It is certainly... interesting.

This game comes with some unique and very intruiging aspects, but also a considerable amount of downfalls.
The gameplay is solid, but at times somewhat inadequate. The storyline is pretty good, but could have been better. The characters have a lot of potential, but don't really grow as much as they could have. The graphics are excellent, but the facial animation is often off-key. The voice acting is at times very good, and at times not so much.

All that said, I had good fun with the game. In the end, that's what's most important, no?

Should you buy it? If it's on discount, go for it. You might just find yourself pleasantly surprised at the unortodox lead characters and the different take on the classic fantasy settings. It is not everyone's cup of tea, but I think that past its flaws, it is an experience worth having.

Clearly an underdog, this game is better than it seems. The main attraction is the story and original setting, playing as orc and goblin against the humain oppression.

PROS

- Overall good story and dialogues
- Over 16 hours of gameplay if you don't play on easy
- Overall nice graphics

CONS

- Uninteresting items
- Average combat system, interesting on paper but should have been better for a game focused on combat like this one
- Some not too serious technical problems like the camera not cooperating sometimes

REVIEW

This looked like a barely average game at first. But I was pleasantly surprised. The story is well tied together, the characters are generally well written and well fleshed out, and even the dialogues and exchanges between characters are well done.

The main downside of this game is that for something so axed on combats, it should have had more items, more skill involved in combat rather than using the mmo system of selecting targets and queuing actions, and the combat itself should have been better tailored to feel more authentic and fast paced. Don't get me wrong, the combat is decent, it just could have been better.

It also lacks depth in some aspects, like for the character stats for example. There doesn't seem an alternative to putting all points into stamina on orc and all on damage for the goblin, the harder difficulty you go the more obvious it becomes that there is only one viable build.

All in all I do recommend this game, it is good value if you get it on a sale.

*sigh* Of Orcs And Men..where do I start ~
http://www.oforcsandmen.com/index.php?lang=en&rub=game (their website might give you more impressions)

To be honest, I probably would have never played this game if Frosty hadn't gifted it to me.
But I am pleased that he did! I was interested a long time in this game, but never felt to buy it - which would have been a huge mistake.

When I got thrown in the world of Orcs And Men I felt a little lost.. the controls are very clunky though the tutorials were helping a lot. Anyway the game is basically about a war between Orcs, Goblins, Wizards, Humans and some other races, and you get to play as the main protagonist Arkhail who's a member of the Bloodjaws after leaving his old clan / family (I wont spoil anything important here). He later on meets the unique Goblin Styx (a lone wolf) who's told to show Arkhail the way to accomplish his mission to make an end to this War.

But everything gets out of control and the two find themselves in a ~10 hour long Journey full of twists and mixed up game play: Styx -rather small and fast - is a master of stealth and you got the option to get 1-3 enemies out of the way quietly before entering a fight. Arkhail on the other hand is big and slow but with powerful attacks when things get real.
So the game play styles of both together were the best possible combination to me in a game like that... though i preferred to play Styx :3

The characters of both could not be more different.. Styx is more grumpy and pessimistic / afraid due big challenges while Arkhail is willing to die for his cause / clan in Honor.
This gets especially clear during several of the amazing cutscenes and dialogues where you got sometimes the option to chose whether Styx or Arkhail answer / choose their own way (for example: Trust someone or Kill stuff -Arkhail / not trust someone and flee - Styx )
I loved this game...it lacks in a lot of things because its very very and I mean VERY linear..not much to explore on 1 path besides the main each mission but it fits the game somehow.. I cant even tell why I like it so much - but what I know, is that the music is AWESOME! it changes during calm situations and fights and its just amazing in my opinion x) the setting is beautiful if you don't care too much about graphics - they are nice and enough for a game like that - the atmosphere created is of course subjective but I can recommend most of the time.

To sum this up.. game play might not be the best but the game plays well, graphics are neither too low nor to high and RPG fans shouldn't bother anyway, Story was interesting though the ending could have been implemented better :D

If you are a fan of linear RPG's with a rather short but Interesting Story + setting this game might be worth your time if you grab it on a sale for ~ 7 bucks

'Styx: Master of the Shadows' is the Prequel to this game and I'll play it now with a Joy!
Hope you didn't have a hard time reading and the review was helpful :)
Have a good day folks!

