Steamworks

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The Steamworks are the fourth location in Undertale Yellow, after the Dark Ruins, Snowdin, and the Dunes. Clover enters the Steamworks after defeating Starlo in the Pacifist and Neutral Routes or after killing Ceroba in the Genocide Route. The area exits into Hotland.

On the Pacifist Route, Clover traverses the Steamworks with Ceroba, while on the other routes they are supported by Flowey. This makes it the point in the story where the Neutral and Pacifist Routes begin to majorly diverge.

Features

• Multiple steam puzzles throughout the area.
• Various encounters with Axis, the guard and final boss of the Steamworks.
• A lake maze to traverse.
• A puzzle to fight the secret boss, Macro Froggit, and obtain the Golden Bandana, the strongest accessory in the game.
• Vendy, a robot vending machine that can have different dialogue on every route.
• The Greenhouse, containing the mid-area miniboss, Guardener.
• A crossroads, the path forward depending on the route:
  • The Chemistry Lab on the Neutral and Genocide Routes, showcasing the energy production side of the Steamworks.
  • The Factory on the Pacifist Route, showcasing the manufacturing side of the Steamworks.
• Items to be picked up throughout, such as Nails, Gravity Granola, and Beef Jerky.

Map

Loading scripts

Main Story

History

A poster advertising careers at the Steamworks can be found at the end of the Chemistry Lab. It called for intelligent monsters to simply sign up and head towards a clearly visible metallic construction site.

The Steamworks are a decommissioned facility that predates the CORE. When the Steamworks were operational, they served many functions.

The Factory of the Steamworks was home to a robotics project, which Chujin worked in since its inception. At the Factory, engineers worked on creating robots. The initially proposed robots were mostly for recreation or menial tasks; Chujin, on the other hand, planned to build protection robots. This project was classified; it was meant to be publicly released when mass production began, but this never happened. Asgore had much sway over this project, both being the one in charge of approving what models to produce and beginning mass production.

The Steamworks also fulfilled a very similar function to the CORE, being the primary source of power for the Underground. This was originally handled by the generator just north of the Dunes gate, but as it wore down, the Chemistry Lab devised a way to produce energy via white plants, likely in tandem with the generator. Guardener was built to tend to these plants and keep them clean, as the plants spread rapidly and make a mess after their energy is drained.

There are other sections of the facility, such as the Eastern Branch and Office Branch. The Eastern Branch contains the generator. The Office Branch may be the location of the Head Office, the office in charge of various aspects of the Steamworks. Nothing else said about the purpose of these facilities.

Chujin was eventually fired for failing to make a functioning Axis model. Various issues surrounded the robotics project outside of this. While details are kept vague, the project had to deal with layoffs before being cancelled entirely. A paper declaring an urgent cancellation of the home utility section of the robotics project for a classified reason is on one of the lake islands. It is unknown what event caused this.

The Steamworks are shut down years before the story begins, with the CORE replacing their energy production and the robotics project abandoned completely. The area sustains significant wear over time it is abandoned. All the robots inside are powered off until Clover enters; robots are the only encounters found inside the Steamworks.

Neutral Route

Clover enters the Steamworks alone. Flowey pops out next to the generator and encourages them to look around.

They turn on the generator, bringing power back to the Steamworks and allowing them to proceed. They complete the first steam puzzle and head up a flight of stairs into a building. Axis confronts them for trespassing, utilizing machines without permission, and being human. Whether they plead guilty or not guilty, he opens a trapdoor beneath their feet and sends them into detainment. Flowey catches them at the bottom and teases them for a bit.

They escape using a vent on the wall. They exit the building, encountering their first Jandroid and reaching the lake. They traverse the lake on the Manta Bot, opening the gate to allow them to travel north. If they picked up the three golden items and solve the puzzle to open the door, they can enter the secret room and fight Macro Froggit. Clover cannot kill Macro Froggit. After completing the fight, they wake up outside next to a treasure chest with the Golden Bandana.

After the lake, they enter the offices. They pass a long hallway lined with pink lights. Two of the lights are uneven and disappear after Clover walks past them, indicating they were Axis's eyes. The next room, Axis chases them down. If he catches up to Clover, they are sent into detainment. They can escape using a vent and try again. At the end, Clover can choose to either hide in a locker until Axis passes or continue into the next room. Either way, Axis will appear behind the window in the next room and throw energy balls at them. They have to dodge the balls and reach the end of the room.

