software.wikisort.org - Video_game

Oddworld: Soulstorm is a platform game developed and published by Oddworld Inhabitants. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 in April 2021, with an enhanced edition released in November 2021 alongside a port for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. A port for Nintendo Switch, subtitled Oddtimized Edition, was announced in July 2022. It is the sequel to 2014's Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! and a re-imagining of 1998's Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus as it was originally envisioned. The game received mixed reviews from critics and was downloaded over 4 million times through PlayStation Plus.

Oddworld: Soulstorm
Developer(s)	Oddworld Inhabitants[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)	Oddworld Inhabitants
Director(s)	Lorne Lanning
Producer(s)	Bennie Terry III[3]
Writer(s)	Lorne Lanning
Composer(s)	Josh Gabriel
Series	Oddworld
Engine	Unity[11]
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Xbox One Xbox Series X/S Nintendo Switch
Release	Windows, PS4, PS5 April 6, 2021 Enhanced Edition Windows, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S November 30, 2021 Oddtimized Edition Nintendo Switch TBA 2022
Genre(s)	Cinematic platformer
Mode(s)	Single-player

Gameplay

Similar to its predecessor, the game is a 2.5D side-scrolling platform game. Protagonist of the Oddworld series Abe returns as the primary character, with the goal of rescuing his fellow Mudokons from slave labor and exploitation by the brutal Glukkons. The game features substantially revised gameplay mechanics incorporating gameplay elements from both Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus and Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee.

One new mechanic is an inventory to go along with a new looting and crafting system in which Abe can find various items within interactive objects, or pickpocket them from enemies and craft and customize different weapons, such as a smoke bomb or a flamethrower; one such lootable item is duct tape, which Abe can use to "apprehend" enemies without killing them. Moolah can also be collected with which to purchase items for the inventory or to open cash gates. Abe is now capable of performing a double jump, allowing him to get across large gaps. A new health meter tracks how much health Abe has left, and can be recovered either over time, from rescuing Mudokons or by collecting often-hidden Royal Jellies, the latter of which will extend the meter. Certain hazards will still kill him instantly however regardless of how much health he has left.

The Quarma system now has an additional tally that counts the number of enemies killed, therefore encouraging the player to either kill or spare enemies, though this doesn't count against the Quarma rating. The GameSpeak feature has been simplified to greeting other Mudokons and telling them to wait and functions similarly to that in Munch's Oddysee, with simply tapping or holding the corresponding button causing Abe to speak to either one or all Mudokons following him, as well as "Aggro" and "Passive" commands that change his followers' mood similarly to that game's "Jump 'Em!" command (using any items given to them from the inventory). The possession ability has been reworked to function similarly to its Munch's Oddysee incarnation, albeit it now uses a "chi" meter that limits the amount of time for Abe to move it to his nearest target with the amount of "chi" extended based on how many Mudokons are following him at the time; when dispossessing enemies, he can now either cause them to explode or temporarily knock them out. Mudokons now follow every move Abe makes when they follow him, including jumping and hoisting, with running and sneaking also adjusting their voice and movement volume accordingly. Enemies are now capable of shooting at Abe or other Mudokons at different angles and can use various weaponry that cause various amounts of damage. They can also switch these out with stun guns, which can be utilised by the player to harmlessly knock out other enemies. While the game is mostly linear, the levels are often quite large and contain many secret areas, rewarding the player for thoroughly exploring them. Each level features a badge system for completing specific tasks, such as looting a specific number of interactive items, finding a specific number of secret areas, or apprehending as many enemies as possible.

The Enhanced Edition features two version-exclusive bonus levels; Vykkers Labs for the Xbox versions and Toby's Escape for the PlayStation and Epic Games Store versions.

Story

Setting

Oddworld: Soulstorm is set hours following the events of Oddworld: New 'n Tasty. In the previous installment, the RuptureFarms janitor Mudokon named Abe accidentally stumbled across a scheme engineered by his CEO, Molluck the Glukkon, to turn all Mudokon laborers into an edible product to compensate for the sales' decline of other meat-based treats, provoked by the dwindling of available animals for processing (one of which already went extinct).

