Oddworld: Soulstorm released in April this year for PC via Epic Games Store and PS4 and PS5. The game was also a part of the PS Plus lineup of games during its launch month, and is launching on Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S at a later date. Other details on the matter remain scant for now, and fans are clamoring to know whether the game will be a part of Xbox Game Pass at launch – or not.

This announcement is by no means a surprise, since Oddworld‘s exclusivity was of course, timed. An ESRB rating for the game on Xbox platforms suggested something along these lines some time ago.

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— Oddworld (@OddworldInc) August 18, 2021

It should be overwhelming and bloated, but Soulstorm is a masterwork of streamlining and slowly eking out various options and abilities to player one at a time, so that you get every chance to properly get used to the newest addition to your arsenal before you’re challenged to use it in unending permutations with everything else you already knew you could do by some deviously challenging, finely crafted scenarios. Speaking purely mechanically, Oddworld Soulstorm is almost shockingly well accomplished at pretty much everything it sets out to do.

There are some stumbles. Some of these are intended – such as the sheer stupidity of the Mudokons you are tasked with rescuing, managing whose safety in their utter lack of self preservation instinct can be where a lot of the game’s challenge often comes from. Then there are those, on the other hand, that are decidedly unintended, such as in the crafting system, which is wholly unnecessary busywork that serves more to break the pace than anything, or the times the game actually has the audacity to tie your fortunes to the Mudokons. You can end up missing a perfect run on a level through no fault of your own because the Mudokons are very literally the dumbest beings to have ever occupied the annals of history (fictitious or otherwise), or you can be forced to often – shudder – rely on their assistance in combat and stealth scenarios, in which case, good luck.

"Soulstorm is a masterwork of streamlining and slowly eking out various options and abilities to player one at a time, so that you get every chance to properly get used to the newest addition to your arsenal before you’re challenged to use it in unending permutations with everything else you already knew you could do by some deviously challenging, finely crafted scenarios. Speaking purely mechanically, Oddworld Soulstorm is almost shockingly well accomplished at pretty much everything it sets out to do."

Those stumbles, as mentioned, are more infuriating than they should be because of just how well realized this game is otherwise. Frankly, I am impressed with the sheer mastery over mechanical design and prowess that Soulstorm exhibits on a consistent basis, and it’s that level of its mastery that allows it to get away with the crushing difficulty the series is known for – because no matter how many times you die, it never actually feels unfair. Repeated failures only feel like well earned penalties for your own impatience, or lack of understanding of all elements in a scenario, as well as how you can best leverage them, or just plain and simple misfires of execution.

Soulstorm ends up being one of those rare games where, even when you fail, you end up going right back into it, because just one more attempt and this time you’ll know how to get past that chokepoint with so many enemies blocking the way damn it. It’s the ideal of “die and try again” realized to its peak potential. Thanks to the SSD, load times between multiple attempts cease to be a factor, and you’re jumping right back into things with no friction whatsoever impeding you. The game’s extremely well designed checkpoint system, which liberally doles out saves after pretty much every encounter, also means that death doesn’t set you back at all. You just have to repeat that one encounter from the start, except this time you’re armed with the knowledge of what went wrong, and how to prevent it. Marvelous, really. It’s definitely one of my favorite uses of checkpointing in a game, because it works beautifully in tandem with most of the other systems and the player’s intrinsic progress to craft difficulty that actually feels fair.

Of course, the qualifier above means there are caveats here. For example, the game’s checkpointing doesn’t take into account any crafting or even item hotswapping, meaning you’re adding needless busywork in between attempts by making players repeat all that every single time. Oddworld Soulstorm’s menus aren’t bad, to be honest, but no menu in the history of menus has been so good as to justify that you spend as much time in it as Soulstorm can often demand from its players.

While that isn’t a small criticism (to be frank, it’s probably almost singularly responsible for my dislike of the crafting system), at the very least I can say that it never makes the game feel unfair. Mind numbingly tedious, yes, but unfair, no. Of course, things can be different when the game punishes you for how dumb the Mudokons can be, because at that point a lot of the things you are punished for are very literally not in your control. It can also be similarly frustrating when bugs or glitches end up ruining a lot of your progress (to Soulstorm‘s credit, it’s been patched to have a lot of its glitches addressed, because at launch, it was a fair bit of a mess).

