For nearly 30 years, gamers worldwide have been delightfully enthralled by the quirky, wacky, and oftentimes hilarious industry-dominant games of theOddworldfranchise, but one game in particular has slowly emerged as a cult classic:Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath. On January 25, Oddworld Inhabitants’ fourth mainline entry in theOddworldseries will celebrate its 20th Anniversary after originally releasing as an Xbox exclusive title in 2005. An outlier among the rest of theOddworldgames,Stranger’s Wrathis a first and third-person action-adventure game as opposed to the series' common 2D platform perspective. WhileOddworld: Stranger’s Wrathwasn’t as financially successful as other games in the series or action-adventure counterparts of the time, it still deserves a sequel.
Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath Explained
All of theOddworldgames are set on the titular alien planet called Oddworld, home to numerous distinct peculiar species. MostOddworldgames such asOddworld: Abe’s OddyseeandAbe’s Exoddusare set within huge industrial plants with protagonists focused on freeing enslaved or downtrodden natives from villainous corporations in capitalist dystopias. However,Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrathis set in a more open, rustic environment akin to locales seen in old Western films with industrial sites only just beginning to oppress the nearby populace.Stranger’s Wrathis additionally set on the Western side of Oddworld’s main continent, Mudos, while every otherOddworldgame takes place in East Mudos.
Instead of playing as rebelling workers or slaves as seen in the otherOddworldgames,Stranger’s Wrathhas players embodythe Stranger, a mysterious Clint Eastwood-esque feline humanoid bounty hunterwho wields a double-barreled, semi-automatic crossbow. As the Stranger, players are tasked with collecting bounties on numerous outlaws along the Mongo River in order to earn enough moolah, this region’s currency, to pay for a life-saving operation. Meanwhile, Western Mudos’ native inhabitants, the salamander-like Grubbs, are being persecuted and pushed out from their land by the chicken-like Clakkers and the Sekto Springs Bottled Water Company. The Water Company dammed the Mongo River, drying up Grubb lands and cutting them off from fish as their primary food source.
The Unique Gameplay of Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath
Unlike the Metroidvania-esque puzzle and exploration-focusedgameplay of mostOddworldgames,Stranger’s Wrathutilizes both first and third-person perspectives to display its more combat-centric gameplay. When the Stranger is normally walking or running around, the game will be played in third-person, but it will seamlessly switch to first-person when using the crossbow. While players can attack foes or destroy objects by using aSuper Mario Galaxy-like spinning attack, most combat will center on the crossbow. Instead of using simple bolts, the crossbow shoots small creatures, each with their own unique abilities. Nine types of live ammunition can be hunted, fired, and upgraded throughoutStranger’s Wrath.
These unlucky creatures include but are not limited to the Bolamites, which can incapacitate enemies in a giant web when fired, the Chippunk, which can lure enemies, the Stunkz, which unleash a noxious gas causing enemies to vomit, and the Zappflies, which can stun enemies, deal light damage, and activate certain mechanisms. In between combat scenarios,the Stranger can walk around small towns to talk with residentsand captured outlaws before purchasing equipment or upgrades in preparation for boss fights. Towards the end of the game, the Stranger will gain access to a large rowboat equipped with a rapid fire auto turret for combat along rivers and coastlines.
Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath Ending and Impact
The end ofOddworld: Stranger’s Wrathleads to several revelations. Sekto Springs Bottled Water Company’s owner, Sekto, is shown to have hunted numerous horned, feline centaurs called Steef to near extinction, and the Stranger claims he can capture one for 20,000 moolah to cover his surgery cost. However, Stranger is then captured and depantsed by D. Caste Raider, revealing that he was a Steef all along who removed his horns and sought to surgically combine his front and back legs to permanently conceal his true identity. Stranger is rescued by Grubb rebels, who gift him Steef armor and a new crossbow to take the fight to Sekto and his company. Eventually, the dam is destroyed and Sekto is defeated, revealed to be a squid-like Oktigi controlling Olden Steef.
WhenOddworld: Stranger’s Wrathfirst released in 2005, the game was widely praised for its gameplay, cinematics, and character design but, due in part to poor marketing byWrath’s publisher EA, the game only sold 600,000 copies by the 2010s, making it a financial failure. Despite this setback,Stranger’s Wrathproved to be a cult classic game, leading to Oddworld Inhabitants and Just Add Water to release an HD remaster of the game in 2010 for the PS3 and PC, which was later ported to PlayStation Vita, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and mobile platforms. Potential sequels and spiritual sequels toStranger’s Wrathwere conceived, such asThe Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot, but none of them made it into production due to financial hurdles.
A Potential Sequel to Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath
Oddworld Stranger’s Wrathends with Sekto swimming away from Stranger and the Grubbs to parts unknown. While the dam may have been destroyed, Sekto still poses a threat to Stranger and the Grubbs as he could potentially control another being and use them to rebuild his business empire and get revenge on the Mongo River populace. A sequel toWrathcould have the Stranger seek out Sekto to end him and his environmental devastation once and for all and discover other surviving Steef, titled something likeOddworld: Stranger’s Destiny. This proposed sequel could still exhibitOddworld: Stranger’sWrath’s unique gameplayand continueOddworld’s tradition of featuring comical creatures as local inhabitants strive to rid their home of industrial torment.
In January 2024, Oddworld Inhabitants released new, highly detailed 3D models of the Stranger on their X account. However, the purpose of these models was never revealed.
Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath
WHERE TO PLAY
You’re the Stranger, a mysterious bounty hunter on a mission to bag the ultimate prize. And you need that money like no one else because there is something very wrong with your health and the only way to fix it is a very costly operation. However the nature of your illness remains a secret and as you find out during the game, for a good reason.In the dusty, undeveloped wastelands of Western Mudos, cantankerous townsfolk find their settlements besieged by belligerent outlaws. Along comes Stranger, a tall, dark and enigmatic bounty hunter with a mission to capture troublemakers and scoundrels and return them to civilized townships for incarceration.But Stranger is keeping a secret and needs expensive surgery to survive. In his quest to earn enough Moolah, Stranger reluctantly accepts the ultimate bounty from the owner of the Mongo River and suddenly his adventure takes a very different turn.