Frightened at learning he may become a target for harvesting, Abe escaped RuptureFarms and came across the free Mudokon shaman Big Face of the Monsaic Lines (a haven for free Mudokons), who elaborates his destiny is to save his enslaved brethren and shut off RuptureFarms permanently. For this, Big Face has Abe pass through a series of trials, branding each of Abe's hands when he's successful, granting him the power of the Shrykull (a divine amalgamation of the native Scrabs and Paramites).

Abe uses his power to return to RuptureFarms, rescue all Mudokons and shut down the factory, but is forced to stay behind to shut off the poisonous gas Molluck activated as an emergency measure, in which he's captured. On the verge of being sent to a meat grinder, however, Abe is saved by the free Mudokons who launch a lightning storm at RuptureFarms, destroying the factory, killing the Slig carrying out the execution and zapping Molluck unconscious. Abe is then rescued by Big Face and taken to the Monsaic lines, being hailed as a hero.

Aside from the protagonist, returning characters from New 'N Tasty include Molluck and Alf (an original secondary character from Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus who became a protagonist of New 'N Tasty's "Alf's Escape" DLC) and Monsaic Lines is revisited in the prologue. Being a re-imagining of Abe's Exoddus, only two characters of the original product, Vice-President Aslik and the Brewmaster, are reintroduced and only the levels of the Necrum Mines, the Slig Barracks, FeeCo Depot and Soulstorm Brewery are revisited. Four new characters - The Necrum Mines' Baron Morguer, the elder Mudokon known as The Keeper, a nameless Mudokon shaman at the prologue (which is not Big Face) and the Mudokon train engineer Toby - are introduced as also are new levels, such as the Necrum catacombs and a suspended monorail FeeCo Train.

Plot

The story opens in the deserts not too far outside the Free-Fire Zone. A lone Mudokon escapee from Necrum Mines runs, searching for where the escapees of RuptureFarms hid. He is wounded from a bullet, and hunted relentlessly from Flying Sligs. In his hand is a package containing a bright orange light. The light gives him hope, and runs to the smouldering ruins of RuptureFarms, unaware that the forces of Baron Morguer are closer than he thinks.

While the freed Mudokons from RuptureFarms celebrate their release, Abe consults with a shaman who urges him to cut away his lip-stitches to "find his voice", but Abe refuses to do so as he recalls the stitches are the last memory of his mother, Sam. At the same time, the Monsaic Lines is bombarded by the surviving Sligs from RuptureFarms, led by a vengeful Mullock who was vilified by the Magog Cartel as having destroyed his own factory and killed his workforce for the insurance money as the Glukkons are far too arrogant to even think of the possibility of Mudokons rising up against them all by themselves, to the point that they believe Abe is non-existent. Abe and the surviving Mudokons led by Alf run away to safety amidst the flames, made worse by the caches of SoulStorm Brew lying around. As Abe escapes, he comes across a Mudokon escapee slowly dying from a gunshot wound, who urges Abe to save all of them while giving him a wrapped package, telling him to find someone named "the Keeper" before passing away.

At Alf's suggestion, Abe departs to a Phat Station to acquire a FeeCo train that can lead them to safety. Amidst the way, especially within the abandoned mines of the Sorrow Valley, Abe comes across escaped Mudokons who became mysteriously ill, leading Abe to craft an antidote from the ingredients the Mudokons mention, while also coming across another dead Mudokon who carries a letter urging Abe to see a video-cassette tape he was carrying. Abe continues his journey, even while under pursuit from Mullock's Sligs and blimp, reaching the Phat station and hijacking the train, using it to pick up Alf, the Mudokon survivors and all Mudokons Abe comes along the way.

At the train, Abe confides to Alf his findings, including the rumors of escaping Mudokon followers of Abe, the wrapped package - which is a map and an amber amulet with a Quarma-based creature - and the tape, which Alf tells Abe he can listen at a communications tower at the Slig Barracks, which also is the train's next stop. Infiltrating the communications tower, Abe cuts off all communications along the train line with the other destinations while listening to the tape, which is revealed to be a project showcase for SoulStorm Brew, revealed to be an addictive drink meant to cause dependency on Mudokons (and thus keep the workforce loyal) which also acts as a poison which can cause lethal side-effects if not imbibed within 48 hours. Realizing the scope of the danger to his followers, Abe urges Alf to head to Necrum so he can find the Keeper.