Of Orcs and Men is third-person action RPG from Cyanide and Spiders, the minds behind Mars: War Logs, Aarklash Legacy, Bound by Flame, Blood Bowl and many others. The closest analogy in design and mechanics to this game would probably be Mass Effect 1.

Turning the genre on it's head, instead of playing the plucky human fighting evil, you play as a duo of “greenskins”, an enormous Orc name Arkail and a small Goblin named Styx fighting the evil human empire intent on wiping you out. Both characters, especially Styx, are endlessly entertaining, Styx the comic foil to Arkail's enduring determined colossus. There is an admirable literary quality here, not just good vs. evil, though the fact that every third line contains the f-word can at times see it return it to baser roots. Both character can take part in conversations in the now standard “Bioware” dialogue wheel and choosing which character talks can result in wildly varying outcomes.

Each main character has three combat stances, Attack/special/defense for Arkail and Melee/special/ranged for Styx. Hitting the right shoulder button on the controller allows you to slow time to a crawl and select your various abilities and queue up to 4 at a time on each character. Both characters have a resource to manage, Styx uses concentration to power his abilities, use it too quickly and he is left with only an auto-attack while it recharges. Arkail however uses rage. Use too many offensive attacks too quickly and he can go berserk, doing huge amounts of damage, but becoming more vulnerable to attack and sometimes even killing Styx! Arkail's defensive stance slows the rage buildup, but he also does less damage.

Arkail and Styx are a duo and they function best when they work together. The best strategy I found was to use Arkail in his defensive stance to group taunt everyone and then stun them while Styx would go around debuffing/poisoning and finishing them off one by one. As you level up each character gets an additional point that can be used to either buy a new ability or upgrade one with the addition of a choice of effect. Later in the game each character can choose an “advanced” class adding 3 further abilities to their special stance tree. There is an impressive number of skills and strategies to use and at higher difficulty levels you will need them!

Maybe the most important strategy is using Styx's stealth ability. Large groups of enemies can be thinned out before a fight by having Styx go into stealth mode and assassinate enemies at the edges. But watch out for dogs, they can smell Styx coming!

The game isn't particularly loot heavy. While each character has a weapon, gloves, top, pants and accessory slot, there are at most 6 or so different armor sets and weapons for each character in the game. You are also able to buy an upgrade for each item and you should do this as early as possible. This is not an easy game and a full set of upgraded gear will provide a noticeable lift in you damage output and survivability.

The graphics are very decent, though maybe not as sharp as they could be, but the character models of the two mains are fantastic, Styx especially. The voice acting is patchy, Arkail and Styx are great so are most of the Orc's but some of the humans are pretty average. The game also has a very nice classical score though at times the mood of the music seemed a little out with what was going on on screen.

While not particularly long, 12 hours give or take, the ambition and new experience it offers makes this a very worthy addition to the Action RPG genre and Styx apparently has his own spin-off game coming soon!

8.5/10

5 Things You Should Know about Of Orcs and Men
What Is It?
An Action RPG wherein you control two characters simultaneously; Arkail, the mighty orc warrior, and Styx, the goblin assassin. The story concerns Arkail's quest to kill the emperor of the human empire, which is currently engaged in a campaign to subjugate and enslave his people.

What's The Best Part?
For me, having previously played Styx: Master of Shadows, the primary draw to this game was to get more lore about the world these two games take place in, and about the character of Styx. In that regard, the game absolutely delivers. The game is dripping with details about the world and orc culture in particular, since the story revolves around their plight. From cut-scenes, to conversations with NPCs, even some of the loading screen tips are lore-based instead of gameplay-based.

Take note, however, that this game is NOT a stealth game, like the newer Styx titles. It takes place in the same world and features the same character, but there's very little sneaking involved here. (There is some, but not much.)

What's The Worst Part?
The level designs are linear in the extreme. Most levels are literally a single, narrow and twisting path from the start to the objective. The maps that do contain a fork or two generally either rejoin quickly, or one fork dead-ends soon enough (and you can easily see what's what on the map.) There's no exploration at all. There's not even very many doodads to interact with, so most of the set decorations are quickly ignored, if you even stop to look at all.