The exit is blocked by a pile of garbage. Axis corners Clover against this, but friendliness pellets come from behind the pile to destroy his hands. The next room, Flowey pops up to tell Clover how he protected them and to take a break in this area. They are now in the commons, where Vendy is located. Vendy will be rude towards Clover if they talk to them initially. However, returning here after obtaining a Steamworks ID has Vendy react with enthusiasm to Clover.

The next room has a UGPS sign. If Starlo was spared, Clover can receive his letter here and, if they choose, backtrack to the Dunes to meet up with him, the Feisty Four, and Ceroba. After this room, Clover has to complete the third steam puzzle and encounters Goosic.

Past this is the Greenhouse. Clover can read signs sharing history on the white plants and the Greenhouse's construction. In the second room, Clover is forced to trample some of the flowers, causing Guardener to glitch out and initiate battle. If she is spared, she attempts to send a report to her creator, then the main office, both of which fail. After realizing the Steamworks have been shut down, she returns to her hibernation, intending to remain there. If she is killed, she assumes she deserved it and ignores her protocols telling her to seek help before dying. Her damaged body remains there for the rest of the route.

Clover leaves the Greenhouse. If saving at the next SAVE point, Flowey brushes aside any emotional impact from the Guardener encounter and encourages Clover to kill Axis. After an encounter with Telly-Vis, Clover reaches the crossroads.

The Steamworks ID drawing interface.

Since the path to the Factory requires a passcode they do not have, Clover heads north into the Chemistry Lab. Flowey greets them and encourages them to find out how to open the door. They have to draw their own Steamworks ID to proceed. The player can use either the mouse or arrow keys to move a pencil with two widths and eight colors to select from.

They pass through a laboratory moving forward and complete the Sousborg special encounter. The next room has a cabinet that can be moved. Inside, the Hermit hides out.

The next room is another laboratory. Flowey appears again, expresses irritation at the locked door, and suggests drilling through it. Clover feeds a terminal at the north of the room different items from around the room, prompting quips from Mr. Screen. As suggested by the essay found in the trash can, Clover needs to mix hydrogen and chlorine to complete the puzzle. After a short minigame, the machine outputs the Hydrochloric Acid. When Clover uses the acid on the lock, they encounter Axis standing right behind the door. He tries to pour his own acid on their skin, but drops the vial and comically falls through a hole the acid eats beneath him.

The path converges with the Pacifist Route's as they exit the Chemistry Lab. When they approach the second UGPS sign, Mail Whale descends and delivers Martlet's urgent letter asking Clover to meet at UG Apartments. Clover proceeds to the robot control station and shuts down nearby helper bots, allowing them to proceed. In the next room, as Clover passes by a pipe, Flowey's silhouette disappears behind them with a paper sound. This is where Martlet's letter leaves their mail and the Missing Poster enters. At the end of the room, Flowey appears at his SAVE point to give Clover the Friendliness Pellets.

The Furnace contains the showdown against Axis. Clover receives the trash lid to deflect Axis's attacks.

Sparing him is very different from the Pacifist Route. In the Neutral Route, he is spared by draining his battery, then complimenting him. Axis then apologizes for his protocol causing him to be cruel. He says that him and the other bots are not able to leave the Steamworks, as they would be shut down, but they can build a happy and free life inside the Steamworks. Clover can backtrack to his locker to talk to him in this case.

If Axis is killed, he calls out to Chujin for help before dying. His body remains there for the rest of the route.

Clover proceeds to Hotland in either case.

Pacifist Route

The Pacifist Route is unique in that it is the only route where Ceroba follows Clover throughout. If they abort the route at any point by killing a robot, she still accompanies them until the end of the Steamworks.

Ceroba leads Clover to the generator. She attempts to work on it while Clover solves the first two puzzles. When they head north, Flowey appears and tells Clover that Ceroba is not trustworthy. After they turn the generator back on, Clover returns to Ceroba. Since they did all the work, she puts them in the lead. She hangs back as they solve the first steam puzzle.

