This Oddworld Soulstorm has Limited Spoilers and shouldn’t affect your gameplay experience
If you prefer to watch my review, the video is embedded below or you can watch it directly on YouTube.
Oddworld Soulstorm is a new take on the 1998 classic Abe’s Exodus and a sequel to New N Tasty, and the 6th entry in the series.
Overall I gave it a (7 out of 10)
Story (6 out of 10)
The idea is simple, survive 17 grueling platforming levels while saving as many Mondoks as possible. In a 15-20 hours game, the story is an hour & a half tops. While I like that it had multiple endings based on your performance and choices, the story up to that point felt non-existent. With short cutscenes layered in between long levels of challenging repetition, it felt easy to lose sight of the story entirely. So while the story wasn’t bad, it had pacing issues because it couldn’t outweigh the length of gameplay time between each bite-sized piece of the story.
Characters (7 out of 10)
I don’t have any real complaints but I wish there were more personality in the game up to the ending. As much as I didn’t enjoy the gameplay, the Mondoks are hilarious and managed to continually make me chuckle. Listening to them gripe over being hungry never got old. That’s more than I can say for most of the game, however.
Gameplay (6 out of 10)
What I loved about Soulstorm is the nostalgia. Old platformer games were hard and brutal. While Soulstorm wasn’t THAT hard, it was very challenging. It’s a great choice if you want a high level of difficulty but a poor choice if patience isn’t your strength. The game starts out hard and scales down for a few levels after while an excruciatingly frustrating boss fight around mid-way. The difficulty isn’t what I found hard, it was how boring the execution of the game was. I just couldn’t find myself getting excited or getting into the story.
It’s definitely hard but not as hard as the games I loved as a kid, like Ninja Gaiden and Battletoads. But those games were loads of fun and this game just felt like a chore. It was the most grind I’ve felt in a really long time.
Graphics (8 out of 10)
The graphics were good but the level design was even better. That’s where this game really shines for me. Filled with hidden areas, it isn’t always obvious where to go so exploring felt satisfying. Despite questionable AI behavior, there were multiple ways to tackle every challenge.
Performance (8 out of 10)
On the rare occasion, Abe would get stuck in walls or against objects but the game was mostly polished. The exception being a significant button delay. In a game where milliseconds and millimeters matter most, it’s hard to strategize when delayed movements can cost you hours of progress.
Ultimately this wasn’t a game I enjoyed but it’s a game you might really like. If you think it’s your cup of tea, you should definitely give it a go. but it isn’t for everyone.
I hope you enjoyed my Oddworld Soulstorm Review
It’s my belief everything should be judged objectively so as always, I encourage you to play and decide for yourself. Positive vibes and happy gaming.