Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus

About Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus

Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus (1998) is Oddworld Inhabitants' puzzle-platform sequel, made in nine months, in which Abe tries to stop the Glukkons brewing a drink from Mudokon bones and tears, now with quick saves and emotional Mudokons.

Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus in Depth

The game keeps Abe's Oddysee's flip-screen 2D design with no on-screen interface; touching hazards, being shot or falling usually means instant death, but lives are unlimited and the player restarts at the last checkpoint, and now can quick save anywhere. Puzzles use Abe's moves and abilities: GameSpeak phrases to command fellow Mudokons, chanting to possess enemies such as Sligs and Glukkons, throwing rocks, grenades and bones, and working mine cars and levers. A secondary goal is leading enslaved Mudokons to Bird Portals. This time Mudokons have moods: angry ones slap others, depressed ones may kill themselves if they see too much death, laughing gas makes them "wired", sick ones need a healing chant, and blind ones walk towards Abe's voice until told to wait. After drinking the Brew, Abe can even possess his own fart and use it as a flying explosive.

After destroying RuptureFarms, Abe learns from three Mudokon spirits that the Glukkons have turned the ancient burial grounds of Necrum into mines. His friends fall ill after drinking SoulStorm Brew, made from Mudokon bones, and later he discovers that the Brewery also extracts their tears by electrocuting slaves. Saving at least 150 of the 278 Mudokons earns the good ending.

Making Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus

After Abe's Oddysee's success, publisher GT Interactive pushed for a sequel by Christmas 1998, so Oddworld Inhabitants built it on the same engine. It was released for the PlayStation in November 1998 and Windows that December. CEO Sherry McKenna said the Academy Award submission was meant to improve the industry's reputation in animation: "If the game industry is ever going to have the reputation it deserves, we have to start somewhere."

Reviews were mostly positive and welcomed the quick save. Edge praised Abe's abilities but found it too similar to its predecessor, while GameSpot said that though it was "more of the same, it's more of a good thing", and IGN liked its improved graphics but disliked its trial and error. It won GamePro's E3 Showstopper award and was a finalist for console adventure and console game of the year, losing both to Ocarina of Time. In Germany it earned a Gold award for over 100,000 sales. A Game Boy Color version appeared as Oddworld Adventures 2, and it was reimagined as Oddworld: Soulstorm in 2021.