Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! is a 2014 cinematic platform video game developed by Just Add Water and published by Oddworld Inhabitants as a "ground-up remake" of Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. The game was released in North America on 22 July 2014 and in Europe on 23 July 2014 for the PlayStation 4. The title was also released for Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and Wii U. It has been ported on iOS and Android and released worldwide on 14 December 2017. A Nintendo Switch version was released on 27 October 2020.
A sequel, Oddworld: Soulstorm, was released in April 2021.
Gameplay
In Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty, the player controls a Mudokon named Abe. Similar to the original, the gameplay is a sidescrolling platformer with an emphasis on puzzle solving, with New 'n' Tasty reimagined in a 2.5D graphical style.
Abe has the ability to talk to and direct other Mudokons with an enhanced GameSpeak feature and the characters have more dialogue and responses when compared to the original game. The player's goal is to save all 299 Mudokon slaves (compared to 99 from the original game) at RuptureFarms which can be done by opening bird portals for them to escape through; several Mudokons are hidden in secret areas which often involve complex situations for the player to resolve. As with the original, the game has two endings depending on the number of Mudokons rescued by the game's finale; rescuing 150 or more throughout the story is required for the Good Ending, whereas rescuing fewer than 150 Mudokon slaves results in the Bad Ending.
Unlike the original game, there is a difficulty setting that changes gameplay elements such as Abe's health and enemy reaction times according to the difficulty level selected; "Hard", for instance, adjusts the game to replicate the original game's difficulty.
Abe has no direct way of attacking or defending himself and can be easily killed; thus, he must rely on his wits and resourcefulness to overcome enemies and dangerous obstacles. He has the ability to chant (for opening portals) and can use his telepathy to possess Sligs, who serve as RuptureFarms' security force; Sligs lack Abe's physical finesse (they cannot jump, for example) but carry firearms and can operate switches, temporarily changing gameplay. Other enemies cannot be possessed, and must be dealt with by solving the many puzzles in the game, which often involves setting up elaborate traps. Some enemies in the game must be outrun; in some levels Abe has a mount called Elum that helps in this. There are some areas in the game which require the player to memorize Abe's whistles, farts, and the verbal commands of Sligs to unlock electric fences and disable security devices, allowing Mudokons to pull levers and platforms.
The game has more random generators than in the original game, which can make it difficult to predict enemy movement patterns and behavior. Sligs have randomly generated AI and some flying mines also have random flight patterns.
To make use of the online functionality, the remake now comes with leaderboards. The makers observed players of the original game making speedrun videos and competing with other people, and have enabled players to check the leaderboards for the fastest completion of each mode, the best overall time (any%), and how many online PlayStation Network, Steam, Nintendo eShop and Xbox Live members completed the game 100%.New 'n' Tasty - Oddworld Inhabitants - Oddworld Inhabitants, Inc
Plot
Taking place on the titular Oddworld, much of the early and end-game takes place in RuptureFarms and its four "zulags", which comprise a meat processing plant. Other locations range from RuptureFarms' stockyards and free-fire zone, to the external mazes of the Monsaic Lines, Paramonia, and Scrabania. The two latter levels can be approached in either order and each feature a temple with multiple trials completed by lighting a flintlock and replicating the bell chime to unlock the exit door. Thereafter Abe must return to RuptureFarms to rescue the remaining Mudokons. The final level requires Abe rush to RuptureFarms' boardroom within a time limit to destroy the company owners and their robotic security system.
Development
Announcement and development In July 2010, Just Add Water announced that it was working on a new Oddworld title.
The first new material to come from the collaboration between Oddworld Inhabitants and Just Add Water is the re-imagined Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! game. Work began later than planned as Just Add Water extended their development time for Stranger's Wrath HD on the PS3. First announced by Lorne Lanning, the game is based on Abe's Oddysee with a similar story and gameplay, with cutscenes rendered in realtime and is entirely built from the ground up using the original designs as a blueprint, but using none of the original's final assets to cut corners. The developers were given full access to the original's source code, as well as design concepts, maps and tools used in the entire production of the original game because Oddworld Inhabitants owned the rights to all of their own material. Lanning revealed the budget of New 'n' Tasty! was $5 million. The game was known during development as Abe HD and Abe's Oddysee HD.
