Oddworld: Soulstorm is a reboot of 1998 sequel

Oddworld Inhabitants has released the first gameplay video for Oddworld: Soulstorm.

Soulstorm is described as a complete reboot of Abe’s Exoddus, the 1998 sequel to Abe’s Odyssey which suffered critically for having to be developed in less than a year.

This new game is creator Lorne Lanning’s chance to “bite the bullet and go back to that original vision”, he told Eurogamer.

Soulstorm is the second part of Oddworld’s original vision to create a quintology of Abe games, said Lanning, and the reboot will also ignore all the games that followed Exodus.

“They’re valid for the world but we wanted to bring Abe back to his real, true mission, as Abe is the centre character throughout,” Lanning explained.

Soulstorm follows Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty, itself a reimagining of the original Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee game.

Key features of the game include destructible environments, a crafting and scavenging system, and what Lanning calls “2.9D” environments, with significant depth to the side-scrolling areas players are able to explore.

Oddworld: Soulstorm is currently aiming for an early 2020 release, though Lanning said he’s prepared to delay the game if necessary.

“We’ll be forgiven for being late … as long as the game is great, but if we show up and ship on time and the game’s not great, we’ll be slaughtered forever.”