Of Orcs And Men

Of Orcs And Men
69
Metacritic
75
Steam
76.723
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$1.49
Release date
11 October 2012
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
75 (1 367 votes)
Recent
72 (18 votes)

You have been appointed to fulfill an extremely dangerous mission, deep in enemy territory: to kill one man... the Emperor himself. Lead the revolution of the Orcs and Goblins!

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Of Orcs And Men system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS:WINDOWS XP SP3/WINDOWS VISTA SP2/WINDOWS 7
  • Processor:AMD/INTEL DUAL-CORE 2 GHZ
  • Memory:2048 MB RAM
  • Graphics:512 MB 100% DIRECTX 9 AND SHADERS 4.0 COMPATIBLE ATI RADEON HD 3850/NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800 GT OR HIGHER
  • DirectX®:9.0c
  • Hard Drive:6 GB HD space
  • Sound:DIRECTX 9 COMPATIBLE

Recommended:

Recommended requirements are not yet specified.
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Poro Wizard
Poro Wizard

This is the best turn based action RPG / stealth game I've ever played. At least in the dark fantasy colors. I love the characters, I love the story, I love everything about it. Even tho it's old and there's a lot of things that could be done better, It still is a solid 8/10 for me.

I'm going to buy the earlier released part of Styx and have some more fun with the First Goblin of them all. And It's gonna be epic :3

valiant43e
valiant43e

A game with a great plot !
Gameplay -> not so much, but still ok (reminds of the first Witcher game with its stances and automatic atacks).

Recommended if you crave an ok-ish action RPG with a great story.

Violator
Violator

JUST BUY IT ON SALE FOR STYX. It's the first appearance of STYX the foul mouthed goblin from the games of the same name. That's enough for me to give it a try and it's not bad. It's shallow but fun and the story with Styx's crazy dialogue is interesting enough to keep me going.

Kamduis
Kamduis

Having played the Styx games, I thought I'd play this one to see where the story took me. It was ok, certainly showed it's age and railroad heavy. The dialog sounded like a teenager trying to sound edgy by using swear words unnecessarily then I was blindsided by being told that I needed to rape a woman to bring her back. The cut scene continued ham-fistedley explaining that I needed to go into the magical realm/mental space/dream-scape/however you feel like explaining the well used trope of someone magically disconnected from the physical world being found and returned to their body by using more and more comparisons to sexual assault. This isn't ok, this game was released in 2012, I might expect it from the 80's or the 90's, but to have jammed it in to this to make the devs sound 'cool and edgy' is an utter piss take, especially when they brag about including "11 girls (which isn't nothing!)" in their staff on the OOaM wiki.

NightLizard
NightLizard

90%OFF
(English)
I bought this thinking it was bronze, turns out it was gold all along.
Good Styx universe game.

(PT)
Eu comprei isso pensando que era bronze, mas acabou sendo ouro.

Pontos fortes:
Roda até em frigideira+tem suporte ao pt-br(recomendo melhor no inglês) e é da saga do Styx então recomendo para quem curte.

JMulvy
JMulvy

Challenging game even on normal mode. Combat is similar to Dragon Age Origins, but not nearly as refined, you have to command both characters manually and combat does not pause entirely. It just moves at a very slow pace while you issue commands. Nothing like the other "Styx" games as far as game play is concerned. Still, I am having fun with the limited tactics of it all. Would recommend for strategy RPG fans and no I do not mean like Final Fantasy Tactics either. Liking the story so far. Adult language.

Caked
Caked

haha, goblin go f-word 10/10
seriously though, one of the best games I've played in a while, and I'm not one for intensive strategy. might be because I've played the first main Styx game before this one, but the fact I already knew the little bastard made his vulgar dialogue that much funnier and engaging to me. highly recommended if you can keep an open mind about the more tougher spots in the game, the payoff when you do succeed is quite satisfying!

vediunpotu
vediunpotu

I got interested in this game both because of the ambitious title and because of the shortage of adventure games based on the universe of Warhammer Fantasy. The game is not a licensed Warhammer product but heavily borrows from that universe, while blending it with other sources of inspiration (including WoW and LotR) and an "original" plot and background story. I did not expect a lot, but the game was still a disappointment.

At its core, Of Orcs and Men is a roleplaying game that features neither "action" nor "turn-based" combat. What you do is that you press a key that "slows time," thus allowing you to queue up to four attacks (or combat commands more generally); at that point, your toon will automatically run towards its target and perform the attacks that you queued (note: it can get stuck on its way there). At any time, you can switch between Arkail (Orc), and Styx (Goblin), featuring different abilities and combat styles.

The combat system is in fact the most interesting part of the game, and yet I found it cumbersome and ultimately boring. It is an interesting idea, but basically it pales in combarison to both the slow-paced satisfactions of turn-based combat and the active engagement of action-based systems.
On top of that, there is too much RNG, especially in the beginning, when your characters are still weak and every move seems to matter more. Win a fight, reload, input the exact same sequence of commands, and you may lose, not even depending on the lack of lucky crits, but depending on whether an enemy has obstructed your path for an extra fraction of time while your character was automatedly running to its selected target. Sure, you can unqueue all of your commands, take control of your character's movements, re-input a new sequence, etc. So cumbersome.

The worst aspect of the game probably is its level design. Levels are extremely linear. Like, really. There are 2D platform games from the late 1980s that have less linear levels.
The art style does not make up for the linearity. Of Orcs and Men is a typical video game of the seventh generation, in that it relies univocally on a technology that allows for high-definition and sort of realistic graphics. Unfortunately, technology is no substitute for style. The scenery is very monotonous, it lacks detail, and is highly non-interactive. It merely is... cardboard scenery, through which you hover your characters from point A to point B, while regularly engaging in waves of uninteresting combat.
The little variety of the scenery is matched by the little variety of the enemies, in both combat and art styles.

Finally, the story. The story is ambitious but very convenient. The game flirts with big ideas, mostly in the realm of race issues. The Orcs of Of Orcs and Men are exploited, segregated, and butchered by Humans. Does it ring a bell? By 2012, the year of the game's original release, this take on Orcs and Humans had become stale, and Of Orcs and Men deals with these ideas unoriginally. There is literally nothing worth of note. Alright, Styx is occasionally funny, and not a horrible character. All in all, however, the main characters do not fare better than the rest of the story. They have very cliché character arcs, including a trip to their past in later levels.

I will not even touch on secondary characters. They are bidimensional stereotypes. The game occasionally tries to satirize the tropes of its own genre. For example, upon encountering an Orc that speaks like an Orc (the "me smash" type of syntax), we find out that he was in fact hit by a stone on his head when he was a child. Of Orcs and Men, however, does not try hard enough to follow the line of satire.

Yada yada.

patrixilentius
patrixilentius

A really good, if simplistic and linnear action RPG with tactical combat. Great story, adult themes, a lot of prophanity, interesting world. Recommended.
8/10.

