Knight Orc is a text adventure

Interactive fiction

Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...

 game by Level 9 released in .

Plot

After a night of heavy drinking with friends, Grindleguts the orc

Orc

An orc is one of a race of mythical human-like creatures, generally described as fierce and combative, with grotesque features and often black, grey or greenish skin. This mythology has its origins in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien....

 awakes to find himself strapped to a horse and about to joust with a human knight. His "friends" are nowhere to be seen, and he must somehow escape from his predicament and get even with them.

Overview

The game is a standard text adventure with limited graphics on some platforms. It comes with a short novella by Peter McBride ("The Sign of the Orc") explaining the background to the story.

Gameplay

Grindleguts must survive in a world of hostile humans while seeking revenge against his tormentors. There are many non-player characters to interact with.

Reviews

• Sinclair User
  Sinclair User
  Sinclair User, often abbreviated SU, was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum...
  
  :

  "Knight Orc is no ordinary adventure. Oh no, this is a multi-user adventure ... only the other players are simulated. One nice touch is the little bits that are added on to the end of descriptions which tell you what the other players are doing such as 'Somewhere, a male voice cries out "Has anyone got any spare treasure?"' ... The location descriptions are exquisite and more than make up for the absence of graphics ... The humour worked into the text is like something out of a Douglas Adams

  Douglas Adams

  Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...

  
   novel, quick-fire and very enjoyable. Never droll... But the high spot of the game is the interactive characters... All have their own characters and their own goal to complete. And, the one thing they all have in common is that they all hate Orcs... Technically The Pawn

  The Pawn

  The Pawn is an interactive fiction game by Magnetic Scrolls which was first published by Rainbird in 1986. It is remembered for its excellent graphics and the opening music available in some game versions. Also the game itself - story and parser - got mostly positive reviews...

  
  may be superior, but in plot, enjoyment and atmosphere Knight Orc wins hands down."

External links

• Knight Orc at Lemon Amiga
• Knight Orc at Lemon 64