ODDWORLD: SOULSTORM (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.1.1 Update

ODDWORLD: SOULSTORM As 300 recently freed slaves celebrate their escape from the industrial megacomplex of RuptureFarms, a new threat emerges. They quickly realize that, despite breaking their physical chains, they are far from truly liberated. This is a platform game developed and published by Oddworld Inhabitants. It was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Windows in April 2021, with an enhanced edition released in November 2021 alongside a port for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. A port for Nintendo Switch, subtitled Oddtimized Edition, was released in November 2022. It is the sequel to 2014’s Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty! and a re-imagining of 1998’s Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus as it was originally envisioned. The game received mixed reviews from critics and was downloaded over 4 million times through PlayStation Plus.

GAMEPLAY

Similar to its predecessor, the game is a 2.5D side-scrolling platform game. Protagonist of the Oddworld series Abe returns as the primary character, intending to rescue his fellow Mudokons from slave labor and exploitation by the brutal Glukkons. The game features substantially revised gameplay mechanics incorporating gameplay elements from both Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus and Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee. One new mechanic is an inventory to go along with a new looting and crafting system in which Abe can find various items within interactive objects, or pickpocket them from enemies and craft and customize different weapons, such as a smoke bomb or a flamethrower; one such lootable item is duct tape, which Abe can use to “apprehend” enemies without killing them. Moolah can also be collected with which to purchase items for the inventory or to open cash gates.

Abe is now capable of performing a double jump, allowing him to get across large gaps, and his throwing mechanic from New ‘n’ Tasty has been modified so that he can move around whilst aiming. A new health meter tracks how much health Abe has left, and can be recovered either over time, from rescuing Mudokons or by collecting often-hidden Royal Jellies, the latter of which will extend the meter. Certain hazards will still kill him instantly however regardless of how much health he has left. The Quarma system now has an additional tally that counts the number of enemies killed, therefore encouraging the player to either kill or spare enemies, though this doesn’t count against a level’s overall Quarma rating.

SETTING

Oddworld: Soulstorm is set hours following the events of Oddworld: New ‘n Tasty. In the previous installment, the RuptureFarms janitor Mudokon named Abe accidentally stumbled across a scheme engineered by his CEO, Molluck the Glukkon, to turn all Mudokon laborers into an edible product to compensate for the sales’ decline of other meat-based treats, provoked by the dwindling of available animals for processing (one of which already went extinct).

Frightened at learning he may become a target for harvesting, Abe escaped RuptureFarms and came across the free Mudokon shaman Big Face of the Mosaic Lines (a haven for free Mudokons), who elaborates his destiny is to save his enslaved brethren and shut off RuptureFarms permanently. For this, Big Face has Abe pass through a series of trials, branding each of Abe’s hands when he’s successful, granting him the power of the Shrykull (a divine amalgamation of the native Scrabs and Paramites).

Abe uses his power to return to RuptureFarms, rescue all Mudokons, and shut down the factory but is forced to stay behind to shut off the poisonous gas Molluck activated as an emergency measure, which he’s captured. On the verge of being sent to a meat grinder, however, Abe is saved by the free Mudokons who launch a lightning storm at RuptureFarms, destroying the factory, killing the Slig carrying out the execution, and zapping Molluck unconscious. Abe is then rescued by Big Face and taken to the Monsaic lines, being hailed as a hero. Aside from the protagonist, returning characters from New ‘N Tasty include Molluck and Alf (an original secondary character from Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus who became a protagonist of New ‘N Tasty’s “Alf’s Escape” DLC) and Mosaic Lines is revisited in the prologue.

Being a re-imagining of Abe’s Exoddus, only two characters of the original product, Vice-president Aslik, and the Brewmaster, are reintroduced and only the levels of the Necrum Mines, the Slig Barracks, FeeCo Depot, and Soulstorm Brewery are revisited. Four new characters – The Necrum Mines’ Baron Morguer, the elder Mudokon known as The Keeper, a nameless Mudokon shaman in the prologue (which is not Big Face), and the Mudokon train engineer Toby – are introduced as also new levels, such as the Necrum catacombs and a suspended monorail FeeCo Train.

PLOT

While the freed Mudokons from RuptureFarms celebrate their release, Abe consults with a shaman who urges him to cut away his lip stitches to “find his voice”, but Abe refuses to do so as he recalls the stitches are the last memory of his mother, Sam. At the same time, the Mosaic Lines is bombarded by the surviving Sligs from RuptureFarms, led by a vengeful Molluck, vilified by the Magog Cartel for ‘destroying his factory for the insurance money’. Abe and the surviving Mudokons led by Alf run away to safety. As Abe escapes, he comes across a Mudokon escapee – the same one seen in the introduction – slowly dying from a gunshot wound, he urges Abe to save all of them while giving him a wrapped package, telling him to find someone named “the Keeper”.

Abe departs to acquire a FeeCo train that can lead the free Mudokons to safety. Along the way, especially within the abandoned mines of the Sorrow Valley, Abe comes across Mudokon escapees who became mysteriously ill while also coming across another dead Mudokon who carried a video-cassette tape, with a letter urging Abe to see it. Despite the pursuit from Molluck’s Sligs and blimp, Abe reaches the Phat station and hijacks the train, using it to pick up Alf, the Monsaic Lines’ survivors and any Mudokons Abe comes across.

At the train, Abe confides to Alf his findings, including the wrapped package – which is a map to the Necrum Mines and an amber amulet with a Quarma-based creature – and the tape, which Alf says can be listened to at a communications tower in the Slig Barracks, which is the train’s next stop. Infiltrating the communications tower, Abe listens to the tape, which is revealed to be a project showcase for SoulStorm Brew, revealed to be an addictive drink meant to cause dependency on Mudokons – keeping the workforce loyal – which also acts as a poison that can cause lethal side-effects if not continuously imbibed within 48 hours. Realizing the danger, Abe urges Alf to head to Necrum so he can find the Keeper.

Infiltrating Necrum Mines, Abe travels deep within until he reaches the large, underground chamber of elder Mudokons, all encased in amber, where he comes across the Keeper who puts Abe to a trial – recovering the gemstone “Stone of the Fragon’s Eye” within a Sleech-infested catacomb. As Abe succeeds, the Keeper directs him to the center of the chamber, where he places the stone in a pedestal that brands Abe’s chest with lightning at the same time he acquires the memories of the elder Mudokons. Abe is informed by the Keeper he must ‘taint the brew’, using the antidote ingredients he acquired at the Sorrow Valley to heal the ill Mudokons.

As Abe discloses his revelations to Alf, they come up with the plan to mix the antidote into Soulstorm Brewery and Toby gives the idea of raiding the FeeCo Depot to acquire the containers with the antidote ingredients that will allow mass production of the antidote. Abe performs the raid, identifying and taking the containers, but the train leaves the depot under heavy fire from pursuing Sligs.

The outcome, from this point, is heavily dependent on the player’s overall Quarma (Which must amount to at least 80% of all Mudokons rescued in at least twelve levels up to that point). Post-credit scenes for each ending further amplify, via newspaper headlines, the aftermath of each outcome as well, again dependent on the overall Quarma.