Tox3
Tox3

This game has what seems like very interesting story. Too bad I can't see it thanks to garbage combat and absurd difficulty. After 2 hours in one spot and about 66 attempts I gave up. No point in torturing myself any longer.
Edit: ok I beat it. Cool story. Cool lore. Awful controls and bout 3 unbalanced fights.

Arken Guardian
Arken Guardian

After playing the two Styx games I decided to play this game which is a great game overall. The story is great, I enjoyed the stealth segments and combat system even though it can be difficult. This is one of the unique games available that let you play as both Orc and Goblin. This game provides a certain challenge and worthwhile experience after succeeding the encounters especially the final boss battle which is really really hard even on normal difficulty. I hope they make a sequel to this game in the future.

Fart of Presto
Fart of Presto

Probably the worst fighting in an ARPG I've ever encountered.
You have to line up moves? Why didn't they just make it a card game or something like that.
Also being interrupted every 2 minutes by a cutscene is extremely annoying.

behelit
behelit

I love RPGs that actually pare down the experience to let you feel as a specific character. Combat system is fun and reasonably nuanced. Dialogue is good. I wish I knew about this ORKZ ONLY game years ago.

Jean
Jean

+ good soundtrack
+ orcish action
+ styx jokes
+ simple but entertaining story
+ old but gold

+/- fighting system lacks a bit more action

It was quite refreshing to kill ppl as an orc and goblin. fighting system would be pretty good if there was more action combat. :D it was pretty fun 91/100

kenny_abelha
kenny_abelha

I am recommending it yes, but with a warning. Final boss fight is luck based and with a safe strategy unwinnable.
With that out of the way, I can safely understand why the Styx series continued on, the setting of the game is a not so new but different take on the orcs, elves, dwarves and men fantasy trope. But what really takes the cake is the characters but specially Styx and Arkhail. Both of them steal the show and since they are the main characters you are never not engaged on what will happen. The story had some cool twists and some predictable ones too but overall very enjoyable.
The music and sound effects are nice but not at all special aside for a few ones here and there, the graphics are great for the time period. To maintain graphics like that, the design of stages is extremely linear to a detriment.
The combat is the only thing that is a pure negative, not a true turn base system, not a only action base one, is a mish mash and nobody is satisfied... a lot of the fights are luck based depending on your build so dont buy it if you can't digest it and enjoy everything else.

-[вαdɠєя]-
-[вαdɠєя]-

So far this is a no. 4.5/10 I will most likely play it some more and maybe re-review this but so far this is it.

I loved the styx series. I bought this because of that. I actually played the games in backwards release. I see entirely why they went in the direction they did with the properties. The Styx Games are good. but entirely different gameplay than this one. This is my greatest hurdle with it so far. Its not a badly developed game. in fact the game so far is good, its just not Styx. and that is why I don't recommend it.

Towchain
Towchain

I did not enjoy the combat. Did not enjoy the basic level design. Simplistic inventory. Went to youtube to watch the rest of the story.

ShikiDriki
ShikiDriki

One of the worst combat systems I have ever encountered. The fights are horribly balanced. The game has dated horribly. Graphics, voice acting, music, sounds - everything is below average even for the year it was released in. Level design is horribly linear. The story is unimaginative and just plain. I have no idea why so many people recommend this game.

Grum
Grum

I'm a massive fan of the two Styx games, and so I decided to pick this one up.

I strongly dislike the combat, the voice acting from just about everyone other then Styx and Arkail is really bad, the levels are painfully linear, and I wasn't a fan of the music.

HOWEVER, I still love the game. The story really is fantastic and Styx and Arkail are just about perfect protagonists. The humor is great and I really like how you can do different side quests that change how the game works out. As I mentioned previously, Styx and Arkail really carry this game. Both of their voice actors did an amazing job really bringing these characters to life. Speaking of voice acting, some of it is so bad from the other characters in the game that it actually is pretty funny, so it gives the game a unique charm. Also, it never got old seeing Arkail rage and knock Styx out mid fight, it's pretty hilarious.

I'd recommend this game if you're a fan of the Styx universe and if you like alternate takes on fantasy.

Alvarion
Alvarion

Of Orcs and Meh

Let’s get one thing straight out of the way – if you are playing Of Orcs and Men in 2021 there is about 95% chance you enjoyed Styx games and are looking for some more rapsy-voiced goblin goods. As for everyone else, I hope you do love a good piece of jank. If one or preferably both of the above are true, Of Orcs and Men is bound to deliver a good time. The title in question is probably best recognised for allowing fantasy fans to switch things around a little. Rather than fill the role of the default savage punching bags, a duo of orc and goblin are the protagonists of the story. That said, what makes this game a true curio is the unusual combat system. Not only the player controls two characters at once, the combat itself is based on a set of attack commands given to the both characters with extensive help of active pause. Take note, the game wasn’t exactly beautiful the day it came out. Nearly ten years later its visuals aged about as well as fish with a side of raw eggs left out in a dank, humid place for a similar period of time.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2515913102
Suicide squad
The usual green menace are introduced by the game’s intro as the ones being prosecuted and oppressed by armies of men. Prized for their physical strength, the orcs are a desired source of slave labour, hunted like animals to be then worked to death in quarries and construction sites. The greatest among them – the Wall, a set of fortifications which allows the Human Empire to prosecute the war against the orc as they please without a risk of significant counterattack. These are the circumstances under which we meet Arkail – one of the few remaining free orcs, a member of elite force named Bloodjaws. The group prepares their last-ditch attempt at making the humans bleed – an assassination of human emperor. The first step of becoming a kingslayer means getting past the Wall, that’s where Arkail’s guide steps in. Enter the Styx, a roguish goblin familiar with the Wall and ways to get across it. Alas, the game’s protagonist duo is born – a desperate orc warrior, more than capable of holding his own in the fight but suffering severe anger management problems and Styx – a sneaky goblin bastard with pension for surprise attacks and self-gain.

Those among you who approach Of Orcs and Men as “the one that has Styx in it” will find themselves right at home. Styx is played by the same voice actor and he’s exactly the gritty, self-centred douche, who we know and love. While the game’s plot of attempting to murder a figure of authority isn’t exactly groundbreaking, the tone of it is a departure from usual high-fantasy. Perhaps Bloodjaws don’t say it out loud but you can tell that their “heroic quest” is just their way of going down fighting and perhaps to give Human Empire a finger while they are at it. A gloom note for a doomed cause.

Hyperactive pause
Arkail and Styx affinities are apparent from their stature alone. The orc is a literal mountain of muscles relying on his sheer bulk to disperse the damage of the enemy attacks, fully capable of taking several enemies head on. Styx on the other hand is proficient in stealth and assassination. He can turn himself nearly invisible and slit the throat of an unsuspecting foe before the fight even starts. Once things inevitably go loud, he has a number of ranged and crowd control attacks to keep him mostly out of the harm’s way.

