Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee®

The Humble Store End of Summer Sale is into its final days, but there's still time to pick up one final free game: Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, an adventure-platformer about a Mudokon slave who seeks to free his compatriots from the RuptureFarms meat processing factory. 

Abe's Oddysee is a pretty old game—it originally came out in 1997—but also a very good one. And it's free, which is a tough price to beat. Head to the Abe's Oddysee page on the Humble Store, click the "add to cart" button, check yourself out, and then follow the emailed instructions to redeem your Steam code. While you're there, here are a few other batches of deals you might want to have a look at: 

The Humble Store End of Summer Sale runs until 10 am PT on September 21.

Some online stores give us a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Read our affiliate policy for more info.

Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee

Turn that frown upside-down!

Oddworld: Munch s Oddysee first received a PC port way back in 2010, and has since troubled sorry purchasers with a variety of game-breaking bugs some can t even get it to start. Fixes were promised right after release, and nearly six years later, they re finally here. The developers built an entirely new port that's been on the Steam beta branch since February, and after five months it's finally taken over the main branch.

An update was pushed to Munch s Oddysee on July 24th, the specific details of which are vague, but according to a post on the Oddysee Steam news page, include multiple fixes and some 'HD' assets including higher resolution character models. The update also includes Steam trading cards if they're your thing. Personally, I'd just sell a few collecting dust in your inventory to scrounge up some change, because to encourage players to give Munch s Oddysee a shot, it s on sale for a measly $1.24. Better late than never, eh?I booted up the new build to see if the changes made a difference, and the game started without issue, running at 2560x1440 and a steady framerate. It s still one to play with a controller if you can, but finally, it seems the suite of Oddworld games are getting the PC treatment they deserve. Of course, I m a small sample size, so if there are any new problems, we ll find out soon enough.

Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee

Originally a launch title for the first Xbox, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee has been on Steam since 2010. While it's probably little more than an interesting keepsake in the Oddworld series, the PC version is reportedly a very shoddy port. A quick scan of the Steam reviews paints a pretty grim picture: apparently for some users the game just doesn't work, with frequent crashes and other game breaking bugs reported.

So it'll come as a relief for those who purchased the game that a brand new port is releasing on Steam. The news was announced earlier this week on the game's Steam page, and best of all, it'll be free for anyone who owns the original version.

"Rest assured [that] we are committed to ensuring that all Oddworld fans get the experience they rightly deserve with our games," the announcement reads. "We will ensure that this version of Munch's Oddysee is fully supported and any bugs that arise are addressed."

No solid release date was provided, though details on a forthcoming beta test will be announced some time in the near future. 

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee®

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.

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee®
New n Tasty


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.
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee®
Abe's Oddysee New 'n Tasty


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.

Feb 27, 2011
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus®



In March, RTS players the world over will divide. Some will take up blades and form regiments with great historical accuracy, walking into battle in some very pretty armour. Yes, Shogun 2 will be epic. Tremendous as it is, some will share my personal preference for close combat with giant hammers that crackle with energy. In space. Take a look at the above video of Dawn of War II: Retribution to see why war in the 41st Millennium is truly the war of real men! (and Orks. And Eldar and Tyranids - let's not be racist!)

If Rich's climb up the StarCraft II league ladder inspired you to climb to similar great heights, it's time to start looking at how the professionals do it. Take a look at Husky's video from this week where he gives a good overview of Terran and Zerg tactics on the Shakuras Plateau map.

But when it comes to impressive gaming feats this week, nothing manages to topple the astonishing achievement of engineering student Terry Garrett, who despite being blind, has managed to complete both Abe's Odyssey and Abe's Exodus. Catch his interview here, where you can also see how completely flawlessly he plays.

The big reveal this week was without a doubt the first footage of Skyrim. Whilst many have 'oohed' and 'aahed' over the dual-wielding combat and the stunning vistas, what took me aback most was just how ferocious Bethesda have made the dragons. With these mythical beats being the backbone to Skyrim's story, Bethesda can't afford to get them wrong. Thankfully, it looks like we could be seeing a new age of dragon technology here (exceptionally poor pun intended).

Staying with new gameplay reveals, some new creepy monster-filled footage from Bluehole Studio's MMO Tera have been released. Tera claims to be an action-orientated MMO, but there's little bloodshed to be seen in this latest clip. Still the monsters look ugly, and who doesn't want to beat down an ugly brute?



We finally got a look at some in-game footage from Battlefield 3 this week, and it looks glorious. Explosions, bullets, soldiers cowering for cover and some lovely lighting effects made this look like one hell of a ride. It's been commented that the trailer looks a little Call of Duty-ish, but with DICE confirming 64-players on PC and the return of jets and prone, this feels like it could be the purest Battlefield game for several years.

