Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
Encyclopedia
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
. The game was released under the title Abe a GoGo in Japan
for the PlayStation by publisher SoftBank
, with a PC version following in 2001. Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee was the first game in the planned five-part Oddworld Quintology
, which includes Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus
and Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
.
The game centers on the titular Abe
, a Mudokon slave working at the RuptureFarms meat processing factory on Oddworld. When he discovers that he and his friends face death at the hands of their desperate master, he decides to escape and aid as many enslaved Mudokons as he can along the way. The player assumes the role of Abe, and must escape from the factory before embarking on a perilous quest to restore his once noble people.
Abe's Oddysee was widely acclaimed for having innovative gameplay, good graphics and engaging cut-scenes; however, its large learning curve
and system of saving
only at checkpoints received criticism.
The game features no user interface
or heads-up display
. Information is conveyed to the player in a number of ways; through instructive screens that can be activated by the player character, through scrolling messages in the background, or through groups of fireflies that can arrange themselves to produce words should the player character chant near them. No characters in the game have hit points; instead, being attacked (such as being shot or mauled) causes instant death. The player, upon death, will re-spawn at the most recent checkpoint.
Possession is the player character's ability to take control of Sligs in the same screen by chanting. Possessing Sligs is a necessity in certain situations, usually to kill enemy Sligs in the nearby screens or to give commands to nearby Slogs. When possessing a Slig, the player character remains immobile and vulnerable to attack. Upon abandoning control of a possessed Slig, the victim will burst into pieces.
Slave Mudokons are rescued through Bird Portals. If the player character chants when in the same screen as a Bird Portal, and other Mudokons are nearby, the portal will activate and Mudokons will run through it, disappearing. Rescuing Mudokons is not crucial to playing the game; however, rescuing at least fifty is necessary to achieve the more pleasing ending, and many secret areas revolve around rescuing one or two Mudokons in particularly complex situations.
At certain points late in the game, the player can gain the ability to turn into the Shrykull, a Mudokon demigod. This is usually earned by sending a certain number of Mudokons through a special bird portal at once, denoted by a number circulating with the birds. With the ability, the player can once go into a screen with enemies or explosives, chant, become the Shrykull, and vaporize everything on the screen. Afterward, he returns to Mudokon form. Achieving the ability and doing such is necessary to get past certain points in the game. The player can only become the Shrykull once each time they earn it, so where and when they choose to use it is important.
The purpose-created game engine
and artificial intelligence
for Abe's Oddysee is called A.L.I.V.E. (Aware Lifeforms In a Virtual Environment), and has been acclaimed for its realistic encounters and intelligent enemies.
s—to follow the player character or make them wait.
Allies in the game include Mudokons, humanoid species encountered either as rescuable slaves who willingly follow all GameSpeak-given orders, or free native Mudokons who give aid to the player. Native Mudokons are armed with slingshots, and will kill the player character without hesitation; to appease and gain the aid of one of these natives, the player must mimic various whistles that the native makes through GameSpeak combinations. Another creature is the Elum, a friendly, bipedal mule-like creature upon which the player character can ride for increased speed and longer jumps. When the player has dismounted, the Elum will follow GameSpeak-given commands unless distracted by dripping honey. In such a scenario, the Elum will ignore everything except coming under attack by bees, in which case the Elum will abandon the honey and flee to a safer area. The Elum can be summoned with a special bell at certain points in the game.
Enemies in the game primarily consist of Sligs, semi-robotic squid/slugs armed with automatic rifle
s. 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 prove to create natural hiding places. Often accompanying Sligs are Slogs. Slogs are bipedal dog-like creatures that, as with the Sligs, chase and attack the player character on sight. Slogs can be commanded by Sligs when possessed by the player, and can be ordered to attack and kill others. When encountered alone, Slogs can be distracted by chunks of meat.
Glukkons feature as antagonists. Glukkons are tall humanoid creatures who are ruthless, malevolent businessmen and capitalists. They possess only vestigial legs and therefore walk on their arms. They are the owners of RuptureFarms and the masters of the Mudokon and Slig slaves. Glukkons appear only in pre-rendered cut scenes, wherein they are crucial to the plot, except for the final screen of the game in which the player drops into the boardroom and vaporizes them by turning into the Shrykull.
