Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus
Encyclopedia
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus is a multi-award–winning platform video game
developed by Oddworld Inhabitants
and published by GT Interactive. It is a sequel to the video game Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
. It is considered a bonus title in the Oddworld series, and not part of the main Oddworld Quintology
. It was released in 1998 for the PlayStation video game console
and Microsoft Windows
for North America
, Europe
and Australia
, and in 1999 for the PlayStation in Japan
. It was re-released on the PlayStation Network on October 22, 2009.
The game continues the story of Abe
, charting his efforts to save his fellow Mudokons from another plot by the Glukkons to exploit them. Abe discovers that the Glukkons are enslaving
Mudokons, this time to produce a drink called Soulstorm Brew, which uses Mudokon bones and tears as its ingredients. The player assumes the role of Abe, embarking on a quest to halt production of SoulStorm Brew.
The game was released to similar critical acclaim as the first title. Reviews praised the game's ability to allow the player to QuikSave anywhere they liked, a feature that was not present in Abe's Oddysee, while noting that it was very similar to that title.
The game features no user interface
or heads-up display
. Information is conveyed to the player through instructive screens that can be activated by the player character, or through scrolling messages in the background. Characters do not have hit points; instead, being attacked (such as being shot or mauled) generally causes instant death. However, the player has unlimited lives, and upon death will re-spawn at the last checkpoint they reached. Abe's Exoddus includes a suspend save feature called "QuikSave", which allows the player to designate their own checkpoints, a feature which was not present in Abe's Oddysee due to programming conflicts and which attracted criticism of that title.
While the focus of the gameplay is surmounting screens, there is a secondary focus on rescuing enslaved Mudokons. GameSpeak is a pivotal ability in this respect; by pressing combinations of buttons, the player character will utter short phrases that can be used to control allied non-player character
s—to pull extra levers, to follow the player character, to attack enemy characters in the current screen, or simply to wait.
Unlike the first game, Mudokons have emotional states and status ailments that affect how they respond to the player's character. Mudokons may be angry, wired, depressed
, sick, or blind, and each state must be dealt with differently by the player. Angry, wired or depressed characters can be consoled through GameSpeak, whilst sick Mudokons can only be cured with a special chant, obtained when the player character finds a helper character. Blind Mudokons will keep walking in the direction of the player character's voice, and must be told to wait before they walk into a hazard.
Possession
is the player character's ability to take control of certain characters in the same screen by chanting. When a character is possessed, the player can use their abilities and weapons to find otherwise unreachable areas or levers, kill enemies, or as part of solving puzzles. However, when possessing a character, the player character remains immobile and vulnerable to attack.
The player can abandon possession of a creature at any time. Scrabs or Paramites will be released without harm when abandoned, while Industrialists (Sligs and Glukkons) will burst into pieces. If the player character has drunk Soulstorm Brew, they will be able to possess their own fart
, which can then be used as a flying explosive and will detonate either when control is abandoned, or after a period of time.
Slave Mudokons are rescued through Bird Portals. If the player character chants when in the same screen as a Bird Portal, the portal will activate, and any nearby Mudokon slaves will run through it, disappearing. Rescuing Mudokons is not usually crucial to progressing through the game; however, rescuing at least 150 is necessary to get the good ending, and many secret areas revolve around rescuing a few Mudokons in particularly complex situations.
The player can also gain the ability to turn into the Shrykull, a Mudokon supernatural demigod. Abe acquired this power at a late stage in Abe's Oddysee. The ability is earned by sending a certain number of Mudokons through a bird portal at once, denoted by a number circulating with the birds. With the ability, the player can enter a screen with enemies or explosives, chant to transform into the Shrykull, and vaporize all enemies and hazards on the screen. Afterward, the player character turns back into Mudokon form. Achieving the ability and doing such is necessary to get past certain points in the game. The player can only turn into the Shrykull once each time they earn the ability, so where and when they choose to use it is important.
Enemies in the game primarily consist of Sligs, semi-robotic creatures who will attempt to kill the player character on sight. Although most have mechanical legs and carry machine gun
s, some Sligs wear helicopter flight packs and launch grenade
s. Some Sligs choose to sleep without wearing mechanical legs, in which case they are vulnerable until they can obtain a set. Sligs can be possessed by the player character, who can then control the Slig and utilize its weapon. Sligs cannot see in dark shadows, which create natural hiding places for the player character. Sligs are often accompanied by Slogs, bipedal dog-like creatures that chase and attack the player character on sight. Slogs can be commanded if the player possesses a Slig, and can be ordered to attack and kill enemies. Sloggies are the puppy form of Slogs, and are slower but just as deadly if the player character encounters them. Slogs and Sloggies can be distracted with chunks of meat.
