dialogue are randomly chosen per Game Over, followed by "<Name>! Stay determined...":

• You cannot give up just yet... [Always used on the first Game Over]
• Our fate rests upon you...
• It cannot end now!
• Don't lose hope!
• You're going to be alright!

Pressing [CONFIRM] after the dialogue disappears sends the player back to the most recent SAVE Point or autosave.

Special conditions

In some conditions, the Game Over screen will not show or be entirely different.

Papyrus

During the battle against Papyrus, the protagonist's HP cannot be reduced to 0. If they are hit by an attack that would have otherwise done so, Papyrus instead sets their HP to 1 and ends the battle. He then transports the protagonist to the shed next to his house, from which they can then escape and re-attempt the battle without receiving a Game Over. Asgore's sound bite is heard in the background, indicating that the Game Over cutscene is still attempting to play.

Omega Flowey

Dying to Omega Flowey for the first time.

The first and second times the protagonist's HP is depleted during the battle against Omega Flowey, they receive a special Game Over. The following dialogue is displayed instead of the standard dialogue:

• [Asgore] This is all just a bad dream...
• [Flowey] And you're NEVER waking up!

After this, the screen is filled with a scrolling wall of "HAHAHA" as multiple versions of Determination are sped-up and layered over each other. After a short time, the game automatically closes on PC versions. On console versions, the game instead applies a glitched effect before automatically restarting the battle.

On subsequent attempts after the second Game Over, the Game Over screen is not displayed if the protagonist's HP is depleted. After the SOUL shatters, the game immediately closes or restarts the battle.

Asriel

If the protagonist's HP is reduced to 0 during the battle against Asriel, they do not receive a Game Over. The SOUL is seen splitting in half before repairing itself. The first time this occurs, text appears reading "But it refused." The protagonist is then sent back to the battle at full HP, and Asriel's dialogue resumes after three turns have passed.

Sans

Dying after attempting to spare Sans.

If the protagonist attempts to spare Sans when he presents the opportunity to do so during his battle, they are immediately sent to a special Game Over screen. As a sped-up version of Dogsong plays in the background, the following dialogue is displayed in Sans's voice:

• geeettttttt dunked on!!!
• if we're really friends...
• you won't come back.

Outside of Undertale

In Chapter 2 of Deltarune, while walking down the alleyway leading to Cyber City's dog dumpster, Kris appears alone in a long hallway. After walking far enough, the Annoying Dog appears in a toy car and rams into Kris, depleting their HP until they collapse. After this, Undertale's rendition of the Game Over screen appears, and the Annoying Dog rams into the GAME OVER text after a short time.

Trivia

Toriel's shocked reaction when she kills the protagonist.

• If the protagonist dies when fighting Toriel, she appears horrified at the last frame before the Game Over screen appears.
• There is unused dialogue that would have been displayed after receiving a Game Over at least once without killing any monsters, but gets overwritten with Asgore's normal set of dialogue due to a logic placement error. These unused messages use Asriel's child voice, and have differing second lines:
  • <Name>, this is just a bad dream...
    • Wake up! It's not over!
  • <Name>! It's like he says...
    • You have to stay determined...
  • <Name>! Please don't give up...
    • Have some determination...
  • <Name>! You're <Name>!
    • You can't quit! Stay determined...
  • <Name>, is this a kind of joke?
    • Cut it out! Wake up!
  • <Name>, it's not time to leave!
    • Hold on!
  • <Name>, gather your strength.
    • Stay determined!
  • <Name>, you have to keep going.
    • Stay determined!