Video Game / Dusttale

Do you wanna have a MAD time?

327 Genocide routes have passed...
Chara grows ever stronger with each new route.
With Chara's great power, the human no longer controls their own body.
Chara has established a never-ending loop of genocide.
Suddenly, Sans remembers...
He remembers every route...
The pain... the suffering...
...
Now, he's determined to stop it.

— The opening of the game.

Dusttale is an Undertale fangame created by Evan Streblow based on the Alternate Universe of the same name by Osteophile.

Chara has done 327 consecutive Genocide Runs, and grows stronger with each one. Frisk is no longer even in control of their body, and they have effectively created an endless loop of genocide. But one fateful run, something unexpectedly stirs in the mind of Sans the Skeleton and he is able to remember every single one of those timelines in horrifying detail. Now, the 328th Genocide route has begun, but things quickly go off the rails as the repercussions of Sans remembering everything and his subsequent actions drastically change the situation and cause something new to finally happen, when he becomes determined to stop Chara and wrestle control of the world from them... by going on his own Genocide Run.

Note that this page will contain spoilers for Undertale by the fangame's very nature as a sequel story.

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Dusttale contains examples of:

• All Your Powers Combined: Sans uses many attacks that are derived from all the monsters he has killed. This includes Toriel, Papyrus, Muffet, Mettaton, Flowey, and Asgore.
• Anti-Frustration Features: If you complete a route having started by initiating the Rebellion ending but failing to achieve it, Flowey will talk to you at the end of the route and advise you on how you could have succeeded.
• Automatic New Game: Opening the game immediately takes you to the first cutscene and subsequent intro narration- you need to exit the game at any point to get to the title screen.
• Bait-and-Switch: The fight against Mettaton NEO. Halfway through the fight, Sans arrives after having finished killing off all the monsters in Hotland and swiftly kills him in one hit, ending the fight.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Chara has taken control of the game and is killing all the monsters over and over again for their amusement, but Sans, in order to stop them, has resorted to killing all the monsters himself to get the power to defeat Chara once and for all.
• But Thou Must!: This happens twice; The first is in the True Lab where the Amalgamates will block off access to certain areas aside from the path to the DT Extractor, while the second time is in New Home where Chara refuses to let you go back to Asgore's house to retrieve the Real Knife and The Locket, despite both having the capacity of being useful this time against Sans.
• Critical Hit: In the final fight with Sans, he has enough HP to take your hits over the course of the fight and seems like he'll take significantly longer to kill than he does… until at the end of the final phase, when you suddenly deal 999 damage to him no matter how you time the hit.
• Deadpan Snarker: Chara's tainted narration comes back in full from Undertale and they are just as sassy as in canon.
  (Upon interacting with Asgore's Room in Toriel's House) * Room eternally under renovations.
• Easter Egg: The FUN value system from Undertale seems to be back in full force, and in certain parts of the game, you can find things ranging from phonecalls from someone who no longer exists to catching glimpses of other parallel worlds.
• Evil vs. Evil: Chara is the Villain Protagonist genociding monster kind for their amusement as always, but Sans is far more evil than he normally is in the base game, killing all the monsters for their power and a shot at defeating Chara, and winds up being the final boss you have to fight unless you go for the Rebellion ending.
• Face Death with Dignity: While Papyrus initially pleads for Sans to stop as Sans slowly disintegrates him with a Gaster Blaster, insisting that the human can change, eventually he accepts his fate calmly, telling Sans that if this makes him happy, then he's ready.
• Frying Pan of Doom: The strongest weapon that can still be found is the Burnt Pan late in Hotland, although unlike in canon, it provides no bonuses to healing. Its higher AT stat isn't even that useful, as you finish off the final boss with a critical hit anyway regardless of your weapon.
• Gotta Kill 'Em All: This is based on the No Mercy/Genocide route of Undertale, so of course you're tasked with murdering everything that moves. The twist is that Sans is doing the same thing to try and gather more determination than you.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: The premise of the game. Chara has successfully completed 327 Genocide Runs by the time the game starts. Sans remembering these past timelines is what finally starts changing things. The normal ending implies that Dusttale itself is another loop that is likely to continue happening again, without Sans or (for the most part) even Chara knowing.
• Hope Spot:
  • In the True Lab, Alphys gets Sans to stand under the DT Extractor and starts it up in order to suck out all of his Determination, but the machine suddenly fizzles out after a few seconds and Sans kills her.
  • In the normal ending, Sans isn't all that upset that he lost because he believes that he can use what he learned in the next reset. Unfortunately for him, his memories of the route start to fade away right after he says this, making him realize that he is trapped in another loop and he will be the one killing everyone.
• HP to One: In the Rebellion Ending, Frisk separates from Chara to stop the latter from attacking Sans, reducing both of them to 1 HP before the fight with Chara starts.
• Kick the Morality Pet: Papyrus is not safe from Sans's killing spree, and Sans blowing him away with a Gaster Blaster marks the point where his sanity really goes down the gutter.
• Killed By The Adaptation: Unlike the canon Genocide Route where Alphys managed to avoid being killed by Frisk, she dies by Sans' hands here.
• Kill Steal: Chara swoops in to kill Undyne while she's on her last legs fighting against Sans, denying EXP from him and taking it for themself. He later returns the favor by destroying Mettaton NEO before Chara has the chance to finish him off.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: The normal ending has everyone, with the sole exception of Frisk, lose all memories of the game, ensuring that the cycle of genocide will continue in a new way.