When they encounter Axis, she tries to convince him to let them go. She is startled when he reveals that Chujin was his creator but is cut off by him sending them both down a trapdoor. Ceroba talks to Clover at the bottom, saying she is now reluctant to fight Axis because Chujin made him. She comes up with the idea to build him a "companion" to distract him by combatting his loneliness. Using junk from around the room, Clover builds him Daisy, which Ceroba holds onto.

The two exit to the lake. Upon encountering the first Jandroid, Ceroba initially panics, then tells Clover to find a peaceful way to proceed. She says they can talk later, though they do not. This fight introduces Ceroba's shield mechanic, where Clover can take the first hit of every battle with no damage.

Manta Bot ferries both Clover and Ceroba through the maze. Ceroba has Clover complete the second steam puzzle to open the gate. If they meet Mo, Ceroba tries to talk to him about his outfit catching fire, which he ignores. If Clover enters the Macro Froggit room, she does not accompany, saying they seemed to vanish. If Clover defeats him, she is confused by them passing out and tells them they can take a break later.

The two enter the offices; as Axis chases them down, Ceroba runs off ahead. She is waiting at the end for Clover and hides in the lockers with them. After exiting, she promises to bring out their robot next time they meet Axis. Axis is in the next room, and Ceroba runs ahead again. At the dead end, she attempts to sway Axis with their robot, but he rejects them. Ceroba then deflects his attack back at him and he exits.

Ceroba sits down in the commons and Clover joins her. She talks about how hard life is in the Underground and about Kanako. Clover gets up to explore, leaving Ceroba to continue resting for a bit. In the next room, Flowey appears. He brushes off Ceroba as a conspiracy theorist and insists they focus on confronting Asgore. He leaves as Ceroba rejoins Clover. There is a UGPS sign in this room that she prevents them from using, ostensibly not wanting attention from outsiders.

Ceroba again waits as Clover completes the third steam puzzle. They proceed to the Greenhouse like normal, with some added commentary from Ceroba. If Clover aborts the Pacifist Route by killing Guardener, Ceroba is dejected but continues forward.

At the crossroads, Ceroba uses Chujin's passcode to enter the Factory. Ceroba makes a plan to head to the robot control station and shut down Axis. They head up the stairs and encounter Mr. Screen, who forces Clover and Ceroba to box and sort goods. Ceroba and Mr. Screen's interactions grow increasingly tense until Ceroba tries to curse at Mr. Screen and Clover grabs her hand to calm her down.

The two head to the third floor and find Axis. He attempts to confront them but trips over a wire, shutting off the lights. Clover and Ceroba move the side; Mr. Screen greets them from a monitor, which Ceroba immediately shatters. The two of them then sneak around the room, lighting furnaces to find the door code while avoiding Axis. If they are caught, he tosses them down the empty elevator shaft to the first floor and they have to return to the third floor to try again.

On the fourth floor, they head to the manager's office to seek the elevator code. There, Ceroba finds and reads Chujin's performance reports detailing Axis's repeated failures. Despite seeing this, she still defends him and is furious with the Royals. The two proceed to the elevator, where they meet Mr. Screen again. Ceroba talks to Clover about why they came to the Underground. While she identifies they were searching for the five humans, she does not share they are dead.

They reach the robot control station soon after. Ceroba allows Clover to use it to turn off the robots and extend the bridge forward.

When they enter the Furnace, Clover is cut off from Ceroba when the door shuts between them. Clover faces against Axis alone as Ceroba tries to break through and talks to Clover through the door. Ceroba rejoins them at the start of the final round. When Axis is drained of battery, Ceroba brings out Daisy again. This time, Axis falls in love with them and leaves after requesting Ceroba tell Chujin he misses him.

Ceroba separates from Clover at this point if they aborted a Pacifist Route. If Clover killed Axis, she is furious and runs away.

If a Pacifist Route was completed, Ceroba and Clover head forward. When they near the Hotland elevator, Starlo and Ed arrive behind them. They talk about finding the trapdoor in the Ketsukane Estate. Ceroba runs off through the elevator, followed by Starlo, as Ed takes Clover back to the Wild East.

After this Dunes section is completed, Clover must travel back through the Steamworks to reach Hotland. They can use the laundry chute in the laundry room at the beginning of the Steamworks as a shortcut to the elevator. Alternatively, they can traverse through the Steamworks again, now able to use UGPS stations and talk to the robots they encountered.

