Orcs Must Die! 2 is a co-op classic that has withstood the test of time. It is currently resting at a 10/10 steam recommendation, up there with games like Portal 2. It marries tower defense with shooter type game play, which means it can be great for someone who likes strategy as well as someone who likes hacking and slashing enemies. Robot Entertainment has taken its highly successful series and moved to the free-to-play format for its next iteration. The question is, did it do so successfully?
Beta history
This game has been in beta since 2014, since then it has had multiple changes and updates, even at one point offering entirely different game play in a mode called Siege that had MOBA characteristics. That mode was then taken out of the game in December 2016 so that the game could be refocused on the survival game play. The steam reviews of Orcs Must Die! Unchained are currently rocky, hovering at 6/10 on Steam, but I suspect that is in part because the majority of the reviews occurred during the beta, before Robot Entertainment released the game fully on April 18th 2017. I never played this game prior to its release, so I can’t judge the game on its previous renditions, only what the game currently is.
Gearing up
To anyone that has played Orcs Must Die! 2, you know it is a game best experienced with a friend. The game included two characters, the War Mage and the Sorceress, which each had their own abilities. On opening Unchained, I was introduced to a 6 part tutorial. I was delighted that the game’s usual wit and humor was intact, narrated primarily by the War Mage. It included jokes like ‘This is what a library looks like?’ and other silly jabs at the main character’s intelligence.
It is a single player tutorial that goes through the basics of how to use your abilities and traps. It felt very solid and very similar to the type of introduction that Orcs Must Die! 2 offered, like being reintroduced to an old friend. You are given the choice to complete the tutorials or skip to the main game, which after 4 of the 6 I felt I was more than prepared for. It was also a delight to see that the game was vamped up in terms of graphics. When you beat an orc it more dramatically explodes into pieces than it did before and the colors are also more vibrant.
Going into battle
The main core of the game is the survival mode, which is exactly the game play that any Orcs Must Die! fan has come to love. It pits you and up to two friends against waves of orc enemies, which is an increase from the previous game’s two person co-op. Right from the start you can either use the preset beginner trap deck, or you can design your own. It is however limited to the traps you have unlocked. The game has added a number of new characters to play with. You start out having access to three, the War Mage, The Sorceress and Blackpaw, with a total of seventeen characters to choose from.
Since it is a free-to-play game that includes microtransactions, these are used to gain access to new characters, new traps or upgrade the traps that you have. When you win games you win skulls, which are the main currency of the game, so it is also possible to access the upgrades and new characters by playing extensively. I’m not a fan of microtransactions, but it is entirely possible to enjoy the game with the main three heroes. The bigger impact is with the trap upgrades, as the better your traps are the easier the game is. This would be upsetting in a versus mode, but in a PVE mode it seems appropriate.
Enjoy some competition
The game has also released with the Sabotage mode which mixes a PVE mode with some competitive elements. It pits your team of three people against another team of three. Each team is focused on their own waves of enemies, but they also have the ability to give some disadvantages to the other team, like a slow down spell against the players, and can choose some of the enemies that appear for that team. The goal is to make sure your team doesn’t let any enemies through while hopefully causing the other team to do so. Again, good traps make for an advantage, but even with the first and second level traps it is possible to still win in the mode, especially since they try to match you with other people of your level if possible. It’s a new challenge that the previous games didn’t have and it is quite fun to not only be playing against the game but also playing against others.
As free-to-play games go, this one is in my opinion a success. It deserves more than the rating it currently shows, as it is a refreshed take on a classic and quite enjoyable in both of the current game modes. It may not be perfect, due to the fact you have to pay for improvements, but ultimately it is still a good game and a solid extension of the series.
