After what feels like an eternity of waiting, Oddworld: Soulstorm is nearing its release date, sending fans of the long-time franchise into a frenzy of hype. Much like 2014's stellar Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty!, Soulstorm is a remake/re-imagining of a previous Oddworld title - in this case, the truly sublime Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus.
First released on the original PlayStation back in 1998, Abe's Exoddus was praised by both fans and critics, many of whom cited it as superior to the original game in almost every facet, despite it not doing much to innovate on the original game's mechanics or presentation. And yet, Abe's Exoddus is by far the best game in the Oddworld canon, even outdoing both Abe's Oddysee and New 'n' Tasty! despite the nostalgic appeal and technological advancements that those games may have. With Soulstorm arriving on PlayStation 5 very soon, there's really no better time to go back and experience Abe's Exoddus.
To many, a sequel that sticks closely to the original's formula isn't a worthy successor, but Abe's Exoddus took a winning formula and refined it to the point of perfection. Any grumbles or frustrations aimed at the original game, such as the severe lack of checkpoints or its grueling challenge, were largely fixed in Exoddus, despite being more difficult and unforgiving than its predecessor.
The steep difficulty spikes were remedied by the inclusion of QuikSave, which gave players the ability to create their own checkpoints independent of the ones that the game gave you by default. This small inclusion instantly removed any notion of tedium from particularly tough challenges and allowed for endless experimentation without the fear of long-slogs to get back to the same point.
This approach blended perfectly with the higher-stakes gameplay and a myriad of tougher puzzles and new enemy types to deal with. Abe could now possess any other living creature he came into contact with. This completely blew the doors off of the gameplay and allowed for some ingenious puzzle design that utilized every trick the player had at their disposal.
The visuals were essentially the same as the original game, but the level of detail and diversity in the environments and locales really made Exoddus stand-out from the crowd. The dark, gritty atmosphere of Rupture Farms was still present, but now we had even more disgusting and depraved capitalist institutions to infiltrate and wipe-out.
The Oddworld games would veer off on a very different path after Exoddus, changing the gameplay formula in ways that both delighted and frustrated fans. To that end, Exoddus is the purest distillation as to what Oddworld is all about, overcoming adversity in the face of immeasurable odds and taking down the corporate entities that suck the land dry with little more than your god-given talents. Abe's Exoddus is a game that holds up spectacularly well in the modern-day and is more than deserving of your time and attention.
Thankfully it's pretty easy to get your hands on Abe's Exoddus these days. It's available on Steam as part of their Oddbox Collection, which includes Oddysee, Exoddus, Munch's Oddysee, and the criminally underappreciated Stranger's Wrath. So get out there and rescue those slaves before SoulStorm is unleashed on us all!
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