Oddworld: Soulstorm Review | Abe makes a brilliant return

Abe makes a superb return

After practically 7 years, Abe is again in a model new Oddworld recreation and I am blissful to say that Soulstorm is his biggest journey but.

Oddworld: Soulstorm is a sequel to the reboot Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty and it tells the story of Abe who’s now thought of a hero amongst his Mudokon friends. Nonetheless, the victory celebrations are lower quick when their hideout is attacked so Abe goes on yet one more journey to save lots of his Mudokon buddies and hopefully cease the evil industrialist Glukkons as soon as and for all. Whereas earlier video games comply with an identical narrative, Oddworld: Soulstorm actually involves life with its excellent cutscenes which function a really heartfelt efficiency from Abe which highlights his nurturing facet in a approach that I’ve by no means seen earlier than. This creates fairly a surprisingly emotional story and though there’s much less humour than there’s in earlier titles, I discover that this formulation really works higher because it creates an extremely immersive recreation world. It is also fairly inspiring to see Abe so defeated close to the start then find yourself reaching lots all through.

With regards to gameplay, Oddworld: Soulstorm is maybe essentially the most difficult recreation within the franchise to this point which I totally appreciated. It is also far much less linear with large and complex ranges that reward you for exploring each nook and cranny. Additionally, the core gameplay is much more diverse than earlier video games as you may find yourself juggling between stealth segments, tough puzzles, and motion sequences that’ll have you ever doing issues like working away from big saws or warding off Sligs whereas your Mudokon pals flee within the background. Consequently, the gameplay by no means turns into tiresome since you’ll continually be doing one thing completely different.

One other facet that provides to the range and enjoyable issue is the stock system the place you need to use devices to deal with enemy guards in addition to craft gadgets after gathering sufficient supplies. For instance, the titular Soulstorm beverage is flammable so you’ll be able to throw them at enemies then watch them run previous a torch solely to burst into flames. You may also lay landmines that stun enemies, tie up sleeping or surprised foes with tape after looting their our bodies, and extra. The truth is, pondering of intelligent methods for how you can progress is the place Oddworld: Soulstorm’s gameplay shines brightest. Whether or not you are telepathically controlling enemies, rigorously guiding Mudokons to a warp gate, commanding pals to function equipment, or sneaking previous a gang of sleeping ankle-biters; there is a ton of enjoyable available.

As you play, you may earn badges which might be particular to every degree which act as in-game achievements. These contain finishing duties akin to discovering secret areas, rescuing Mudokons, crafting gadgets, and principally any errand that you can imagine. Evidently, watching their necessities fulfill as you progress, discover, and full non-obligatory areas is nice enjoyable and provides loads of replay worth to the marketing campaign. While you consider leaderboards which double as time trials you then’re left with loads of causes to attempt your finest to outdo your earlier efforts. This method combines completely with the difficult and streamlined gameplay to make for one satisfying journey.

Though I liked my time with Oddworld: Soulstorm, it does have its downsides; the primary of which is that the controls take a very long time to get used to. I’ll have performed the earlier video games within the collection and the controls are comparable right here however they nonetheless took me a very long time to become familiar with, particularly climbing up ledges. As soon as all the pieces clicks, you may have a good time nevertheless it does take some time. One other difficulty is that the digicam can typically be positioned at annoying angles akin to if you’re working alongside a path and have to leap or keep away from sight lasers as a result of it could be laborious to evaluate issues when the digicam is at a forty five° angle. Lastly, some elements might use extra instruction as the assistance indicators won’t have sufficient information on them. At one level, I stored seeing a bunch of Sligs murdering a great deal of Mudokons and did not know what to do earlier than ultimately realising that I needed to possess them and make them shoot one another and it was nonetheless laborious.

Oddworld: Soulstorm is the perfect 2D stealth puzzle journey recreation ever made. From its number of well-crafted gameplay parts to its sprawling ranges that beg to be replayed; it is an unbelievable journey and with fairly a touching story, too.