Employing skills of both protagonists requires constant use of active pause and manual selection of target and attacks sequence. The duo requires the player’s guidance as the second a selected opponent dies, they either revert to basic attacks or stop attacking altogether. Both Styx’s and Arkail’s moves fall into offensive and defensive categories, where the first “stance” allows for more damaging moves in exchange for receiving more punishment from opponents while the latter focuses on disruption of enemy attacks and tanking hits. Both character’s have a wide selection of abilities, each with a choice of 1 out of 2 upgrades to better tailor the duo to your playstyle. That said, you will quickly figure out your most efficient combos and not use half of the options available.

Bare enemy bones
The reason for that is this title’s gamepay loop, simplistic to the point of being primitive. Every map is in essence a single meandering corridor with a series of fights along the way. You peel the group of all enemies that can be assassinated (the rest have a clear sight of each other, so attacking them immediately begins combat), then have Arkail barge in and keep enemies occupied. Next, Styx can use the commotion to eliminate the enemies 1 by 1 while the orc makes his best punching bag impression. If one of your characters is left standing, they both quickly revive and regenerate to full health. Repeat until a cutscene plays. Admittedly, a lot of games could be described this way at some most fundamental level. What makes it a problem in Of Orcs and Men is a very low enemy variety, especially in terms of mechanics. Half of the skills won’t be used much, simply because there are no enemies that would require a significant change in approach. Yes, brigands with pikes become armoured knights further down the line, which doesn’t alleviate the fact that the moment you enter the goblin-infested tunnels you’ve essentially seen it all. In the first chapter out of five.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2515913702
Bluntly put, the game can get pretty boring, fairly fast. Especially given the fact that Of Orcs and Men’s pacing is all over the place. The second chapter is a prime offender in that regard. It is by far the longest part of the game and its underground corridors seem to drag on indefinitely. There are too many fights against large enemy groups, which demote Arkail to a glorified speedbump. All the while Styx enters a vicious cycle of running in circles, reviving and occasional knife throw. It’s a slog and a painful one. That said, if you make it to chapter 3 the game suddenly becomes fun. The scenery and enemies appearance start to switch regularly and larger areas that allow player to plan their manoeuvres show up. Even the story becomes more interesting.

To add just a little more jank sprinkling on top, there is an odd RPG-like character progression where you improve their stats for no visible reason and equipment which doesn’t really get better over the course of the game, instead it affects different stats. At later stages gear traders start appearing only in plot exclusive moments, making this entire gameplay element redundant.

Greenpeace
All things considered, Of Orcs and Men can be called a curio if we wish to be charitable. It’s a mostly unremarkable, weird and ugly game with likeable characters and interesting spin on fantasy setting. It is no surprise that “sequels” are stealth titles starring Styx by entirely different developer. The goblin and his stabby shenanigans are by far the most fun part of the game in queston. Despite all of the negatives, it’s a fun jank should you have a taste for such a thing. Frankly, I can’t imagine this title just popping up on someone’s radar without any previous knowledge of this game. Most of you probably know exactly what you are signing up for. With that condition met, the game absolutely delivers the goods. Styx is there, grumpy and sardonic just the way you like it. If by some happenstance you come into Of Orcs and Men blind, fair warning, this is as B-class game as it can possibly get. You are probably better off trying out Styx games instead.

mogiewon
mogiewon

It grew on me. The battle system was way different than I was expecting but after awhile I came to enjoy it. When not dying a lot of course.

zacharygustafson1
zacharygustafson1

I usually don't care much for linear RPGs, so imagine my surprise when I went out of my way to finish Of Orcs and Men. It helps that it's around 12-13 hours long, but hey. This is a tentative recommendation, mind, as this game is extremely flawed; I recommend only getting it if it's on sale, and if you played and enjoyed the Styx games. This game is nothing like those games, mind, but it has the character.

The basic premise is simple; it's your typical orcs-vs-humans sort of deal, but the roles are reversed, with the orcs as the good guys and the humans as the bad guys. The story is ultimately fine, it has some twists and turns, but I can't say it's very inspiring. I mostly kept playing for the dynamic between Arkail and Styx, as I found their slowly growing friendship and character development charming, and Styx is just fun in general. The voice acting is weird mixed bag; our two main leads have suitably fitting voices, but everybody else...hoo boy, I can't say I've heard less fitting voices in a fantasy game. You have orcs with whiny, high-pitched voices, one soldier sounded like a drunk southerner, a lot of characters just sound bored, it's just bad in a lot of cases.

The graphics are another thing that underwhelms. It looks worse than the Elder Scrolls Oblivion, which came out years earlier, and it has only gotten worse with age. Textures tend to be muddy, animations are reused A LOT, and character designs range from good to out-of-place. The music is mostly just there, it tends to be short and repetitive but not offensive; there was a grand total of one tracks I actually enjoyed listening to, that's it.

Gameplay wise, it's a linear level-based RPG. It uses an interesting in-between of real-time combat and turn-based; you queue up to four actions on one or more targets, and the guys carry them out. As you level up you unlock new attacks or upgrade old ones. It isn't a bad system, in my opinion, though it could use polish; I had a fair few deaths because I didn't prioritize my targets properly, or I had bad positioning, or I didn't eliminate enough enemies stealthily, and so fourth. I did have to vary up my strategy from time-to-time, but unfortunately a lot of the moves are simply not worth bothering with as they either are pretty weak, or take too long to play out when just continually slashing would work better.

Our two heros play pretty differently; Arkail, the big orc lad, is a pure melee fighter with a rage meter that, if filled, throws him into berserk mode where he attacks at random. Styx, the small goblin, is a bit more interesting; he can go into "stealth" mode, and I use quotes because the stealth in this game is extremely basic. You basically turn invisible, and can only be seen when you kill someone or if you stand directly in front of them; the guards are braindead, they don't react to corpses, and they don't hear their buddies being shanked right behind them. Stealth is mostly a matter of picking off as many enemies you can until you're forced to fight. In a fight, Styx's attacks are weaker, and his special moves requires a mana called Concentration, but in exchange he has access to ranged attacks. He also gets an insanely powerful health-draining move later in the game, but I'll stop there because I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Something I noticed is that the early game chapters feel a lot more, well, meaty compared to the later ones; combat is generally tougher and there are more side missions, while later in the game I can only remember like, one mission, and that's it, and encounters don't get much tougher. I do consider myself lucky that I didn't realize the above health-drain move Styx has was insanely busted until the very end, because it would've probably made the game really boring if I did. I managed to slaughter the final boss with ease with it as I could keep popping it off constantly thanks to my investments in the mind stat; it's not that he didn't have a boatload of health, high attack and armor, and lackeys at his side, I just had the perfect accuracy, armor ignoring magic attack that heals me when I use it.

So in short, Of Orcs and Men is an alright, if dated and flawed, RPG that can last you a day if you dedicate one to it. I enjoyed it because the main characters interact with each other well, and the combat is interesting, but it isn't much else beyond that and I can only recommend it if you get it on sale, like jank, or enjoyed Styx in his own games.

