Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus (GOG)

A grimy industrial nightmare hides beneath the series’ cartoonish surface, mixing precision platforming with darkly funny corporate satire. Abe’s Exoddus sends the reluctant Mudokon hero back into danger after the Magog Cartel desecrates an ancestral burial site and turns its remains into the dangerously addictive SoulStorm Brew. The journey moves from haunted vaults and brutal barracks to train depots, factories, and the brewery itself, where every screen can become a lethal puzzle. Its tone swings cleverly between oppressive exploitation, supernatural myth, absurd slapstick, and genuine concern for the Mudokons Abe is trying to save.

Progress comes through side-scrolling stages filled with patrols, mines, security systems, traps, hostile wildlife, and fragile allies who need careful guidance. Abe cannot win through conventional combat; instead, he sneaks past Slig guards, possesses enemies with psychic chanting, issues commands through the GameSpeak system, and manipulates machinery to open routes. New spiritual abilities add useful twists, including invisibility and healing Mudokons suffering from Brew addiction, while the famous explosive fart mechanic provides a ridiculous but practical answer to certain obstacles. Rescue totals, secret areas, multiple endings, and an accessible quick-save system make experimentation far less punishing than in the original adventure.

What separates this sequel from many 2D platformers is its focus on communication and consequence: rescued workers are not collectibles so much as vulnerable companions who can be frightened, armed, directed, or accidentally killed. Hand-painted backdrops, expressive animation, and sharply designed environmental puzzles give each location a memorable personality despite the game’s old-school presentation. Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus remains demanding, especially when timing jumps or coordinating groups under pressure, but its checkpoint-friendly saving system welcomes newcomers more readily than its predecessor. Fans of cinematic puzzle platformers such as Another World, Flashback, and the earlier Oddworld adventure find a deeper, stranger, and more generously replayable follow-up here.