The Story Timeline Order of Oddworld Games
Oddworld is a franchise of platforming video games that, over the years, became a classic among players, specially in the late 1990s. The original Oddworld games were known for their peculiar environments and difficult challenges. In these games, players have to think their way through the different sections. For this reasons, the Oddworld games captivated many different players.
The first Oddworld game, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, was released in 1997. Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee featured many of the hallmarks that would continually be seen throughout the Oddworld games: an alien, peculiar and harsh environment, merciless enemies, difficult challenges and the characteristical humor of the franchise.
What Are Oddworld Games Like?
Oddworld video games are generally platforming games, in which the player character must overcome different obstacles and challenges in order to advance in the game, while also avoiding enemies and dangers. Oddworld games also feature social class struggles, and these games are permeated with an overall grim tone. The games also often have humor elements. These different aspects all add up to a quite peculiar game atmosphere. Oddworld games can be quite challenging. The original Oddworld games, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, are particularly challenging, and are recommended to platform game fans who are looking for a challenge.
The original Oddworld games, Abe's Oddysee and Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, are side-scrolling platformer games. Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee is a third-person platforming game. Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath is a third-person action-adventure game. Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! and Oddworld: Soulstorm return to the game series' roots with side-scrolling platforming gameplay.
Are Oddworld Games Connected?
The Oddworld video games are set in the same Oddworld universe, with related locations, items and characters. Not only that, but in some cases the games are also related to each other story-wise, for example in the case of Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus. As explained more in depth in further paragraphs of this article, Oddworld games are intended to be a pentalogy of related games. For this reason, it can be said that Oddworld games have a story connection to each other. Even more so, most of the Oddworld games are connected in regards to story.
The story timeline order of the Oddworld games can be a little confusing, because the games were always inteded to be a pentalogy (a series of five games), but over time some games were retconned (Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus) or retold (Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty!). For this reason, there was an original pentalogy of Oddworld games, and later this was retconned to give space to a new pentalogy of Oddworld games. Despite these different pentalogies being set in the same Oddworld franchise universe, as far as I'm aware, they are not directly related, story-wise, and should instead be considered different stories, or different interpretations, just like there are different universes in superhero comic books.
The Story Timeline Order of the Oddworld Video Games
The Oddworld games can be separated into two different pentalogies, which tell different stories, or different interpretations of the stories. For this reason, it makes sense to organize the Oddworld games into two different story timeline orders.
The Story Timeline Order of the Original Oddworld Video Games
These are the original Oddworld video games, released at the end of the decade of 1990 and at the early 2000s. While these games have a logical, story timeline order that is shown in this list, the story events of these games were later retconned. In other words, subsequent games in the Oddworld games series have retold the events that were originally told in these games. For this reason, these games are no longer considered canon to the Oddworld games franchise. However, for Oddworld fans and for people who want to experience the first Oddworld games, this is the story timeline order of the original Oddworld video games. I have organized them in the story timeline order of the events that happen in each of these games that started the Oddworld games franchise.
While these games may no longer be considered canon, story-wise, they were important games to the video games industry, they were played by a large number of people in the world and they started the Oddworld franchise of video games. To this day, there are many players that regard Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus as their favorite games ever.
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee | Oddworld Adventures
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus | Oddworld Adventures 2
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
Oddworld Adventures is a Game Boy version of Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, telling the same essential, core story. Likewise, Oddworld Adventures 2 is a Game Boy version of Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, telling the same essential, core story.
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee were meant to be the first two games of the original Oddworld pentalogy. The third game of this original pentalogy, Oddworld: Squeek's Oddysee, was not released. This original pentalogy would later be restarted with the game Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty!, which retells the story events of the original Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. Thus, Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! creates a new pentalogy.
The Story Timeline Order of the Oddworld Quintology of Video Games
The Oddworld video games are intended to be a pentalogy. In the case of the Oddworld game series, this is called Oddworld Quintology. The games that belong to this pentalogy are the games that should be considered canon to the Oddworld games universe. These are the games that tell the main, canonical story of the Oddworld games franchise. While it is intended to be a pentalogy, not all games were released yet.
While there was an original pentalogy, with Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, the game Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! created a new pentalogy, which was then continued by Oddworld: Soulstorm. Since this is the pentalogy that is considered canon to the Oddworld universe, this new pentalogy is called Oddworld Quintology in this article. This is done in order to give emphasis to this pentalogy, because it is the canon one, and not to the original pentalogy of Oddworld games, which is not considered canon.
Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty!
Oddworld: Soulstorm
Is Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath Canon?
The particular case of the game Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, in regards to canonicity, is a little tricky because this games happens in a different location of the world when compared to the other Oddworld games. While there is no reason to consider this game non-canon, it also doesn't have a clear story connection to the other Oddworld games, besides happening in the same world and universe. As such, I don't have a clear reason to consider Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath non-canon. For these reasons, I believe that it is reasonable, with the available information, to include Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath either in the story timeline order of the original Oddworld games or in the story timeline order of the Oddworld Quintology of video games. While it is possible that Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath's story is retconned in subsequent games of the Oddworld Quintology, at least for now, there isn't a clear reason to consider this game not to be canon.
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