Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus

Abe's Exoddus followed up on the debut Abe's Oddysee less than a year after its release, expanding the world of Oddworld with new areas, enemies, and mechanics without abandoning the distinctive mix of platforming, stealth, and puzzles that made the first game famous. In it, Abe returns home only to discover that the Vykkers corporation plans to brew the alcoholic drink Soulstorm Brew directly from the ashes of his deceased kin, once again casting him as the reluctant savior of his entire species - this time on a much larger scale and across far more interconnected locations than before.

Compared to the first game, it added new types of Mudokons to rescue, a mechanic for collecting and mixing various potions with different effects, riding the giant creature Elum in place of earlier on-foot travel between areas, and above all the ability to actually save every single prisoner across the whole game and thereby earn the best of several alternate endings - a system the first game offered only in a much more basic form. The level design remained built on patient observation of the environment, precise jump timing, sneaking past armed guards, and controlling both your own body and temporarily possessed enemies via the Possession power, just with more elaborate puzzles, a denser string of dangers, several entirely new types of traps, and longer stretches where you need to plan your route several screens ahead.

Exoddus thus deepened and expanded rather than revolutionized the first game's formula, but thanks to a significant amount of extra content, a more elaborate system of alternate endings, and darker, more satirical storytelling about corporate greed, it is in many respects considered the culmination of the original pair of PlayStation games.

Why play it: For players who beat the first game and want a more elaborate sequel with the same spirit, full of puzzles, sneaking, and dark humor at the expense of big corporations.