The Oddworld series has never quite evolved past its late 1990s roots; the grimy puzzle-platformer was a unique take on the genre for its time, yet hasn’t really made a mark with the handful of releases and ports since its debut. A shame, as Oddworld, with its Mudokon slaves, the half-mechanical Sligs, and industrialist Glukkons, is a place we enjoy spending time in – even if it’s a little depressing and grotesque. The most recent entry, 2021’s Oddworld: Soulstorm, came as a reimagined version of 1998’s Abe’s Exoddus on PS1. Now, Soulstorm has arrived on Switch with a handful of improvements.
Our sister website Push Square enjoyed Soulstorm about as much as antagonist Molluck the Glukkon likes our protagonist Abe – which, if you’re unfamiliar with Oddworld, is not very much. Bugs, clunky gameplay, and a lack of a fart button were among its issues, yet the Switch’s Oddtimized Edition promises to fix some of these issues, particularly the AI. The good news for Oddworld fans is that this promise has been fulfilled in some key areas. The bad news is that significant issues still abound.
Soulstorm’s narrative picks up after Abe successfully rescued his fellow enslaved Mudokons from RuptureFarms. The Glukkons are now out for revenge after their profit margins took a hit. A handful of pre-rendered cutscenes give the narrative some gravity; you can’t help but feel for the Mudokons and their plight. It isn’t long before Abe has to rescue his fellows once again from dark mines, stampeding trains, and rusted factories.
To do so, you control Abe through a series of increasingly difficult puzzle-platforming sections that throw a decent amount of variety your way in the form of both enemies and dangerous circumstances. Platforming is methodical rather than brisk, requiring you to think before making each move instead of relying on reaction and speed. Abe also respawns quickly if a Sligg sniper blows him into bloody chunks or if you mistime diffusing a mine, so when you’re presented with a new situation – say, crafting smoke bombs to create cover from enemies – trial and error isn’t too much of a pain, and Soulstorm gives you enough tools to overcome most trials in whichever way you see fit. We, for instance, didn’t like the constant scavenging for items necessary for crafting weapons and other helpful tools. Luckily, we could ignore doing so for the most part.
The two staples of the franchise – ordering around rescued Mudokons and possessing enemies – return, and while they play much the same way they did a couple of decades ago, they’re still the most unique part of Oddworld. Simple commands issued to Mudokons will allow them to help solve puzzles or stay out of sight while Abe dispatches a handful of baddies. The more you rescue, the better Abe’s fate at the end of the game, and achieving that perfect ending is no small feat.
Mudokons can be found and saved in several different ways: separate rooms that work as an enclosed puzzle, randomly interspersed throughout each level, and hordes of a hundred or more to keep safe as they scramble in the background of the level. Though many struggled with the allies’ AI when Soulstorm released last year, it seems marginally better on the Switch. We seldom had trouble ordering Mudokons to hide in lockers or billowing smoke to avoid patrols and quite enjoyed figuring out how to guide them all to safety.
Possessing enemies once again allows Abe to wreck some havoc on his oppressors. Taking control of a Sligg will always be an exhilarating reversal of power as you gun down other foes rather than sneak past them, then causing the poor chap to explode from the inside out once he’s served his purpose. Shock orbs prohibit Abe from possessing enemies in quite a few areas, however, preventing this eternally novel mechanic from trivialising a steep but fair difficulty curve.
Despite its slower pace, seemingly better AI, and possession mechanics, Soulstorm’s controls still cause problems. It’s as if a Sligg dipped your Joy-Con into a bottle of the sticky SoulStream energy drink as inputs often feel sluggish. Jumps will be missed. Abe will struggle to grab onto a ledge before a Sligg spots him. Trying to crawl so as to not trigger mines will sometimes result in rolling into said mines. Machinery that requires precise timing to pass will pulverise Abe again and again.
These control issues often snowball into halted progress. For example, one stage had us possessing an airborne Sligg to shoot another before either spot Abe, yet immediately after taking over the Sligg, the aiming reticle did not match up with the direction of the joystick, resulting in Abe getting killed. This simple interaction took us a dozen tries to clear and is just one frustrating example of many.
