Oddworld Soulstorm is, well, a bit of an oddity. We know it exists, and plenty of people are champing at the bit for any scrap or morsel when it comes to the new Oddworld game but, beyond that, we don’t really have much of an idea what to expect. Still, there’s info out now on an Oddworld Soulstorm release date, as well as a brief look at trailers, plus other interviews potentially revealing even more news about the game’s story. Without further a-brew, let’s get down to brass tacks: Here’s everything we know about Oddworld Soulstorm.
When is the Oddworld Soulstorm release date?
Right now, all we have to go on is a years-old press release on the Oddworld website. The 2016 statements reveals a potential release date of 2019.
Of course, since then, we’ve had pretty much radio silence on the Oddworld Soulstorm release date front. There’s been no real talk of delays but you’d imagine it’s only going to get pushed back the further we get into the year without a specific release date or even release window. A stealth release is possible but, with a fanbase as fervent as the one surrounding Abe and his plucky gang of rescued Mudokons, you need to build the hype slowly.
We’ll update this page as soon as we have specifics but, for this moment in time, there’s just a tentative release date of 2019, with the massive caveat being you shouldn’t be too disappointed if there is a confirmed 2020 delay down the line.
Is Oddworld Soulstorm an Abe’s Exoddus remake?
While New ‘N’ Tasty was very much a straight upscaled remake of the original Abe’s Odyssey for current generation platforms, the relationship between Soulstorm and Odyssey‘s sequel, Exoddus. For one thing, it’s not going to be a one-for-one remake but, rather, a re-imagining of the original title. In fact, it could very much be read as an expansion of the original vision Oddworld Inhabitants held back in 1998.
As revealed by the game’s director Lorne Lanning during a 2017 Caddicarus interview, “The audience came back [after New ‘N’ Tasty] and said ‘We want Exoddus remade.’ So, if we’re going to do that, why don’t we do it the way it was originally intended?”
Reading between the lines, it’s clear that the much-publicized truncated development window of Exoddus compared to Odyssey (around nine months compared to three years) meant that things were inevitably scrapped. With the increased amount of time (and technology) on offer, Lanning hopes it can reach a level that was intended all those years ago.
As for the Soulstorm story? Don’t count on it to follow the same beats. “It’s a reset button on Abe’s story,” Lanning definitively states. That’s an ambigious notion, open for all sorts of interpretation, but expect it to follow the same broad strokes as Exoddus but taking different turns at crucial junctures. There might even be an extended cast of weird and wonderful characters to help Abe this time around.
Oddworld Soulstorm trailers
So far, there have been a pair of quote-unquote “trailers” for Oddworld Soulstorm. One is the opening title sequence to the game, which shows a series of enslaved Mudokons working endlessly. As is the series’ fashion, it’s a grimly depicted scene, one that ends with works being carried off in body bags.
The other glimpse of Oddworld Soulstorm comes from a clip first shown at GDC 2019 event. In it, two Mudokons are barreling down a railway in a runaway train. So far, so pretty Oddworld. But things take a bit of a nasty (and foul-mouthed) turn when they end up on the receiving end of a handful of Sligs in hot pursuit. Watch it below.
Will Oddworld Soulstorm be released on Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch?
The next generation of consoles is looming ever closer. Even so, we don’t have any confirmed platforms for Oddworld Soulstorm as of writing.
If the 2019 release date does ring true, we can expect a release on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. There might even be a small chance of a Nintendo Switch release. After all, its predecessor launched on the Wii U of all places, so the working relationship with Nintendo is still there. Of course, PS5 and Xbox Scarlett ports are also real possibilities.