Other enemies include Greeters, robotic security guards originally designed for public speaking and advertising, until they began to attack their customers. Greeters have motion detectors, and if the player character or another Mudokon triggers a Greeter's detector, the Greeter will give chase and attempt to kill the victim with an electric charge.
Glukkons feature as the game's primary antagonists. Glukkons are tall-foreheaded, humanoid creatures who are ruthless, malevolent businessmen. They walk on their arms as their feet are located upon their chest, and as a result they are physically defenseless and rely on Sligs to protect and serve them. They are the owners and bosses of the industries Abe visits throughout the game, and the masters of the Mudokon and Slig slaves. Glukkons can be possessed by the player, and can be made to command Sligs through GameSpeak, either to kill other characters, or to pull levers and move platforms.
Animals and wildlife consist of the Scrabs and aforementioned Paramites, both carnivorous
predators that are encountered in the burial vaults of Necrum. Scrabs are highly territorial and chase any other life form on sight. Should they encounter another Scrab, a short fight ensues in which one is killed. Paramites are pack hunter
s, and will flee when encountered individually, but will attack when cornered. When confronted in number, however, the player character ceases to threaten them and they will immediately give chase and attack. Paramites can be distracted with chunks of meat.
Other wildlife include the Fleeches, worm-like creatures that live in the Oddworld underworld. When woken from sleep, they will chase the player character and any other Mudokons, attacking with their long tongues before swallowing the victim whole. Fleeches fear Scrabs and Paramites and try to avoid them whenever possible. Fleeches are the only enemy that cannot kill Abe in one hit and it is possible to run away from Fleeches while they are attacking before they hit Abe enough to kill him, They are also the only enemies that can navigate up platform edges. Slurgs, the lowest form of life on Oddworld, are often found alongside Fleeches, as when stepped on by the player character, Slurgs emit a noise that wakes Fleeches from sleep.
The events of Abe's Exoddus follow on immediately from the events of Abe's Oddysee, beginning with the protagonist standing in front of a cheering crowd, having saved 99 Mudokons from RuptureFarms, the meat processing factory from the previous game. Abe falls from the stage, and loses consciousness as he hits the ground. In a vision, three Mudokon spirits inform Abe that the Glukkons are using Mudokon slaves to exhume Mudokon bones at Necrum, the burial grounds of the ancient Mudokons. Abe and five friends cross the deserts of Oddworld, and succeed in infiltrating Necrum Mines, where Abe is separated from his friends.
Abe explores the mines and is reunited with his friends, but they drink an excess of Soulstorm Brew and become sick. He then discovers that Soulstorm Brew uses Mudokon bones as one of its ingredients. Abe overloads the boilers that power Necrum Mines, only just escaping the resulting explosion. Abe navigates the jungles and Mudokon burial vault
s of Necrum, liberating trapped Mudokon spirits as he does so, until he finds the three Mudokon spirits who told him about Necrum. They ask him to shut down Soulstorm Brewery, which is also exploiting Mudokon slaves, and brand a scar across his chest, which gives Abe the power to heal sick Mudokons. Abe returns to his sick friends and heals them.
Abe then proceeds to the FeeCo Depot, a large railway station and transshipment
/storage area, where he learns that the entrance to Soulstorm Brewery has been sealed by three high-ranking Glukkons. To unseal the entrance, Abe infiltrates a bone processing plant named Bonewerkz, the Slig Barracks
, and the FeeCo Executive Office. By possessing all three Glukkons in turn, Abe orders the Slig guards to open the main gate leading to Soulstorm Brewery, and uses a train from the FeeCo Depot to get there.
As Abe explores Soulstorm Brewery, he learns that the second ingredient of Soulstorm Brew is Mudokon tears, and that the Glukkons obtain the tears by attaching Mudokon slaves to machines that electrocute them repeatedly and force them to cry. Abe also discovers that he can destroy the brewery by overloading its main boiler and causing an explosion. What happens next depends on how many Mudokons Abe has saved throughout the game.
