The last we heard from Oddworld: Soulstorm, it was due to be released early 2020. As you may have noticed, it missed that window. After a long period of silence, the game appeared at The Game Awards with a new release window: spring 2021.
Oddworld Inhabitants co-founder and president Lorne Lanning explained the delay:
Yesterday, we posted a video statement by Oddworld Inhabitants co-founder and president @lorne_lanning, but we thought posting a written one wouldn't hurt. Thank you to those who have stuck by us, especially during this crazy year. Spring 2021, here we go! #OddworldSoulstorm pic.twitter.com/huwI8LS7HN
— Oddworld (@OddworldInc) December 11, 2020
Soulstorm follows on from Oddworld New ‘N’ Tasty and is a reimaging of Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus. Considered by Lanning to be the true second title in the quintology, the game features a story that diverges away from the original title. Abe has just freed over 300 Mudokons from the harrowing conditions at RuptureFarms. Without his help, they’d have been turned into canned meat. With the Mudokons in tow, Abe manages to make his way to another factory that makes the highly flammable Soulstorm Brew. It’s addictive qualities have caused more problems and Abe’s determined to take this factory down too. His new Mudokon friends are more than eager to help.
The title won’t just include improved graphics, though. The game’s characters will have more unique features, and there’ll even be some new faces to meet. There will be new gameplay mechanics such as an inventory system, looting, crafting, and fighting back. A new trailer shown at the awards ceremony showed some of these features in action. Lanning specifically emphasised the new camera system that is finally “capable of reflecting the scale of Abe against his epic journey.”
The title has already spent years in development and was originally supposed to be released in 2017. The one good thing to come out of the delay, though, is that the game will now be released for PlayStation 5 as well as the already announced PlayStation 4 version. It will arrive for both platforms in spring 2021. A more exact date will be announced early next year.
