Toby Fox’s quirky, retro-inspired RPG, Undertale, made its console debut today on Sony’s PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita systems, nearly two years after the game’s initial PC/Mac release.
Available through the PlayStation Store, players will be entitled to both the PS4 and Vita versions since the game has Cross-Buy support.
Buyers in search of a physical or collector’s edition have to wait until September, and order through Fangamer, which holds exclusivity on the collector’s edition. This premium edition includes a two-CD soundtrack, sheet music booklet, music box locket and collector’s box. An illustrated booklet comes with both the standard and collector’s editions.
Since the game originally released for PC/Mac, some changes were made. A tutorial’s text about pressing F4 for fullscreen has been changed and trophies were added, despite Fox claiming trophies are “contrary to the spirit of the game” in an old tweet on a Twitter account he no longer uses.
Another new feature for the console versions is border art, which players can toggle to fill in the rest of the screen.
The storyline remains the same as the original. A child must navigate their way back to the surface world after falling into the monster-filled Underground, encountering a talking flower, sword-wielding dogs and gelatin molds.
One of the main design choices is in the battle system. Players can spare each enemy they find, including bosses, to unlock a special ending, where no enemies are defeated, certain characters were befriended and a neutral ending already completed. However, obtaining this ending is challenging since the playable character never earns experience to level up.
Undertale‘s writing style and design elements were partly inspired by 1994’s Earthbound on the SNES. Similarly, the two games tell stories of child protagonists who go on bizarre journeys and save worlds. Earthbound creator Shigesato Itoi said he was “happy” a fan of his 23-year-old game made their own.
Undertale is available on PS4 and Vita for $14.99 and PC/Mac for $9.99