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I am prepared to break my own rules and impulse buy the Oddworld bundle that has just popped up on Fanatical. It includes every single Oddworld game—a series of lavishly animated 2D puzzle platformers starring a weird-looking green guy—for just one dollar, a price that compares extremely favourably to its usual $84.92.
That dollar gets you six games (though one of them, New ‘n’ Tasty, is a remake of another, Abe’s Oddysee) as well as a DLC level and costume for New ‘n’ Tasty. They are:
- Oddworld: Abe’s Oddyssee (1997)
- Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus (1998)
- Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee (2001)
- Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD (2005)
- Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty (2015)
- Oddworld: Soulstorm Enhanced Edition (2022)
The games are a mixed bag, but I reckon Abe’s Oddysee is a must play. It debuted on the original PlayStation back in 1997 and broke the mould of that era by taking place on a 2D plane. That allowed a lot of headroom for character animations that looked absolutely gorgeous at the time, and while it feels a little clumsy in the hand by modern standards, it’s still richly atmospheric and the right amount of bonkers.
There are some other good Oddworlds, too. As I mentioned before, New ‘n’ Tasty is a remake of the first Oddworld and worth prioritizing if you don’t have patience for antiquity. Exoddus is a direct sequel to the first and feels kinda the same, albeit on a grander scale. In my opinion—not one shared by our reviewer—the most recent Soulstorm is the best place to start: it’s a completely modernised take on the original format.
And who can forget Stranger’s Wrath? It’s the oddity of the bundle and I don’t mean that in the sense that you should keep a wide berth. It takes the series into proper 3D environments, with third-person platforming and first-person shooting. It was very well-received back in 2005, and comes recommended if you miss the days when all games were brown.
I’m not sure how long this bundle will last, but it’s available now on Fanatical.
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Kurt Indovina
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