The Steamworks are shown twice in the credits of the Pacifist Route. The first shows the Lil Bots delivering Guardener a flower and leaving the Greenhouse. The second shows Axis and Daisy on a boat being rowed by Sousborg.

Genocide Route

Flowey appears at the generator to talk to Clover. Clover tries to shoot the generator into gear, which obviously fails. Flowey expresses annoyance and tells Clover to solve the puzzles, but Clover instructs Flowey to open the door north instead. He does so but warns them to not test him, as he is in control.

Encountering Axis, he expresses confusion at a sense of familiarity but brushes it off when his memory is blocked. Axis scans Clover and identifies them as a level 10 threat. He drops his casual tone and taunts them about the deaths of the previous humans. He tries to initiate battle, but Clover cuts off the battle transition by shooting him. This restores his memory while damaging him. He flees down the trapdoor before Clover can finish him, intending to evacuate the other robots.

Unlike SAVEs in previous areas, where Flowey would encourage Clover's rampage, Flowey's dialogue at SAVE points in the Steamworks demonstrates annoyance. He tells Clover they are wasting their time by killing robots. Otherwise, he remains silent.

The Macro Froggit encounter is skipped; if the puzzle is solved, the Golden Bandana chest is thrown out from behind the doors. If Mo is encountered, Clover cuts off his pitch by threatening him at gunpoint. They can choose to rob him. Whether they do or not, he leaves on a Manta Bot.

Axis does not spy on Clover before the chase. The chase itself is a reversal of the other routes, where Clover now chases Axis down. He outruns them and is gone in the second chase room. In the commons, Flowey appears and tells Clover that the robots are barely conscious so they are wasting their time. Vendy silently dispenses Clover's items for free out of fear.

Clover enters the Greenhouse while Guardener is mid-conversation with Axis. He tells her to hide and then flees. Guardener turns around, spots Clover, and retreats into the ground, skipping her boss battle entirely. At the crossroads, Clover turns north into the Chemistry Lab. Axis is inside; he startles at them and flees further into the lab. The ID-making section is skipped because he left the door open.

Clover does not pick up the Cake and cannot talk to the Hermit on the Genocide Route. Entering the compound mixing lab plays a door closing sound effect. Axis talks to Clover from behind the locked door. Clover tries to shoot down the door as he talks, which fails; Flowey appears after he leaves and tells Clover they have to actually solve the mixing puzzle. Mr. Screen's dialogue is not present on this route. The mixing minigame itself is glitching, with the screen flickering and music changing pace.

The room outside the Chemistry Lab is the last room in which encounters appear; entering the robot control station stops encounters appearing anywhere. Saving past this point before exhausting encounters aborts the Genocide Route. The game does not warn of this.

The bridge to the Furnace is already extended. Axis is waiting inside the Furnace, resigned to the fact that Clover may kill him. He takes the trash lid, blocking Clover's bullets. After waiting for ten turns, Axis confesses to killing the blue SOUL child, causing Clover's LV to shoot up. They unlock the shooting SOUL mode, then a powered up version of the big shot, a giant laser. They use this to tear Axis's body in two.

Flowey is rendered speechless at his body. Clover leaves without listening to Flowey. Some narration now appears in yellow text at the top of the screen talking about the Hotland elevator. Flowey snaps at Clover at the next SAVE point, though he still intends to work with them. Clover proceeds to Hotland.

Geography

The Steamworks are a large facility located between the Dunes and Hotland. It is connected to Sunnyside Farm in the northeastern Dunes on one end and to the elevator near Hotland's UG Apartments on the other end. Contrasting with other areas' progression, Clover moves from east to west.

Generator

The Steamworks gate from the Dunes leads to a dark and narrow path with monitors on the walls. This ends in a doorway to the main generator room, which has paths branching off to the west, east, and north. Clover has to solve puzzles to the west, then the east, to proceed. The puzzle is to set pink liquid in tubes to a certain level using the arrow keys. The first puzzle extends the bridge to the second and the second puzzle opens the door north.

Entrance

The generator section exits into a more open atmosphere. Clover walks on platforms over glowing pink liquid extending to the edge of the screen. What the liquid is made of is unstated, but Ceroba believes it to be coolant. The second room contains a glowing "Steamworks" sign. It is falling apart and the letters of "works" are flickering. The third room has the first steam puzzle. Clover has to dodge steam coming out of vent tiles and is sent into a mini battle if they are hit.