Korkutz
Korkutz

The orc is massive, angry and fighting for their freedom
The goblin is cunning, ruthless and in it for the money
The story is great at making you feel sympathy for them
However this is story over gameplay game so not much replayability unless you want to see how they react to every diaglogue option.

andrea.edelman
andrea.edelman

Combat system = joke. Not a good one. Point and click in 3d live combat. Run away from this crap. Too bad liked the story.

ronovsky
ronovsky

A good game that faceplants in the end

I was so sure I'd leave a positive review here… I have much respect for Of Orcs and Men and want more of these AA titles that sit somewhere between the blockbuster and indie game space. This game is neither particularly ambitious nor groundbreaking, but what is in there is solid and the anti-hero duo of Arkail and Styx is memorable and well realised. I thoroughly enjoyed the game throughout most of its length, slowly coming up with a strategy that would get me through the game on hard difficulty.

I give up. The final boss fight is an absolute mess. He constantly ressurrects his powerful mobs to the point, where attacking those becomes pointless. Worse still, attacking the boss feels equally pointless due to his immense health regeneration. Now also give him the ability to paralyse your character and you have 'that guy' of a boss. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! It turns out there's no checkpoint before the fight and AFAIK no way to save the game. Upon seeing what one has to sit through to simply get another shot at the boss, my jaw hit the ground. With every attempt you have to go through three preceeding battles and two unskippable cutsenes which can easily waste between 10 and 15 minutes of your life for each try.

Now, I can be persistent, trying the same thing over and over… In this case, I don't think I will give it a shot for the third time. It's just too much frustration and I would rather retain my sanity. Some day I might lower the difficulty just to see how the story ends, but I think I'm done for now. This game got me beat.

Warchief Orkboss
Warchief Orkboss

sold game about orcs and goblins, has nothing to do with of mice and men, but it's a fun game about orcs. If you liked the Styx games, this is where our favorite little goblin made his debut. The final boss is borked as hell, but hey, it's a good game. Just don't buy it full price

Silencer
Silencer

Of Orcs and Men

Well first off i got to say that im not a fan of the combat system. In short it really sucks however i did enjoy the story it does make you feel for the characters. The game is extremely straight forward as in you follow the path and maybe a few side quest along the way. However there were two maybe three part of the game where it just almost impossible. The last fight in the arena is just stupidly hard. Unless you love kiting the enemies around in a circle to heal and attack then your going to love this. Same thing with the Final boss fight except worse with the BBEG that keeps healing himself. On to other things the music was alright and the character voices were ok though some just bad.

Do I recommend this game umm... im in the middle ground on that. The game is average at best. Really needs a better fighting system but i cant complain to much for i got it on sale for a really good price.

JJMck
JJMck

If you really love Styx and its games, you can easily buy it at 90% off. And if I am very punctual because the game is not very big, it is linear and the combat ... mmh, but who cares? Just buy the game. ; )

Vampire337
Vampire337

Styx is in it. Only this time he's not as refined of a prick, and he's more of a kiss-ass. But still, if you liked the gritty witty greenskin, you're bound to enjoy this for the sale price.

The game looks pretty good for its age, even in 2021. It's no AAA title, but it's enjoyable. They took some pretty good game mechanics and made a solid quarter of a game. Then they repeated it several times to fill out the rest of the game. Having only played a couple hours so far, I haven't hit a point where it feels monotonous and repetitive, but I can see where it'll maybe get there. And honestly, I might not recommend a game like that for $40. But for a buck fifty it's hard to hate on a couple fun hours.

Chief002
Chief002

Pros:
* Styx

Cons:
* Gameplay

I found myself pretty much indifferent to everything else.

Would only recommend the game if you want more Styx.

Whiteswart
Whiteswart

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.

Sheïtan
Sheïtan

Only make this game for learning more about Styx and the lore of the trilogy (Of orcs and men happens before the other styx). The system combat is the worst i've ever play in a video game but the story was great.

Cozzman
Cozzman

This is a good game, and it is a unique concept since your main characters are a Orc and Goblin, one a Warrior and one a stealth character this can get difficult at times though, I liked playing it, give it a go.

Rgasm Diversion
Rgasm Diversion

Despite an old game, I enjoyed its cinematic game play. A good story line. it is between a real time and TBT (turn-based tactics) category.

Epheius
Epheius

After playing Styx: Shards of Darkness, and beating it, I found myself wanting more content from his universe. I recently had started playing the original title, "Master of Shadows" However, though I played some of that game, I realized there was a first. I didn't expect to see another game in this continuity, but I'm glad I found it.

I will admit, I was very close to walking away from this game early on, though the combat was archaic and difficult to understand at first, I was able to get passed it, and even excel in most confrontations; but it was easy to see the combat just wasn't polished enough, and targeting is quite poor, often leading me into an enemy I wasn't trying to strike (Though this could be due to mouse and keyboard) lead to my unfortunate end plenty of times. Styx (Being the main reason I picked up this title) was fun to play, and entertaining to watch interact with the other characters. His stealthstance took time to fully understand in terms of what I could and couldn't get away with. Styx was invaluable in my playthrough, as I used him to silently remove enemies from areas, or instantly kill a more powerful foe to more easily succeed.

Arkail, the Orc bloodjaw was at first pretty unlikeable. But, without context; as the Orcs I'm familiar with are from the Elder Scrolls franchise, these orcs were visually displeasing for a while, but their design grew on me, as did their traditions, and honor-code.
Of Orcs and Men has a solid storyline, with two likeable and equally as unique characters, with plenty of diversity in level design. The only current setback, is the Zealot. After an entire playthrough of learning the combat, chaining proper skills and managing and maintaining both characters throughout several more difficult scenarios, I now find myself stuck at the very end. The Zealot certainly is a powerful character, though the fight itself in my opinion, just simply isn't fair. The Zealot is capable or restoring 200 - 400HP instantly, and through skill attempts, seems nothing will interrupt the animation. Not to mention the constant revival of 4 previously slain Orc Berserkers. I have gotten close many times, but I was cut short, and because of the save/quicksave timeslots in this scene, it takes well over 20 minutes to even get a shot at the Zealot again, after going through 2 fights prior, and 2 cutscenes.

I do intend to complete the game, perhaps even play it once over, the ending bout is undeniably difficult, I would recommend this title to Styx fans, and fantasy/RPG fans (minus some Roleplay)

Technician
Technician

Overall, I liked this game. I had just upgraded my computer when I played it, so it was the most gorgeous game I've played up until the point I started it. Truly, my computer was that bad.

I digress.

Let's start with the gameplay, because that will be a shorter explanation. It's pretty cool, if a bit repetitive. It's not completely intuitive. I pretty much got stuck about an hour and a half in because I didn't have adequate area of effect attacks and really didn't have anything good to deal with large crowds. I had to start over, since there are no respecs. I didn't lament that I started on the easiest setting while I learned the gameplay.

Some lighter notes about the story. Playing Arkail is cool. I can see why Styx became the main character in the subsequent games, though. (I haven't played them yet, and don't own the third one as of now.) It's a pretty standard orcs vs humans, but orcs seek redemption storyline. Bears a lot in common with WarCraft III in that regard. In fact, the orc designs seem like they could have been done by a designer who left Blizzard in the early 2000's. It's pretty awesome that every character has unique facial features, though. Well-done, if at times cliche, story. Oh, and Brune was a real treat! Hah! I loved her! Oh, and I should mention that the game is extremely linear. From story, combat, and exploration, you're basically going from point A to point B the whole time.

