Continuing its habit of giving away games for no apparent reason and with no strings attached, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee is free on Steam today. Not for a limited time, not when you buy something else... it's just free.

You'll need to hurry though, because the offer ends Sept. 24 at 10 a.m. PT (that's early tomorrow morning in Australia), but once you install it, it's yours forever. Oddworld New 'N Tasty has a 50 percent discount as well, so if you like ugly-but-endearing green aliens then you ought to be happy.

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee originally launched in 1997. New 'N Tasty is a remake of the original, with fancy new 3D graphics. It follows Amnesia: The Dark Descent as last week's freebie (presumably to promote Soma), so keep an eye out: there may be another free game next week.

Hello. Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee is getting a major upgrade in the form of New 'n' Tasty, an enhanced re-release of the weird and wonderful 2D platformer. Described as a "ground-up remake", New 'n' Tasty promises enhanced visuals, "refined gameplay", and overhauled sound design. All that, and yet they still haven't learnt the correct spelling of odyssey. A new trailer has been released for GDC, giving you a taste of the game's new look. Follow me.



Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty is due out "soon" for pretty much every platform, including Windows, Mac and Linux.

Just Add Water have been showing their shiny remake of Abe's Oddysee at the Eurogamer expo. The revamp moves the quirky puzzler into full 3D. It'll retain the side-on perspective of course, but with a lot more graphical fanciness. The camera will follow the action seamlessly and tilt as you run to show a little of what lies ahead.

Oddworld founder Lorne Lanning said that the updated tech allowed Just Add Water to take a "retro neo approach" to remaking Abe's Oddysee, which means it's traditional and faithful to the original but also new and - okay I don't know what that means, but Lanning does mention that the cutscenes now all happen seamlessly in-engine. The puzzles are almost identical, apart from a few tweaks to accommodate seamless scrolling, and there will be a quick save function. Catch some footage of New 'n Tasty in action in this video from the EG Expo demo.

Abe's Oddysee: New 'n Tasty is due out Autumn next year. The presentation starts at the 15 minute mark and the in-game footage starts at the 41 minute mark.