Of Orcs and Men was surprisingly a good game, with a relatively good story and nice graphics.

Story

The story takes you to a world that has been I a war between south and north in decades, between men and orcs. So far in the war have many orcs either get killed or captured to work as slaves for the humans. But there are those who still are free and alive, and one group of those survivors (the bloodjaws) choose to take action against the human king. You will soon find out that the king isn’t the only one you have to take care of.

You will also be helping the slaves also known as the resistance, and free the orcs who have been kept underground for several decades. It’s about time to act, and in the brutal nature of the orcs.

Friendship

The story is also about a giant orc and a little goblin that creates a friendship in all this misery, and without each other none of these would have survived. They even go as far as going on a spiritual journey together just to find out the worst nightmare of their past about each other, which again will get them closer.

Styx and Arkail

You’re playing the Bloodjaw orc Arkail, and in the beginning of your journey will you meet with your “guide” Styx. Styx is a goblin who’s an expert in stealth and is a really great helper if you come across narrow spaces where you (Arkail) can’t get through. This can be used for your advantage with the element of surprise on the battlefield. The element of surprise is a very important factor in this game if you want to succeed and survive your encounter with the enemies, so using Styx’s stealth and assassinate as many targets as possible before engaging in a fight will no doubt be a life saver. Even as a huge fearsome orc will you not be unbeatable, you can only take so much damage before you get knocked out. Don’t worry if you do, as long as either Styx or Arkail still are up in the fight can you help the other up again during the fight.

If Arkail take too much damage, and the rage meter get filled will Arkail get into a berserker stance. In this stance will the player loose the control over Arkail and you better hope that he will survive the remaining enemies. The reason for why you should hope he survives is that Arkail will attack everyone in his path, even allies. So if Styx gets knocked out and then Arkail get it too, will you have to reload last the last save. Fortunately does the auto save function save often and usually right in front of an upcoming fight.

Fighting system

Of Orcs and Men have an attack order fighting system where you can give four orders at the time and if you change your mind, you can always take back the orders you gave starting with the last one. The orders will automatically be cancelled if the enemy you gave the order on dies. This create a strategic moment for the player as if you don’t give the orders will Arkail and Styx just use the regular attack, which inflict less damage than the other. You can always select another enemy while you’re fighting the first one, and give attack orders against him if you see that the next hits are going to kill the first one. This is the strategic factor I mentioned, you always have to watch the command bar, and the health bar of the enemy to survive.

Honour, deception and betrayal

The orc race is filled with honour codexes and they usually don’t act without it, as that’s the foundation of the orc society. Along the story will you find out that not every race have honour as a foundation, and some “allies” won’t hesitate to turn you the back as soon as they got the chance. Well the whole story are filled with these lies and corruptions and it’s a great thing that you play with a bloodjaw like Arkail and a goblin like Styx, without that combined strength you wouldn’t last two minutes out there.

Language

The language used in this game contains strong words and it gives the extra notch to the brutal and violent nature of goblins and orcs, or at least how I think they would have been if they existed.

Conclusion: It’s a game filled with corruption, lies and brutal violent force and with a good story to it as well.

Rating: 9/10