In addition to the endings, if the player saves all 300 Mudokons, they are rewarded with a screen that says "Coming in 2000, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee," This screen is followed by another that gives supposed hints to the upcoming release including Abe's long lost mother. This information, however, is presumed to be a part of the original story that was cut since there is no mention of Abe's mother in Munch's Oddysee at all. Finally an art gallery showing concept and production art for Abe's Exoddus will begin playing.
If the player kills every Mudokon, except those that cannot be reached or must be rescued to proceed through the game, they will be returned to the FeeCo Depot with permanent invincibility. This was prevented by a bug in the PC version of the game.
1998. In order to meet this deadline, Abe's Exoddus was made to run on the same game engine as Abe's Oddysee, and was completed in nine months. Lorne Lanning
, the director
of both games, stated that "we killed ourselves getting Abe's Exoddus done in nine months. It was brutal."
save points"
|-
|IGN
|7.8 of 10
|"Those who favor it, will love it
to death."
|-
|PC Zone
|7.0 of 10
|"Hard but fair"
|-
!colspan=3|Compilations of multiple reviews
|-
|Game Rankings
|colspan=2|91 of 100 (based on 13 reviews)
|-
|Metacritic
|colspan=2|88 of 100 (based on 13 reviews)
|}
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
developed by Oddworld Inhabitants
Oddworld Inhabitants
Oddworld Inhabitants Inc. is an American video game developer founded in 1994 by special-effects and computer-animation veterans Sherry McKenna and Lorne Lanning. The company is primarily known for the Oddworld Quintology, a series of award-winning video games about the fictional planet of Oddworld...
and published by GT Interactive. It is a sequel to the video game Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee is a multi-award–winning platform video game developed by Oddworld Inhabitants and published by GT Interactive. It was released in 1997 for the PlayStation video game console, DOS and Microsoft Windows in North America, Australia and Europe...
. It is considered a bonus title in the Oddworld series, and not part of the main Oddworld Quintology
Oddworld
Oddworld is a comprehensive fictional universe presented in video game form, created by game developers Oddworld Inhabitants under the direction of Lorne Lanning. Throughout games set in the Oddworld universe, Oddworld's peaceful nature is in danger of being consumed by the industrial ambition of...
. It was released in 1998 for the PlayStation video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
and Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
for North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and in 1999 for the PlayStation in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. It was re-released on the PlayStation Network on October 22, 2009.
The game continues the story of Abe
Abe (Oddworld)
Abe is a fictional character and protagonist in the Oddworld video game series, created by Oddworld Inhabitants. Abe was introduced in the 1997 game Abe's Oddysee and his character has changed and developed throughout the subsequent games, Abe's Exoddus and Munch's Oddysee.Abe, a creature known as...
, charting his efforts to save his fellow Mudokons from another plot by the Glukkons to exploit them. Abe discovers that the Glukkons are enslaving
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
Mudokons, this time to produce a drink called Soulstorm Brew, which uses Mudokon bones and tears as its ingredients. The player assumes the role of Abe, embarking on a quest to halt production of SoulStorm Brew.
The game was released to similar critical acclaim as the first title. Reviews praised the game's ability to allow the player to QuikSave anywhere they liked, a feature that was not present in Abe's Oddysee, while noting that it was very similar to that title.
Gameplay
Abe's Exoddus is a two-dimensional platform game, with many of its features taken from the previous title, Abe's Oddysee. The game is split into screens; when the player moves into the edge of the screen, the environment is replaced, just like in the previous title. Most screens include various puzzles that must be solved through the use of Abe's unique abilities: "GameSpeak", possession, controlling mine carts, activation or deactivation of mines or levers, and rocks, grenades, or bones that can be picked up and used for different purposes. Normal abilities include creeping, walking, running, rolling, hoisting, jumping, and crouching, all of which have specific application and make up a necessary arsenal of moves.The game features no user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
or heads-up display
HUD (computer gaming)
In video gaming, the HUD is the method by which information is visually relayed to the player as part of a game's user interface...
. Information is conveyed to the player through instructive screens that can be activated by the player character, or through scrolling messages in the background. Characters do not have hit points; instead, being attacked (such as being shot or mauled) generally causes instant death. However, the player has unlimited lives, and upon death will re-spawn at the last checkpoint they reached. Abe's Exoddus includes a suspend save feature called "QuikSave", which allows the player to designate their own checkpoints, a feature which was not present in Abe's Oddysee due to programming conflicts and which attracted criticism of that title.