Infiltrating the mines, Abe travels deep within until he reaches a large, underground chamber of elder Mudokons, all encased in amber, where he comes across the Keeper, revealed to be an elder, female Mudokon. The Keeper puts Abe to a trial, recovering a gemstone called the "Stone of the Fragon's Eye" within a Sleech-infested catacomb. When Abe succeeds, the Keeper directs him to the center of the chamber, where he places the stone in a pedestal which starts branding Abe's chest with lightning at the same time he acquires the memories of the elder Mudokons. Abe is informed by the Keeper he must 'taint the brew' (using the antidote ingredients he acquired earlier), and Abe also uses his Shrykull power to release the Mudokon workers in the Necrum Mines.

As Abe discloses his revelations to Alf, they come up with the plan to mix the antidote into Soulstorm Brewery and Toby gives the idea of raiding the FeeCo Depot to acquire the containers with the antidote ingredients that will allow mass production of the antidote. Abe performs the raid, identifying and taking the containers, but the train leaves the depot under heavy fire pursuit from the Sligs.

The outcome, from this point, is heavily dependent on the player's overall Quarma (Which must amount to at least 80% of all Mudokons rescued in at least twelve levels up to that point). If the Quarma isn't satisfactory, the bad ending shows Abe attempting to access the amber amulet only for the creature within to shatter itself in pieces, disheartening him. Abe then accidentally spills a whole crater of SoulStorm Brew, whose sparks from the overactive furnace hit and burn everyone within, including Alf and the latter. In the process, the burning train rams the SoulStorm Brewery, demolishing it completely, and killing everyone inside. The bad ending concludes when Mullock is forced to go into hiding in the Yaymans, while killing his blimp pilot Slig in the process. Furthermore, without the brewery, there are no more Soulstorm Brews in the future to keep the enslaved Mudokons alive, killing them all in the long run, and closing the story from there.

If the Quarma is satisfactory, Abe accesses the amulet successfully which uses the chest tattoo to empower him with divine lightning. This allows the train to breach through the Brewery's gates, killing all intercepting Sligs and allowing Abe to infiltrate the facility (also accessing the final two levels). After freeing several Mudokons from "Tear X-Tractors" that harvest their tears for the brew's recipe, Abe uses the humongous mixing machine to distribute the ingredients and deliver the antidote (posing as the brew) across all factories in Mudos. In the good ending following that, Morguer and Aslik, the respective Glukkon CEOs from Necrum Mines and FeeCo Depot, confront the Brewmaster on the 'failing' SoulStorm Brew which they believe is causing the Mudokon uprisings, unaware it was all caused by Abe. When the Brewmaster tries convincing both it was Molluck to blame, believing he is using the 'dead' Mudokons as an army to attack them while pinning it on Abe, Molluck overhears this, having sent his pilot Slig to spy on them, and uses him to bribe both Aslik and Morguer's Sligs (disgruntled for being denied overtime and bonuses) to his command, albeit having to reluctantly comply with the Sligs' own demands (his pilot's bonus being secure and the bribed Sligs joining them in fleeing to the Yaymans until the heat dies down and being made whole on the bonuses they were scammed out of). The bribed sligs execute Morguer, Aslik and the Brewmaster, before escaping with Molluck to the Yaymans, the assassination of the trio unwittingly allowing Abe and his Followers to escape the Brewery.

Hours later, Abe, Alf and the follower Mudokons gather for a rest at night as Abe confides more of his findings from meeting the Keeper, above all the revelation that Sam, Abe's mother, is in fact the mother of all the Mudokons from RuptureFarms. Determined to know why she left all of them under the clutches of the Glukkons, as well as the reason why she ever stitched Abe's lips, Abe is determined to travel to the Glukkon capital of Nolybab to find her. At the same time, the amulet starts glowing again as the story closes.

The scenes following eech of these endings reveal, via newspaper headlines, the aftermath of each outcome based on the number of levels in which the player had achieved 80% Quarma:

• If the player only achieved 80% Quarma or less in six levels or less, the game ends with the newspapers revealing that Molluck has had a substantially large price put on his head after the destruction of the Brewery, the remains of Aslik, Morguer and the Brewmaster are found with the latter given a posthumous medal of honor. The theories regarding Abe's existence are debunked and the fires from the Brewery cause more factories along its pipelines to explode and take their Mudokon workforces with them.
• If the player had gotten over 80% Quarma in every level, the game closes with the newspapers revealing the industrial society and economy have been thrown into utter disarray as a result of Mullock's assassination of Aslik, Morguer and the Brewmaster -with panic buying occurring everywhere and citizens planning to storm the closed factories- as well as Mudokon laborers escaping other factories having imbibed the antidote. The heat on Mullock lifts in light of the Brewery incident and he fades into obscurity, though rumors begin to surface of his attempt to flee to the Yaymans to escape the authorities.