Worse yet, the bizarre choice to force Abe to re-loot after he dies in areas that emphasise the new crafting mechanic tried our patience. A way to retrigger a checkpoint after looting an area and crafting would’ve gone a long way to making Soulstorm a more pleasant experience. Instead, rummaging through a few dumpsters, opening the crafting menu, crafting the necessary tools, then immediately getting set on fire and having to start all over again was something we also experienced far too many times.
While Soulstorm is obviously built on the past, these design choices felt like they belonged in a bygone era. Some might find this all rustically nostalgic, harkening back to a simpler time, yet we found it a difficult hurdle to overcome on a console with smooth, well-paced platformers aplenty.
Conclusion
We like the Oddworld series, and we wish Soulstorm were better. The ingredients are there: the world itself and Abe’s story have a uniquely grimy charm. No section of Soulstorm’s 15-hour adventure feels quite like the last, with enough new enemies and mechanics introduced to keep things both interesting and challenging. Yet at the same time, technical issues mar the experience much like the dirt and rust that covers Oddworld, and small inconveniences add up to make completing the game much more trying than it should be. We hope one day an Oddworld game will be a must-play adventure worthy of the series’ late-'90s prestige, but Soulstorm on Switch hasn’t quite freed Abe and the Mudokons from the fetters of poor performance and archaic design.
Comments 32
Game from the 90s plays like game from the 90s.
What a controversy!
@Bass_X0 The game series is from the 90s, this game isn't.
What's about game's performance? You don't mentioned it's performance on Switch... In one of the screenshots, game looks good in handheld/undocked mode, surprisingly.
Edit: Also... What's about fart button?
New 'n Tasty got strong reviews when it was released. How is Soulstorm so much worse? Was Exodus just an inferior game to begin with?
Played this game on PC recently and had a wonderful time with it, it was difficult yes but once you know how to overcome obstacles and enemies it really is a good game. I got great satisfaction beating it. It puzzles me why this game gets bashed so much and I actually preferred this game to New N Tasty.
I remember playing them on PS1 back when they launched, I loved them then and I love them now. Might be Nostalgia talking though who knows.
Happily stuck in the 90s
Struggle to believe this only deserves a 5. I'll be getting it anyway.
@Dr_Corndog New'n'Tasty is a 1:1 remake of Abe's Oddysee. The graphics and sound are new but the levels and gameplay are identical.
Soulstorm is based on the story of Abe's Exoddus, but is a completely new game.
Abe's Exoddus is one of my all time favorites, so I bought Soulstorm on PC on day one. It isn't bad, but I couldn't really get into it. From a nostalgic fan's perspective, it takes too long to get to the interesting parts. I played it for two hours and didn't even get to the beginning of the original game! The journey to Necrum, that happens in five minutes during the intro in the original, is extended into several levels that were a bit boring after a while. I also didn't really like the crafting mechanics they added.
@gcunit Well you know how it is around here. If this were a first party Nintendo game or featuring any of it's iconic characters, then it would have gotten a 9 for sure.
@countzero Makes sense. Any idea why they decided to "reimagine" Exodus instead of remaking it like they did with the first one?
@Strumpan It says
“The most recent entry, 2021’s Oddworld: Soulstorm, came as a reimagined version of 1998’s Abe’s Exoddus on PS1.”
So it’s still a 1998 PS1 game at heart.
Funny that yet another Oddworld title has made it to the Switch after this peach of a quote:
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/07/oddworld_creator_lorne_lanning_has_no_faith_in_switch
Revamped dated franchise is criticized for being a revamped dated franchise
Please keep this attitude in mind when they release the 11th remaster of some old Nintendo title with only minor visual improvements.
@Flint That was 5 years ago, a lot has happened since. The dude had move on and is now in peace with Switch.
5/10 ? hm ...well...still better than Mario Strikers....
@Astral-Grain So far Nintendo had made only 4 HD remasters (remakes and emulation doesn't count) in their existence here: Wind Waker HD, Twilight Princess HD, Skyward Sword HD, and Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. Once Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe and Advance Wars 1+2 Reboot Camp got release then that number jumps to 6 HD remasters so far.
@Bass_X0 Ah, I see. Thanks.
Doesn't europe get the retail-version? If not, then I just have to hunt down a American copy someday.
So I'm the only one who actually enjoyed this eh? Oh well least I can take it with me now.
@Serpenterror AW Is More of a remake though, and there have been other remakes by Nintendo on Switch like Link's Awakening or BDSP
Very harsh score. And not a single mention about the performance.