In the run up to it's March 22 release, Crysis 2 is pumping out the trailers, and here we have a new story-based video explaining the campaign from Prophet's point of view. Less explosive than previous trailers, here we are provided into an insight into the controversy behind the Nano-suit.

For those who like their action open-world and OTT, rejoice that Prototype 2 will involve swinging helicopters by the tail boom and smashing them into tiny pieces.

The highly-anticipated Minecraft documentary hit the web this week, and it a real must-watch for anyone with an interest in the game itself and indie development.

Finally - and on a slight aside note - here's a little something to make you proud of being a PC gamer, and not one of those Nintendo Wii lovers. Take a look at Ubisoft's latest stunning title for the system: We Dare. It's a 'sexy, quirky, party game that offers a large variety of hilarious, innovative and physical, sometimes kinky, challenges' apparently. It's also rated 12 by PEGI, so it's sexy fun for all the family!
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus®

Blind gamer, Terry Garrett has learned to complete Abe's Exoddus, navigating the game using nothing but sound and lots of quicksaves. You can hear an interview with him below, along with a video of him playing the game.

The 23 year old is a student at Colorado University, and learned to play games using sound when he went blind at the age of 10. His first step when playing a new game is for a sighted person to describe the menus, and whether the game is in 2D or 3D before heading to GameFaqs and walkthroughs for an overview of how the game works. Garrett says that Abe's Exoddus was one of the few games where a walkthrough was unnecessary, thanks to its dense soundscape that has an audio cue for every action. There's an interview with him on the Oddworld Inhabitants site. See him playing through the game below.



Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee®

The Oddworld Oddboxx was released just before Christmas, but was troubled by severe bugs and compatability problems. The port of Stranger's Wrath was in particularly bad shape, but has just received a massive patch, hopefully fixing many of the problems the game had at launch. Munch's Oddysee has also received some much needed attention. You'll find the full list of fixes below.

Stranger's Wrath was first released on the original Xbox, and is widely regarded as one of the best games on that platform. Hopefully the following fixes will let PC gamers enjoy it in the state it was originally intended. The patch notes were announced on the Oddworld Inhabitants site. You'll find the full list reproduced below.

Fixes

Fixed performance issues.
Fixed save game permissions issues. Save games and config file are now saved in “Program Files” to “\Documents\Oddworld\Stranger’s Wrath”.
Fixed controls “sticking” issues.
Fixed tutorial text – Camera mode switch button text.
Fixed turorial text – Camera reset button text.
Fixed broken achievement “Mine your business”
Fixed incorrect texts being displayed in controls Layout screens.
Fixed 5.1 and 7.1 audio.
Fixed Mouse lag.
Fixed issue with only 1 of 3 dialogue lines working in Jail house.
Fixed first person view on nVidia boards.Additions and Changes1. Added screen resolution selection to launcher.
Added v-sync option to launcher.
Added joystick selection to launcher.
Added customisable controls (See next section).
Added support for third party “generic” joypads.
Added widescreen suppport.
Re-authored Keyboard “layout” screen in options.
Removed automatic joypad detection.

 
Munch's Oddysee has also received its first few fixes, with more planned soon:

Fix crash issues
Fix sound issues
Broken achievement fixes

 
The updates will be applied automatically through Steam.
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee®

Two new entries into the weird and wonderful Oddworld series will be coming to Steam before the end of the year. The games will be bundled into the Oddboxx, which contains Abe's Oddysee, Abe's Exoddus and two more Oddworld games that have never before been released on PC.

The first two Oddworld games have you playing as the gangly Mudokon creatures Abe and Munch, who take it upon themselves to rescue fellow captives from imprisonment and certain death at the hands of a sadistic corporation. The aim was to lead Abe's endearing but terminally stupid friends to safety, dodging robo-sentries and whirling deathtraps along the way. One of the highlights of the games was the extraordinary and imaginative world that Abe and friends inhabited, filled with dark and menacing industrial landscapes and laced with a dark sense of humour.



The third and fourth games, Munch's Oddysee and Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath will also be part of the bundle. They were only ever previously available on the Xbox, making this a great opportunity for PC gamers to catch up with the Oddworld series. Munch's Oddysee is set in a similar scenario to the first two games, with the new character Munch teaming up with Abe to save even more Mudokon from corporate enslavement. Stranger's Wrath moves the action to a more open Wild West locale, and has you playing as a bounty hunter questing for the riches he needs to save his own life. Stranger's Wrath takes the series in a more shooty direction, but puts an Oddworld twist on gun slinging. The ammo you use is made up of living creatures that have to be caught before you can unleash them on your enemies.

There are no pricing details just yet, and no solid release date, but the bundle will be out before the end of the year. For more information head over to the Oddbox Inhabitants site. Demos of Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus are available on Steam.
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