Odds on to be your new favourite game
PS4, PS5, PC (PEGI 16)
IHSTUMBLED across Oddworld quite by accident; Mr M and I huddled for warmth in a game shop in Rhyl one blisteringly cold September day in 1997.
Standing on the ‘new Playstation releases’ shelf, the adorable artwork of Abe’s Oddysee spoke to me, and offered up a far more appealing way to pass the time than braving the driving rain outside.
And so began my love affair with Abe, the little mudokon that could.
One night on his shift at RuptureFarms meat-packing factory, Abe overhears his glukkon bosses decide to use the plant’s mudokon slaves as a source of meat.
He immediately sets off on a quest to free his fellow workers, and help them escape back to the plains of Oddworld.
It was a triumph, a story filled with magic and whimsy, and challenging gameplay that could have you tearing your hair out at times.
Three more games followed in quick succession – Abe’s Exoddus, Munch’s Oddysee, and Stranger’s Wrath – which continued to flesh out Oddworld and its adorable inhabitants.
But after the release of Stranger’s Wrath in 2005, that world fell silent.
A superb game, it was considered a commercial failure on the XBOX, selling just 600,000 copies by 2012.
Thus it would be nearly 10 years before fans got a chance to revisit Oddworld again, been modernised but retains its fun with the release of New ‘n’ Tasty! in 2014, a full remake of a then 17-yearold Abe’s Oddysee.
A remake of Abe’s Exoddus was supposed to follow hot on its heels. But rather than give Exoddus a bit of spit and polish for the new generation consoles, developer Oddworld Inhabitants went back to the drawing board to create a full re-imagining of the game.
The result is Soulstorm, described as a ‘complete story re-take of Exoddus inspired by the original tale’, this gorgeous title is, in essence, a brand new game.
And it’s not hard to see why the developers have gone down this route, as in this day and age of gaming, Exoddus would have been released as DLC for Oddysee.
Named after the brew made from rendering mudokon parts, while Soulstorm sticks with the series’ much-loved 2D graphics and gameplay, it vastly expands on Abe’s abilities, and on the size and scope of the story.
And that’s wonderful, as it allows us to get closer to Abe and his tribe.
This is the first title to introduce a loot system, with Abe able to crack open and explore bins and lockers for items to craft with.
I feared this would be quite jarring, but it actually blends in really well with the retro-feeling gameplay.
The levels themselves feel more sprawling, with multiple paths that can be taken to your objective. This feeling of vastness is, in part, down expands Oddworld re-introduces one of cutest characters to the camera, which pans out at every opportunity to give you the sheer scale of the level.
And as it’s an Oddworld game, be sure to explore every nook and cranny of the environment for hidden paths and secret areas – you don’t want to unknowingly leave a comrade behind.
As a character, Abe feels more nimble – the ability to double jump making life a little easier if you miss a ledge or overhang.
But while the game has been modernised, the things that made it so much fun are still in place. Abe can still possess an enemy slig, using it to take out its fellow guards, trigger bombs or simply just to run around in a blind panic before exploding – which always gets a satisfied giggle from him.
That drive to save all your fellow mudokons is still very much there, and the utter guilt you feel when one is killed or has to be left behind is devastating.
Is it perfect? No. There were bugs galore at release which required a large patch to fix, and even then not all the issues have been ironed out.
There are times when the controls feel a little clunky, and the AI can be a little wobbly.
But none of that should put you off spending a little time with this charming puzzler that’s still managing to offer something unique all these years later.
Buy it: £33.99 from 365games.co.uk