Knight Orc

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Ahead of it’s time in concept, January 5, 2021
Back in the 80s there weren’t many games that let you play as the “bad guy” so seeing something like Knight Orc where you get to play as an orc was enough to interest me. (Hey this was long before playing as an orc was mainstream) This technically qualifies as a graphic text adventure, but not everywhere is accompanied by a picture. In fact, I typically turned them off since it just made the load time longer. This game was nowhere near Corruption level of long load times though.

So Knight Orc is another one of those odd games that had some interesting ideas, but it’s questionable if it shouldn’t have just stuck with one thing. I say this because there’s a big reveal later on in the game which would be considered a major spoiler, so I won’t go too much into it and I’ll just address the first part.

Yes, this another game that divided itself into three parts. First bit involves you being an orc and going about your orc life which mostly involves you getting attacked nearly at every turn by just about every other character walking about the game.

“Hey look an orc! Let’s kill it!” or “I’m fighting a filthy orc!” are words you’re going to be hearing a lot by NPCs. You can somewhat curb this by “disguising” yourself with cloak you can get near the beginning, but it isn’t foolproof. Linger around the other NPCs too long and inevitably one is going to realize you’re an orc. You’re a terrible fighter for the most part too so you’re unlikely to win. Not impossible though.

Getting killed by any of these NPCs isn’t a big deal anyway. You literally just respawn elsewhere in the forest area which is more or less nondescript. You can wander a lot in it and never really get anywhere.

In fact wandering the forests in any direction is rather pointless. There are key locations that you can instantly go to by typing something like RUN TO GIBBET. That’s actually the preferred way to travel. (The game understands a sizable vocabulary) Of course it’s not really readily apparent what all the unique locations are if you’re playing the game for the first time. There’s sort of clues though in the instruction book that came with the game and there actually is one location which allows you to see all of the places you could instantly run to.

Which brings about what it is you’re exactly trying to do in the first place. Well, that’s not really spelled out either. You’re just sort of dropped in the game with no real instructions. Through trial and error (and wandering) I sort of got the idea that I was supposed to figure out how to get back home but the bridge is destroyed.

So you basically have to build a new way to get across which involves rope. However, there is no rope so you have to make a rope which hilariously involves going to all these unique locations and trying to get bits to make a long one. (Halyards, cords, belts, hair, etc)

There’s a few more items you need too, but bits of “rope” are the main things. You’ll also come across a lot of items made of gold which seem like you’re supposed to gather, but most you don’t really need and just act as a distraction.

Manage to accomplish all the goals you need to and get across to your home and you’ll be heading to part two which is where the big reveal happens. Parts two and three both deal with it so they’re more or less played together.

As mentioned earlier and in the title, while this reveal is certainly a concept that makes the game a bit ahead of it’s time, I honestly would have rather been playing a more “mundane” text adventure as a looting and pillaging orc. As it stands, you’re hardly even a “bad guy” given how everyone is just sort of picking on you without provocation most of the time. I’m sure that might have even been the joke of exploring how adventurers generally do just sort of barge into orc lairs and slaughter them all even if they haven’t been doing anything particularly evil and keeping to themselves.

Oh well, I can’t fault the game for what it did do though even if it didn’t live up to my own expectations.

Text game needs better graphics, July 1, 2015
I like being big green. Evil. Multiplayer online games like this.
I would like better graphics.

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