Of Orcs and Men is taking a decidedly different approach to the standard RPG formula when it releases next week, putting players in control of an orc and a goblin rather than the standard goody-two-shoes human. As next Tuesday’s launch date approaches, the folks at Cyanide have unleashed a release trailer to show players what Of Orcs and Men is all about.
Following a long and epic war, the “Greenskins” (Orcs and goblins) have finally been defeated by the human race. Not content with his victory, the human emperor has ordered that all greenskins be slain, leading to a massacre of orc and goblin-kind across the land. One of the few remaining orcs, Arkail, and goblins, Styx, have now been sent on an assassination mission to overthrow the human emperor and, in doing so, hopefully save their remaining kinsmen.
Cyanide Producer Sylvain Sechii recently popped by the PlayStation Blog to talk about Of Orcs and Men saying that while both Arkail and Styx are fun to play together, the real joy of the action RPG combat comes from the duo working together.
“Originally, while playing with the prototype, we enjoyed controlling Styx and Arkail individually, but even more, we liked the combinations they could have,” Sechii said. “We kept improving features to make them as unique as possible, but we also worked on tandem attacks for use in combat, like throwing the goblin with the orc, boosting one another up, etc.”
Another interesting nugget is that, original, Cyanide was being told by many-a publisher that their game would fail because nobody wanted to play as “the bad guys.” But Sechii said the team felt “players wanted something a bit more original than playing yet another human paladin, in shiny armor, killing stupid goblins…”
I guess we’ll find out for sure once Of Orcs and Men launches for Xbox 360, PC, PS3 and directly to PlayStation Network next Tuesday, Oct. 16.
