Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
Main game
3.49 average rating based on 217 ratings
- Developers
- Oddworld Inhabitants
- Publishers
- Electronic Arts
- Series
- Oddworld
- Platforms
- Android, Ouya, PC (Microsoft Windows), Xbox, iOS
- Genres
- Adventure, Platform, Shooter
- Themes
- Action, Comedy, Science fiction, Stealth
- Steam
- View on Steam
Release Dates
User Stats
How Long Is Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath?
Related Content
The Oddworld Universe
This review is for the PC (Microsoft Windows) version
I played this over 10 years ago and it takes place in the Oddworld universe which I knew nothing about then and not much more now
In the game, you play a bad ass bounty hunter who pursues and captures outlaws dead or alive (more money if you can keep them alive). You're not just about law and order. You are trying to earn enough money for some kind of life saving surgery
One of the most interesting aspects of the game is that you use live ammunition. "Live" as in actual living creatures. All sorts of fictional insects and mammals inhabit the game and you use them as your ammunition. Each has a different use and affect on enemies
For you animal lovers out there, the creatures are portrayed in a way that you never feel any kind of guilt for using them in this way. Most of them are humorous and sometimes cuddly and they don't seem to mind at all. No animal cruelty worries
The game uses both third and first person perspectives
You can move extremely fast around the terrain, climb ropes, platform jump and even get into melee combat. You can face enemies head on, …
I played this over 10 years ago and it takes place in the Oddworld universe which I knew nothing about then and not much more now
In the game, you play a bad ass bounty hunter who pursues and captures outlaws dead or alive (more money if you can keep them alive). You're not just about law and order. You are trying to earn enough money for some kind of life saving surgery
One of the most interesting aspects of the game is that you use live ammunition. "Live" as in actual living creatures. All sorts of fictional insects and mammals inhabit the game and you use them as your ammunition. Each has a different use and affect on enemies
For you animal lovers out there, the creatures are portrayed in a way that you never feel any kind of guilt for using them in this way. Most of them are humorous and sometimes cuddly and they don't seem to mind at all. No animal cruelty worries
The game uses both third and first person perspectives
You can move extremely fast around the terrain, climb ropes, platform jump and even get into melee combat. You can face enemies head on, or lure them to you
Your weapon of choice is a crossbow and the "live" ammunition can be found around the terrain or purchased at stores.
There are some roleplaying elements as you can stock up on armor enhancements, better crossbows, brass knuckles and binoculars so you can scope out an area before heading in
I absolutely loved the gameplay here and I really do need to play some of the other games in the Oddworld universe
If you only concentrate on the main tasks, you could probably finish the game in about 10 hours. If you explore the world, it'll take you about 25
Loads of fun and extremely underrated
Stranger's Wrath - Out of Left Field
Taking a gamble on a completely different playstyle, the Oddworld series attempts and nearly succeeds in making a great game to follow up the disappointment of Munch's Oddyssee.
Starring an endangered animal who disguises himself as a bounty hunter, you switch between third and first person as you pick up small animals that you use as ammo to kill (mostly capture) your enemies. There's a mechanic to stun enemies and take them alive for more of a reward, which is where most of the bullet mechanics come in. Luring, stunning, electrifying, web wrapping - most of the arsenal is built around slowly but surely taking on a few enemies.
This backfires upon itself a lot during the latter part of the game where the hunter must get in touch with his ancient side and the game morphs less into capturing targets as a bounty hunter and more fighting waves of enemies like a regular first person shooter. Even with bullet upgrades, you'll find that the game grossly underuses ammo that you can regularly kill with.
The save system is gracious, but the control system isn't the smoothest. Given that I was working with iOS I gave my own movement the …
Taking a gamble on a completely different playstyle, the Oddworld series attempts and nearly succeeds in making a great game to follow up the disappointment of Munch's Oddyssee.
Starring an endangered animal who disguises himself as a bounty hunter, you switch between third and first person as you pick up small animals that you use as ammo to kill (mostly capture) your enemies. There's a mechanic to stun enemies and take them alive for more of a reward, which is where most of the bullet mechanics come in. Luring, stunning, electrifying, web wrapping - most of the arsenal is built around slowly but surely taking on a few enemies.
This backfires upon itself a lot during the latter part of the game where the hunter must get in touch with his ancient side and the game morphs less into capturing targets as a bounty hunter and more fighting waves of enemies like a regular first person shooter. Even with bullet upgrades, you'll find that the game grossly underuses ammo that you can regularly kill with.
The save system is gracious, but the control system isn't the smoothest. Given that I was working with iOS I gave my own movement the benefit of the doubt, but the hunter's movement did feel less mobile and more like I had to sit where I was and shoot.
Other than that, the game is quite good looking for its time. The story is interesting, a western with Oddworld's weird eco-narrative stitched in that works well. Combine the recipe for a great game with unbalanced ammo mechanics, interesting gameplay, and some unforgivably frustrating segments near the end of the game and you have something that definitely tries more than the previous Munch game preceding it and almost succeeds.
I don't know what I was expecting when I finally decided to give this a try after having it in my periphery for nearly 20 years, but it wasn't prison rape jokes.
Oddworld is without a doubt one of my top 5 favorite franchises of any game series (maybe even in top 3, it's REAL high up there) and its world building is one of my favorites of anything across any medium.
Which is why it's such a shame to say that, after not having ever gotten a chance to play this back in the day, it stinks to high heavens and I'm not surprised the IP went dormant after it. This game sucks. It's a combination of things, really. First off, Oddworld simply doesn't lend itself to an FPS genre. It just doesn't work.
But there's other aspects too that don't really match up with the whole Oddworld vibe. The wild west setting is strange, the whole bounty concept in general is weird but not in a way that couldn't have worked in different circumstances, and overall it just...is so EMPTY. It feels like it's lacking the "world" part of Oddworld.
That being said, I have no doubt that if he had the chance to redo this in a sort of Soulstorm style reboot, as he did with the Abe games previously, Lorne could find a way to make it …
Oddworld is without a doubt one of my top 5 favorite franchises of any game series (maybe even in top 3, it's REAL high up there) and its world building is one of my favorites of anything across any medium.
Which is why it's such a shame to say that, after not having ever gotten a chance to play this back in the day, it stinks to high heavens and I'm not surprised the IP went dormant after it. This game sucks. It's a combination of things, really. First off, Oddworld simply doesn't lend itself to an FPS genre. It just doesn't work.
But there's other aspects too that don't really match up with the whole Oddworld vibe. The wild west setting is strange, the whole bounty concept in general is weird but not in a way that couldn't have worked in different circumstances, and overall it just...is so EMPTY. It feels like it's lacking the "world" part of Oddworld.
That being said, I have no doubt that if he had the chance to redo this in a sort of Soulstorm style reboot, as he did with the Abe games previously, Lorne could find a way to make it work. I have that much faith in him and what he does, and gets others to do. It's just a shame the industry will never truly appreciate the artistry that he gave us, and that the general public continues to think "generic mainstream installment #67" is more appealing than literally anything he does.
Even at its worst, this game is still more interesting to interact with than any modern mainstream game because you can feel the love he has for what he does. I really hope one day we get another truly great Oddworld game. I'm really pulling for Sligstorm, but I don't know how likely it'll ever be, and frankly those Abe reboots were an icredible stroke of luck to begin with. It's weird too, because Oddworld really does mirror, especially now, our dystopian capitalist hellscape, and yet they still remain unrecognized.
Ah well. That's art for ya.
Anyway Stranger's Wrath stinks on ice.
