Retronauts Episode 512: Oddworld Part 1
Starring the most famous living being named Abe!
What do you get when you cross puzzle platforming, stealth gameplay, and an anti-capitalist screed? An infinite number of things, really, for those concepts are vast and have many facets. However, and this is relevant to our program this week, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee features all these ideas.
Originally designed for the Sony PlayStation and released in 1997, Abe's Oddysee kicked off an entire franchise about hapless, sentient creatures escaping captivity and the wrath of factory farming on an alien planet. A far cry from the high concept video games of the 1980s, but one that resonated with audiences and moved millions of copies.
Host Stuart Gipp welcomes Digital Foundry's John Linneman and first-time guest RJ Lake of D-Cell Games to explain what inspired the genesis of Oddworld, the circumstances surrounding its release, and naturally, the game itself. Expect more podcasts as soon as Stu and the boys get those Mudokans back in their cages.
Description: It's impossible to talk about Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and its bigger, bulkier sequel Abe's Exoddus without talking about farting. Okay, that's not true, but we do talk about farting in this episode, because we want to, dammit! I, Stuart Gipp, am joined by the prestigious John Linneman of Digital Foundry, and the persuasive RJ Lake of D-Cell Games, in this first discussion of Lorne Lanning's moneyhatted magnum opus, Oddworld! It's too big a subject for just one episode, but here we get into the nitty-gritty of the first two games in the planned quadrilogy, these 2D stealth-action-atmosphere pieces that resonated with almost everybody who played them. Except for the prudes who found the act of passing gas to be either childish or abhorrent. Still! Join us as we try to rescue all the Mudokons from their terrible fate, but end up dropping them down trap doors for a laugh. Hello. Follow me. Straight into those meat saws.
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MP3, 41 MB | 1:27:56 Direct download Retronauts on iTunes Retronauts at Audioboom
Artwork for this episode by Shaan Khan and editing thanks go to Greg Leahy.