@Oscarzxn Yeah but we're talking just HD remastered. Okay so Advance Wars is just a remake then that means the number jump up by one then when Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe release. Super Mario 3D All-Stars is just emulation and Link's Awakening is a remake so those don't count towards being HD remasters. The Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask 3D remaster for 3DS also doesn't count as 3DS isn't an HD platform.
Since Nintendo is very late to enter the HD era, a majority of their popular hits hadn't been HD remaster yet, banger hits like Zelda: Ocarina of Time Majora's Mask, the Metroid Prime Trilogy, Geist, Zelda: A Link to the Past Between Worlds, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Spiritual Track, Zelda: Oracles of the Aging Seasons, Zelda: Minish Cap Four Swords Adventure, the Donkey Kong Country Trilogy, Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, the Wario Land series, all the Golden Sun and F-Zero games, and many more had not hit the HD remaster yet.
@Serpenterror The point being, when a 3rd party company builds a brand new game from the ground up that remains faithful to the title it is based on, including things like touchy mechanics, it's strange someone would criticize it for being too similar to the game it is based on, since that was certainly the goal for a re-vamp title like this.
Comparatively, if Nintendo just re-releases Skyward Sword that is visually identical to running it on an emulator with upscaling, plus maybe a few QoL features like shorter tutorials in the beginning - this game doesn't get criticized because it includes frustrating controls and mechanics that plagued the game originally and that are made worse with Switch controls (dousing mechanic).
It's just hard to see past this double standard, that's the only point being made here.
@Astral-Grain
any accusations of "double standards" are toothless at best unless you can demonstrate that the two or more reviews in question were written by the same person. I'm just saying. 👍
@-wc- Does bias need to come from only one person for it to qualify as a "double standard"?
When multiple people are biased in the same way and create a standard that is favorable of one side while unfavorable to another side, despite the circumstances being almost the same, if that's not called "double standard", what word would you use instead?
@Vyacheslav333 @Henmii
Unsure why the review wouldn't mention it, especially since performance was the primary issue when it released originally last year, but all other Switch reviews I've seen and read on this game say performance is great on Switch, running a solid 30 FPS with very minor dips.
Still, I can't say the other reviews I've seen are aligned with this 5/10. It's concerning the main negative points have to do with mechanics the franchise was built on. The review at SwitchCorner literally said the words "if you're not good with frustration, I would not recommend ANY Oddworld entry", so it's hard to get over other reviews having such a different take when several others are more familiar with the franchise and they realize precise timing in order to progress a level is to be expected, even if it frustrates some people.
I know this game isn't perfect by any means, it's definitely for a specific type of gamer, but I equate it to criticizing a Dark Souls game for being too hard and frustrating. I think Dark Souls games are too difficult for me to play and I don't personally find them enjoyable, but that has nothing to do with it still being an amazing franchise built on punishing mechanics.
@Astral-Grain
touché 👍
I was happy with playing the one Oddworld game that I have played. I wasn't reallt interested in continuing to play the series after. Cheers for the revw
@Astral-Grain
Yeah, this person just gave a 5 because it wasn't his/her thing. As I said before in another topic, its a bit like the old Prince of Persia. Personally I like the world and the mood more then the gameplay.
Anyway, bought it. Yes, its a European version. However, it requires a 12 gb download, wich I didn't know. I suspect only the prologue to be on the cart (I played a very tiny portion without downloading, the cart feels very light).
If I knew this in advance I would just have waited untill the download-version was discounted (You need 11,2 gb for that). What's the use of buying physical if most of the game needs to be downloaded?
@Henmii Oof, thats a rotten feeling, it defeats the whole point of the physical cart. I had that happen to me when I picked up LA Noire for Switch.
LA Noire on Switch is 29GB, and if you get the cart, you still have to download 14GB to get it to play, which I did not know at the time.
Then, to further the confusion, I discovered the Steam version of LA Noire (Which is certainly high resolution) is only 16GB to download the whole game. Just baffling.
@Astral-Grain
Yeah, that's super annoying. Speaking of file-sizes: Sometimes it seems to be the other way around. I remember seeing a game on Steam that needed much more space to download on Steam then on the Switch. And I mean MUCH more!
@Strumpan It doesn't matter, it's still a series from the '90s.
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