Like so many series that saw their beginnings on the PC, then ABANDONED US LIKE DIRTY TURNCOATS, the Oddworld games hitched up their trousers and stomped off to the consoles in the last decade. SCREW THEM! you may cry. But it’s important to be forgiving, especially in the face of contrition. So it is that we’ve known the complete collection of Oddworld games, amidst rumours of a new addition to the series, is to appear on all manner of PC download services, maybe later this month. And now we know the prices.

The farty platform adventures began in 1997 with Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee. Then in 1998 came Abe’s Exoddus, a sequel, and yet not an official part of the quintology of games, because of the um. Well, it seems there were originally to be five games in the series, and it was made clear that Exoddus wasn’t to be counted as one of them, created as it was in nine months in the Oddysee engine.

Come 2001 the PC was discarded like an old tissue, with Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee coming out for the newfangled Xbox. Ooh, the Xbox, they said. This is modern and special, not like the PC which is for old men. Their backs turned, the bitterness began. This was, despite being clearly the third game in the series, the second game in the quintology.

In 2005 the Xbox also saw Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath, which again is apparently not part of the series proper. It seems there was a determination that the series never stand any chance of being completed. This is despite Stranger’s Wrath generally being considered to be the best in the series, and one of the most highly rated Xbox games.

And now look at them, coming crawling back to us. Thank goodness we’re so big-hearted and quick to accept repentance.

So all four games will be contained within the Oddboxx, that’s being released on Steam, GamersGate, Direct2Drive, Stardock, and even Amazon. All four together will cost £20 (€25, $25), although they’re being sold individually as well (£4, £4, £7 and £12 respectively).