Oddworld: Soulstorm Reviews
There are few games out there that wear their heart on their sleeve quite like Oddworld does. The clue is quite literally in the name with this franchise: it’s a rather odd world. Since the late 90’s, Abe has featured on our screens no matter what the era or the console generation. The gameplay and mechanics may have changed somewhat, but at its core, the Oddworld premise has remained constant.
Abe and the Oddworld series feel like they’ve hit a new stride with Soulstorm, but there are also some losses
We like the Oddworld series, and we wish Soulstorm were better. The ingredients are there: the world itself and Abe's story have a uniquely grimy charm. No section of Soulstorm's 15-hour adventure feels quite like the last, with enough new enemies and mechanics introduced to keep things both interesting and challenging. Yet at the same time, technical issues mar the experience much like the dirt and rust that covers Oddworld, and small inconveniences add up to make completing the game much more trying than it should be. We hope one day an Oddworld game will be a must-play adventure worthy of the series' late-'90s prestige, but Soulstorm on Switch hasn't quite freed Abe and the Mudokons from the fetters of poor performance and archaic design.
This is a triumphant return to Oddworld. Soulstorm does fantastic things with Abe's story and shows some real advances with the developer's designs. Utterly excellent look, and a world that oozes with consumerist evils make this the definitive new Oddworld experience. There are absolutely no obstacles to heartily recommending this game to all players new and old. Can't wait to see what comes next!
This change in priorities is felt through out the entirety of the game. While Oddworld: Soulstorm is no means a bad game, it’s a profoundly misguided one that fails to capture what made its progenitor so wonderful. For a remake to make such a drastic change to the original, Oddworld Inhabitants missed the opportunity to include the original Abe’s Exodus as a bonus unlockable feature.
Perhaps the whole point of the Oddworld games is that they’re supposed to be difficult. Perhaps the fun is supposed to be derived from overcoming seemingly impossible odds, even if it means beating your head against the wall too many times to get there. Unfortunately, this kind of fun feels dated and cumbersome to me, which is particularly hard to rationalize against the backdrop of an otherwise loving and carefully crafted re-imagining of a beloved entry in a beloved series. I expect the die hard fans will enjoy Soulstorm a great deal, and I’m really happy for them that this game exists. Speaking as a longtime admirer of the series who was hoping to finally be won over completely, I’m still left waiting for that magic moment.
If you’re looking for a new Oddworld experience, then Soulstorm will likely scratch that itch. However, Soulstorm is far from being the 1997 sequel you might know and love. While a lot of what makes Oddworld wonderfully “odd” is still intact, Soulstorm’s experimental nature is almost a detriment. Nevertheless, being able to step into a new Oddworld experience in 2021 is something to behold. Soulstorm might be a little rough around the edges, but hopefully, the game serves as an experiment to determine the best direction for a brand new Oddworld quintology.
Oddworld: Soulstorm may not exceed your expectations, but it’s a nice reimagining of Abe’s Exodus. There’s a couple of hindrances like the throwing and stealth mechanics, but that doesn’t overshadow Oddworld: Soulstorm good feats like challenging levels, its nice visuals on PS5, and its amusing sets of characters.
Oddworld: Soulstorm might not be the Dark Souls of platformers, but it’s still a hard game. I strongly advise you to think long and hard if patience is something you don’t have. I’m not one to recommend easier games, but I don’t like to promote games to people who don’t manage to finish or enjoy them.
The game tries to entertain the player with its story and sensitive moments, but the successive deaths that occur due to bugs and other game problems make you unable to enjoy Oddworld: Soulstorm in any way.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Oddworld: Soulstorm is a free PlayStation Plus game on PS5 at the time of this writing, so PS Plus subscribers have no reason not to download it and give it a go for themselves. After all, there's still a lot to like about the game, like its dark story and engaging puzzle/platforming gameplay. However, those on other platforms who have to actually pay to play it may want to hold off until Oddworld Inhabitants fixes some of its more serious bugs.
Oddworld: Soulstorm should have been the definitive version of the second entry in the Oddworld quintology, while the new story and characters hold their own, the gameplay lets it down. A plethora of bugs make the game far more difficult and frustrating than it should be, ranging from inconsistent enemy movement and teleportation to traces of elements no longer in the final product. There are more than 1300 Mudokons needing your help, but it might be worth waiting a while before you take on this mammoth task.
The remake of the second part of the odyssey of Abe offers great new graphics, new gameplay mechanics and a high level of difficulty caused by the absence of quicksave and unfortunately placed checkpoints. Be prepared with a plenty of patience.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Abe is back, still so cute, but with new skills and sometimes very hard obstacles.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Oddworld: Soulstorm gives us the impression of being a PS1 game running on a PS4 or PS5. Despite the interesting story and beautiful graphics, it is repetitive, tiring, dated and with inaccurate gameplay that makes some challenges more difficult than it really needed to be. Crafting and rescue systems don't work very well either. For older fans of the franchise, and anyone who added to the PS5 library on PS Plus, it's worth a try. For those who want to have a good platform experience, skip it.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Oddworld: Soulstorm is a good platoformer that could have been even better if the developers had maximized it's potential, but it still can definitely entertain the fans of the genre.
Review in Persian | Read full review
It was very nice to return to this universe, but you can see from the palm of your hand that the creators either ran out of budget or time to fasten everything to the last button.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Oddworld: Soulstorm refines a lot from the previous games, but it comes at the cost of adding in new mechanics that never really click. The core element has improved, and it's easy to see the franchise continuing to improve going forward, without needless additions. Soulstorm just falls that little short of great this time around, sadly.
I can’t say that what I played is a bad game, but saying that the audience for this isn’t somewhat narrow in scope would be doing it a disservice. Then again, Inhabitants just wanted to make something that’s serviceable, and I feel safe in saying that it succeeded on that front. It’s not very often you find yourself doing stealth in a 2.5D game these days, but it’s here and it’s doing its thing with reckless abandon.