I don't know what game you're marketing...
It feels a little strange to be a dedicated gamer who isn't the biggest fan of platformers. Whereas the origins of gaming trail far further back than the invention of that genre, it's hard to deny that platformers were the first genre which really set the gaming world by storm. Every single company was desperate to follow the shoes of Mario and Sonic to get their own mascot in a platformer, leading to an almost 'FPS' in the 2010s' level of market proliferation. That's how we ended up with platformers featuring Gex the Gecko, Bubsy the Bobcat and- Aero the Acro-bat? (Who the hell?) In fact, even when I was young and getting into gaming there were a bunch of high profile 3D platformers dominating that still have a reputation to this day. You have behemoths like Banjo-Kazooie, Crash Bandicoot and Sly Cooper. But despite growing up in the middle of that and even dipping my toes into it, I never really resonated with that whole scene. (Again, my earliest gaming memories were infiltrating Shadow Moses as Solid Snake)
There is one glaring exception to this rule, and that came in the original Abe Game, 'Abe's Oddysee' which broke so many of the rules of that genre that it almost feels like a disservice to compare the two. Like many of the greatest games of today, Abe was a chameleon which hid it's true nature behind the presentation. Whereas to many it appeared to be a platformer like any other, those who partook knew Abe to be a puzzle game, because every screen was a puzzle. Whereas other platformers focused on the moment-to-moment action of slaying enemies, collecting tokens and finishing courses, Abe was a lot more methodical and delighted in showing players a screen full of challenges that they were tasked with identifying and overcoming. Sometimes solutions weren't so easy or robust as simply killing the enemy, because there were roadblocks in place to prevent that, so players had to be smart in their effort to keep as many Mudokons as possible alive.
All this was of course keeping in line with Abe's lore; following an escaped slave from a race of frail-looking humanoid creatures that seem pretty docile compared to every other dangerous thing on Oddworld. Abe and his kind endured the suffering and the hardship, only really suing for freedom once Abe finds out that all their work is for naught because their corporate overlords have decided to start eating them in order to drive up profits. (Because they had already driven every other race at their disposal to extinction) Abe and his people aren't a race of buff Bandicoots or Hedgehogs fitted with speed boots, (or just naturally fast, the lore changes on that one) they are weak, typically non-aggressive, and vaguely human; they're just trying the darndest to survive. Given that context it's easy to see why Abe doesn't exactly blend in with it's happy-go-lucky platforming contemporaries; it's a story about slavery and survival.
That being said, there's still a decent amount of gallows and toilet humour in order to disperse what would otherwise be pretty heavy air. So many visual jokes litter the world that play on corporate culture, bureaucracy and industrialism for the first era of the game alone, with even a good old-fashion nut-shot making it into the cutscenes inbetween. Abe's sing-song rhythming narration lends a storybook aspect to all the proceedings and the ability to fart on demand is a revolutionary gaming breakthrough that should be present in every game. (And before you say "That was a gameplay mechanic!" That was in 'Exodus', in 'Oddysee' it existed purely for comedic value) All of that just made for helpful dressing in such a dangerous world wrapped in a hopeless situation and punctuated by some truly horrific deaths. (Literally getting grinded in a meatgrinder for one of them)
These are all reason why I'm so sold on Abe's latest adventure in Soulstorm, despite having next to no information on the game itself departed from the trailer nor even really recognising Abe's soul at all from what I've seen. A lot of people have noted a tonal disconnect from the trailers and the content of the game, and I have to admit that even I'm a little thrown off. Watch all the trailers for Soulstorm, including the most recent, and you'll note a lot of epic music, French horns, and just the trapping of your usual overdramatic trailer; but then you'll catch moments of relief like hearing the Mudokons whine at the end in humorous ramblings. In some ways it catches the duality of the game's tone, but I think things lean a bit too much into the dramatic for most people's taste. Remember, these games aren't like Yakuza. It isn't a serious world with bouts of silly insanity. It's a serious-silly world; wrapped in absurdities and packed in horrific situations. It's a walking dichotomy, and I'm starting to wonder if the team is having trouble accurately marketing that.
To their credit I think some of that confusion may be to blame on the main-stream attention they've been getting lately, wherein this newest game has been featured on official Xbox and Playstation events as a headliner. For a game that feels so in vein for what you'd see in an indie title, it's surprising that these companies would pay it the time of day at all, but I suppose that's the sort of pull that seniority buys you. It's easy to sell something easily defined, but Oddworld games have almost never been that and so you can understand the struggling confusion. All that matters, at the end of the day, is whether the game itself can live up to it's own predecessor's example, which is something that is hard to ascertain. I've said it before and I stand by it, I think the game looks too hectic for what this series was founded on, but I suppose they could be cherry-picking those crazy moments on purpose, I can't know for certain until I play it.
One thing is for certain, and that is the fact that Abe is back to continue his journey of salvation for his race. An apparent 6-part opera which has been on hiatus for almost 2 decades is finally getting back into the swing of things, and if they keep at this rate the Manga Berserk is going to wrap up before them. (For context: Berserk officially started in 1989 and will never end) From the latest trailer alone I'm excited to see the sides of Oddworld that we never got to see, especially given that the world has expanded sob much since those original games with the release of these games like Munch's Oddysee and Stranger's Wrath. Just remembering some of the wild concept art I've seen for this game, such as the 'queens' who run this wild world and whom are destined to make their appearance this game, get's me so excited. This is a world borne from that 80's dark fantasy weirdness and I'm so glad to see that from a conceptual level at least- none of that has been lost.
Oddworld Soulstorm has been enjoying coverage on a level that no platformer in it's shoes could ever expect, and as a fan I'm as proud of it as I feasibly can be. Although with that has come a few teething pains to which I attribute the strange marketing choices. Some may argue this is indicative of an impending loss of the franchise's soul, but to them I'll simply point out how the recent 'New n Tasty' got so much right, I don't think the storytellers behind these games are out-of-touch just yet. (I'll wait until they start pitching a billion-dollar phone-only streaming service before making those claims.) A few marketing roadbumps and quirky choices aren't enough to derail this hype-wagon just yet; though I would like just a single really knock-out trailer to cherish before release, if that's not asking too much. (What can I say? I'm a big trailer guy.)
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