"No matter how many times you die, it never actually feels unfair. Repeated failures only feel like well earned penalties for your own impatience, or lack of understanding of all elements in a scenario, as well as how you can best leverage them, or just plain and simple misfires of execution. Soulstorm ends up being one of those rare games where, even when you fail, you end up going right back into it, because just one more attempt and this time you’ll know how to get past that chokepoint with so many enemies blocking the way damn it."

This, again, rankles as much as it does because it’s all an unforced error – elsewhere, Soulstorm is very literally pristinely designed, and works with all its various elements coming together in a way that very few other games on the market can boast of. So that it then shoehorns the tedium of an unnecessary crafting system, or that it fails to account for said crafting system with its checkpointing system, or that it needlessly ties player progress to the Mudokons more acutely than it should, or that it simply isn’t as polished as it should be, hurts. Because when everything in this game is working, it is working like few other games manage.

One of the great things that can help players persevere even at the game’s worst, when the systems and bugs are working against you (which, to be fair, doesn’t actually happen too often) is the story and storytelling. Oddworld has an incredibly richly realized setting, and Soulstorm goes more into it than any game in the past has managed, with some distressingly macabre humor, some pretty unsubtle commentary on class warfare, environmentalism, and capitalism, and some charming characters, backed with some glorious voicework, that can make sticking with it worth it.

They also indirectly contribute to the frustration sometimes, because did you know, the game has multiple endings, and they are tied to how many of the Mudokons you manage to save. Yes, you can probably see where I’m going with this – that you’re challenged to save all the Mudokons to get the best ending means that you might get more invested in trying to save them than you otherwise would be, which makes those failures that much more infuriating. Thankfully, the good ending and the best ending aren’t too different, so you can get by with the more lenient requirements for the former than the latter, but yeesh.

"Oddworld has an incredibly richly realized setting, and Soulstorm goes more into it than any game in the past has managed, with some distressingly macabre humor, some pretty unsubtle commentary on class warfare, environmentalism, and capitalism, and some charming characters, backed with some glorious voicework, that can make sticking with it worth it."

The great world and story of the game is bolstered by the genuinely great presentation as well. As I’ve mentioned already, the voice acting is delightful, but the game also looks and sounds great. It’s not a next gen showpiece, but it looks good, backed up by some really strong art as well. The audio side of things is great too, though more on the voice work and effects side than on the music side (which isn’t to say the music is bad, it’s not, it just doesn’t stand out like so many other things in the game do).

Oddworld: Soulstorm ends up being a very good and very compelling game, that legitimately threatens to be an all time classic so often, you can’t help but be angry at it for not following through. That it stumbles where and when it does does not in the slightest take away from all that the game achieves, and just how well it achieves it, of course, and Soulstorm is without a doubt the best and most welcoming game in the series, not to mention the best rounded out one. And honestly, the fact that most of my frustrations from the game stem from it not managing to be utterly sublime all the time should, more than anything else, speak volumes about the quality of the core game, when it’s firing on all cylinders.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.

Oddworld Inhabitants’ Oddworld: Soulstorm has received a new cinematic gameplay trailer (which was teased in March), showcasing the re-imagined second title in the quintology. It also has a release window – early 2020. Check out the 2.5D (or 2.9D) sepia-infused trailer below.

Oddworld: Soulstorm is basically Oddworld: Abe’s Exodus, but re-imagined with a new story and gameplay elements. It picks up right after the first game, as Abe and his followers work together, bolstering their ranks and having a greater impact on gameplay than before. We also get a peek at some material scavenging in the trailer.

Developed on the Unity Engine, Oddworld: Soulstorm has been in the works for a while. It was initially announced in 2016 with a launch window of 2017. Obviously, delays occurred, but the final product is shaping up well. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

GamingBolt spoke to executive producer Vincent Martel about the game, plans for the future and the decision to choose virtual reality as a medium for the story-telling.

"Being a father myself, I always wanted to explore kinship in a game. The protective instinct that comes with being a parent is the groundwork for FATED."

Of the many VR games we’ve seen, Fated seems like it’s taking the incorporation of VR with emotional story-telling to the next level. How did the concept for the game first come about?

The first horror game demo I tried on the DK1, two years ago, convinced me that virtual reality would change the way we tell stories and touch our audience. However, scaring people in VR is easy; too easy, even. We wanted to explore other, more complex emotions like happiness, compassion, and sadness.