Animals and wildlife consist of the Scrabs and Paramites. Scrabs are predators that primarily live in the desert regions. They are highly territorial and attack and chase any other life form upon sight; should they engage another Scrab, a short fight ensues in which one is killed. Paramites are pack hunter
s that live in dark caves within the forest regions. When encountered individually, Paramites are shy and will flee (though if cornered they will lash out and attack). When confronted in number, however, the player character ceases to threaten them and they will immediately chase and attempt to attack. Paramites can be distracted with chunks of meat.
The primary antagonist of the game is Molluck the Glukkon, the ruthless chief executive officer
of the meat-packing factory titled RuptureFarms. Reportedly attractive by Glukkon standards, and having terrible cigar breath, Molluck is obsessed with success, doing anything within his power and cunning to achieve ever more wealth. Despite this, Molluck's business empire is failing due to decline of the wildlife whose meat he sells. Desperate to revive his trade, Molluck decides to use his Mudokon slave population in his food products to offset the declining profits.
RuptureFarms is undergoing difficulties: the ingredients of their three major products: Scrab Cakes, Paramite Pies, and Meech Munchies, are quickly running out, with the Meeches already extinct. While working late one night, Abe chances upon the Board Room, where the various Glukkons are discussing their dilemma. After reviewing the situation, Molluck announces his plan to use the Mudokon slaves as new meat products called "Mudokon Pops!", frightening Abe into a resolution of escaping from the factory.
Abe proceeds to elude the authorities and escape from RuptureFarms; immediately out, Abe sees a large moon in the sky, with its face in the shape of a Mudokon handprint, signifying the Mudokons as the "chosen people". Abe suddenly falls down a cliff, smashing his head; as he lies on the ground, BigFace appears before him in a vision.
BigFace sends Abe towards his quest: to rescue his enslaved brethren and "restore the lost land". He cannot accomplish this feat without first completing the spiritual trials of the Monsaic Lines and Mudokon temples. Abe journeys into the Monsaic Lines, from where he travels to the forests of Paramonia and the deserts of Scrabania. In each land, Abe completes the tests of the respective temple; after each one, BigFace gives Abe hand scars, one representing the Paramites and one representing the Scrabs.
Once Abe has both scars, he can become the Shrykull, an all-powerful demigod creature. The Shrykull stands outside life as a dualistic god, of creation and destruction, and of fear and love. With this divine power, Abe returns to RuptureFarms, rescues his Mudokon brethren and comes close to shutting it down entirely.
Abe is surprised, captured, and bound so he cannot chant to invoke the Shrykull. It is at this point that he first appears in captivity at the start of the game. As Molluck enters the prison cell and prepares to drop Abe into a meat grinder, BigFace holds a meeting with freed Mudokons at the Monsaic Sanctum.
with few late changes.
The game saw its first release on the PlayStation, DOS and Windows on September 19, 1997, on a day dubbed as "Odd Friday" by the developer and publisher; over 500,000 units were originally released worldwide. The Japanese version followed in October. A Sega Saturn
version was also announced by GT Interactive, but it was never released.
Abe's Oddysee was the first major GT title that the UK development team, that had been taken in by GT following the acquisition of Warner Interactive, became involved with. The testing process of the game was unusual for GT Interactive as the UK team did game play testing whilst normally US developed games were only tested in Europe for language and other compatibility issues.
The soundtrack features mostly ambient music composed by Ellen Meijers
.
described the game as "a tight 2D platformer that's packed with great innovative touches and some great character design". GameSpot
gave the PlayStation version 8.4 out of 10 and praised the game as "the ideal platformer, balancing its action and puzzle elements perfectly to make the game intelligent, engaging, and, best yet, fun". Animation World Magazine applauded multiple aspects of the game, saying it "features some of the best graphics and animation we've ever seen" and commenting on the "sophisticated gameplay". The graphics struck many reviewers as being excellent, as while the game is two-dimensional, all elements were rendered in 3D programs. PC Zone
remarked that "the developers have created an outstanding visual environment for Abe to leap around in", while GamePro
described the graphics as "eye-popping".
The game's audio was often singled out for praise. GameSpot gave the music a score of nine out of ten.
Most criticism toward the game was directed at the save system. Edge said that "Oddworld demands a certain level of commitment to progress", while Science Fiction Weekly claimed the game's "innovative game play makes for a steep learning curve. This initial difficulty in figuring out how to play is aggravated by a save feature that often forces players to redo difficult sections." PC Zone
stated that "progress does seem to rely on trial and error, which involves much replaying of levels and gnashing of teeth. All this can be frustrating at times, especially when Abe is plonked right back at the start of a level when he dies". The game's follow-up, Abe's Exoddus, notably implemented a suspend save feature that did not require the reaching of checkpoints.
