Abe’s Story

From Oddworld Library

Abe’s Story’ is a seven-minute video created by Oddworld Inhabitants. It uses existing Oddworld FMVs edited together to showcase the main story themes of the Oddworld games in the style of a film trailer. It was first published on the official Oddworld Inhabitants YouTube channel in February 2011.

Overview

Despite its title, the video does not tell a discrete story. It begins with an edited version of ‘This is RuptureFarms’ up to the point where Abe sees the [[New ’N’ Tasty[[ advert in RuptureFarms, after which follows a montage of Abe travelling and uncovering the subjugation and exploitation of the Mudokons.

A brief segment of Abe and Alf above the Big Well then plays, with Abe’s hesitance segueing into a sequence of clips showing Abe receiving physical injuries, as well as of Abe and Munch looking scared or worried. This concludes with sections of ‘Abe’s Moon’ and ‘Happy Ending’.

Then a few clips are played of Glukkons and Vykkers showing their frustration, followed by mounting industrial and native armies and conflict. A Storm Circle activates and strikes RuptureFarms, shutting down the factory. However, angry Mudokons turn on Abe, who is dragged to a cell to face Molluck.

History

During the first GameCity festival, Lorne Lanning gave to Wil and Xavier a DVD containing ‘Abe’s Story’ (albeit untitled), and suggested they upload it to the internet. Unfortunately they were unable to do so due to technical reasons. The DVD is labelled ‘May 2003’; this is possibly the creation date of the video, which would mean it pre-dates the release of Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath.

The video was eventually uploaded to the official Oddworld Inhabitants YouTube channel on 22 December 2010[1], but not released until late February 2011. The video has since been made private and cannot currently be viewed. As of 27 March 2014, the video had received

  • 5755 views
  • 187 likes
  • 2 dislikes

Contents

The majority of ‘Abe’s Story’ is composed of FMVs from Abe’s Oddysee, Abe’s Exoddus and Munch’s Oddysee, although there is also significant use of Munch’s Oddysee gameplay previsualizations. The soundtrack includes an excerpt from Hans Zimmer’s ‘Journey to the Line’ from the score to the 1998 film The Thin Red Line.

FMVs

Abe’s Oddysee

Abe’s Exoddus

Munch’s Oddysee

Munch’s Oddysee gameplay previsualizations

CG Tests

Music videos

References

  1. Oddworld Inhabitants (22 December 2010). ‘Abe’s Story’. Oddworld Inhabitants YouTube channel. YouTube. Archived by the Internet Archive on 27 March 2014.