Being a father myself, I always wanted to explore kinship in a game. The protective instinct that comes with being a parent is the groundwork for FATED. I wanted to explore if that kind of connection could exist between the player and a virtual character, and based on the feedback we’re getting, it can!

Lastly, I couldn’t talk about FATED’s conception without mentioning the work of our teammate Louis Patalano, who came up with the Norse setting and wrote the first version of the story.

Why opt for virtual reality as a medium for Fated‘s story? Why not go the traditional route of video game development?

Virtual reality allows players to live a story as if it were their own. Not as a spectator, but as an active member of the cast. That’s unique to this new medium; and we knew we had to craft a meaningful experience that explored storytelling in a 360-degree setting, and by doing so play a role in the birth of what could be the next great technological breakout.

The overall aesthetic employed is interesting, like Disney’s older animated films with its serious tones but family-friendly characters. What inspired the Viking setting and art-style of Fated?

The Viking setting first came up when we expressed a desire to put giants in the game. But once we started exploring Norse mythology, it became a constant source of inspiration. The game draws profusely from it, and while we tried to stay as true as possible, we also gave it our own spin.

The art style of FATED was the result of a series of tests we made during pre-production. We wanted to find what would work best in virtual reality. Our first thought was to go hyper-realistic, but we soon realized that a not only did a cartoony style look really good and help with the frame rate, but also made it a lot easier for players to connect emotionally with the characters.

"The quality of a game is too often evaluated by the minutes of gameplay you get per dollar invested. However, story-driven games like FATED require tons of resources per minute of gameplay."

What can you tell us about Fated‘s action sequences? We know about the demo on the cart and the quest to protect your family but what will players be doing in the game?

FATED is mainly about storytelling, so there’s a ton of dialogs and interactions with other characters. Exploration is also a big part of the experience. Of course, we have more “traditional” gameplay mechanics, like driving a cart, hunting with a bow, and solving puzzles, but if you’re not into storytelling and hate games like Gone Home or Firewatch, you probably won’t like FATED.

Fated follows an episodic approach with each episode lasting 1.5 to 2 hours. How many episodes are planned?

FATED: The Silent Oath is the first story arc of the franchise; it follows the life of Ulfer and his family. This first story arc will be a two-parter. After that, we want to explore other characters in the same universe, and tell their stories.

We’re especially intrigued about the episode length because of the pacing. How do you effectively pace an action adventure game like this while making room for the memorable sequences in such a short time span?

Each episode is roughly the length of a movie, so there’s plenty of time to develop the story and create a memorable journey. We also split the first episode into five acts; this allows us to move the story forward in time and change location without disorienting the player.

Is there any worry about the episodic approach, given the general mixed response to it and especially when other first person VR titles are delivering hours of play-time?

Yes, there were concerns. The quality of a game is too often evaluated by the minutes of gameplay you get per dollar invested. However, story-driven games like FATED require tons of resources per minute of gameplay. The number of animations, characters, voice-overs and unique environments is very high, and there are very few re-use opportunities. Expecting FATED to be a 40-hour-long experience would be like expecting a 40-hour-long movie.

"Actually, “Project Morpheus” has been part of FATED’s release schedule since day one. We’ve been working closely with Sony for many years now, and we’ve created products for pretty much all their new hardware."

Fated is also coming on the PlayStation VR. What are your thoughts on it when compared to Rift and Vive?

The game was created from the ground up with these three platforms in mind, so for FATED it’s all the same. As for which platform will perform best, it’s anybody’s guess; I’ll leave that to the analysts.

 What is your take on Microsoft staying away from VR race in video games? Do you think they are doing a mistake by not jumping into the VR bandwagon?

I don’t know about Microsoft and VR, but we’re very excited about augmented reality and the HoloLens. Our innovation team is currently working with it, and it’s awesome!

Why did you select the PS4 and PSVR for Fated? Is it the rising success of the PS4 or is it Sony’s eagerness to bring as many games as possible to their platforms?

Actually, “Project Morpheus” has been part of FATED’s release schedule since day one. We’ve been working closely with Sony for many years now, and we’ve created products for pretty much all their new hardware. We’re very happy to be working with them again on FATED and PSVR.

Is there anything else you wanted to tell us before we let you go?

If anyone would like to know more about VR game development, we have a developer blog that we try to update as often as possible. There’s a bunch of great articles from the team in there that are definitely worth checking out.

