Oddworld: Hand of Odd started development simultaneously with Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, and was to be released not too long afterwards, featuring all species previously seen, along with a dozen more. The play would have been an RTS, but with none of the menus and panels the genre usually entails. A bit like Full Spectrum Warrior, in the sense that you would have controlled the action from the ground. There were three sides to choose from, though what those three sides were going to be in unknown.
Using the power of online gaming, it would have allowed multiplayer action and downloadable units to keep the game fresh. Of course, it was dropped, and I don't think it's got a chance of being developed soon. It would have been the first in the Habitales series of games, which looked at the everyday lives of the Inhabitants - however, the storyline for the game would follow a set of characters caught in the middle of the conflict between industry and natality. There was also an idea to set it in Oddworld's past, before Abe's time. This would have allowed the appearance of Meeches!
There was also an announcement about it on the old Oddworld.com, which was run by GT Interactive.
Just as a matter of point, other games mentioned by OWI not released include Squeek's Oddysee, as you know, Munch's Exoddus, clearly, and the possibility of Nod's Oddysee, mentioned in a lost interview with an Inhabitant. There have been other rumoured titles - Alf's Oddysee and even Dwayne's Legacy... though they're naturally unlikely.
