Oddworld is a video game series and fictional universe, created by developers Oddworld Inhabitants under the direction of Lorne Lanning. The series has been released on various platforms such as PlayStation, Xbox, PlayStation 3, Game Boy, Windows, and Wii U, among others.
Throughout games set in the Oddworld universe, the player's character goes on a quest to defend Oddworld's ecosystem from endangerment by industrial corporations.
Oddworld planet Oddworld is the name of the planet on which all five Oddworld Inhabitants games are based, extant in another dimension. The planet was originally described as ten times the size of Earth; but Oddworld Inhabitants' president and creative developer Lorne Lanning has since explained that Oddworld's surface area is ten times the size of Earth's, given that Oddworld is predominantly a dry-land planet and Earth is predominantly water-covered. It has its own sun and thus its own orbit resulting in a unique clock and calendar.
At some point, the planet suffered huge natural turmoils that resulted in volcanic crusts forming a new layer upon the entire planet. When that crust collapsed, it created giant thousand-foot craters all over the planet. The planet has a total of three layers, each with its own climate, temperature and gravitational levels. The giant craters were then used by the various Oddworld species to house their cities, whose tips could be seen protruding above the crust surface when looking across the landscape.
Only one of Oddworld's continents has been featured in the games—Mudos—and only a tiny fraction of Mudos has been seen in-game.Ballistic Publishing, The Art of Oddworld: The First Ten Years 1994–2004, page 58 The journeys of Abe through Abe's Oddysee, Abe's Exoddus and Munch's Oddysee take him through that small portion, composed of fields, jungles, deserts, caverns and swamps. Much of the planet is decimated by industrialist species for their own profit; this is represented by city-sized factories and mass transit systems.
Oddworld species The protagonist species of the games in the Oddworld universe are the Mudokons (): an oviparous anthropoid with blue or green skin. In Abe's Oddysee, Abe's Exoddus and Munch's Oddysee, the Mudokons are peaceful, spiritual inhabitants of a mock-Paleolithic society. Oddworld creator Lorne Lanning has explained that the Mudokons were not always sympathetic protagonists, insofar as, though they represent a class of slaves exploited by the upper class, their ability to telepathically control other species contradicts that status. Their principal enemies are the Glukkons, a cephalopod-like anthropoid with only vestigial lower limbs (usually concealed by clothing), representing an industrial master class. Subordinate to the Glukkons are the Sligs, who appear as soldiers or body-servants. The Mudokons have two sacred or totemic species, both of which resemble arthropods, but are actually vertebrates: the towering Scrabs and the arachnid-like Paramites, whereof both are hunted by the Sligs on the Glukkons' behalf to make food or similar products. Mudokons, Scrabs, Paramites and Glukkons were designed by Steven Olds.
In Munch's Oddysee several creatures were added to the game. The Vykkers are purple, hairless humanoids with four arms and four legs. Interns resemble Vykkers, but have only two sets of limbs. Big Bro Sligs are bigger and more powerful Sligs, with armored versions of them occasionally being seen. Fuzzles are small, furry, spheroidal predator-scavengers. Meeps resemble sheep, but with only one limb and one eye. Gabbits are an amphibian species whose single hind leg serves as both feet and flukes.
Stranger's Wrath introduced new species such as the Clakkers, who are anthropomorphic, flightless birds; the Outlaws, bulbous, hairless, blue-green humanoids; the Steef, feline-featured, gracile-legged centaurs; the Grubbs, amphibian-like bipeds that are symbionts of the Steef; the Oktigi, amphibious, parasitic cephalopods related to the Glukkons; and the Gloktigi, large, cephalopod-like bipeds related to the Oktigi and Glukkons.
Oddworld: Soulstorm introduced replacement creatures such as the Sleeches to replace the Fleeches from Exoddus and a big Slig known as the 'Slig Mama' which a Slig operates inside a protective casing and fires missiles towards Abe and yells common Slig phrases like "Halt!" and "Freeze!"
In the Oddworld games, the GameSpeak feature allows the player to interact with the non-playable characters (NPCs). Examples of GameSpeak commands in the original game Abe's Oddysee are "Hello", "Follow me" and "Wait". Rescuing Mudokons and opening certain doors are all achieved through GameSpeak. Enemies possessed by Abe can also use GameSpeak, and one can take control of Slig guards, use Glukkons to command subservient Sligs, or use Sligs to call their Slog pets to heel. GameSpeak also included burps and flatulence, for comical effect. The GameSpeak feature is modified in Stranger's Wrath, with a single talk button that causes the Stranger to say something appropriate to the situation. This context-sensitive GameSpeak also works for questioning the Clakker and Grubb townsfolk. This change makes the talk button more comparable to a universal-action button.
Games set on Oddworld The developers originally stated that the Oddworld series would be a pentalogy called the Oddworld Quintology, and that Abe's Exoddus and Stranger's Wrath were bonus titles not counting toward the total of five. The Oddworld Adventures games are handheld versions of Abe's Oddysee and Exoddus. The Quintology was halted after the first two games, when the company decided to redirect its efforts toward film production. There were also a few titles that were hinted at in interviews and press releases, but they were never developed.
