Might be difficult nowadays to perceive the Oddworld franchise as a well of artistic creativity and game design experimentation, considering that the series has been solely focused on remaking its 2D classics in dubious and unflattering manners for the last couple of years, but there was a point in time when it represented a promise of vastly different and unique takes on the Oddworld universe, Stranger's Wrath being one of them.
Stranger's Wrath immediately contrasts with Abe's stiff and do-or-die controls with its much more responsive manneuverability and offensive capabilities that provide the player a freeform style of gameplay that effectively showcase Stranger's stronger agency and command over his world. The unique blend of 3D platforming with tactical first person shooting gives Stranger's Wrath a dynamic and well paced set of skirmishes that has you stealthly and quickly dispatching enemies with a diverse choice of small critters that function as strategic trap weapons, and the character itself plays out the role of a bounty hunting anti-hero, threatening and brute forcing others to do his bidding, a far cry from Abe's weak and fragile status in his dystopic enslavement.
Despite this power dynamic difference between Stranger and Abe, the narrative and world explored in Stranger's Wrath still manage to engage in the environmental vs. industrial motif that defines the series, and while the Old West presentation might not make that case apparent in the initial hours of the game, the Westward expansion connotations become increasingly more obvious as Stranger gets ever more tangled up as the centerpiece of the story. However, I do think Stranger's Wrath trips up a bit over its message by conflating its themes of endangered ecosystems and species with the Stranger's arc of self acceptance and overcoming bigotry, ideas that while interesting on their own, do not mesh well together. You could say that Stranger learning to use the power inherent to him to change the status quo is the point, but I felt the game could have handled it better.
Additionally, my biggest criticism would have to be that Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath isn't odd enough. While it's a gorgeous game filled with Americana vistas and expansive landscapes, rarely does it ever feel alien, terrifying and fantastical in the same way its predecessors felt, and the cartoony enemy designs matched with the southern hillbilly voices make this more akin to something like Rayman 3 than Oddworld. Still, it's leagues better than what the Oddworld series has become.
Stranger's Wrath immediately contrasts with Abe's stiff and do-or-die controls with its much more responsive manneuverability and offensive capabilities that provide the player a freeform style of gameplay that effectively showcase Stranger's stronger agency and command over his world. The unique blend of 3D platforming with tactical first person shooting gives Stranger's Wrath a dynamic and well paced set of skirmishes that has you stealthly and quickly dispatching enemies with a diverse choice of small critters that function as strategic trap weapons, and the character itself plays out the role of a bounty hunting anti-hero, threatening and brute forcing others to do his bidding, a far cry from Abe's weak and fragile status in his dystopic enslavement.
Despite this power dynamic difference between Stranger and Abe, the narrative and world explored in Stranger's Wrath still manage to engage in the environmental vs. industrial motif that defines the series, and while the Old West presentation might not make that case apparent in the initial hours of the game, the Westward expansion connotations become increasingly more obvious as Stranger gets ever more tangled up as the centerpiece of the story. However, I do think Stranger's Wrath trips up a bit over its message by conflating its themes of endangered ecosystems and species with the Stranger's arc of self acceptance and overcoming bigotry, ideas that while interesting on their own, do not mesh well together. You could say that Stranger learning to use the power inherent to him to change the status quo is the point, but I felt the game could have handled it better.
Additionally, my biggest criticism would have to be that Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath isn't odd enough. While it's a gorgeous game filled with Americana vistas and expansive landscapes, rarely does it ever feel alien, terrifying and fantastical in the same way its predecessors felt, and the cartoony enemy designs matched with the southern hillbilly voices make this more akin to something like Rayman 3 than Oddworld. Still, it's leagues better than what the Oddworld series has become.