Stuff I Wish to See in the Next Game(s)

It’s been almost four years since Oddworld: Soulstorm first dropped and while OWI asserts time and time again, that they are working full-speed on content in the background, there’s still no real news to talk about. With this in mind I figured it could be a fun idea to ideate about what kinds of content I’d like to see in the next installation.

Some of the ideas presented below might somewhat conflict with each other or might be way too much for a single game. I’m very aware that there is a gigantic difference between thinking about “what if”-s and actually getting stuff out, but it’s not really the point. All I’m trying to accomplish here is bring up some ideas, that I consider cool, with the hopes that the people reading them would agree with them.

Vantage points

While this might seem like a very particular thing compared to the other points on this list, I think it’s both a very (conceptually) simple, yet just as impactful way of making the world feel immersive. What’s the big idea? Adding more peaks and other high vantage points, where nothing really threatens you and the player is left to just… breathe the sights in.

Soulstorm actually has a great example of this during its Flub Fuels level. The camera already gives you a taste of zooming out…

…but then you reach a ledge, that leads into nothing and the camera really pulls back, allowing you to get a brief, but exhaustive look of the entire facility that you’re going to infiltrate:

I think this is a really cool sight and it is such a “cheap” (in terms of extra coding), yet effective method of conveying scale and what’s to come. Now, obviously, not all levels need one of these, just like with everything moderation is key. But in general, giving the player quiet, downtime moments is something I feel Soulstorm almost entirely ignored (beyond this great example) and it’s a shame.

You might say,

But Soulstorm has all those binoculars to look around in levels!

And I’m keenly aware, but they’re just really not the same, feeling-wise. They are there for you to scout out enemies and routes, and also to tranquilize Sligs you deem too pesky. It’s a completely active gameplay element, that you jump in and out of, plus (because you can only ever see a small portion of the level, they’re binoculars after all) it defeats the whole “contemplation” part.

Imagine staring down into an abyss of what used to be a forest, only it’s been logged to death and all you see are stumps as far as the eye can see. Imagine seeing a lake, only there’s disgusting chemicals spilling into it from the factory you’re going to invade next. Imagine a pristine meadow, but it’s pockmarked from all the wanton digging and excavation. None of these are particularly novel or deep metaphors for exploitation, but they are very visual and striking ones.

Metroidvania approach

It is not exactly a secret that I’m not a fan of the crafting system. I think it’s trend-chasing busywork that acts only as extra steps instead of truly allowing the player to express themselves. I wish it was instead replaced with the sort of Metroidvania system well known from, well, Metroid and all the similar 2D games which lock off areas behind the player character’s abilities.

It would also play greatly into the ludo-narrative angle: As Abe grows spiritually, he unlocks more and more powers which are innate to Mudokons, but have been forgotten over the ages. I could even forgive the double jump if it was re-contextualized in such a way – Mudokons are descended from birds, therefore Abe can utilize his inner avian to do a “flap” midair.

You could even have these “abilities” be unlocked by communing with ancient, entombed Keepers, who could impart a bit of extra knowledge onto Abe (and through him the player) along with the new mechanics, thus providing a very natural way of telling the story of the past, without needing to break immersion.

Obviously the difficulty with this apoproach is that you have to plan around Abe either having or not having each individual ability in a certain level. What I could imagine as a nice common-ground is to have an overworld, which can be freely explored, but with areas that are locked down. If you can enter an area, you have at least as many tools as you need to solve it. Which might mean that you enter a place more prepared than another player, but to achieve that, you had to finish an area, that another player may have postponed. This way there is a certain innate replayability to the game and the opportunity to theorycraft the best routes for speedrunners.

More character focus

I would love to see Alf and Toby develop into their own characters instead of mere yes-men to Abe. All through Soulstorm I was waiting so bad for one (most likely Alf) to go, “Okay, Abe, I get that going to dangerous places is kind of your thing, but we’re running out of Brew and we cannot afford another adventure without first stocking up.” This way he’s still not an adversary of Abe, they do both still want the same thing – saving the others – but it would give Abe a necessary reality check, that caring about the Mudokons he saves doesn’t stop the moment they’re through the bird portal.

Toby meanwhile, despite being seemingly the smartest out of the trio, is also clearly the most meek of them. I’d like to see him have a nervous breakdown after a close call and wanting to give up, only to be picked up and reassured by the others. With how breakneck Soulstorm’s pacing was, even though he had a mild panic attack during the train chase, the story simply brushes over it and it’s such a screaming missed opportunity to humanize the main trio.