Development

In April 2015, Oddworld's co-founder, and director of Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, Lorne Lanning announced on a live stream with Kinda Funny Games that a full remake of Abe's Exoddus would be the next Oddworld project.[12] Lanning also stated that the project's success would contribute significantly to future Oddworld titles, and would be marketed more broadly than New 'n' Tasty!.[13]

Lanning also stated that a voting poll was planned for the remake's name.[12] Many fans liked the title Oddworld: Twice Ze Flavor;[14] however, on 14 March 2016, Oddworld Inhabitants announced on social media with a press release that the remake would be entitled Oddworld: Soulstorm. Later at EGX 2016, a game developer from Fat Kraken Studios, Matt Glanville, said that Soulstorm would be a direct sequel to Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty rather than a remake of Abe's Exoddus, instead being a re-imagining of the game's story.[15] Oddworld: Soulstorm has been described by Oddworld Inhabitants as "a complete story retake [of Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus] inspired by our original tale."[16]

The press release stated that Soulstorm was in development and was slated to be released later in 2017.[17] It was subsequently delayed to 2019, then into 2020. A team of 30 people was working on the game.[18] Due to the critical and commercial success of New 'n' Tasty!, the game had a larger budget, leading Oddworld Inhabitants to co-develop with Canadian developer Frima Studio, and Fat Kraken Studios in England.[19]

During the development of Oddworld: Soulstorm, Oddworld Inhabitants started an alternate reality game in which the developer hid clues within files and websites they created.[16]

In September 2016 at the EGX Expo, Oddworld Inhabitants game designer Matt Glanville said that Oddworld: Soulstorm would be an expanded version of Abe's Exoddus, featuring some areas and game mechanics from Exoddus as well as entirely new areas. He said that some parts from Abe's Exoddus would look 'completely different to the original'. The Quarma system from Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee was also revealed to be in Soulstorm.[20]

In February 2019, there was a Q&A session with Lanning on the Oddworld Official Discord server. He said that Soulstorm sales would determine if a third game would be created.[21] On 13 May 2019, Oddworld Inhabitants launched a gameplay teaser trailer for Soulstorm, with a planned release for early 2020.[22]

At Gamescom 2019, Lanning announced that the game would come to consoles and Windows in 2020 or 2021, with the Windows version being an Epic Games Store exclusive release. He stated that the reasoning behind this is that as indie developers they had self-financed the game and required additional financial resources in order to deliver the high quality AAA game they set out to create.[23] It was further showcased during Sony's PlayStation 5 event in June 2020, confirming that the game would be a console exclusive for both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.[24] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the game's production suffered yet another significant delay, with many of Oddworld Inhabitants' production team working from home. At The Game Awards 2020, a new trailer revealed a delay into Spring 2021, alongside opening pre-orders for the PC version.[25]

The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 on April 6, 2021.[26] An enhanced edition which included improved gameplay mechanics, motion code, audio balance improvements, and polish was announced by Oddworld Inhabitants on October 18, 2021, and was released on November 30, 2021 for.[27][28] A version for Steam was announced on April 20, 2022, and released on June 21, 2022.[29][30] On July 18, 2022, a port for Nintendo Switch, subtitled Oddtimized Edition, was announced with no release date planned.[31]

Reception

Oddworld: Soulstorm received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[32][33][34]

Travis Northup of IGN considered it "an excellent remake of a delightfully weird '90s platformer with tons of charm, challenge... and annoying bugs".

Chris Carter, writing for Destructoid, praised the levels for their openness and amount of content, as well as the variety in gameplay; he particularly commended the improvements to the series' mechanics, calling the movement system "one of the best parts of Soulstorm". However, he criticized aspects of menu navigation, writing it was "testy at times and requires a firm few (button) mashes to get going", as well as checkpoint placement and technical issues.

The game was downloaded over 4 million times through PlayStation Plus.[44]

Notes

References

External links

• Official website

---