Joel Couture’s book Fallen Down: Heartache and Compassion in Undertale was originally only available as part of a limited time StoryBundle. However, Couture has announced via Twitter that Fallen Down is now available for individual purchase on itchio. The book costs $4.99 (or more, if you want to donate a bit extra).
Here is Couture’s tweet about the book:
My unofficial @UnderTale book (cover by @tuyoki & with a few words from @tobyfox) is now out on @itchio!!!! https://t.co/joUB08BUoG pic.twitter.com/WvIgzPX4VT
— Joel Couture (@Joel_Couture) September 16, 2017
If you’re interested in Fallen Down, check out our interview with the author:
PlayStation LifeStyle: Why did you decide to do a book on Undertale of all games?
Joel Couture: It’s a game that has kind of been kicking around in my mind for the past two years ever since I played it. When I played it I really thought that it had become my favorite game, and I thought that was a pretty tall claim, but it felt right. I just really enjoyed the characters, the fourth-wall breaking stuff, the message of positivity, and how awful I felt hurting the characters. I don’t like saying that “oh it’s my favorite game,” and I wanted to quantify it, and I had all these thoughts in my brain, so I wanted to branch out into what exactly I was thinking.
Beyond it being one of your favorite games, I’d say it’s a very important game. One thing you discuss in the book a lot is how it’s able to convey these serious ideas and themes through wackiness of all things. Maybe people wouldn’t think those would go together, but it’s impressive how it makes the player laugh throughout, it also makes you feel other emotions. How do you think it manages to accomplish that throughout?
It has this constant goofiness to it. Ever since the stupid rock at the beginning of the game that goes “Oh? You want me to move,” it cracked me up, and it set this bar early on that it wasn’t gonna take itself really seriously. So, you think “oh, wacky game!” It’s kind of disarming, and I didn’t expect anything serious would happen. Then it just injects these little things, like it uses the fact that these [enemies] are really funny, so how do you feel when you kill them? Stuff like that. It creates this silly, disarming universe, and slowly injects these serious moments.
I find humor opens me up to things, or at least I’m not expecting to have my legs kicked out from under me with these horrible, emotional moments, so maybe that makes them more effective.
You can grab Fallen Down from itchio.
[Source: Twitter]