Also, as much as I’d like to see these characters support each other, their different personalities could also lead to some interesting conflicts as well: Since Toby was in focus, let’s consider him, there might come a point where either the casualties or the brutality could rise to such a level, that he is simply unwilling to continue, no matter the encouragement or anything. At that point, the other two of the trio might feel like he’s in some shape “betraying” them or perhaps not betray, but abandon at the time of greatest need.

Or perhaps Alf, who’s seemingly the most hotheaded (I’m only really assuming, Soulstorm didn’t really allow too much insight into them) might consider what Abe does not enough. That he should be more brutal, which would then get the others in conflict with him. The opportunities are endless.

The prospects of Native vs Industrial life

One thing that really bothered me during Soulstorm is the fact that Abe never actually faced a single dissenting voice of his own kin. Mudokons are just one amorphous blob that you guide around. Sure, they might occasionally bicker or whatever, but it’s completely played for jokes. And whenever a non-named Mudokon appears in a cutscene, all he ever does is glaze Abe. Consider the stark contrast of the old games for just a second: Previously – when you got the bad ending – Abe ended up dead, but not because of any of the actual antagonists, but rather his own kin selling him out for his (perceived or not) ineffectiveness.

I think what the series really needs is to iterate on this concept, not just in bad endings, but as part of its overarching narrative. From what we could see in Soulstorm, Mudokons aren’t treated nearly as badly in the old games. Look, I’m not condoning fantasy or real slavery, but you can’t really avoid the fact that not only aren’t Mudokons beaten by Sligs anymore, they are also clothed, and instead of being forced to chisel away at hard rock, they more or less just turn levers. (Obviously a strong exception is the Mudokons stuck in the Tear-X-Tractors, but even they seem a lot less shaken than the ones in Exoddus.)

With this in mind, I can easily imagine a scene like where Abe swoops in ready to save a couple of Mudokons and then the following plays out:

Mud: Hold on, I get that you think these Glukkons are evil, but where would we go?

Abe: Uh, back to the forest and plains… where we belong?

Mud: What, so that we can live on bugs and berries and huddle around fires just so we don’t freeze? No thanks, Stitchlips.

And it would be a question Abe, at least in his current state, is not prepared to answer. He is, after all, a random everyman that got caught up in a nascent revolution, he has no real control over. And, depending on how cynical OWI would like to present the story, said Mudokon could even raise the alert and put Abe’s life in danger out of the misguided belief that all he wants is to destroy their modern, “convenient” life.

Let Abe actually grow as a person

This ties right into the idea that Abe must start developing as a character. While arguably the revelations he received from the Keeper gave him a new perspective, I’m thinking about a more profound transformation from simple guerilla to an actual leader, with all the stress and anxiety such would entail. After all, once he’s been proclaimed as the “Chosen Mudokon”, he also indirectly became responsible to all who chose to follow him. So from anything as trivial (yet no less important) as “What are we gonna eat now that we’re fugitives?” to even elevated concepts such as “How are we going to reconcile our spiritual ancestry with all the fake stuff we learned over our lives?” fall on his shoulders.

And let’s be honest, this is not something a complete pushover as current-Abe could deal with. He needs to start showing wisdom, but also since he cannot be expected to be perfect or infallible, the story should pay plenty of attention to the fact that he is sick of this role and would much rather just fish at home. I’d like to see him cry over not feeling himself ready or even capable of ever becoming ready, and yet still soldiering on, because no one else would.

Other factions

Another thing I would like to see is Mudokons, who fundamentally agree with the idea of liberation, but consider a radically more violent option the right way. In fact I really expected the Spirits of 1029 group to be this, only for them to not even appear in the game (except for one “easter-egg” of sorts, but that hardly counts). A group of ragtag Mudokons, who realized “Wait, we can actually fight back” and do so with such ferocity that it’d terrify even their own kin.

After all (before dancing back) Soulstorm was meant to penalize killing Sligs, which at the very least implies that Abe still would much rather deal with all this fuss bloodlessly. The fact that he never even goes after any of the Glukkons either gives even more weight to this.

But as much as a hippy friend he might be, I figure there’d be plenty amidst his followers who think “These bastards have subjugated us for generations and poisoned our planet? We should kill them all.” Such a situation would allow for a ton of possibilites storywise. How does Abe stop them? Does he even stop them? Will these Mudokons accept that their “Chosen One” might not share their beliefs fully (even and especially about himself).

And if they cannot put their differences aside, how will Abe react to needing to fight his own? If there was one thing always static in the series is that Abe never kills his own willingly. Though the intensity at which he shows remorse varies, he always shows at least some. Not to mention, if he does fight back, will that mean that his loyal followers will start seeing the others as enemies as well? And once that happens, will it lead to the sort of mistrust that many systems in real life also shown.