Ravi Sinha: Chariot has a fairly wacky premise and plot. How did you start from a stick figure prototype and arrive at a temperamental king with his remains strapped to a chariot and tasking a princess and her fiancé to collect riches on to the way to being buried?

Martin Brouard: Since the game’s primary mechanic involves the players carrying the chariot around at all time we needed to find a way to explain this and to give them purpose. We wanted the chariot to act as a sort of third protagonist, a non-playable entity that the players would care about.

We also needed the loot collecting to have a context. Early on it was a charioteer’s guild amassing treasure to help the kingdom’s war effort. We’ve since then decided to simplify the story and made the King’s ghost the non playable third protagonist haunting the chariot. His gold lovin’ hypochondriac Majesty adds a lot of personality and humor to the game and also makes for a great chaperone for our two adventuring lovers.

"The chariot and the ropes are really at the heart of the game. They're what makes it really fun. The controls are pretty easy to grasp and then it's entirely up to how you want to play the game."

Ravi Sinha: What can you tell us about the physics of the game? What kind of puzzles and situations were you able to create with these different mechanics of pulling, pushing, etc? 

Martin Brouard: The chariot and the ropes are really at the heart of the game. They’re what makes it really fun. The controls are pretty easy to grasp and then it’s entirely up to how you want to play the game.

Players can use the ropes to dangle one of the players down a shaft and swing him sideways to attain a hard to reach area. (We call this fishing). There’s slippery surfaces, bouncing pads and different special items like the repulsor and the attractor that you can fool around with to achieve spectacular moves. Since the chariot acts as a moving platform you can throw it around and jump on it to access otherwise unattainable places. Riding the chariot on steep slopes is also a lot of fun. Since most levels have unlockable speed runs, using physics to reach the exits as quickly as possible makes for a different gameplay approach.

Ravi Sinha: What does collecting the various treasures and riches achieve in Chariot? Will you be able to unlock any hidden items or extras depending on how well you do or how much treasure you collect? 

Martin Brouard: Loot acts both as score and currency in Chariot. If you  manage to get all the loot in a level without looters stealing some from you you’ll get the maximum score. In Speed Runs, the fastest you do that will determine your global rank on the leaderboards.

Between levels you’ll be able to visit the Merchant who’ll offer to upgrade your gadgets as well as the chariot in exchange for some of your gold if you have the proper blueprints. Gadget upgrades will improve the item you choose to carry around with you and Chariot upgrades let you access previously unavailable environments.

Ravi Sinha: The visual style for Chariot looks incredibly distinct. With so many different indie platformers out there, how did you manage to distinguish Chariot from the crowd and which FX did you use to achieve this? 

Martin Brouard: Thank you for the compliment. Chariot‘s art director Kristofer Eggleston’s goal very early on was to make the game instantly recognizable. Here’s what he has to say: “When I first played the Chariot prototype, I was both charmed and intrigued by the gameplay. The movement when manipulating the chariot has a distinct visual signature and I felt it important that the art do it’s best to follow suit.

There are a lot of small factors, decisions and design rules in play but I suppose if I were to try and choose the big ones they’d be simplicity of form followed by atmosphere. Simplicity of form to create lines and volumes that the mind can easily retain and remember but that exist in a world brimming with depth and atmosphere.

To support creating and refining the atmospherics in the game we’ve developed a custom particle editor, shader pipeline and suite of tools to create haze, volume light FX, smoke, multiply and screen space distortion effects all within our 2D engine “IceWave”. Honestly, having all of these tools available within the editor for the level artists to exploit has really enabled them to have fun and just be creative.“

"Most areas can be visited alone but the more you advance in the game the more there are areas that are very difficult to reach alone. The game is easier at two players but a lot of specific areas that are designed for co-op shenanigans are extremely satisfying in terms of gameplay."

Ravi Sinha: Chariot opts for couch co-op gameplay but can also be played alone. How does the control scheme work when playing the game solo? Would co-op players have the advantage? 

Martin Brouard: The control scheme is the same whether you are playing solo or co-op. However one of the gadgets that you’ll find early on is a peg that lets you attach the rope to a surface. This item can be of great use for solo players looking to reach areas that are easier to reach in co-op.

Most areas can be visited alone but the more you advance in the game the more there are areas that are very difficult to reach alone. The game is easier at two players but a lot of specific areas that are designed for co-op shenanigans are extremely satisfying in terms of gameplay. Also, since each player get to choose one gadget to use for the duration of a level, different combos between players can be tried out for often spectacular effects.