Despite this criticism, the game won many awards, including the Nobel Prize from PC Computing Magazine in December 1997, E3 Showstopper 1997 from GamePro in August 1997 and the award for Best Director from the World Animation Festival in 1997.
For the release in Japan, the title of Abe's Oddysee was changed to Abe a GoGo by the publisher SoftBank. Other changes included the art for the "Mudokon Pops!" packaging, which originally consisted of a Mudokon head speared on a stick. Due to undisclosed current events in Japan, the design was changed to a more ambiguous, "happier" image. The design for the protagonist Abe and other Mudokons was also significantly altered. Certain Japanese pressure groups were offended by the Mudokons having four fingers and most of them working in a meat-packing factory, due to a historic Japanese subclass of meat packers
who were looked down upon in society. Four fingers, or showing four fingers to another person, came to insinuate the other was a member of the subclass, because it had become symbolic of the meat packers who frequently had work-related accidents. Oddworld Inhabitants had to alter the design of Mudokons to having only three fingers, or else face legal battles and large fines.
Oddworld Inhabitants made the altered designs a permanent feature; subsequent versions of Abe's Oddysee released outside Japan included both the changed packaging and changed Mudokon hand. Future games and media also recognise these changes as canon
, although Abe's Exoddus oddly features four-fingered Mudokon sprites, and scenes from Abe's Oddysee shown in the game were not altered.
(FMV) named "Guardian Angel" can be unlocked. The video depicts a captured Abe being harassed by "The Shrink", a mechanical creature with a sophisticated artificial intelligence. The FMV is notable due to its absence from the PC version and later PlayStation releases of the game, and its introduction of a new character to the Oddworld mythos. The character was reputedly part of an early advertising campaign, which included television commercials, but was eventually abandoned.
port was released as Oddworld Adventures; it was developed by Saffire Corporation
and published by GT Interactive in 1998. The game is a significantly cut-down version of Abe's Oddysee, with only a few similar levels and a condensed plot (Abe starts out as a native Mudokon, so the opening levels in RuptureFarms are absent from this version).
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 was released in 1997 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...
, DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
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...
in 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...
, 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 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...
. The game was released under the title Abe a GoGo 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...
for the PlayStation by publisher SoftBank
SoftBank
is a Japanese telecommunications and internet corporation, with operations in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-Commerce, Internet, broadmedia, technology services, finance, media and marketing, and other businesses....
, with a PC version following in 2001. Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee was the first game in the planned five-part 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...
, which includes Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus
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...
and Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee is the third game made by Oddworld Inhabitants. Originally announced as a title in development for PlayStation 2, it was instead released exclusively as one of the launch titles for Microsoft Xbox. It is the second chapter of the Oddworld pentalogy, following Abe's Oddysee...
.
The game centers on the titular 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...
, a Mudokon slave working at the RuptureFarms meat processing factory on Oddworld. When he discovers that he and his friends face death at the hands of their desperate master, he decides to escape and aid as many enslaved Mudokons as he can along the way. The player assumes the role of Abe, and must escape from the factory before embarking on a perilous quest to restore his once noble people.
Abe's Oddysee was widely acclaimed for having innovative gameplay, good graphics and engaging cut-scenes; however, its large learning curve
Experience curve effects
Models of the learning curve effect and the closely related experience curve effect express the relationship between equations for experience and efficiency or between efficiency gains and investment in the effort....
and system of saving
Saved game
A saved game is a piece of digitally stored information about the progress of a player in a video game. This saved game can be reloaded later, so the player can continue where he or she had stopped...
only at checkpoints received criticism.
Gameplay
Abe's Oddysee is a two-dimensional platform game. The game is split into screens; when the player moves into the edge of the screen, the environment is replaced. Most screens include various puzzles that must be solved through the use of player-character Abe's unique abilities: GameSpeak, possession, activation or deactivation of mines or levers, and rocks, grenades, or meat chunks that can be picked up and used in a variety of situations. Normal abilities include creeping, walking, running, rolling, hoisting, jumping, and crouching, all of which have a 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 in a number of ways; through instructive screens that can be activated by the player character, through scrolling messages in the background, or through groups of fireflies that can arrange themselves to produce words should the player character chant near them. No characters in the game have hit points; instead, being attacked (such as being shot or mauled) causes instant death. The player, upon death, will re-spawn at the most recent checkpoint.