While the focus of the gameplay is surmounting screens, there is a secondary focus on rescuing enslaved Mudokons. GameSpeak is a pivotal ability in this respect; by pressing combinations of buttons, the player character will utter short phrases that can be used to control allied non-player character
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
s—to pull extra levers, to follow the player character, to attack enemy characters in the current screen, or simply to wait.
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
, sick, or blind, and each state must be dealt with differently by the player. Angry, wired or depressed characters can be consoled through GameSpeak, whilst sick Mudokons can only be cured with a special chant, obtained when the player character finds a helper character. Blind Mudokons will keep walking in the direction of the player character's voice, and must be told to wait before they walk into a hazard.
Possession
Spiritual possession
Spirit possession is a paranormal or supernatural event in which it is said that spirits, gods, demons, animas, extraterrestrials, or other disincarnate or extraterrestrial entities take control of a human body, resulting in noticeable changes in health and behaviour...
is the player character's ability to take control of certain characters in the same screen by chanting. When a character is possessed, the player can use their abilities and weapons to find otherwise unreachable areas or levers, kill enemies, or as part of solving puzzles. However, when possessing a character, the player character remains immobile and vulnerable to attack.
The player can abandon possession of a creature at any time. Scrabs or Paramites will be released without harm when abandoned, while Industrialists (Sligs and Glukkons) will burst into pieces. If the player character has drunk Soulstorm Brew, they will be able to possess their own fart
Flatulence
Flatulence is the expulsion through the rectum of a mixture of gases that are byproducts of the digestion process of mammals and other animals. The medical term for the mixture of gases is flatus, informally known as a fart, or simply gas...
, which can then be used as a flying explosive and will detonate either when control is abandoned, or after a period of time.
Slave Mudokons are rescued through Bird Portals. If the player character chants when in the same screen as a Bird Portal, the portal will activate, and any nearby Mudokon slaves will run through it, disappearing. Rescuing Mudokons is not usually crucial to progressing through the game; however, rescuing at least 150 is necessary to get the good ending, and many secret areas revolve around rescuing a few Mudokons in particularly complex situations.
The player can also gain the ability to turn into the Shrykull, a Mudokon supernatural demigod. Abe acquired this power at a late stage in Abe's Oddysee. The ability is earned by sending a certain number of Mudokons through a bird portal at once, denoted by a number circulating with the birds. With the ability, the player can enter a screen with enemies or explosives, chant to transform into the Shrykull, and vaporize all enemies and hazards on the screen. Afterward, the player character turns back into Mudokon form. Achieving the ability and doing such is necessary to get past certain points in the game. The player can only turn into the Shrykull once each time they earn the ability, so where and when they choose to use it is important.
Allies, enemies and wildlife
Allies in the game include Mudokons, humanoid species encountered as rescuable slaves and helpers. Normally, they will follow any GameSpeak-given order, but as described above, some Mudokons will be emotional and must be consoled by the player character first. The player character can also possess other creatures, in order to gain help with a task. For example, when possessing a Paramite, the player character can use GameSpeak to communicate with other Paramites, in much the same way as Mudokons.Enemies in the game primarily consist of Sligs, semi-robotic creatures who will attempt to kill the player character on sight. Although most have mechanical legs and carry machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
s, some Sligs wear helicopter flight packs and launch grenade
Grenade
A grenade is a small explosive device that is projected a safe distance away by its user. Soldiers called grenadiers specialize in the use of grenades. The term hand grenade refers any grenade designed to be hand thrown. Grenade Launchers are firearms designed to fire explosive projectile grenades...
s. Some Sligs choose to sleep without wearing mechanical legs, in which case they are vulnerable until they can obtain a set. Sligs can be possessed by the player character, who can then control the Slig and utilize its weapon. Sligs cannot see in dark shadows, which create natural hiding places for the player character. Sligs are often accompanied by Slogs, bipedal dog-like creatures that chase and attack the player character on sight. Slogs can be commanded if the player possesses a Slig, and can be ordered to attack and kill enemies. Sloggies are the puppy form of Slogs, and are slower but just as deadly if the player character encounters them. Slogs and Sloggies can be distracted with chunks of meat.
Other enemies include Greeters, robotic security guards originally designed for public speaking and advertising, until they began to attack their customers. Greeters have motion detectors, and if the player character or another Mudokon triggers a Greeter's detector, the Greeter will give chase and attempt to kill the victim with an electric charge.