On to some of the heavier elements of the story. I'll use spoiler tags where I can, if I know how to use them correctly. Just tread carefully if you haven't played the game yet and see no black boxes coming up.

Ever since WarCraft II, I've preferred playing as orcs. I served in the U.S. Marines, as well. I can relate to orcs' warlike tendencies. This game, much like WarCraft III (last comparison), really gets the gears turning when it comes to how humans, metahumans, good, and evil mesh together.

Reading Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings convinced me that, in a literary sense, good an evil could broadly be described as whoever aligns with humanity and whoever aligns against humanity. With this in mind, there are some sequences in the game that really make me think.

(I looked up how to use spoiler tags, but beware from here on out.)

About halfway into the game, there's a section where you are up against a faction of orcs who have been captured and forced into slavery. They are led by an orc who serves as their foreman and leader. He is certainly presented as being very aligned to the human way of life and thinking. For this part of the story, I performed in a very "orc-like" way pertaining to him, and it turned out I had most certainly been thinking with pre-conceived notions about what that means. I think I failed in the story objective of the next part because my choices excluded the option to make the necessary choices that faction needed to succeed. Play the game or read the spoilers to find out what I mean.

The funny thing is, you get the sense that, even though this guy I referenced earlier is against you, he's got a point. A good one, at that. You're being sent out to assassinate the human emperor because he's very anti-orc. Presumably, he's that way because of how war-like the orcs are, and how much trouble they like to cause. Of course, humans, being humans, are plenty enough and resourceful enough to subjugate a much larger, more aggressive, and mightier people.

So, you're being sent against a leader who chooses to attack the orcs because of the threat to humanity they present. It therefore seems ironic that there are humans allied with the orcs who are out to save their heritage. It really casts a shadow on the "broad" notion of what good and evil is. Where does the line begin, and where does it end? Both of these questions are hinted at, but not outright discussed.

Immediately following that, you start on one of the major parts of your mission you learned about from nearly the outset of the game. You are tasked with bringing Arkence back from the brink of the "prison" of her physical and emotional trauma so that she can help you make it to the next part of the story. When asked how the protagonists can help with the process, they are given the answer, "rape." Okay. Glad you could pull that punch, game.

I also have to mention the voice acting. Arkail, Styx, and only a couple of orcs are spot-on. (Again with the generalizations.) Most of the rest of the orc voices sound human, or like a human who's voice is too high, but tries to sound "raspy". Other than the sound of the voices, the voice-acting is generally good.

Then, there's Brune. Oh, Brune is a real treat! Even Styx greets he warmly when she meets up with you. I would hate to have her in a fighting hole with me, but as a friend she would be an absolute doll to be around!

I've been waiting months to write this review, but I had some real-life stuff jump in the way at about the 10 hour mark and had to put the game down. I really enjoy the game for the though-provoking side of things. I hope the remaining Styx titles are able to really get the juices flowing in the same way. I'm glad it's a relatively short game. I probably would have paid full price for the game, but getting it on sale really sealed the deal. I really didn't say all of the things I wanted to, but I think I've gone on long enough. I'd like to give this game another play-through on a higher difficulty setting so I can run down the choices I didn't make previously. Overall, I like the game. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

Fʀᴇʏᴀ
Fʀᴇʏᴀ

Nice game, but lacks stealth. It simply does not exist! Linearity kills the interest of passing.4/10

Dustin
Dustin

What a fantastic game!

Great story, hilarious characters, and awesome music!

The gameplay, combat especially is a little hard to get used to. It's similar to Witcher 1, you can change between offensive and defensive (ranged for Goblin) during combat.

If one of your character dies, you can use the other one to run around and constantly pick them back up which is helpful. Although re-healing during combat is almost non-existent, so at that point they usually die over and over until the battle is won and you start regenerating.

The stealth is pretty nice, the NPCs don't react to the dead bodies lying on the floor which is fortunate.

The music is really good, I especially love the rubber duck quacks in the Mire stage.

There's no longer a DRM limiting your install count, and there's also an "infinite" Trade Point exploit if you want to buy and upgrade everything lol.
There is a graphical issue with newer AMD cards that cause yellow lines blocking the HUD. There's a third party download fix for it but I'm not f*cking doing that.

It's a very challenging game, but very fun!

9/10

HolyLionBlack
HolyLionBlack

unplayable garbage. Sh!t voice acting, bad animation, story is predictable and boring. This is the 3rd time I tried giving this game a chance but how could anyone play with the awful controls to fight? What were they thinking?!

StormShadow
StormShadow

I wanted to like this game but I can't bring myself to recommend it. It's an old title now and looks like it with graphics that are, at best, mediocre and rather poor voice acting apart from Styx.

The game play is repetitive and utterly linear, the story line is rather confused and even on easy setting some of the fights take several attempts before you work out how to defeat some of the mobs/mini-bosses. How folks complete this on hard setting, and more importantly why they would even bother trying, is beyond me! The final boss is a serious pain and I decided I couldn't be bothered after several attempts. It seems that if you didn't choose the correct skill upgrades then it is incredibly difficult/practically impossible to win.

Replayability is practically zero and if a game isn't worth replaying then why bother buying it in the first place?

The fact that armour, weapons and skills can only be upgraded once seems a bit short-sighted and to not have the ability to change your choices, even once, seems bloody-minded of the devs.

I have the other Two Styx games and am looking forwards to trying those out, hopefully they're better than this garbage.

razvanepcs
razvanepcs

Nice and fun game. Old school game with old school gameplay. Simple and fun ... something lost in new games.

Geek0DOOM
Geek0DOOM

Controls are a bit janky at times, and the levels are fairly linear; however, it's an overall enjoyable experienced so far. The pause combat is great and makes up a large portion of the gameplay

Juskid
Juskid

The game is ok, the story is decent, the script is ok each of the two characther have some good dialogues, But they dont have a good background story design.
The game have an inventory system build in but is verily implemented, it not sure why they even bother.
The music is really good, but sometimes the mix dosent work quiet well.
The only negative is that i have to run with one character to revive the other characer, becasue the fight wasent fair, and it turn really anoyng to run health, revive, then repeat until, i could fight.

HazeyDays
HazeyDays

A bit janky, but it's fun and cheap. Definitely worth a buy for a few hours of laughs, especially playing with friends and handing off the controller when you die.

Emersomatic
Emersomatic

A Hack&Slash so bad it made me reconsider Turn-Based Combat.

After playing the Styx games which have excellent stealth systems and combat that I thought was clumsy only to discourage non-stealth play, I expected so much better from this. I was a bit cautious when one of the reviews said the combat was a bit like Dragon Age, but I figured, "Even if the gameplay is mediocre, the story must be okay... right?" Well, I can't comment much on the story given how little of the game I played, but, first impression, this writing thinks it's a lot better than it is, like a D&D game with a slightly unusual but still generic campaign setting and no sense of humor. More importantly, the combat - the main form of content in this game - is so bad that after trying for 10 days to get back in the mood for it, I can't even bear the thought, so I'm applying for a refund.

