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Game Details
Language: English (en)
Current Version: Unknown License: Former commercial Development System: KAOS Baf's Guide ID: 1273
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Editorial Reviews
Crash
Never has so much been packed on so few chips for so many. Knight Orc is so complex it's an absolute pleasure to play - not so much a game, more of a book in which you can write your own ending. The text is beautifully-written, both interesting and informative story; the vocabulary is extremely user-friendly and 'real' sentences or even paragraphs can be constructed. But what makes Knight Orc so atmospheric is the number of characters roaming about the place - they don't just exist as in most adventures, they actually have lives all of their own, just as much as the player.
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SPAG
The puzzles, jokes, characters and parser are all up to par with the best that Infocom had to offer. I suspect that this game did not receive the props that it should have due to its subject manner -- playing the "bad guy" didn't really become in style until "Syndicate." While Grindleguts is a greedy, violent, angry little pit he is also a character worthy of our respect. Especially among the piles of spods he's running around with. I suspect that the background characters in Knight Orc are set to mirror the kind of individuals we (the gaming community) can't -- in theory -- stand or relate to in real life. Jocks, Girls, urchins, soldiers... one can make the argument that when they are in our world (a game) they should be the outsiders. Knight Orc describes them with as much distaste as we normally get in "their" environments. Bloody fabulous.
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Member Reviews
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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.

I like being big green. Evil. Multiplayer online games like this.
I would like better graphics.
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The following polls include votes for Knight Orc:Non-Infocom games of commercial era worth playing by tekket
What commercial games published between 1980-1993 other than those by Infocom do you think are worth playing?
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