I recommend playing at least one of these versions of Abe's Oddysee before watching if possible.
Here are the posts referenced near the start and end of the video. You should read these after watching.
Paul O'Connor talks about the visual design of Oddworld:
https://web.archive.org/web/199902210...
Matt Glanville's post about the motion detectors:
http://crowbarska.tumblr.com/post/851...