The new “N” Tasty condemned me to my first 100% completion

I started playing Oddworld: New ‘N Tasty and, Lord, I’m going to have to save all 299 Mudokoni, aren’t I?

In 2014 Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty, play as Mudokon Abe, an overworked alien, paid for by a company that destroys the ecosystem and leads to the extinction of the native creatures – so your typical Amazon employee. New “n” Tasty he follows Abe as he escapes RuptureFarms, an evil meat processing factory whose counseling has decided to turn its Mudokon workforce into its latest product. There are 299 Mudokon slaves that you can choose to save from the clutches of Evil Alien Jeff Bezos, but you only need to save about half of them to get a good end to the game. I don’t complete games 100%, even if sometimes I want to, because I think it’s a waste of time, but 150 can do that.

For most of the game, navigate to awesome platforming puzzles such as avoiding falling pieces of meat or sneaking in by happy armed guards. You save your co-workers by calling them with a series of commands. To get their attention, you can make Abe say “Hello.” To get them to follow you wherever the nearest freedom portal is, simply say “Follow me.”

The reason I only planned to save the minimum amount of Mudokoni needed to get a good finish is that Mudokoni are as stupid as bricks. Without meticulous guidance, they will go carefree in the various pitfalls and dangers that make RuptureFarms a OSHA nightmare. Forget disarming a meat grinder before signaling to your friends with the “follow me” command? Well, now there are pieces of Mudokon that explode on the screen, as the sound cut by a sound that marks your failure. I don’t need this kind of stress, all of you.

As I explored, I came across a large sign that said, “If you leave, everyone will die.” It’s a big, heart-wrenching sign that has a bunch of sad, dead Mudokoni asking in silence, “You’re not going to let us die here, are you, Abe?”

Yes I could. After all, what flight attendants tell you before taking off: “You have to secure your mask before you can help others.” Abe has to save himself first, right?

Oddworld it’s nice in that it keeps track of how many Mudokoni there are and how many you’ve saved through large panels placed sporadically throughout the game. Before I got rid of RuptureFarms, I checked my progress on the panel. We were 20 Mudokoni rescued, without casualties and 279 Mudokoni left. The game is clever in that it tells you how many total numbers of Mudkons are (299), but never just how many at your level. So when I got to the next level, I wasn’t ready for the horror I felt when I was told that I had abandoned 50 Mudokoni on their doorstep. I knew about secrets – well-hidden doors and portals that reveal hidden areas where more workers must be released. But I wasn’t trying to play this game 100%, I had an idea that people would die, I just didn’t expect over 2 / thirds of Mudokoni at that level to be in hidden areas.

I felt really bad, in a way I didn’t expect. The 50 in the “victims” spot on the panel were a condemnation not of my thoroughness as a player, but as a person. What kind of monster He knowingly leaves 50 Mudokoni behind to die your crime? If it were one or two, I could have continued with the “minimum minimum”. But 50? It was too much. These lives were on my mind and I had to do it right. I am Jack Shepard and I I have to go back.

I thought it would be a simple matter of reloading my last quick save, except that the quick save doesn’t work between levels. To return, I should start the game. That’s what I did. There is a point in the first level where you can sneak up next to a sleeping guard or kill him. I passed with anger, but I should have chosen violence: when I returned to that area after realizing that I had missed a secret, the way the guard is positioned prevented me from killing or sneaking in again. . Another restart. In conclusion, I spent over three hours deleting a place that normally only takes 40 minutes, before finally completing it with all 70 saved Mudokoni.

Since I hadn’t planned to finish the game 100%, I thought I was ready to accept a few victims. I don’t need 299 Mudokoni to get a good finish, but they are lives stake. When Mario lacks the brilliance of a hidden cat, no one shoots a cat. If I can’t find my secreted colleague in a hidden area, damn it dies. The guilt is overwhelming.

So this is my life now, I’m on my way to saving 299 colleagues, because I can’t live with the knowledge to leave them behind. I have to play with the laptop nearby, a presentation in line, because I’m paranoid, I’m going to miss a secret area.

It is difficult to be surrounded by this new responsibility. All the stress I was trying to avoid became my constant companion. I fall apart every time I shoot and a colleague dies, forcing me to reload a difficult puzzle. It’s worse, because Abe knows their death is his fault, but he just shrugs and offers a “pathetic” answer. Why am I cursed to care so much?