The next room has a path upwards. This leads to a SAVE point, as well as a higher path to follow that puts the lake out of sight below. A catwalk is visible in the background; Axis's silhouette can be seen watching Clover from it the first time they pass by. The path leads indoors to a hallway with awards on the wall.

Past this point is Clover's first encounter with Axis. During this cutscene, he refers to the area they are in as "Steamworks: Eastern Branch." On the Pacifist and Neutral Routes, Clover is sent down a trapdoor into the building's basement. Garbage is strewn about the room. They can escape to the room after where they met Axis by going through a vent on the wall.

Lake

The next room contains more of the pink liquid, as well as a SAVE point. The first encounter in the Steamworks, a Jandroid, is on a bridge in the next room.

The next room is a large lake maze. Clover traverses it on the Manta Bot. They need to head north, but the only path is blocked off by a large gate. An island to the west contains the button to open the gate to the north lake after the second steam puzzle. The path from the beginning of the maze to this is left, down, left, up, left, left.

An island to the south contains a room with the Grandfather Clock. In the southeast corner of the room is the switch to the Macro Froggit room. This island also has posters promoting the Steamworks and safety procedures. Northeast of the steam puzzle island is a small island with papers sharing a bit of information about the start and end of the robotics project, as well as a trash can with 60G.

The path from the beginning of the maze to the gate is left, left, up, left, up.

Clover enters the north section of the lake near a large building. If the switch in the Grandfather Clock room is pressed, Clover can enter this building. Inside are four pedestals, one of which has a flower made of gold on it. Clover can place the Golden Pear, Golden Coffee and Golden Cactus on the other three pedestals to get the Golden Bandana.

The Boba Drinker is in the east of this room. The northwest of this room leads to Mo. The path from the entrance to the exit is straight left.

Office Branch

Clover enters the offices into a long hallway with a vent at the end, allowing backtracking from the beginning to the end of the office after completing this section.

The next room is has a chase sequence with Axis. It is a long and winding path through a wrecked office building. The room after begins with the vent back. The rest of the room is a long straight hallway with a long window. Behind the window is a catwalk above the Steamworks liquid.

Offices to Greenhouse

The offices exit onto the commons. Here, Ceroba talks to talks to Clover on the Pacifist Route and Flowey talks to Clover on every route. Vendy is also in this area.

The next room has the Steamworks - Commons UGPS sign and the entrance to a catwalk section. The first catwalk room has the final steam puzzle. The second catwalk room has a scripted encounter with Goosic.

Greenhouse

Main article: Greenhouse

The glass looking into the Greenhouse is completely covered by energy plants, as is the Greenhouse interior. Clover can obtain the Nails in the first room. Signs on the wall detail the creation of the Greenhouse.

The second room has the Greenhouse SAVE point, as well as a Gravity Granola and Grassy Fries in boxes.

The end of the Greenhouse has the fight against Guardener, the miniboss of the Steamworks. The fight is skipped on the Genocide Route.

Greenhouse to Crossroads

The Greenhouse exits to another SAVE point. A lever to the east can be flipped to make a catwalk descend as a shortcut back to the catwalks. The room to the west has monitors on vertical pipes. One monitor is shut off and triggers a battle against Telly-Vis when passing it.

The next room has a crossroads between the Factory to the west and the Chemistry Lab to the north. The path forward depends on the route.

Factory

The Factory logo.

Ceroba opens the door to the Factory with Chujin's passcode on the Pacifist Route. The ground floor of the Factory has a powered down roboceptionist. An empty elevator shaft sits to the east and a stairwell is on the west.

The second floor is in two parts. The first part has a large machine to pack goods into red or blue boxes. Clover has to complete this puzzle using the select and cancel keys. This is also the location of the Annoying Dog Fun Value. The second part has a sorting puzzle. A platform must be tipped left or right with the arrow keys to put the red and blue boxes into their respective machines. A trash can in this room gives the Beef Jerky.