Ravi Sinha: Will we be seeing an online co-op mode at some point for Chariot if there’s a demand for it?

Martin Brouard: No.

Ravi Sinha: What motivated you to bring Chariot to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One? How has support from both console manufacturers been? 

Martin Brouard: These are great consoles and we really want our game to be played by as many people as possible. We think  Chariot can please a wide range of gamers and if they own one specific console they should have access to our game. Since our Icewave engine is great to export natively, it’s been relatively easy to get the game running on all these platforms. (Chariot will be released on Xbox One, Ps4, Wii U and PC).

As far as support from the console manufacturers, it’s been great. This is our 8th game with PlayStation and we’ve always had a great relationship with them. These guys really love games and are doing a tremendous job on the indie front. And I would say the same about Chris Charla and his ID@Xbox team. They have been giving us a lot of support and visibility and we are very happy to finally be able to self publish on Xbox One.

Ravi Sinha: Chariot currently has a release date for the PS4 but not for Xbox One. Are you currently devoting more resources to the PS4 version before moving to Xbox One? 

Martin Brouard: We have not announced the release date on any platform yet. Chariot will launch simultaneously on Xbox One, PS4, Wii U and PC. Before the end of the year :-).

"I am very proud of this game and I want to express my admiration for everyone on the team for putting so much passion in Chariot. Try it, it's really fun."

Ravi Sinha: What about the next gen consoles has you so intrigued? What are your thoughts on the PS4’s unified architecture and 8 GB GDDR5 RAM and Xbox One’s eSRAM and Kinect functionality? 

Martin Brouard: Tech is not my specialty so I could not tell you much more that the game looks gorgeous and runs at 60FPS on these wonderful pieces of hardware.

Ravi Sinha: Will you incorporate any unique functions of both consoles into Chariot, like the DualShock 4’s touch pad or voice commands using Kinect? 

Martin Brouard: Once we are completely satisfied with the game we will see if we can add some simple but colorful unique functions for all three consoles. We are on a pretty tight deadline however so our efforts are mostly concentrated on making the best possible game.

Ravi Sinha: What are your thoughts on the Kinect-less version of Xbox One? Do you think Microsoft took the correct decision of decoupling it from the Xbox One? 

Martin Brouard: Giving the option to consumers makes sense to me and I’m sure that it’s going to help sell more Xbox One units in the long run. Since Chariot does not make use of the Kinect, that is a good thing for us.

Ravi Sinha: Microsoft has changed its stance a lot in the last one year or so. How has it affect indie developers in bringing games for the Xbox One? Furthermore did it changed your stance as well? 

Martin Brouard: It means they’re listening. Right now is an important period in gaming and seeing that Microsoft is following PlayStation’s lead in embracing the indie community with their ID@Xbox program is a great step forward for the medium. Gamers win.

Ravi Sinha: Is there anything else you want to tell our readers about Chariot?

Martin Brouard: I am very proud of this game and I want to express my admiration for everyone on the team for putting so much passion in Chariot. Try it, it’s really fun.

As of today, Zombie Tycoon 2: Brainhov’s Revenge is now officially available on Steam for $9.99. After the successful completion of its Steam Greenlight campaign, Zombie Tycoon 2 will see players leading a army of zombies as the evil Orville Tycoon in a twisted revenge plot against Professor Brainhov, who was at one point his mentor.

In addition to the game’s eight chapter campaign mode, Zombie Tycoon 2: Brainhov’s Revenge will feature an online multiplayer mode that offers players the choice between Orville’s heavy duty “tank” zombies, or Brainhov’s more agile zombies. Here are some more features we’ll see in the game:

• Fully rendered 3D visuals using the Unreal Engine
• Each “team” of zombies features six different classes of zombie monster unit
• Unique monstre units which would be similar to special units from games such as Starcraft

If you want to play Zombie Tycoono 2: Brainhov’s Revenge, make your way on over to the Steam store and give it a download. From the looks of things, you’ll be in for a treat.

Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure lets kids take on the role of a powerful Portal Master, who can control over 30 different characters, including the beloved purple dragon Spyro. Each of these heroes is a protector of an amazing, mysterious world, but they have been ejected from their world by the sinister Portal Master known as Kaos and now they are frozen in our world as toys.