Play Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee in Your Browser

About Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee

Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee is a cinematic platformer developed by Oddworld Inhabitants and published by GT Interactive. It was released in 1997 for the PlayStation, where it arrived on 18 September, and for computers running MS-DOS and Windows. Digital Dialect is credited with the PC version. Lorne Lanning directed the game, Paul O’Connor and Jeff Brown designed it, Frank Simon produced it and Ellen Meijers composed the music. Saffire made a Game Boy version, released in 1998 as Oddworld Adventures. The game belongs to the Oddworld series, and Oddworld Inhabitants holds the rights today.

DOS.Zone’s description sets up the story. You play Abe, a meek Mudokon who works as a slave in a meat processing factory and has to rescue his kin from it. The same description mentions puzzles, stealth and a system called GameSpeak, which lets Abe communicate with allies, and it says the game blends humor with a dark, environmental message.

How it runs in your browser

This page points to the PC release, not the PlayStation version. Clicking Play takes you to dos.zone in a new tab, where js-dos, the site’s open-source DOSBox build for the web, starts the original Windows version inside an emulated PC. The game files load straight from DOS.Zone, so you don’t install anything, supply a disc or create an account. You won’t run into ads on the site either.

DOS.Zone groups the listing with its Windows 95 games, tags it platformer, arcade and action, and shows a rating of 5 from 7 player reviews. The page doesn’t explain how saving works, so read it before you settle in for a long session.

Controls and devices

The PC version is played on the keyboard. DOS.Zone doesn’t publish the key layout for this listing, so look at the game’s own options screen first, and click into the emulator window once it’s running so your keys reach the game.

On a phone, DOS.Zone adds virtual on-screen controls, but a game designed around a keyboard plays better on a computer, with a real keyboard under your hands. We haven’t tested it on a touchscreen, and Chromebooks are unconfirmed.

Who it’s for

It fits players who first met Abe on the PlayStation and want to try the PC release without reinstalling a 1990s Windows game, newcomers curious about the Oddworld series, and anyone who likes platformers built around puzzles, stealth and talking to the characters you meet. If the style appeals, Heart of Darkness, another cinematic platformer from the late 1990s, runs on DOS.Zone in its Windows version too, and Flashback shows where this kind of game stood earlier in the decade.