Combat is mostly automatic - which on its own may not be a bad thing, look at classic Runescape - but is so unforgiving that significant player input during combat is required, like an MMO. Not a good start for a singleplayer game, but wait, it gets worse. There is at least a full second's delay between giving a character a specific command and actually seeing results, which is a huge problem if you're in a tough fight and suddenly need to change up tactics - it might not work before you're dead. Add to that, the controls are just not intuitive at all - your characters will end up doing quite the opposite of what you want on a regular basis.

From what I've seen of the game and read in other reviews, there is basically nothing to this game outside of combat - no open-ended exploration, no gathering and crafting, no farming life sim, not even minigames - just trudging through a linear story with compulsory fights to reach the next cutscene, in which you may have some minor, probably inconsequential dialogue choices. So almost the only form of content in this game is combat, and the combat sucks.

This came out a YEAR after Skyrim, which still holds up as one of the overall best fantasy RPGs ever with a pretty good combat system at its core; and over TEN YEARS after Dungeon Siege, which has comparable gameplay that is better in every way, having much simpler controls that are actually usable, being able to train any character in any playstyle, and most distinctly having a variable party size allowing up to eight characters at once. It baffles me that in that context this game came out and in another ten years has never even been patched.

Before this game, I avoided Turn-Based Combat like the plague, thinking that even a bad real-time action system is always more enjoyable than even the best TBC... and now I'm seriously reconsidering that position.

Tyra Wadman
Tyra Wadman

The first game to an awesome series!

Play Styx: Master of Shadows, and then Shards of Darkness if you're interested in continuing the story!

This game features the combination of an iconic duo of brain/stealth and brawn. Unlike later games, this one has a combat system unlike any I've ever seen before. It's like real time. You select your attacks and they'll execute them. And hopefully you succeed!

Very linear, but you do get to make a choice later on to influence your playstyle.

wraith
wraith

I very much enjoyed this game.
It had the feel of something not quite realised, a fresh take on typical lore and high fantasy, I would love to see it given the attention and time it deserves.

game play wise its simple enough and dosent push the envelope but its enough.

though ive never heard the phrase "psychic rape" used more often or less comfortably.

8/10- Death can wait for you, son of the red breath

darkwings13
darkwings13

Would definitely recommend the game when it's on sale. Has some flaws but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The characters and story was probably the best part of the game and I also liked how good the ost was. The gameplay was a whole different story. It's somewhere between average and mediocre.

Jake Bardolph
Jake Bardolph

I really didn't like the mechanics and combat. Yet I couldn't help but keep playing. This has somehow become one of my favourite games, if not my absolute favourite. However I will never play it again

Arianteen
Arianteen

quite nice story. Could be better if it was a hack and slash game, but the controls are fine if you're a quick learner.

F.L.Y.N.N
F.L.Y.N.N

A very underrated game. Nonetheless a fun and memorable one. The game is an RPG that heavily utilises pause combat derived from the old crpgs or even Dragon Age: Origins. Good voice acting for the main characters and subpar voice acting on the other npcs.

Gameplay:
The game is quite janky in many places. Combat can be a mess for first timers if you do not have the hotkeys binded. But you become easily overpowered if you invest in the right skills and the right stats. I suggest going with the blue skill tree for both characters. I tend to use Arkail as the beefy crowd controller while Styx dishes out massive crits from afar and melee. Maps are pretty linear and mission based, so do not expect any exploration.

I recommend it to anyone looking for a new refreshing story setting and likeable characters. There are 2 more games that were released for this universe (Styx 1 and 2). Looking forward to playing those.

Button Eyes
Button Eyes

Of Orcs And Men is a action-RPG where you play as 2 protagonists, Arkail the orc and Styx the goblin, as they went on a mission to kill the human emperor with hopes to stop the oppression against greenskins. If you're wondering, yes, it's the same Styx as the one in the Styx games, which are prequels to this game. Honestly, I wouldn't bat an eye to this game if I wasn't a fan of the Styx games, but this game surpasses my expectations in many ways.

Firstly, it's an interesting take on the fantasy genre, where we don't play as humanoids, but rather monstrous creatures But they're actually good, and the humans are the evil ones. This game expands the world and lore of the Styx games, which by itself is already an interesting fantasy universe. The levels are sadly narrow and linear, but despite that it still provides a pretty good look at the world. There's also some weapons and outfits for both your characters, each with their own bonuses, and you can change them as you wish.

Combat is rather different than most game, it's not hack-and-slash combat like people would expect. It's not really turn-based, it's like Dragon Age: Origins, where it still happens real-time but you can slow down time and plan your attack. My advice is to use Styx to damage the enemies' armor with his attack first, and Arkail and finish them off. But before starting combat, I recommend using Styx to stealth kill the enemies first. In some areas, the enemies are all roaming around and you can stealth kill most of them. In combat, the enemies are weirdly strong, so its better to lessen the number of enemies first.

My main problem with this game is the narrow FOV. It makes the levels feel even more cramped. But luckily, maybe due to the combination of third-person view and narrow levels, it doesn't cause me nausea. This game would be better with a wider FOV, which you can change, but it's kinda complicated and didn't work for me. Plus, it would be easier to take good screenshots if you're into it.

Of Orcs And Men is a pretty great underrated game, one that I never heard of had I not been researching about the Styx games. If you're into fantasy genres and RPGs, give this interesting franchise a try. Although, like me, I recommend playing both Styx games first. Hopefully, there will be more games set in this world.

goldenruhl_1999
goldenruhl_1999

fun game great graphics and doesn't take up all my hard drive and easy controls. I like it lol Its only 3gb on my hd

j4ck_fl4sh_3k
j4ck_fl4sh_3k

Its not gonna be for everyone but I liked the challenge, this game is quite hard thou so be warned :)

Stajfer
Stajfer

Well, I thought this was going to be a fun game, based on the characters and reviews. What makes me really not enjoy it is three things. One; I couldn’t not even imagine such a linear game, even if it where from 2002. It is just forward, find a thing, a battle, repeat.
Second, what actually intrigued me from the beginning. The battle system, which got a lot of praise in the reviews I read. It is just so clunky, slow, and just tabbing around. The AI from the characters I play is beyond awful, they act like NPC on easy mode.

Third is the voice acting (except from Styx) is so very bad. If there is a good story line, I can’t stand to find out.

And trying to find out if the game is going to continue in this way, it seems like it. I think this is my first review ever, and it is because I’ve never been more disappointed and bored by a game so early on. And still I only paid €1.49.

»SoD« Bizerco
»SoD« Bizerco

A great game with terrible combat, Of Orcs and Men is the story about the Human Empire Genociding and enslaving the Orc race and of a Rebel Orc and Styx on their quest to assassinate the Emperor to free and save Greenskin kind.

