#oddworld sleech

what are y’alls opinions on Sleeches from Soulstorm?

~~(My opinion)~~

While I did like Soulstorm for what it was despite its problems… I was really mixed about the Sleeches…

The Sleeches were cool on their own… however I did NOT like them as a Fleech replacement, not at all! Though it could just be my nostalgia making me think otherwise however.

While it was cool to see a new Oddworld creature- The mechanics were very cliche in comparison to the Fleeches. Not saying the Sleeches and their mechanics where bad by any means, just that the “light scares away the enemy in the dark” mechanic is a VERY overused trope in games imo (even if it was a first-time use in the Oddworld games).

With Fleeches however, you had to be extremely quiet in order not to wake them; anything that would make the slightest noise could wake them. Not only that, but you then would have to be incredibly quick on your feet to escape them when you inevitably do. HOWEVER what’s cool is that sometimes you are able to avoid getting attacked altogether if you are quiet enough!

~~(How I’d probably rewrite them:)~~

I will say that I do like the theory of Sleeches being related to Fleeches. However I don’t really like the Sleeches’ round design? Idk how to explain it. The design is fine on its own and its spherical body IS honestly consistent with Oddworld’s small creatures… however I just (again) don’t like it as a REPLACEMENT for the Fleeches and it just doesn’t have the same vibe.

I’m saying this because I had the idea to redesign and semi-rewrite them!

I would make them a subspecies of the Fleech (so the name would be kept). Fleeches canonically were pets released into the wild, causing major damage to the habitats they’d enter. The Sleeches I’d imagine would be an evolved subspecies of those escaped pets that chose to live in the darkness (that or they are the evolved result of terrible owners dumping their pet Fleeches into the depths)

I made an example, I’m sorry it’s so messy and rushed LOL!