Gameplay In June 2012, Oddworld Inhabitants announced that the game will not be a remaster of the original PlayStation title, but a remake built from scratch with 2D gameplay and 3D graphics, using the original as a blueprint. The remake was described by series' creator Lorne Lanning as "basically Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee being redone in a 3D physics engine as a 2D side-scrolling platformer," stating the developers "are not trying to reinvent any wheels." Images tweeted by the developersJAW (Dev), Ltd. (August 09, 2012) "Look what we're making #Oddworld #AbeHD" Twitter.comGilray, S. (Mar 21, 2013) "Can’t believe I’ve got 900+ tweets to catch up on :-/ pic.twitter.com/84i6dCh6P7" Twitter.com and the first footage released at Eurogamer Expo on September 30, 2012, revealed the platformer will be presented in 2.5D (2D gameplay with 3D visuals) and has abandoned the original's flip screen aspect in favor of continuous scrolling, which dramatically changes the gameplay. In the original, the player could reset a screen's puzzle or AI, by returning to the previous screen and then re-entering the current one. Now, with realtime screen streaming, the developers needed to find a new way to reset enemy AI. However, Gilray has stated that they have discussed the idea of giving players the choice of playing the updated game with the original's style of flip screens.
While the PS4 and PC versions have all the visual bells and whistles, gameplay is the same across seventh-gen and eighth-gen platforms, and the developers hoped to run cutscenes in-game on all platforms that can handle it. The PS4 version runs in 1080p at 60 fps. When the Unity engine developers added support for 3DTV, Just Add Water planned to add 3DTV support to the game.Gilray, S. (Apr 09, 2014) "@OddworldInc @aratiatia808 potentially 3DTV support, currently it's not in Unity on PS3/PS4 but as soon as it is I think so." Twitter.com
GameSpeak has been increased to include more variances of the same basic greetings and messages, though Abe begins with the original's basic GameSpeak and evolves his speech as the player progresses throughout the game, including speech from Abe's Exoddus. Gilray teased that they included character-based features.Gilray, S. (March 27, 2013) "In #Oddworld #AbesOddyseeNewNTasty we’re doing some awesome character based things… any guesses?" Twitter.com The Quicksave feature that appeared in Abe's Exoddus after frustrations from the original Abe's Oddysee has been confirmed. However, a checkpoint save system like the original returned, but the frequency has been increased so that the most any player would have to redo is a maximum length of three screens. Just Add Water intended to include the cross-save feature between PlayStation platforms. The development team also revealed the "co-op" mode returned due to its popularity in the original. It allows multiple players on separate controllers to take over gameplay when one player dies. Gilray estimates the game has an approximate play time of eight hours, which extends to approximately 15 hours when taking into account the two modes of gameplay included in the game. The game's secret areas and puzzles are in the same place as the original, but were altered slightly to suit the scrolling screen. Some secrets have been expanded, others re-designed with new environments, and some entirely new to the game. There are also puzzles based on music and timing. The developers have changed one thing from the beginning of the game that Gilray thinks results in a 'Fuck You' moment from the players but hopes they will enjoy. Abe's hand returned to the four fingers, as per the original design on the US release, before it was changed to three fingers for Japanese territories. And Mudokons in the Monsaic Lines are distinguished from those in RuptureFarms with hair to signify happiness. Alongside rocks, grenades and meat, SoulStorm Brew bottle caps, not seen until Abe's Exoddus, can be used in-game as throwable items.
Engine In December 2012, the development team decided to cease production on their current engine and begin over again on the Unity engine, with Gilray stating it took three months to get to the stage they reached before the switch, and eight months to rebuild the entire game. Previous gameplay footage had been created in the original engine, Unigine. The change was made because the Unity engine comes pre-loaded with commands that otherwise would take extra time to develop, and because of the old engine, it would take 3–4 months just to make a game run on each platform, whereas on the Unity engine, it takes 2–4 weeks to make it run and make it run correctly. Gilray later revealed the cost of the engines was also a factor because Unity only costs them $5000 for licensing, whereas the previous engine was almost $100,000, and they would rather spend their limited budget on making the game, than powering it. On December 23, 2013, Gilray explained a delay in development was due to waiting for Unity to release the PS4 version of their engine, as the team didn't want to release a PS3 or Vita version without the PS4 version being ready.
Development team Gilray stated the staff working on the game totals 14 and includes 4 environment artists, 2 character artists and animators, 4 programmers and 1 designer, who have made the game in 16 months that originally took 35 staff in 1997. J Mauricio Hoffmann is a cutscene developer, and Raymond Swanland and Jonny Eveson created art for the game. Mauricio Hoffman of Monkey Brain Studios, who began his design career as a junior technical director and then animator on Oddworld Inhabitants' own Munch's Oddysee in 2000, was handpicked by Lanning to be Cinematic Animator in charge of developing the game's cut scenes. Lanning has confirmed that rock stars and actors have submitted voices for various Mudokons in the game and have done so for free. Digital "box art" designed by Lorne Lanning, with original art by Alex Konstad and Johnny Eveson, and additions by Raymond Swanland, was released on February 4, 2014. A "famous musician" composed the title page theme and Michael Bross composed the rest of the game's music. Bross said he does not begin writing a piece of music without first listening to and understanding the original's, and is he always in consultation with Lanning and Just Add Water's Michael Taylor, who worked on the sound design and voice over editing.