• Laughing Mad: Sans after he kills Papyrus. He's reduced to this again in the normal ending after losing the final battle.
• Multiple Endings:
  • Normal Ending: Despite having given up everything in order to stop Chara for good, Sans eventually falls. At first, he is content knowing that he can utilize what he's learned to stop them in the next reset, but as he says this, he realizes his memories of the run are now fading away and that he is caught in another loop. His last words before he is cut down imply that the events of the game may have already happened before. Finally, going to the Throne Room has Chara congratulate you, reveal more of the backstory, and reveal that they too are forgetting the events of the game due to the nature of the run. With that, the world is destroyed and the game ends.
  • Rebellion Ending: If you don't attack Sans and choose the stand ACT option through the first phase of the fight, he will question why you haven't attacked before Chara decides to do it themselves. Frisk will somehow block the attack with their own body and a fight against Chara will begin. Frisk will attempt to delete Chara after surviving for long enough, but can't because they don't have enough determination. Sans will then decide to give them one final chance at redemption and combines his Determination with Frisk's, successfully deleting Chara at the cost of Frisk's life. With that, Sans takes off his hood and with a genuine smile, tells Frisk that he'll see them in the next reset. The end credits picture has the two of them sitting together on the surface, friends again.
• Murder Into Malevolence: After Papyrus is murdered by Sans, it appears that Sans is seemingly hallucinating Papyrus still being alive through certain dialogue. As it turns out, Papyrus is actually still there, revealed in the final battle to now be an undead phantom. And, unlike when he was alive, he has no problems with attacking and attempting to kill you. He appears to have no grudge against Sans for killing him, however, even assisting him during said final battle.
• Musical Spoiler: Those who have heard the song that plays during the final battle will realize that it cuts off at a certain point during each phase, giving players an idea of how long of a Marathon Boss the final battle is.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: If you do manage to find the key to the True Lab, Sans will be allowed to get to Alphys before you and kill her.
  Sans: thanks for letting me in.
• NPC Roadblock: Parts of the True Lab are blocked off by unkillable monsters. Specifically, the Amalgamates, which physically can't be killed by normal means.
• Oh, Crap!: Sans in the first fight against him after finally landing a hit on him.
  Sans: you... hit... me...
  • Another one in the normal ending of the Normal route when you win the final encounter:
  Sans: my memories... you're deleting them.
• Pet the Dog: One of the ways you know you're on track for the Rebellion Ending is if you see a flower drift down to the side near Toriel's home. Placing this on Muffet's grave is one of the many things you have to do to get the ending.
• Plot Hole: The reason why Chara has become so powerful (and a key part of their motive) is because Frisk sold them their soul hundreds of times, but this is not possible to do in Undertale. After doing a Genocide run, you can only sell Chara your soul once; on any subsequent runs, they will bring the world back for free, as you only have one soul to sell.
• Sanity Slippage: Sans starts losing it early on after remembering the other timelines, but he hits his lowest after he kills Papyrus. After that, he starts talking to Papyrus as if he were still alive and generally acts more Ax-Crazy from then on.
• Shout-Out: In the Rebellion Ending, Frisk stops Chara from killing Sans by breaking free of their possessed body and using their own body as a shield for the skeleton monster, with arms wide and a smile. Sounds familiar?
• Suicidal Overconfidence: Sans doesn't even bother dodging during the final battle, believing that he has become far too powerful. This costs him dearly.
• Sympathetic Villain, Despicable Villain: Chara is the despicable villain who has killed every monster in the Underground multiple times and wants to do so forever and ever for sick, tiwsted amusement. Sans is the sympathetic villain driven mad by having remembered the countless Genocide Runs in which everyone he cared about was killed, and decides to stop Chara by killing everyone himself and taking their power, hoping to get powerful enough to stop Chara.
• Tears of Blood: Sans is reduced to this after being defeated when he realizes that his memories being reset will cause him to repeat the cycle in the exact same way over and over again, effectively trapping him in another loop.
• The Computer Shall Taunt You: Whenever you get a Game Over, the normal dialogue telling you to keep going in Undertale is replaced by Chara berating you for losing.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: Frisk at the end of the Normal Ending. Even though throughout the game, the player-character seems to be entirely subjugated to Chara, especially when not working at the Rebellion ending, they have much more power than they let on. Not only do they hide their full attack strength until they kill Sans with a critical after a while of combat, but once they defeat him, they erase both Sans and Chara's memories of the timeline, essentially orchestrating yet another cycle of mass slaughter and world destruction without either of the others knowing… or undergoing the Rebellion Ending instead in the next timeline with no consequences.
• Villain Protagonist: You, since you are working with Chara to perpetuate the cycle of genocide. You can defy this in the Rebellion Ending.
• Villain Ball: At the end of the game when you're going through New Home, Chara insists that you take the elevator straight to Judgement Hall… when the Worn Dagger and Heart Locket are likely still in New Home, both significant upgrades to the gear you have at the time. Especially the Locket would likely have made the coming fight against Sans significantly easier, considering you're still only using the Bandage as armor by the end, which gives *no* defense whatsoever.
  Chara: There's STILL not EXP this way.
• Wham Line:
  • From Sans after the final battle in the normal ending, which puts the events of the entire game in a new light.
  Sans: please just tell me one thing… is this the first time this has happened?