The Oddworld games thread

[Darth Roxor]

Soulstorm releases in three days apparently.









Still feeling conflicted about this. Muh craftung and mudokons fighting back against sligs just feels wrong (and it already felt wrong in Munch's Oddysee too)

 

[Darth Roxor]

I just remembered this released two days ago, I was thinking about taking the plunge, but then I checked zog and steam and it wasn't there. I wondered wtf.

Turns out it's an EGS exclusive

well, maybe in a year the consensus will be out as to whether it's shit or not

meanwhile launch trailer

 

[lightbane]

Funny that a game about the evils of corporations is in Epic Store. The trailer is also utter shit, with standard EXPLOSIONS AND ACTION (TM) that doesn't fit the theme of the franchise. Also crafting, because why not follow trends mindlessly.
It's on fit"girl" if you wish to try a demo, either way.

 

[lightbane]

Holy cow, scratch that, that shit it's not even worth pirating. It is absolute popamole trash. Compare:

Modern Abe:

Spoiler

Classic Abe:

Spoiler

 

[Darth Roxor]

I don't see how that is 'absolute popamole trash' but ok.

Nevertheless, I don't understand why they are trying to present this as an Exoddus remake or whatever, when it's clearly supposed to be a completely different game in almost all aspects. Comparing it to classic Abe also feels pointless. Oddysee/Exoddus were pretty 'ponderous' as far as platformers go, and faster-paced sections were always the exception, and typically you still had to plan ahead to pull them off, meanwhile this looks like it involves constant running around, at least judging by that tutorial. Also double jumps, what the hell.

 

[luj1]

Holy cow, scratch that, that shit it's not even worth pirating. It is absolute popamole trash. Compare:

Modern Abe:

Spoiler

Classic Abe:

Spoiler

Amazing decline in color palette.

 

[lightbane]

I don't see how that is 'absolute popamole trash' but ok.

See below.

Nevertheless, I don't understand why they are trying to present this as an Exoddus remake or whatever, when it's clearly supposed to be a completely different game in almost all aspects.

This. It has nothing to do with the original, since it has all the trends of popamole, including an EPIC! story with DRAMATIC!!! moments (complete with Abe suddenly caring about an implied lover that put him these stitches, WTF?), with explosions everywhere from minute zero, which feels very out of place for the games that were meant to be pluzzle-platformers. Also, crafting shit, collectables that give you minimal bonuses with warning, flashing messages that stick out like a sore thumb.

 

[luj1]

Yeah this can't hold a candle to old Abe.

 

[CyberModuled]

I have yet to play Exodus properly, but it's really off putting to see this is what the heads of Oddworld's dev team consider to be the "definitive" sequel to Odyssey New N' Tasty to the point of retconning Exodus. Aside from just the weird additions like crafting, the UI just looks fucking ugly. I thought the point of Odyssey having the tutorial tips be diegetic through signs inside Rupture Farms and otherwise nothing else was for the sake of fully immersing the player in the game world. How the fuck am I supposed to get immersed when they thought putting a big fat "objective" list on the top left of the screen like a lot of modern games would be a good idea unless they were not assured of their own design decisions that the levels would speak for themselves?

Spoiler

Ironic given the overarching themes of Oddworld to see what the dev's considered to be the "true vision" of the series to be while independent of any publisher be worse than the one that corporate allegedly made them pump out within nine months. Then again, I guess the EGS and PS+ deal they have currently makes them absolute hypocrites as is.

 

[fork]

Remake, Remaster, Reimagining, Prequel, Sequel of/to old game, film, book, whatever turns out to be shit in 2021.
What a surprise.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I have yet to play Exodus properly, but it's really off putting to see this is what the heads of Oddworld's dev team consider to be the "definitive" sequel to Odyssey New N' Tasty to the point of retconning Exodus. Aside from just the weird additions like crafting, the UI just looks fucking ugly. I thought the point of Odyssey having the tutorial tips be diegetic through signs inside Rupture Farms and otherwise nothing else was for the sake of fully immersing the player in the game world. How the fuck am I supposed to get immersed when they thought putting a big fat "objective" list on the top left of the screen like a lot of modern games would be a good idea unless they were not assured of their own design decisions that the levels would speak for themselves?

Spoiler

Ironic given the overarching themes of Oddworld to see what the dev's considered to be the "true vision" of the series to be while independent of any publisher be worse than the one that corporate allegedly made them pump out within nine months. Then again, I guess the EGS and PS+ deal they have currently makes them absolute hypocrites as is.