The third floor contains a puzzle where Clover and Ceroba have to sneak around the room. They have to light fires to find four digits of the stairwell passcode. The digit is marked by a number and the placement in the code is marked by a letter, A through D. Also in this room is a machine for manufacturing G. Clover can take 60G out of this machine. A pile of gemstones is in the corner. Symbols of water drops and a leaf are painted above the machine, signifying the locations the gemstones were obtained: Waterfall and the Meadow.

The stairs are next to an empty elevator shaft to the right. Axis throws Clover and Ceroba down this shaft when caught.

The fourth floor is an office. Office booths are behind a SAVE point. The manager's office is in the back of the room, which includes employee records and the elevator code. Hints about the impacts of the robotics project downsizing are around the floor.

Clover uses an elevator to exit into the room where the Chemistry Lab also exits, meeting the two routes back up.

Chemistry Lab

The Chemistry Lab logo.

On a Neutral or Genocide Route, Clover does not have access to the passcode without Ceroba accompanying them and has to instead enter the Chemistry Lab up north.

They enter in a receptionist office. In a Neutral Route, Clover makes a Steamworks ID here to pass through the building. On a Genocide Route, Axis already opened the doors necessary, skipping this.

After a long hallway, Clover enters the laboratory. There are many dishes, vials, and other science equipment in this room. This is where they meet Sousborg, a special encounter who only appears in this room while also not being a boss. The next room is a hallway with several cabinets. One has cracks behind it and can be moved on a Neutral Route to access a secret room. The Hermit is inside next to a sleeping mat and an experiment with liquids.

The room after the hallway is the compound mixing lab. The door is sealed off by a heavy lock that has to be dissolved. Many items throughout the room can be put into the Compound Computer in the center; the puzzle is solved by adding hydrogen and chlorine. Doing this starts a minigame where the player must use the arrow keys to control a moving hydrogen circle, prevent it from touching the walls, and move it to the chlorine goal.

The next two rooms form one hallway that loops around to exit south and meet back up with the Factory's path.

Control Station

The room where the Factory and Chemistry Lab meet is the last room before encounters are disabled. Saving past this point on the Genocide Route without exhausting encounters aborts the route without warning.

The next room is the robot control station. This station controls every robot in the Steamworks except Axis. If Clover is not on a Genocide Route, the bridge to the next room is not extended, which they must use the computer to do. The computer in the room has no graphics, only text. There are five menus. The only functional one is the fifth option, "Settings." Entering "Emergency Shutdown" and then "Yes" from there extends the bridge.

The Furnace

The area proceeds onto a long catwalk over lava. Clover can save and pick up Gravity Granola from a broken Vendy model before proceeding. Inside the Furnace, Clover and Axis battle. This room is yellower than the rest of the Steamworks's pink tone.

The Furnace exits onto a platform over a dark abyss that shortly connects to land. The land is rocky and resembles Hotland's ground. There is a chute to backtrack to the laundry room here. The elevator to Hotland is at the end of the next room.

Trivia

• Despite no robots awarding any EXP aside from Axis, Clover still has to exhaust the kill count on the Genocide Route, and can't kill any of the robots on the Pacifist Route. The respective route will be aborted if:
  • Clover does not exhaust the kill counter before battling Axis on a Genocide Route.
  • Clover kills a robot on a Pacifist Route, resulting in Ceroba leaving them after the Axis battle.
• The door in the first laboratory in the Chemistry Lab is labelled with the number 427. This references the Stanley's Office room number from The Stanley Parable.
• One of this awards in the room before meeting Axis is covered by depleted energy plants, covering up the title "Greatness in Chemistry." This is a reference to W. D. Gaster.
• The concept of Steamworks being inhabited by robots might be based on Toby's scrapped idea of Hotland being full of robots.
• Flowey only has unique dialogue for each Steamworks SAVE point in the Neutral Route. In the Pacifist Route, he stays hidden from Ceroba, and in the Genocide Route, he only has dialogue for Clover reaching different kill counts, staying silent otherwise.
• The Steamworks is the only area Clover can re-enter after leaving in the Genocide Route. However it cannot be entered again once Zenith Martlet is defeated.
• One of the desktops on the Factory fourth floor has two references. It is a reference to the "Bliss" Windows background and it is a photo of the Meadow.
• The pipes in the background of the last room, containing the elevator to Hotland, have dark marks on them. These marks are the notes to His Theme.