The Combat is a Real Time Strategy combat type, however the skills/commands between the two characters are not very useful and the Partner will only use basic attacks; This forces you to constantly switch between the two characters to have any real effective combat. I in the end fond that combat basically came down to which attack did the most damage percentage and had the higher stun rates.
Late Game is incredibly annoying with this as enemies have high DPS and stun skills.

6/10.

Shadow Ops
Shadow Ops

Of Orcs And Men
pros:
fast game with modern day graphics with easy controls that moves from location A to B to C and so on,
cons:
alot of difficult battles.
requires micromanagement.
somewhat difficult and weird battle controls.

good game.
Personal Suggested Purchase Price: $0.49 Or Less During Sale

Smo0ooo
Smo0ooo

This game is fantastic, the atmosphere and story are really well done. I'm giving it a second play through in 2022

Astaritus
Astaritus

Quite an interesting story about two warring races that rallied for a single mission. The destructive Orc and the quiet goblin (which is very sharp on the tongue and his blades) will go a long way hand in hand together - having been captured, raised an uprising and participated in the murder of the Emperor of Men.
In the game, we are waiting for humor, a different option for passing - such as assault, or stealth. Pumping heroes and their weapons. And also a lot of dramatic moments that allow you to get to know the characters from the other side.
The game is recommended for purchase and will be a great gift for fans of the Goblin Styx series of games.

Lord NevScorp
Lord NevScorp

Of Orcs and Men tells a uniquely depressing story of war and slavery in a mesmerising fantasy world full of unforgettable, insane, and ridiculously likeable characters. The combat might be an acquired taste, but the journey remains poignantly unforgettable.

8.7 / 10

Rawhaki
Rawhaki

Despite its adolescent, juvenile scripts, dialogues and banters, I adore this game's story a lot. The settings, the POV, and its themes, it kept me hooked till the end. The reason why I don't care much about medieval fantasy story in RPGs are generally because I felt like I've seen it all when I was a teenager. It's always human who struggle in those worlds and they're the only ones who can save the kingdom, the world, the universe bla bla bla. This game breaks that mold and it kept me wanting to see more of this style of RPG/game.

However, the combat was just not fun to watch nor play. It was genuinely a slog for me. I feel like it was spread too thin within this 12-15hrs game. If it was a simple yet competent and fun lite action rpg, I think it would make a better game for it. Though there is a continuation of the game's story(sort of) in a form of spin-offs starring our favorite goblin Styx, I really hope Cyanide Studio won't give up telling the game's story through the eyes of Arkhail or any other orcs. I want to continue playing as Arkhail. Soundtrack is freaking amazing by the way. Good stuff.

ONCE AGAIN, BEFORE you make this purchase based of my recommendation, please note that I only recommending this game because of its story, world, settings and the interesting POV. I am not recommending the game because of its gameplay. It is going to be a slog to get through it, even on Easy. There are pros and vets to this style of gameplay and I suggest reading their full throughts on it before you buy this game, okay?

Captain Facepalm
Captain Facepalm

I had allot more fun with this game then i thought i would, story is descent i LOVE the voice acting,
really vulgar and can be funny when they go for it.
some dont like the combat but i did, reminded me of KOTOR.
had allot of fun with this one, defenetly recommend

THE_BOSS_KILLA77
THE_BOSS_KILLA77

Its really cool to know styx back story before you start his games. the story is awesome just the game play is old. Dont expect to have a hole lot of fun with the play style. I do recommend playing it because there is many Different ways to go about beating it just give it a try plus its very cheap.

Heckle
Heckle

After the first hour or so I was pretty sure I was going to leave a negative rating for this game due to how hard I bounced off the combat system. But I stuck with it and in the end I really enjoyed the characters, story, and game play of this one. The combat gets easier once you start understanding the system and just specialize your characters into a role. The orc being the tank in mostly defensive stance with the goblin being just a straight up DPS murder machine worked well for me.

Pros:
Great story
Characters I really grew to love
Solid stealth system
Fun and challenging combat, once you learned the system

Cons:
Linear levels
Combat system took some getting used to
Pretty dumb AI during stealth
Could have used some more items/gear

In the end this was a pretty great game that I would definitely recommend folks check out. Just give yourself a little time to let the combat system sink in. Glad I stuck with this one and now I'm interested in the follow up stealth game they made with Styx.

Clockwerks
Clockwerks

This game tries hard to be a playable movie, and in that regard maybe it is successful. I'm not sure how well this one did on release but it's pretty evident that the developers tried to cover up the fact that there's not much going on under the hood. The game plays out in sneaking/subterfuge sections where Styx runs around and does some very limited sneaking broken up by pausable action sequences where the player selects skills to use and can queue up skills to be performed in sequence. Sounds great on paper, but in practice it falls apart.

There are no real sneak mechanics in the game. Styx has daggers and can go invisible but you can only perform assassination attempts on completely stationary targets, any patrolling guards are impervious to your shenanigans because they have to be frozen in place for Styx to be able to kill them. You can't make distracting noises or use diversionary tactics at all, and if there are dogs Styx can't even use his main mechanic in the game period. There are dogs everywhere later in the game, so say goodbye to that entire aspect of Styx around the midway point.

There is a decent combat system underneath it all, when it wants to work correctly. Sometimes Arkail will completely ignore directions on whom to attack and what skill to use, and Styx does the same. At times it feels more like herding cats than playing a game about Orcish revolution, and when these things happen the player is forced to reload and hope that his characters use their skills the next time. There is also a massive pathing issue in many areas of the game that adds an additional wrinkle to combat: occasionally when selecting a target the character will run the other direction, seemingly for no reason. It is a cause for concern when it is a factor in most battles with more than 3 participants which is basically every encounter.

The maps are large and detailed, but completely uninteractive and feel like they're more of a distraction than anything else. Many of them feature little out of the way areas that would be perfect for hiding treasures or collectibles but most of the time they're empty, just like the rest of the game. When the player does find some gear or similar, it needs to be upgraded before being of any use because the gear in the game is almost identical from piece to piece, with very slight variations in effects. The biggest change the gear brings is it changes the appearance of a character, and maybe that's why the developers decided to make the gear selection boring and discouraged exploration because they didn't want to spend the time to fill their game with interactions for the player to take at their option.

I enjoyed this game until the little utility Styx had was thrown to the side after the close of chapter 3. Until that point I felt like I at least had a bit of choice in how to approach things but it becomes glaringly obvious that the developers didn't want players to play their own way. I don't want to give away the details of the issue, but it's built into the gameplay mechanics and when it came up I asked myself why anyone would develop a game with particular features, then eliminate one of those features late in the game for seemingly no reason. Wondering about it will only drive me insane though, so I just turned the game off and won't bother with it or this company any longer.

Steer clear of this one, if you believe in giving things a chance like I do you might get suckered in but don't be surprised when it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

buffjape
buffjape

Great story, with very simple maps and a really confusing combat system. Played it on easy for enjoyment.