The interface is indeed terrible but you can turn those prompts off. Game has a schizo art style tailor made for current ADHD mongoloids with explosions everywhere, garish colours and zero atmosphere. I got it for free on PS5 but it's a hard pass from me. The original games are much, much better.

 

[toro]

PC controls are responsive but I simply cannot find the key for throwing because the tooltips are for a pad.

Yeah, the elegance of the first games is lost. Everything is overloaded with pointless shit.

 

[Werdnicus]

One of the things I really liked about the 90's Oddworld games are the hand-painted backgrounds, which made the games not only very pleasant to look at, but also timeless.

Now you have 3D backgrounds which will not only make the game dated in half a year, but also results in an out of place blue arrow pointing to Abe at all times so you know where he is in the big fucking mess of brown.

https://news.destructoid.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/OddWorldSoulStormreview2.jpg

 

[Great Deceiver]

You can also turn the arrow off, but yeah, the original's art direction was much better.

 

[toro]

I will play this when it's released on Steam and around 5 potatoes.

 

[Melcar]

Was anyone surprised after New N' Tasty? Art direction is crap all around.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Soulstorm will be getting an 'enhanced edition' on November 30.

Oddworld: Soulstorm Enhanced Edition includes dramatically improved gameplay mechanics and motion code, audio balance improvements, seven additional months of polish, improved Slig and follower AI (more intelligent and responsive), as well as all previously released updates and brand new content.

What’s Soulstorm‘s brand new content?

Oddworld: Soulstorm Enhanced Edition‘s new content is a separate challenge game mode accessed via the main menu once you complete the game.

Xbox players will go hands-on with “Vykkers Labs,” a throwback to classic Oddworld 2.5D gameplay featuring short puzzle-filled levels. Earn leaderboard prestige for speed runs or zero-death performances. For those who don’t recall, Vykkers Labs is a large airborne lab used for pharmaceutical testing on animals and run by the sadistic Vykkers.

PlayStation and Epic Games Store players will experience “Toby’s Escape.” Like Vykkers, it is a throwback to classic Oddworld gaming short puzzle-filled levels to master. If you have played Soulstorm, you’ll know Toby from the train, but how did Toby escape RuptureFarms and become the train’s conductor…find out in Toby’s Escape.

This must have been really bad if they advertise it as having "dramatically improved" gameplay. Also, obviously, still epic store exclusive on the PC.

 

[Terra]

I find it both amusing & sad that around 10 years ago Lorne Lanning was complaining that EA sabotaged Stranger, criticising their lack of marketing, poor distribution & subseqent lack of exposure for the game. Now, ten years later, Lanning signs an exclusivity deal with the Epic Store, and from both initial launch to this enhanced edition, nobody on PC gives a shit about the game.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Stewart Gilray, founder of Just Add Water studios and the man behind all the Oddworld games, dead from COVID at 51.

EDIT: Typo.

 

[LESS T_T]

Soulstorm is coming to Steam "soon":

 

[DeepOcean]

Wasnt the developer of this complaining that they only sold 40000 copies on the Playstation because most people played with Playstation plus? I read some controversy about it, also, Epic exclusive only makes financial sense if you expect your game to sell like crap on steam because it kills the hype for very little sales.

 

[AdamReith]

I remember playing Soulstorm and being so disappointed. Lacked any and all spark.

Stranger's Wrath was good fun but again, nothing on a creepy dark world inhabited by sligs, scrabs and paramites.

 

[LESS T_T]

They uploaded a demo on Steam.

 

[toughasnails]

They also had a weird campaign where they offered awards depending on the number of preorders on Steam.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/619390/view/3212766758951493109

I never saw anyone did that before and it sure looked p desperate. Like the game sold really poorly on PS and Epic and they expected it to do no better on Steam so this was a way to get extra visibility on the front page due to a number of preorder and hopefully sell few more copies that way.

 

[Terra]

You never see short-sightedness on the level as some of these exclusivity deals. Oh, let's make our game free with PS Plus at release and also only make it available to buy on PC via a distribution client that a large number of people don't want to use, so even customers that want to buy our game, can't.

Wait, why is nobody buying our game?

Can't wait to see them think they're entitled to a full price launch on Steam in a few weeks with their enhanced edition. Thing is, the advent of digital destruction and deep sales made it so they need the day 1 sales & money a lot more than I need their game at launch, due largely to a wealth of others already in the backlog, I have no issue continuing to reward Epic's deal-takers by waiting on the deep discounts when they eventually deign to bring it to non-Epic platforms. You reap what you sow.