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
At the beginning of this game, Abe is a happy, ignorant worker at RuptureFarms, a meat-packing plant,Carr, Diane, David Buckingham, Andrew Burn, Gareth Schott, 2006, Computer Games: Text, Narrative and Play, Polity but he then discovers that the plant's boss Molluck the Glukkon has decided to use the factory's Mudokon slaves as a source of meat.White, Jason, Oddworld Adventures 2, All Game. At the end of the game's introductory sequence, which is a retrospective voice-over by Abe,Clarke, Andy, Grethe Mitchell, 2007, Videogames and Art, Intellect Books. he runs for his life. The Mudokons' spiritual leader, the BigFace, reveals that the Paramites and Scrabs slaughtered and processed by the Glukkons were formerly sacred to the Mudokons, and orders Abe to relight holy flames extinguished by the Glukkons. Having done this, Abe is empowered by BigFace and infiltrates RuptureFarms, where he frees the remaining slaves and destroys the Glukkon board of executives, but is himself captured. Should the player save a certain number of Mudokons, their free compatriots rescue Abe, and he receives a hero's welcome from the Mudokons he rescued. Should the player not save a sufficient number, Abe is executed by Molluck.
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus
Abe's Oddysee was very popular, and the bonus game Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus was released the following year. Abe's Exoddus begins where Abe's Oddysee ends.Something strange is brewing in 'Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus', CNN. Abe's abilities in this game were similar to his abilities in the first game, with an expanded ability to communicate with other characters in the world using GameSpeak.Thomas, Maureen, François Penz, 2003, Architectures of Illusion: From Motion Pictures to Navigable Interactive Environments, Intellect Books Here, Abe is informed by ghosts of his speciesAbe biography , Official Oddworld Website. that Necrum, a Mudokon burial ground, is being excavated by Glukkons, using blind Mudokons as slaves. Abe then departs, with his companions Alf, Ben, Phos, Han and LukeOddworld: Abe's Exoddus to find a cure to the sickness caused by the SoulStorm Brew, created from the excavated bones. Having cured his friends, he destroys the brewery. If the player is successful, Abe is again rescued by his friends; if not, he is captured by the brewery's owner and electrocuted.
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
Not long after the events of Abe's Exoddus, Abe helps Munch (the last living remnant of an amphibious race called the Gabbits) to save the Gabbits' eggs from destruction, in exchange for Munch's help in rescuing more captive Mudokons.
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath is an action-adventure game published for the Xbox in 2005. The game's main character is a bounty hunter named Stranger. The game utilizes both third- and first-person perspectives and is less puzzle-oriented than the previous three Oddworld games.Underneath It All, Substance Sells, The New York Times The game has a Wild West setting. It was later ported to the PC and released through the digital distribution service Steam.
Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty!
Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! is a full remake of Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee developed by Just Add Water and published by Oddworld Inhabitants. It was released in July 2014 for the PlayStation 4 with later releases for additional platforms such as Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, Wii U, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. The game also had a physical version released for a limited time for PS4 and the PS Vita in 2016 from Limited Run Games. In 2019, LRG also released a physical version for the PS3. In August 2020, New 'n' Tasty was announced to be releasing on the Nintendo Switch in October 2020.
Oddworld: Soulstorm
Oddworld: Soulstorm is a direct sequel to Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! and a reimagining of the story from Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, rather than a direct remake. It was developed and published by Oddworld Inhabitants and released in April 2021 for Windows, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. An 'Enhanced Edition' was later released in November 2021 alongside a port for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
Released titles Title Year Platforms Developer Publisher Notes Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 1997 PlayStation, Microsoft Windows, PSN (2008), OnLive (2012) Oddworld Inhabitants GT InteractiveOddworld: Abe's Oddysee, Moby Games First pentalogy game Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus 1998 PlayStation, Windows, PSN (2008), OnLive (2012) Oddworld Inhabitants GT InteractiveOddworld: Abe's Exoddus, Moby Games Bonus pentalogy game and a sequel to Abe's Oddysee Oddworld Adventures 1998 Game Boy Saffire GT InteractiveOddworld: Adventures, Moby Games Handheld version of Abe's Oddysee Oddworld Adventures 2 2000 Game Boy Color Saffire Infogrames Handheld version of Abe's Exoddus Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee 2001 Xbox, Windows (2010), PS3 (2012), OnLive (2012), PS Vita (2014), Android (2015), Nintendo Switch (2020) Oddworld Inhabitants, Just Add Water (port) InfogramesOddworld Inhabitants Second pentalogy game Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee 2003 Game Boy Advance Art Co., Ltd THQOddworld: Munch's Oddysee, Moby Games Handheld version of Xbox game Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath 2005 Xbox, Windows (2010), PS3 (2011), PS Vita (2012), OnLive (2012), iOS (2014), Android (2014), Ouya, OS X (2015) Nintendo Switch (2020) Oddworld Inhabitants, Just Add Water Ltd. (port) Electronic ArtsOddworld: Stranger's Wrath, Moby Games First-person shooter/third-person platformer Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! 2014 PS4 (2014), Windows & Linux (2015), Xbox One (2015), PS3 (2015), Wii U (2016), Nintendo Switch (2020), PS Vita (2016), Android, iOS (2017) Just Add Water Oddworld Inhabitants A re-creation of Abe's Oddysee. Made on the Unity game engine. Nephilim Game Studios ported the Wii U and PS Vita version of New 'n' Tasty Oddworld: Soulstorm 2021 PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch Oddworld Inhabitants Oddworld Inhabitants An expanded re-creation of Abe's Exoddus. Made on the Unity game engine
Unreleased titles