Glukkons feature as the game's primary antagonists. Glukkons are tall-foreheaded, humanoid creatures who are ruthless, malevolent businessmen. They walk on their arms as their feet are located upon their chest, and as a result they are physically defenseless and rely on Sligs to protect and serve them. They are the owners and bosses of the industries Abe visits throughout the game, and the masters of the Mudokon and Slig slaves. Glukkons can be possessed by the player, and can be made to command Sligs through GameSpeak, either to kill other characters, or to pull levers and move platforms.
Animals and wildlife consist of the Scrabs and aforementioned Paramites, both carnivorous
Carnivore
A carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of animal tissue, whether through predation or scavenging...
predators that are encountered in the burial vaults of Necrum. Scrabs are highly territorial and chase any other life form on sight. Should they encounter another Scrab, a short fight ensues in which one is killed. Paramites are pack hunter
Pack hunter
A pack hunter is a predator belonging to the animal kingdom, which has evolved to hunt its prey by working together with other members of its species. Normally, such animals are closely related. The most commonly known pack hunter is the Gray Wolf, the ancestor of all breeds of domesticated dogs...
s, and will flee when encountered individually, but will attack when cornered. When confronted in number, however, the player character ceases to threaten them and they will immediately give chase and attack. Paramites can be distracted with chunks of meat.
Other wildlife include the Fleeches, worm-like creatures that live in the Oddworld underworld. When woken from sleep, they will chase the player character and any other Mudokons, attacking with their long tongues before swallowing the victim whole. Fleeches fear Scrabs and Paramites and try to avoid them whenever possible. Fleeches are the only enemy that cannot kill Abe in one hit and it is possible to run away from Fleeches while they are attacking before they hit Abe enough to kill him, They are also the only enemies that can navigate up platform edges. Slurgs, the lowest form of life on Oddworld, are often found alongside Fleeches, as when stepped on by the player character, Slurgs emit a noise that wakes Fleeches from sleep.
Story
Abe explores the mines and is reunited with his friends, but they drink an excess of Soulstorm Brew and become sick. He then discovers that Soulstorm Brew uses Mudokon bones as one of its ingredients. Abe overloads the boilers that power Necrum Mines, only just escaping the resulting explosion. Abe navigates the jungles and Mudokon burial vault
Burial vault
Burial vault may refer to:*Burial vault , protective coffin enclosure*Burial vault , underground tomb...
s of Necrum, liberating trapped Mudokon spirits as he does so, until he finds the three Mudokon spirits who told him about Necrum. They ask him to shut down Soulstorm Brewery, which is also exploiting Mudokon slaves, and brand a scar across his chest, which gives Abe the power to heal sick Mudokons. Abe returns to his sick friends and heals them.
Abe then proceeds to the FeeCo Depot, a large railway station and transshipment
Transshipment
Transshipment or Transhipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, and then from there to yet another destination....
/storage area, where he learns that the entrance to Soulstorm Brewery has been sealed by three high-ranking Glukkons. To unseal the entrance, Abe infiltrates a bone processing plant named Bonewerkz, the Slig Barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
, and the FeeCo Executive Office. By possessing all three Glukkons in turn, Abe orders the Slig guards to open the main gate leading to Soulstorm Brewery, and uses a train from the FeeCo Depot to get there.
As Abe explores Soulstorm Brewery, he learns that the second ingredient of Soulstorm Brew is Mudokon tears, and that the Glukkons obtain the tears by attaching Mudokon slaves to machines that electrocute them repeatedly and force them to cry. Abe also discovers that he can destroy the brewery by overloading its main boiler and causing an explosion. What happens next depends on how many Mudokons Abe has saved throughout the game.
- If 150 or more Mudokons are rescued, the Good Ending is triggered. Abe succeeds in destroying Soulstorm Brewery, and escapes to be greeted by the Mudokons he saved. He is called a "terrorist mastermind" by the Magog Cartel, and a hero by his fellow Mudokons.
- Should the player save less than 150 Mudokons, they will instead receive the Bad Ending. Abe is ganged up on by his friends for not helping the slaves, and he is knocked unconscious. He is attached to a machine used by the brewery for extracting tears, and is killed by an overload of electricity from the machine.