Rithaldur
Rithaldur

Don't expect to find a classic RPG style game, since you control 2 characters simultaneously and their combat capabilities are not broad - damage, some mitigation and a few debuffs on the enemy, which almost always charge you in packs and surround you. The gameplay itself was tough to master, but in the end was a breeze (until you get to the last boss that is). Quite short even with exploring every side quest but the story is nice and adult humour doesn't feel out of place. I am yet to play the Styx games, which are more stealthy.

If you want to enjoy this game, just play on easy/normal and read a few guides on how to build the characters - by the end you'll have most skills, but you can upgrade your skill with only one option.

For the achievement hunters like me - the extreme difficulty is off the charts and thus you have to suffer a lot if you want a 100%

Like A bO$$
Like A bO$$

This is my first review, I never take the times to make a review but I had to cause this is one of the worst games I’ve ever played and the combat system is the worst in any game ever and it’s basically unplayable and totally unenjoyable I would not buy this at all

hypernik
hypernik

Play it to know more about Styx. Nice game story and Styx humor wise plus some of the elements were great.
Buy it if you have the money you'll love it. Just not come looking for someting like Styx: Master of Shadows.

Peter Takeda
Peter Takeda

The game is not bad and I found the story quite interesting. The controls can feel bit janky at the start, but once you get used to it, it gets pretty niche. The combat is like real time + ability based by order of operations like (example: pick target + Slam, Stun, Parry, etc). You can pause + unpause to strategize how you play.

Only bad things about this is that there aren’t much choice in how you play a level or at least from the beginning. So even though you can see tiny spaces that Styx can fit through, it’s blocked by an invisible wall and there’s plenty of them. Sneaking is easy as the enemy’s line of sight is pretty bad, but it’s not optional on most levels unless you don’t mind getting caught and having to deal with reinforcements.

Now for the story, I like it. Won’t spoil it, but it’s an eye opener. Certain events in the story will allow the player to choose between a few options that would affect the next level or a level further down the road. You can easily spot the references from your choices, and most importantly, you’ll get to know the characters a bit more. The game has a level up system where you kill, earn coins throughout the story. It’s not like a grinding game so it’s best to kill everything in that level and open all the chests you can find, but the game doesn’t allow you to go back.

The loot feels rigged as it drops when your progress through the story so you’ll let likely be getting the same loot and depending if you’re going to explore all corners and alleys of that level. The skill tree is very linear, think of Diablo 3’s skill tree, but you’ll eventually have most of them maxed out with awakened skills (but that only happens once you reach a certain point of the story).

Pros:
- Interesting story
- You slowly get to know the characters as the story progresses
- dragon age style of gameplay where you pause, unpause, order of operations whether its using an ability on target 1 and another on target 2, 3, etc
- Level up system + allocation of points into stats
- gear equipment
- some involvement of exploration as you can find some chests, but the loot is mostly eh
- Diablo 3 like skill tree, but limited

Cons
- Very linear level design with barely any shortcuts with fixated NPCs line-of-sight + guarding the choke points of the map which affects below con. I personally don't mind this, but it takes away the freedom on how to complete the level.
- Levels either force you to fight everything, sneak with a penalty of having to deal with reinforcements if caught or little of both.
- lots of invisible walls
- feels like the drops are rigged to be the same dude that drops it, same chest you open in a certain level, story progression based especially when it comes to getting better equipment from shop NPCs and skill locked chests behind walls that need to be smashed.

Sykotom
Sykotom

I do like the plot of this game; however, the combat is cumbersome. I love RPGs. And, I had hope for this came. It has a great story line. I understand they are trying to give a unique combat experience. But, the combat system makes the game more difficult than it has to be.

Deska41
Deska41

The story and the music was really good and plus the settings which add more to the atmosphere of a war and slavery. Personally, i didn't find irrational or weird decisions as these characters made because they are anti-hero and usually in any other games they would be the bastards or villains in the story. It is the matter of perspective of humans and the monster relationship. Anyway i really hoped there will be a sequel for this lore because it has potential to narrate a realism fantasy story.

But the cons in this game is obviously the gameplay and the battle mechanics. It combines the turn-based with real-time action but it lacks of control and awareness. for example during a battle, the third-person camera isn't helping in this time of game that needs precision and timing which turn-based games always provided and another example is when a player is idle or focusing one character to manage his actions, the other character will do nothing (usually) or they will do a useless action because we don't give him any commands. But recent games now have AI that will do actions when the player is idle such as dragon dogma and even the AI will do certain command depends on the situation such as Dragon age 1 and 2.

*i'm sorry if this comment is hard to understand due to the fact that english isn't my native language and thank you for reading

Dreamknife
Dreamknife

The trailer caught me with the promise of a refreshing new kind of adventure. At the start, I was fascinated by the modal skill system, switching between combat stances to use different techniques and tactics. However, the gross lack of information about combat mechanics made it mostly guesswork what the skills actually did and what was going on in battle. The mysterious, unseen timing of combat rounds and actions also made everything feel unresponsive and confusing.

I was still able to muddle my way through for a while, hoping that I might be rewarded with a good story. However, the dialogue is stupid and there's too much cheap drama, and the unfolding story seems like a bland, watery soup of half-baked concepts. Whatever promises you have to make about shocking plot twists or epic moments that I might be missing up ahead, if the overall quality of writing is no good, then I won't feel like sticking around for that long.

In the end, I dropped this game because of the main character himself. Arkail broods and sulks whenever people bring up his Anger Management Issues, and I wondered if that big incident in his past was an unfair misunderstanding... but then he constantly throws violent raging tantrums out of nowhere. It's not that I don't understand the message about self-fulfilling prophecies in the way people are treated--it's just that I don't like being forced to watch the growing pains of a poorly brought-up child. I kept waiting for a proper tutorial that had been delayed for some reason, or for the story to somehow catch my interest... but instead here's that witless moron roaring about something again. No, thanks.

Traksimuss
Traksimuss

Controls badly suck.
A lot of cut scenes and much less gameplay.
5/10, skip this pile of garbage.

LordOfTheGoatz
LordOfTheGoatz

The guards will step over other dead guards and take no notice. 8/10.

TonyShape
TonyShape

Invisible walls. Pathfinding bugs. Poor animation. Wooden battle system. Monotonous gameplay. Terrible FOV. Uncomfortable camera. Enemies igniring corpses around them. Low effort voice acting. No satisfaction from finding loot becouse it is pretty the same + - one stat. Dialoges and plot twists that sometimes feeled like were written by a teenager. From all RPGs of 2010+ i played this one felt the worst. When you will try to give that game credits becouse it is just old just remember that Witcher 2 was released same year. And no only witcher. We had already "Dragon age", "Kingdom of Amalur" etc. I saw people in the discussion were speaking about how sad that this game had no sequel. I just don't get it.

The only realy good thing was goblin. It was a good desition to play around him in next games.

Dr. Dakka
Dr. Dakka

Really don't like the combat system. Feels like I'm a spectator whilst the character does all the moves automatically. Was expecting a basic "left click to slash, right click to block" system.
Story seems great but with this system I'd rather just watch the cutscenes than play it.