Possession is the player character's ability to take control of Sligs in the same screen by chanting. Possessing Sligs is a necessity in certain situations, usually to kill enemy Sligs in the nearby screens or to give commands to nearby Slogs. When possessing a Slig, the player character remains immobile and vulnerable to attack. Upon abandoning control of a possessed Slig, the victim will burst into pieces.
Slave Mudokons are rescued through Bird Portals. If the player character chants when in the same screen as a Bird Portal, and other Mudokons are nearby, the portal will activate and Mudokons will run through it, disappearing. Rescuing Mudokons is not crucial to playing the game; however, rescuing at least fifty is necessary to achieve the more pleasing ending, and many secret areas revolve around rescuing one or two Mudokons in particularly complex situations.
At certain points late in the game, the player can gain the ability to turn into the Shrykull, a Mudokon demigod. This is usually earned by sending a certain number of Mudokons through a special bird portal at once, denoted by a number circulating with the birds. With the ability, the player can once go into a screen with enemies or explosives, chant, become the Shrykull, and vaporize everything on the screen. Afterward, he returns to Mudokon form. Achieving the ability and doing such is necessary to get past certain points in the game. The player can only become the Shrykull once each time they earn it, so where and when they choose to use it is important.
The purpose-created game engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
and artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
for Abe's Oddysee is called A.L.I.V.E. (Aware Lifeforms In a Virtual Environment), and has been acclaimed for its realistic encounters and intelligent enemies.
Gamespeak
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; at the press of a button, the player character will utter short phrases that can be used to control allied non-player characterNon-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 follow the player character or make them wait.
Allies, enemies, and wildlife
Enemies in the game primarily consist of Sligs, semi-robotic squid/slugs armed with automatic rifle
Automatic rifle
Automatic rifle is a term generally used to describe a semi-automatic rifle chambered for a rifle cartridge, capable of delivering both semi- and full automatic fire...
s. Sligs can be possessed
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...
by the player character, who can then control the Slig and utilize its weapon. Sligs cannot see in dark shadows, which prove to create natural hiding places. Often accompanying Sligs are Slogs. Slogs are bipedal dog-like creatures that, as with the Sligs, chase and attack the player character on sight. Slogs can be commanded by Sligs when possessed by the player, and can be ordered to attack and kill others. When encountered alone, Slogs can be distracted by chunks of meat.
Glukkons feature as antagonists. Glukkons are tall humanoid creatures who are ruthless, malevolent businessmen and capitalists. They possess only vestigial legs and therefore walk on their arms. They are the owners of RuptureFarms and the masters of the Mudokon and Slig slaves. Glukkons appear only in pre-rendered cut scenes, wherein they are crucial to the plot, except for the final screen of the game in which the player drops into the boardroom and vaporizes them by turning into the Shrykull.
Animals and wildlife consist of the Scrabs and Paramites. Scrabs are predators that primarily live in the desert regions. They are highly territorial and attack and chase any other life form upon sight; should they engage 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 that live in dark caves within the forest regions. When encountered individually, Paramites are shy and will flee (though if cornered they will lash out and attack). When confronted in number, however, the player character ceases to threaten them and they will immediately chase and attempt to attack. Paramites can be distracted with chunks of meat.
Characters
Abe's Oddysee includes only four named characters, though there are many anonymous slaves and guards. The protagonist of the game is Abe, a Mudokon slave worker born into captivity and ignorant of his people's rich history and culture. Abe is often described as a "klutz" for his clumsy and simple nature. He is also different from the rest of the Mudokons, being the only one to have his lips sewn shut. Reportedly, because of his constant crying in his childhood, they sew his mouth shut to keep him quiet. It didn't do any good though. Mid-point through his adventure, Abe is joined by the Elum, a stubborn, yet loyal mule creature. "Elum" is the English word "Mule" spelled backwards; and the creature is described as one in the enclosed instruction book. It is unclear whether "Elum" is the name of the species, or merely of the individual. Abe and Elum were originally envisioned as beginning Abe's Oddysee together, living off the land and being thrust into an industrialized factory slave environment. The developers came to the conclusion that the story was stronger should Abe come from a factory existence and later reveal one of self-sustenance, and as such the concept was changed. A guiding leader figure enters the story in Big Face, the pre-eminent Shaman of the Mudokon people, who wears a large wooden mask, crafted by native Mudokons, from which his name is derived. Big Face is a character whose spiritual power and knowledge remains a mystery; he saves Abe from death and sets him on a quest to rescue his brothers and face the trials of the Monsaic Lines, before acting in a more traditional leader's role to the eventual dozens of freed slaves.The primary antagonist of the game is Molluck the Glukkon, the ruthless chief executive officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of the meat-packing factory titled RuptureFarms. Reportedly attractive by Glukkon standards, and having terrible cigar breath, Molluck is obsessed with success, doing anything within his power and cunning to achieve ever more wealth. Despite this, Molluck's business empire is failing due to decline of the wildlife whose meat he sells. Desperate to revive his trade, Molluck decides to use his Mudokon slave population in his food products to offset the declining profits.