In addition to the endings, if the player saves all 300 Mudokons, they are rewarded with a screen that says "Coming in 2000, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee," This screen is followed by another that gives supposed hints to the upcoming release including Abe's long lost mother. This information, however, is presumed to be a part of the original story that was cut since there is no mention of Abe's mother in Munch's Oddysee at all. Finally an art gallery showing concept and production art for Abe's Exoddus will begin playing.
If the player kills every Mudokon, except those that cannot be reached or must be rescued to proceed through the game, they will be returned to the FeeCo Depot with permanent invincibility. This was prevented by a bug in the PC version of the game.
Development
Following the success of Abe's Oddysee, GT Interactive, the publishers of Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus, pushed for a sequel to be made by ChristmasChristmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
1998. In order to meet this deadline, Abe's Exoddus was made to run on the same game engine as Abe's Oddysee, and was completed in nine months. Lorne Lanning
Lorne Lanning
Lorne Lanning is an American game designer, writer and voice actor. He is also co-founder and president of the video game developer, Oddworld Inhabitants...
, the director
Game director
Game director may refer to:* Video game producer, the person in charge of overseeing development of a video game* Technical director, usually a senior technical person within creative group...
of both games, stated that "we killed ourselves getting Abe's Exoddus done in nine months. It was brutal."
Reception
likely because of the lack ofsave points"
|-
|IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
|7.8 of 10
|"Those who favor it, will love it
to death."
|-
|PC Zone
PC Zone
PC Zone was the first magazine dedicated to games for IBM-compatible personal computers to be published in the United Kingdom. Earlier PC magazines such as PC Leisure, PC Format and PC Plus had covered games but only as part of a wider remit. PC Zone was founded in 1993.The magazine was published...
|7.0 of 10
|"Hard but fair"
|-
!colspan=3|Compilations of multiple reviews
|-
|Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
|colspan=2|91 of 100 (based on 13 reviews)
|-
|Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
|colspan=2|88 of 100 (based on 13 reviews)
|}
Abe's Exoddus, like Abe's Oddysee, received mostly positive reviews upon its release. GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
commented on the game's similarity to the previous title, stating "though the Exoddus gameplay is essentially more of the same, it's more of a good thing". PC Zone
PC Zone
PC Zone was the first magazine dedicated to games for IBM-compatible personal computers to be published in the United Kingdom. Earlier PC magazines such as PC Leisure, PC Format and PC Plus had covered games but only as part of a wider remit. PC Zone was founded in 1993.The magazine was published...
praised the game's cut-scenes, stating that "the cut-scenes are brilliantly created (especially in the sound department)". IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave particular praise to the game's graphics: "The 3D characters are better looking than the previous iteration, and more animated backgrounds and moving parts liven up the slightly old formula".
Criticism varied between reviews. GameSpot's sole criticism was of the game's two-player mode, stating that "the waiting game just doesn't parallel the egocentric fun of keeping this title to yourself". PC Zone focused on the game's difficulty, stating that "it's too f**king hard...You sometimes start to dread moving into a (obviously harder) new area of the game". IGN criticised trial and error
Trial and error
Trial and error, or trial by error, is a general method of problem solving, fixing things, or for obtaining knowledge."Learning doesn't happen from failure itself but rather from analyzing the failure, making a change, and then trying again."...
gameplay, stating that "the same trial-and-error scheme is frustrating as a thorn in your heel. Several areas simply leave you stranded, and you have to start over."
Despite these criticisms, the game won many awards, including the E3 Showstopper award from GamePro in 1998, the E3 Best of Show Winners List, the Best Action/Adventure PSX Game award from Next Level Holiday Guide in 1999, and the 1998 Best PSX Adventure Game award from Game Revolution in 1999.
Game Boy Color version
The Game Boy ColorGame Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
port was released as Oddworld Adventures 2; it was developed by Saffire Corporation
Saffire (video game developer)
Saffire was a contract video game developer located in American Fork, Utah. It is noted both for porting games and making some original titles. It was founded by Sculptured Software co-founder, Hal Rushton. They released their last title, Thunderbirds, in 2004 and went out of business sometime...
and published by GT Interactive in November 1999
1999 in video gaming
-Events:*British Academy of Film and Television Arts hosts the 2nd annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards*March – Game Over republished as “Game Over: Press Start to Continue”...
. The game is a significantly cut-down version of Abe's Exoddus, with only a few similar levels and an absence of plot.