Combat is not intuitive for the beginner, but it seems like it can be pretty nuanced for those who take the time to learn the ins and outs. Playing on easy myself (like I said, I'm mainly here for the story), I just found a few moves that worked well and spammed them all the time. Easy enough.

Will I Like It?
+ Good thematic content, adding to a world shared by other, more popular games
+ Nuanced combat system, for those who want to take the time to learn it
+ Styx

- Extremely linear level design
- No interaction with terrain, little in the way of treasure to find
- Fairly derivative plot (despite being surrounded by good world-building)

Final Thoughts
As long as you set your expectations accordingly, you probably won't be disappointed. The game isn't amazing, but it's good fun and the chapters are quite long, I thought. What the game lacks in exploration, it makes up for in raw volume of content.

This has been a 5TYSK review. (#0029)

This game is one of the greatest underappreciated gems I have had the pleasure of finding in a long time. There are obvious things that sully the experience a bit, but given this is the effort of small studio on a tight budget these aren't hard to look past.

The story takes a twist on typical fantasy by having orcs being oppressed and subjegated by humans, and in light of this, your main character is on a quest to kill the emperor who seeks to unite elves and dwarves against "the greenskins."

The main character is Arkail, or the "butcher" as he has been dubbed after a bloody masacre in his past. What's great here is that this story element actually works into the gameplay. As you take damage your rage meter builds, and if you don't use skills to keep your calm he becomes enraged. In this state, he more powerful but reckless and uncontrollable, attacking foes in random order.

Evening this out is his original odd couple partner in crime, Styx. He is a goblin assassin, the only one of his race who can speak or display any intelligence at all. He causes bleeds, poisons and lowers defense in combat, and out of combat he small stealth sections where he dispatches as many soldiers as he can before things eventually fall to pieces.

The story is well surprisingly well written considering every other line of dialogue has a swear word, because it fits into the narrative and general feeling of the story. I was honestly surprized at myself when I started the characters, admiring the way the duo chirped eachother and eventually grew into a like-minded friendship. Combat slows down when you pause so you can plan each of their actions, and everything works quite well. The graphics are nice enough and the game has a surprizingly good soundtrack that hits all the right notes when a sad or intense situation takes rise.

Sadly, there are some issues, though they are just a lot of nitpicks that don't effect the solid feel of gameplay. Character models don't sync up in most cutscenes, a weapon constantly floats in air against Ark's back, voice acting apart from the main duo is largely sub-par. You are told of great battles going on in other places due to what's happening in the story and can't be there because the game's budget wouldn't allow it, and some people might not like how the stealth sections work. You essentially sneak around and kill guards in order of which would be able to see the act from their FOV, the ai will walk past dead bodies without raising alarm which seems silly but is also necessary to that element of gameplay. This is a stop motion turn based rpg first, the stealth is more like a small minigame that you are never actually forced to do that makes fights easier.

Past that, there are a bunch of sidequests which never feel pointless as the duo banter and you find out more meaningful things about the story. I'm not usually someone who likes sidequests but it worked well for me. You have a mission hub in different zones and when you pick a mission it is generally linear except for a few hidden treasures. There's a couple of choices to be made in the game that have small outcomes on story, but nothing with permanance.


All and all, the flaws take you out of the experience in a small fathom but do little to stop this extremely charming game from taking your heart. The prequel, Styx:Master of shadows is out soon, and I can't wait to delve again into this world again, and see how much the studio has grown since their time between the titles.

9/10 There's nitpicks, but the story, the gameplay and the pacing are all great and a low budget doesn't change that.

Edit: Fixed a couple errors, special thanks to Snapfit for calling me out on goofing the main character's name and thanks for all the positive feedback on my review.

A fine RPG with some caveats. There is some roleplaying but it's impact is minimal on the storyline. Your characters are who they are but they got actual story arcs and they grow on you as you progress throughout the game. The setting is very familiar but still has some twists on the old tolkienesque fantasy setting to keep matters fresh especially when you consider the atypical dual protogonists you play as.