Also think of the tribal leaders – if they even survived Soulstorm. I can easily imagine two different approaches they could take:

Either they would get into religious fervor that their messiah is here. Imagine an increasing group of fundamentalist Mudokon nationalists, who all group behind Abe, who likely doesn’t want anything to do with these people. It’s a situation that heavily reminds me of Frank Herbert’s Dune and from what that book teaches us, such a force can be used to accomplish awesome things, but only in the Biblical sense.

But what if they don’t see Abe as a messiah, but rather a massive burden? I mean, here’s this blue guy, sure he talks and walks like them, but he’s foreign, he comes from a metal box and has no idea about the culture… and there’s two thousand others who are just like him, only in green. Who could blame them for being terrified of the idea of suddenly needing to accept potentially more than the entire previous tribe’s number of uncultured, adult children? But if neither the Industrials nor the Natives accept Abe and let’s call it his Tribe, where do they even go? What do they even do? Try to eke out an existence on their own? Sounds like an overwhelming task to a group who are supposed to live in a strong hierarchy with a Queen.

Obviously this section ended up being a whole lot of hypothethicals, but I think that just shows that turning Mudokons into individuals, instead of a loyal mass is a very natural way to seriously expand the opportunities in storytelling.

Getting a candid look into the Industrialist (and Native) life

We’ve seen the bosses, but wouldn’t it be nice to see the little man too? Imagine a level, where you have to possess a Slig in the beginning and control him till the end. And while you’re engaging in subtle sabotage, you’d also have ample opportunity to listen in to conversations and see how Sligs behave when they aren’t trying to blow your brains out.

Soulstorm did a valiant effort in making the Pilot Slig into a character of his own, but during this process he became a deutertagonist. What I’d like to see is the average Joe, who won’t save or destroy Oddworld, just exists inside it.

A similar approach could be taken with the Mudokons as well. Have someone else be your player character for a while and hear their (likely warped) opinion on things. Toby’s Escape was an attempt at this, but he didn’t end up saying too much, mostly just reacting to events, which is I suppose understandable when you’re escaping from a burning factory, but on the other hand, doesn’t really allow much insight into the character’s mind.

The only real “revelation” was that Toby thinks Scrabs and Paramites are named after their products, which I find kind of hard to digest. Sure, Abe is a special cookie, but he was aware that the animals were their own things and even that the Meeches went extinct. Maybe the idea was that Toby was just so locked away in the boiler rooms, that he never even saw the animal pens or the processing areas, but the fact that he intuitively connected the creature to its product kind of defeats the point in my opinion at least.

To be fair, I’m not exactly asking for something new, as OWI planned something similar for Munch’s Oddysee, before the concept kind of fell through:

Lorne Lanning: In the previous games, when he possessed a Slig—this is one of the things that we didn’t like in the old game, but made sense for their day—other Sligs knew when a Slig was possessed. That kind of blew it for us, because that didn’t really have the sort of “infiltration” feeling, the “assimilation” feeling that we wanted with all the characters. So when Abe possesses a Slig in this game, in this sort of “evolved rules of Oddworld”, that Slig can now go in and mingle with other Sligs without there being any conflict.

GR: That’s cool.

Lorne Lanning: Yeah, we wanted a much more “infiltration” type of feel, rather than a direct confrontation type of feel. And the same goes for Glukkons; the same goes for whoever. You can possess a guy, and now use him to start to GameSpeak other Sligs around, kind of like you’d use a Paramite to GameSpeak other Paramites in Abe’s Exoddus. So now, Abe possesses a Slig, and he’s got this Slig—by the way, now when you de-possess a character in this game, you have to make it an effort to actually kill them when you de-possess them, to explode them, because normally when you de-possess them in this game, they’ll just go back to who they were. So you haven’t blown them to pieces just because you’ve possessed them.

So, Abe possesses a Slig; now you have that Slig, and now you go to voice locks and things—voice locks, to us, are kind of like keys, you know? Like, a voice is a living key. So I go up to this door and I say, “Hello.” And it goes, “Whadda ya want?”, or it goes, “BLEAH!”, meaning, “You can’t get in here; GO AWAY!” But if I take a Slig and go up, the door says, “Whadda ya want?” and I say (GameSpeak): “Wah Wah” or whatever, and I say something in Slig, the door says, “All right!” and lets me in because I’m a Slig. See, you used to have to run around and find keys…

The All-in-All

I hope you enjoyed these concepts. I tried my best not to stray too far from the usual formula, none of the concepts here require a wild departure from the 2D platformer format we all know and love. I firmly think the series needs to try to innovate, instead of merely go after safe (and stale) trends and bold changes like these, in my opinion, would be the way to go.

Thank you for your time.