Over the last 10 years, the studio Just Add Water has constantly re-released the title and kept it widely available. It started with the PlayStation 3 and went on to get PC, Mac, OnLive, Ouya, iOS, Android, PlayStation Vita, and Switch versions. Needless to say, the re-releases have helped the title surpass 1.6 million copies sold. Just recently, the game was ported to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and despite being 17 years old, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath is still an interesting game to play in 2022.
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Stranger Always Bags His Bounty
Despite so much time having passed, there’s no game that’s been made since that plays and is structured like Stranger’s Wrath. As the titular Stranger, the player hunts down outlaws and turns in their bounties. Money can then be used to upgrade weapons and purchase other useful items. Gameplay unfolds linearly but takes place in a world that connects at different junctions, not unlike Dark Souls. The game also consists of both third and first-person perspectives with the former meant for melee combat and platforming and the latter used for ranged combat. There are very few titles that consist of both third and first-person action, let alone this game technically being an FPS-Platformer with RPG elements.
Unlike most first-person shooters though, the Stranger doesn’t like guns, so he uses the creatures that inhabit the world as ammunition in his one-handed crossbow. These include spiders that wrap and bind enemies, squirrels that distract and lure enemies to specific locations, skunks to debilitate foes, and more. The game will reward the player with additional money if outlaws are captured alive rather than dead. This coupled with the non-lethal means of attacking makes this one of the few first-person shooters that encourages the player not to kill their enemies.
Stranger with a Tale to Tell
Stranger’s Wrath is a part of the Oddworld series, so this isn’t a normal world. All the inhabitants are strange-looking creatures, just like the rest of the Oddworld games, except the main inhabitants of the towns who are this chicken-like species called Clakkerz. Despite this, the spaghetti western setting works well in this game.
To quickly summarize, Stranger hunts down bounties to raise enough money for a mysterious operation. He travels through increasingly larger towns, learning about the Grubbs, who are an amphibious species being tormented by an elusive demon now that the Steef, a race of centaur-like creatures, are extinct.
The towns are also suffering from a drought due to a dam that’s been built by some unknown figure named Sekto. The plot deals with a lot of hidden identities and double lives revealed. Just like the other Oddworld titles, the story has a strong anti-corporate message that uses its western backdrop to make a statement analogous to the death of the wild west and its following industrialization as the player progresses through the game, as well as connect Stranger’s Wrath to the rest of the world and titles in the series.
With such an interesting premise and gameplay, it’s a shame that it bombed so badly when it was first released. Which makes it that much more interesting to play in 2022 because most gamers probably haven’t played it! Despite it having been released on so many platforms, this is the first time the game has been made available on such a popular console since the PlayStation 3, a little over 10 years ago.
In fact, with the recent release of Stranger’s Wrath, the entire Oddworld series is now available on the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One. PlayStation 4 is missing Munch’s Oddysee, unfortunately. The Oddworld series is very much worth a revisit and Stranger’s Wrath may be the most interesting of the bunch.
Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath is available now on Android, iOS, OnLive, OS X, Ouya, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Switch, original Xbox, and Xbox One.
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