Mongo River (Little Scarcies River)

''Oddworld'' is a video game series and fictional universe, created by developers Oddworld Inhabitants under the direction of Lorne Lanning. The series has been released on various platforms such as PlayStation, Xbox, PlayStation 3, Game Boy, Windows and Wii U.

Throughout games set in the ''Oddworld'' universe, the player's character goes on a quest to defend Oddworld's ecosystem from endangerment by industrial corporations.

Oddworld planet

Oddworld is the name of the planet on which all five Oddworld Inhabitants games are based, extant in another dimension. The planet was originally described as ten times the size of Earth; but Oddworld Inhabitants' president and creative developer Lorne Lanning has since explained that Oddworld's surface area is ten times the size of Earth's, given that Oddworld is predominantly a dry-land planet and Earth is predominantly water-covered. It has its own sun and thus its own orbit resulting in a unique clock and calendar.

At some point, the planet suffered huge natural turmoils that resulted in volcanic crusts forming a new layer upon the entire planet. When that crust collapsed, it created giant thousand-foot craters all over the planet. The planet has a total of three layers, each with its own climate, temperature and gravitational levels. The giant craters were then used by the various Oddworld species to house their cities, whose tips could be seen protruding above the crust surface when looking across the landscape.

Only one of Oddworld's continents has been featured in the games—Mudos—and only a tiny fraction of Mudos has been seen in-game.Ballistic Publishing, ''The Art of Oddworld: The First Ten Years 1994–2004'', page 58 The journeys of Abe through ''Abe's Oddysee'', ''Abe's Exoddus'' and ''Munch's Oddysee'' take him through that small portion, composed of fields, jungles, deserts, caverns and swamps. Much of the planet is decimated by industrialist species for their own profit; this is represented by city-sized factories and mass transit systems.

Oddworld species

The protagonist species of the games in the Oddworld universe are the Mudokons (): an oviparous anthropoid with blue or green skin. In ''Abe's Oddysee'', ''Abe's Exoddus'' and ''Munch's Oddysee'', the Mudokons are peaceful, spiritual inhabitants of a mock-Paleolithic society. Oddworld creator Lorne Lanning has explained that the Mudokons were not always sympathetic protagonists, insofar as, though they represent a class of slaves exploited by the upper class, their ability to telepathically control other species contradicts that status. Their principal enemies are the Glukkons, a cephalopod-like anthropoid with only vestigial lower limbs (usually concealed by clothing), representing an industrial master class. Subordinate to the Glukkons are the Sligs, who appear as soldiers or body-servants. The Mudokons have two sacred or totemic species, both of which resemble arthropods, but are actually vertebrates: the towering Scrabs and the arachnid-like Paramites, whereof both are hunted by the Sligs on the Glukkons' behalf to make food or similar products. Mudokons, Scrabs, Paramites and Glukkons were designed by Steven Olds.

In ''Munch's Oddysee'' several creatures were added to the game. The Vykkers are purple, hairless humanoids with four arms and four legs. Interns resemble Vykkers, but have only two sets of limbs. Big Bro Sligs are bigger and more powerful Sligs, with armored versions of them occasionally being seen. Fuzzles are small, furry, spheroidal predator-scavengers. Meeps resemble sheep, but with only one limb and one eye. Gabbits are an amphibian species whose single hind leg serves as both feet and flukes.

''Stranger's Wrath'' introduced new species such as the Clakkers, who are anthropomorphic, flightless birds); the Outlaws, bulbous, hairless, blue-green humanoids; the Steef, feline-featured, gracile-legged centaurs; the Grubbs. amphibian-like bipeds that are symbionts of the Steef; the Oktigi, amphibious, parasitic cephalopods related to the Glukkons; and the Gloktigi, large, cephalopod-like bipeds related to the Oktigi and Glukkons.

In the Oddworld games, the GameSpeak feature allows the player to interact with the non-playable characters (NPCs). Examples of GameSpeak commands in the original game ''Abe's Oddysee'' are "Hello", "Follow me" and "Wait." Rescuing Mudokons and opening certain doors are all achieved through GameSpeak. Enemies possessed by Abe can also use GameSpeak, and one can take control of Slig guards, use Glukkons to command subservient Sligs, or use Sligs to call their Slog pets to heel. GameSpeak also included burps and flatulence, for comical effect. The GameSpeak feature was modified in ''Stranger's Wrath'', with a single talk button that caused the Stranger to say something appropriate to the situation. This context-sensitive GameSpeak also worked for questioning the Clakker and Grubb townsfolk. This change made the talk button more comparable to a universal-action button.

Games set on Oddworld

The developers originally stated that the ''Oddworld'' series would be a pentalogy called the Oddworld Quintology, and that '' Abe's Exoddus'' and ''Stranger's Wrath'' were bonus titles not counting toward the total of five. The Oddworld Adventures games are handheld versions of ''Abe's Oddysee'' and ''Exoddus''. The Quintology was halted after the first two games, when the company decided to redirect its efforts toward film production. There were also a few titles that were hinted at in interviews and press releases, but they were never developed.

''Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee''

At the beginning of this game, Abe is a happy, ignorant worker at RuptureFarms, a meat-packing plant,Carr, Diane, David Buckingham, Andrew Burn, Gareth Schott, 2006
Computer Games: Text, Narrative and Play
Polity but he then discovers that the plant's boss Molluck the Glukkon has decided to use the factory's Mudokon slaves as a source of meat.White, Jason
Oddworld Adventures 2
">Oddworld Adventures 2">Oddworld Adventures 2
All Game. At the end of the game's introductory sequence, which is a retrospective voice-over by Abe,Clarke, Andy, Grethe Mitchell, 2007
Videogames and Art
Intellect Books. he runs for his life. The Mudokons' spiritual leader, the BigFace, reveals that the Paramites and Scrabs slaughtered and processed by the Glukkons were formerly sacred to the Mudokons, and orders Abe to relight holy flames extinguished by the Glukkons. Having done this, Abe is empowered by BigFace and infiltrates RuptureFarms, where he frees the remaining slaves and destroys the Glukkon board of executives, but is himself captured. Should the player save a certain number of Mudokons, their free compatriots rescue Abe, and he receives a hero's welcome from the Mudokons he rescued. Should the player not save a sufficient number, Abe is executed by Molluck.

''Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus''

''Abe's Oddysee'' was very popular, and the bonus game ''Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus'' was released the following year. ''Abe's Exoddus'' begins where ''Abe's Oddysee'' ends.
CNN. Abe's abilities in this game were similar to his abilities in the first game, with an expanded ability to communicate with other characters in the world using GameSpeak.Thomas, Maureen, François Penz, 2003
Architectures of Illusion: From Motion Pictures to Navigable Interactive Environments
Intellect Books Here, Abe is informed by ghosts of his species
, Official Oddworld Website. that Necrum, a Mudokon burial ground, is being excavated by Glukkons, using blind Mudokons as slaves. Abe then departs, with his companions Alf, Ben, Phos, Han and Luke to find a cure to the sickness caused by the SoulStorm Brew, created from the excavated bones. Having cured his friends, he destroys the brewery. If the player is successful, Abe is again rescued by his friends; if not, he is captured by the brewery's owner and electrocuted.

''Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee''

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