The biggest stumbling block and the one that stopped my progress back when I initially played the game a few years back is the combat. The game is mislabeled as an ACTION RPG and if you try to play it as such it's going to feel unresponsive and unintuitive because it really can't be played properly that way.

You basically got to play this game (especially at normal and above) as a CRPG a la Baldur's Gate, i.e. you use the spacebar liberally to check on the action and give orders to both your characters and unpause to see them through in real time. You got to be ready to pause at any moment and cancel your orders and change your focus of attack and tactics depending on the current conditions on the battlefield. If you try to play without understanding the combat mechanics and not pausing to properly give orders you'll probably have a bad time (even on easy you can't just bash buttons and expect to get through certain boss fights).

Even with this in mind the game has a learning curve and it starts out hard due to you being relatively limited with what you can do at the start. If you aren't obsessed with achievements though just keep the game on easy as you learn and enjoy the true reason you'll be playing this game, the characters and the story. I think the game's art direction overall is top notch with great music and that's also a good draw. Of Orcs and Men even plays fine with a gamepad if you want to slay pinkies on the couch.

Hopefully it gets a proper sequel it set up but even if it doesn't it's a good self contained story with satisfying character growth for our two greenskins.

There are plenty of stories out there that put you in control of Orcs, but few do the fearsome race justice. 'Of Orcs and Men' does what other titles in the genre fail to achieve: it makes you see what it's like to be a hulking beast of rage and muscle. As the warrior Arkail, one of the main gameplay mechanics is to manage your bloodlust - if you let it get the better of you, Arkail will go on a blind, murderous rampage. While he amps up his damage this way, you can only watch on helplessly as he makes poor tactical decisions, exposes himself needlessly to enemy fire, and even turns on his constant Goblin ally (who you also control). Built around this unique idea is a rich story adhering to a fitting theme - that of Orcs being enslaved as beasts of burden by human masters.

The combat is handled by queueing up your next attacks, reminiscent of the system from Knights of the Old Republic. This may push the patience of those wanting more immediate and visceral action, but it works well enough to get you through the entire adventure. With sharp writing and characters you grow attached to, this is a unique experience that deserves a lot more attention than it received. Unleash your inner berserker and give this revolution a shot - whatever happens, at least you know you'll go down fighting.

Of Orcs and Men, a very straightforward story-driven action-RPG -ish.

The battle system is both quite easy and sometimes way too frustrating - if you play it on the highest difficulty. And there is actually nothing else, in terms of gameplay, except combat. So, if you only want some decent old-styled slasher game for an evening or two, there are so many other titles in the market, that will make it better.

The game is not too bad, mind it! The music and overall sound work are all good, the visuals... obviously dated, but we've all seen much worse from nowadays indie titles. But the only reason I can really recommend this game for you is its story. Unlikely heroes, questionable moral choices, pretty solid motivation for all the main characters... A story well told!

So, to be brief: if you're an action-driven type, and skip most of the intermedia between the action parts, it is very unlikely that you'll like this game now. It wasn't anything fancy in the year 2012 when it was released, and of course, it was not evolved to something greater since. However, if you're generally playing the games for the story part, well... Maybe you should look into it. Especially if you also play stealth games, and like Styx - the infamous goblin assassin. Because the story Of Orcs and Men is actually the first chapter of his journey.

My mark is 6/10. There are many subpar things in this game, starting from the very questionable visual design and gameplay balance. But they are easily tolerated if you feel that urge to turn another page and see how it'll end.

I really wanted to like this game. It has a really unique take on a fantasy setting and I wanted to press through and see it come to a great end that justifies its slow start.

Didn't happen. The game controls like complete garbage. I found myself constantly frustrated by one of my characters either standing still getting beat on or conversely, sprinting off at a random group of enemies half the map away from the current battle. You can do every side quest and explore every corner but random difficulty spikes will slap you down and left me scratching my head about how I could conceivably progress.

I can give a recommendation with a qualification if you want to run through on easy and see how the story goes but other than that Of Orcs and Men isn't worth your time. There are better games to be played than this unenjoyable slog.