Something went wrong. Try again later
    Follow

    Orcs Must Die!

    Game » consists of 3 releases. Released Oct 05, 2011

    Robot Entertainment's first original game, this downloadable-only title charges the player to defend their fortress from an overwhelming force of orcs and other baddies. Put simply, Orcs. Must. Die! or the fortress will fall

    junior_ain's Orcs Must Die! (PC) review

    Avatar image for junior_ain

    A title that once again proves that indie games should be taken seriously.

    Has there ever been a title that so fully explained what's in store for the player than "Orcs must die!"? They must, because should they not you will. Not-so-long story short, master wizard tripped, hit his head and is now dead, his not-so-bright apprentice takes over when it comes to stopping Orcs from entering the rift, some kind of magical kingdom or something like that, there's also a mad witch leading the Orcs to battle and you must stop them before everything goes to hell.

    It's pretty simple really, you have a set of available traps you can buy and lay down in the stages, you have limited money and each trap has its own cost. Each mission can have from 3 to 12 waves, the first ones have 3 and as you advance, later stages have more waves. The stage will be much like a corridor since there's always at least one gate where Orcs and other terrible beings will come out and there's the rift where they'll head to. Of course later stages will have more than one of both, meaning much harder work.

    Every phase has its limit of Orcs in which you can let inside the rift, if you break this quota you fail. There's basically three methods of preventing this to happen, the fore-mentioned traps are the most systematic ones, they'll just lay there doing whatever it is they do, barricades will barricade, ballistas will shoot arrows, spiked floors will cause damage on whoever dares to tread through them, and so on.

    The main character is also armed with a crossbow and a sword. The crossbow is the most versatile really since Orcs deal a whole lot of damage, and you most likely won't face only one. Plus, it can headshot for quick rid of baddies. Recoil is present so the player won't be able to grind its way to victory wielding only a mere crossbow.

    There's also some magic, thrwoable bombs, fire, ice and lightning spells that have their function in dealing with specific types of enemies. For example, ice can freeze and bide your time to both more and more accurate headshots. Also, freezing enemies plays a huge role against stronger opponents later in the game. Like anything else you first have to equip the power had you any intention of using it on that stage

    Choosing powers and traps is one key element in winning. Before each level you have a limited number of traps/spells/weapons you can, to group them all in one I'll can them "powers". Each power takes one slot and number of slots depends on how late you are in the campaign. If you decided to left behind any kind of poower at all you won't be able to use it, no matter what you do, after the level starts.

    Different sets of traps can offer you different results. Thankfully the waves are always the same so it's all about strategy and how you develop your style in-game. If you can't beat a level using a determined set of powers maybe it's time to re-think your choices. Playing each level several times will help you foresee what's next and react accordingly. The first time you play a level, especially later ones is always a mess, as you get the hang of what's going on, you manage to do pretty well.

    That's a sense of progression that's pretty latent in this game. Every type of power has an upgrade you can purchase in exchange for Orc skulls. Orc skulls are received upon level completion and the maximum you can get from a single level is 5. 1 Orc skull is handed out if you beat the target time for the stage, the other 4 will vary on how much Orcs you let inside the rift. For a full 4 skulls no enemy must enter.

    Three difficulty levels are wisely present. War Mage is the medium and the hardest everyone will have at first. If you somehow are having trouble with it you can try the Apprentice difficulty which is capped at 2 skull upon completion. If you somehow manage to go through the game on War Mage you unlock the Nightmare mode. The fact that the game asks you if you want to try Apprentice every time you fail War Mage should appeal to more casual audiences, while more hardcore try-hards will have much to worry about even after all is said and done.

    Unfortunately there's no single player, not local and not online. It would somehow be glorious to play this type of strategy game with a friend or two in even harder level with increased number of orcs, but what's packed in-game should suffice for at least a good 10-hour gameplay period. It's easy to break the 20-hour mark by attempting the higher difficulty challenge and 5-skull in each of the 24 original stages.

    It's true that there's not much variety in the cartoony wizardry style, but at least the levels carry significant challenge to be menacing at first, and manageable after a few tries. The number of enemies is not high as well, later in the game giant ogres and flying demons to add to the challenge, while crossbow orcs will start spawning very soon. All in all it's not to have many types of enemies since it could overwhelm easily, the way it is each type of enemy has it's function and should be treated differently, there's not much else to choose from.

    There's also some DLC which adds a few new stages, traps and enemies if you desire to expand your orc-killing habit. The story is told in a very light manner, something indie games have a tendency to comprehend, and won't get in the way of gameplay at all. Since a game like this hardly needs a story they were wise enough to only add a few clips between acts, easily skippable, not at all important.

    Orcs must die! is a game that pleased me greatly, the gameplay is simple yet there's a clear sense of improvement within. It's quite clear that this action/strategy title should appeal both casual and hardcore players, it seems to have been built around that premise, and it does its job pretty well. Another one of those cool indie titles that happen to be better than many higher budget blockbusters out there.

    Other reviews for Orcs Must Die! (PC)

      The next level of tower defense 0

      While I can't say it factually, of course, I would like to think that the folks at Robot Entertainment spent countless hours playing numerous tower defense games to the point where they knew almost perfectly what works and what doesn't. I say this because Orcs Must Die! captures everything great about the genre while stripping away the bits that are outdated and cumbersome. Levels are short and varied and enemies never get more hp, run faster, or any of those usual tower defense tropes. In fact ...

      2 out of 2 found this review helpful.

      Pretty Fun 0

      Orcs Must Die! is a surprisingly fun game. I picked it up on Steam while it was on sale and played it intensively for days and off and on since (a couple weeks).The premise of the game is that you're a warmage (dude) who sets up traps and/or uses your weapons and magic to defend "the Rifts" from orcs that want to get through them -- fairly standard tower defense fare, but with "traps" instead of "towers". The levels grow and become increasingly elaborate and interesting, and you're free to pursu...

      0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

    This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.