Deltarune Chapter 5's Weird Route: The Lake Scene, the Drowning, and 'Insert Chapter 7 Side B'

What the Weird Route Is, and How You Get On It

For readers who have only played Deltarune straight, the Weird Route is the series' analogue to Undertale's genocide path: an optional, abbreviated branch that appears only in Chapters 2, 4, and 5. Where the main story follows Kris and Susie, the Weird Route is built on Kris overriding the will of their childhood friend Noelle Holiday, bending her toward violence she never chooses for herself.

The gate is specific. In Chapter 2, the player must force Noelle to defeat every enemy with her ice magic, and must obtain the ThornRing, an item that unlocks the SnowGrave spell - described in-game as the only magic in Deltarune that deals "fatal damage."

The route's history is one of escalating implication. At the end of Chapter 2's Weird Route, Kris compels Noelle to cast SnowGrave on Berdly, and the story strongly implies that Berdly dies in that version of events. Chapter 4 picks the thread back up at Noelle's house during a school project, where she alludes to Berdly being comatose in the hospital - an ambiguity the game deliberately leaves unresolved - before Kris again forces the ThornRing onto her. Readers retracing the route's history can follow our Deltarune Chapter 4 100% Walkthrough Guide to see how the path reaches that point.

The Same Sunset, Twice

Its main story sends Kris and Susie to Hometown's annual festival before a new Dark World opens inside Asgore's flower shop - a setup Polygon describes as Kris and Susie enjoying amusement games and snacks at Hometown's annual festival before entering a new Dark World inside Asgore's flower shop.

In that main story, the lakeside beat is exactly what it sounds like: Susie and Noelle at sunset, sharing affection, the emotional high point of the chapter.

On the Weird Route, the location and the light are identical. The content is not. Noelle tells Kris that SnowGrave makes her feel stronger than ever, then asks Kris to do "something crazy" with her - and pulls them into the lake.

The horror here is one of mirroring. The route does not invent a new nightmare; it takes the chapter's warmest image and poisons it. And crucially, Noelle is no longer merely being controlled. She is enthusiastic - and she seems to want the power. That changes what the player is doing when they push her further.

Walking Into the Water

What follows is a coercion-and-drowning sequence, and it is worth saying so plainly rather than dressing it up.

Kris and Noelle walk hand in hand, deeper and deeper, and the player is repeatedly prompted to "proceed" while the pair are fully immersed - seemingly drowning in real time. The sequence can be halted: Polygon's footage shows it stopping if the player simply refuses to respond to the prompts. The horror is opt-in, button press by button press.

The presentation does the rest. Noelle's portrait distorts horribly, the sound design warps with it, and then the screen whites out with a roaring noise.

'Insert Chapter 7 Side B'

The payoff is a CRT television image reading "Insert Chapter 7 side B," after which the player is returned to chapter select.

It reads as final. It isn't. The prompt points forward, and the Weird Route has never ended where it seemed to - Chapter 2's implied death gave way to Chapter 4's hospital bed, and the lake is unlikely to be the last word. The release context backs that up: Fox confirmed that same week that Chapter 6 arrives sometime in 2027, with no word yet on Chapter 7. "Side B" is a promise with no date attached.

Fan interpretation has rushed to fill the gap. Reddit theories read the lake as Noelle attempting to break out of a literal video game, a theme that recurs throughout Deltarune's main story. Polygon has also floated that Hometown's lake may hide something beneath the surface. These are theories, not answers, and the game is in no hurry to confirm them.

Why This Route Hits Harder in Chapter 5

The series has always been preoccupied with characters straining against the fact that they live inside a game, and Chapter 5 literalizes that theme: the CRT, the "side B" prompt, the demand for a disc. The discomfort of complicity is sharper still. The Weird Route has always been optional, but Chapter 5 makes the player press a button over and over to keep the pair under the water. Refusing is easy. Continuing is easier.

Perspective matters, though. This is one branch of a chapter whose main story Polygon describes as heartwarming, including the sunset lakeside scene between Susie and Noelle. The Weird Route is the exception, not the chapter.

Two Lakesides, One Open Question

There are now two lakesides in Deltarune Chapter 5. On one, Susie and Noelle share a sunset. On the other, the screen whites out and a television asks for a disc that does not exist yet.

The Weird Route has always been a cliffhanger in disguise, and Chapter 5 pushes that further than ever: its victim has become a willing participant, its player is left holding the button, and its ending is not an ending at all. "Insert Chapter 7 side B" is not a conclusion. It is a question, and Fox has given no indication of when he intends to answer it.