Story
Abe's Oddysee begins with the titular protagonist as a prisoner in RuptureFarms, from which point he narrates his story. He and many other Mudokons have been slaves all their life to Molluck the Glukkon, who owns RuptureFarms, which is known as the biggest meat-processing plant on Oddworld. Abe is a contented floor-waxer First Class and currently Employee of the Year.Abe proceeds to elude the authorities and escape from RuptureFarms; immediately out, Abe sees a large moon in the sky, with its face in the shape of a Mudokon handprint, signifying the Mudokons as the "chosen people". Abe suddenly falls down a cliff, smashing his head; as he lies on the ground, BigFace appears before him in a vision.
BigFace sends Abe towards his quest: to rescue his enslaved brethren and "restore the lost land". He cannot accomplish this feat without first completing the spiritual trials of the Monsaic Lines and Mudokon temples. Abe journeys into the Monsaic Lines, from where he travels to the forests of Paramonia and the deserts of Scrabania. In each land, Abe completes the tests of the respective temple; after each one, BigFace gives Abe hand scars, one representing the Paramites and one representing the Scrabs.
Once Abe has both scars, he can become the Shrykull, an all-powerful demigod creature. The Shrykull stands outside life as a dualistic god, of creation and destruction, and of fear and love. With this divine power, Abe returns to RuptureFarms, rescues his Mudokon brethren and comes close to shutting it down entirely.
Abe is surprised, captured, and bound so he cannot chant to invoke the Shrykull. It is at this point that he first appears in captivity at the start of the game. As Molluck enters the prison cell and prepares to drop Abe into a meat grinder, BigFace holds a meeting with freed Mudokons at the Monsaic Sanctum.
Endings
Here, there are two endings:- The good ending, which is triggered by the player rescuing at least fifty Mudokon slaves throughout the game, sees the Mudokons resolve to save Abe, and sees them chant together and invoke a powerful lightning bolt upon Molluck's pointy head. With Molluck incapacitated, Big Face teleports to Abe, frees him, and teleports him out to a cheering crowd.
- Should Abe have failed to rescue at least fifty Mudokons throughout the game, the bad ending is invoked, wherein the few freed Mudokon slaves refuse to give aid to him. Molluck is given free rein to release Abe into a meat grinder, where he is instantly killed. Subsequent games and media treat the "Good Ending" as canonical.
Development
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee began production in January 1995 under the working title of Soul Storm. After GT Interactive acquired publishing rights on September 12, 1996, they changed the title, first to Epic 1 and eventually to Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. The game had a private showing at E3 '96, but it was not until E3 '97 that journalists took note of the game and it was generally well received. The version of the game shown at E3 '97 was remarkably similar to the release version, and Abe's Oddysee had a reportedly smooth development cycleSoftware development process
A software development process, also known as a software development life cycle , is a structure imposed on the development of a software product. Similar terms include software life cycle and software process. It is often considered a subset of systems development life cycle...
with few late changes.
The game saw its first release on the PlayStation, DOS and Windows on September 19, 1997, on a day dubbed as "Odd Friday" by the developer and publisher; over 500,000 units were originally released worldwide. The Japanese version followed in October. A Sega Saturn
Sega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
version was also announced by GT Interactive, but it was never released.
Abe's Oddysee was the first major GT title that the UK development team, that had been taken in by GT following the acquisition of Warner Interactive, became involved with. The testing process of the game was unusual for GT Interactive as the UK team did game play testing whilst normally US developed games were only tested in Europe for language and other compatibility issues.
The soundtrack features mostly ambient music composed by Ellen Meijers
Ellen Meijers
Ellen Meijers is a Dutch video game music composer who worked for such companies as Apple Inc., LucasArts, Oddworld Inhabitants and Crystal Dynamics.-Education:*The Royal College of Art, England 1994–1995 Master of Arts: Interactive Multi Media...
.
