The Sligs do share some similarities with the tentacled aliens like Dr.Zoidberg and Cthulu. The clash between nature and industry has been more and more explicit over the past few years. I think with better graphical technology the steampunk landscape is a lot more appealing (like Fallout 3).
The Oddworld series gave a little glimmer of hope to all the creative developers out there... not to mention somewhat revived the platform genre, in it's own little way.
Not to mention the kick ass FMVs (although thats mainly thanks to the PS1)