Reception
Upon its release in 1997, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee received mostly positive reviews. EdgeEdge (magazine)
Edge is a multi-format computer and video game magazine published by Future Publishing in the United Kingdom. It is known for its industry contacts, editorial stance, distinctive anonymous third-person writing style, yearly awards and longevity....
described the game as "a tight 2D platformer that's packed with great innovative touches and some great character design". 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...
gave the PlayStation version 8.4 out of 10 and praised the game as "the ideal platformer, balancing its action and puzzle elements perfectly to make the game intelligent, engaging, and, best yet, fun". Animation World Magazine applauded multiple aspects of the game, saying it "features some of the best graphics and animation we've ever seen" and commenting on the "sophisticated gameplay". The graphics struck many reviewers as being excellent, as while the game is two-dimensional, all elements were rendered in 3D programs. 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...
remarked that "the developers have created an outstanding visual environment for Abe to leap around in", while GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
described the graphics as "eye-popping".
The game's audio was often singled out for praise. GameSpot gave the music a score of nine out of ten.
Most criticism toward the game was directed at the save system. Edge said that "Oddworld demands a certain level of commitment to progress", while Science Fiction Weekly claimed the game's "innovative game play makes for a steep learning curve. This initial difficulty in figuring out how to play is aggravated by a save feature that often forces players to redo difficult sections." 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...
stated that "progress does seem to rely on trial and error, which involves much replaying of levels and gnashing of teeth. All this can be frustrating at times, especially when Abe is plonked right back at the start of a level when he dies". The game's follow-up, Abe's Exoddus, notably implemented a suspend save feature that did not require the reaching of checkpoints.
Despite this criticism, the game won many awards, including the Nobel Prize from PC Computing Magazine in December 1997, E3 Showstopper 1997 from GamePro in August 1997 and the award for Best Director from the World Animation Festival in 1997.
Japanese version
Burakumin
are a Japanese social minority group. The burakumin are one of the main minority groups in Japan, along with the Ainu of Hokkaidō, the Ryukyuans of Okinawa and Japanese residents of Korean and Chinese descent....
who were looked down upon in society. Four fingers, or showing four fingers to another person, came to insinuate the other was a member of the subclass, because it had become symbolic of the meat packers who frequently had work-related accidents. Oddworld Inhabitants had to alter the design of Mudokons to having only three fingers, or else face legal battles and large fines.
Oddworld Inhabitants made the altered designs a permanent feature; subsequent versions of Abe's Oddysee released outside Japan included both the changed packaging and changed Mudokon hand. Future games and media also recognise these changes as canon
Canon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
, although Abe's Exoddus oddly features four-fingered Mudokon sprites, and scenes from Abe's Oddysee shown in the game were not altered.
Guardian Angel FMV
In the initial PlayStation version of the game, upon "perfect" completion of the game — completion with all 99 Mudokon slaves rescued — an extra full motion videoFull motion video
Full motion video based games are video games that rely upon pre-recorded TV-quality movie or animation rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models to display action in the game. In the early 1990s a diverse set of games utilized this format...
(FMV) named "Guardian Angel" can be unlocked. The video depicts a captured Abe being harassed by "The Shrink", a mechanical creature with a sophisticated artificial intelligence. The FMV is notable due to its absence from the PC version and later PlayStation releases of the game, and its introduction of a new character to the Oddworld mythos. The character was reputedly part of an early advertising campaign, which included television commercials, but was eventually abandoned.
Game Boy version
The Game BoyGame Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
port was released as Oddworld Adventures; 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 1998. The game is a significantly cut-down version of Abe's Oddysee, with only a few similar levels and a condensed plot (Abe starts out as a native Mudokon, so the opening levels in RuptureFarms are absent from this version).
HD remake
On January 31, 2011, Oddworld Inhabitants confirmed that a HD remake of Abe's Oddysee is being developed by UK studio, Just Add Water. The remix is described by series creator Lorne Lanning as "basically Abe's Oddysee being redone in a 3D physics engine as a 2D side-scrolling platformer," stating the developers "are not trying to reinvent any wheels." The game is scheduled to come out in early 2012, confirmed recently by Just Add Water on Twitter. No formats have been announced as of yet.External links
- Official Oddworld website
- Editorial on design of Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee at GOG.comGOG.comGood Old Games is a computer game sale and distribution service owned by Polish company CD Projekt.- History :The service sells older PC games. In order to ensure compatibility with newer versions of Microsoft Windows, some games are pre-patched or bundled with Open Source emulation and...
- Official solution script used by GT Interactive