Review: Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap – Satisfying Orc Slaughter with a New Gameplay Twist

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap Review

Developed and published by Robot Entertainment, Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is the fourth installment in this fun and brutal franchise. If you love slaughtering Orcs, chances are that you might have heard of this franchise or even played all of the previous ones if you are a big fan of the franchise. With each new game, Orcs Must Die! has found new ways to kill Orcs, and the latest title Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is no different. This time around, the developers have added a rogue-lite element to the game as well to bring a new twist to the core gameplay. However, while it may be off-putting for long-term fans of the franchise, it is actually a fun, new addition to the game. This is our review of Orcs Must Die Deathtrap on the Xbox Series X in which we kill tons of Orcs and figure out the best trap loadout to kill even more of them.

You start the game in the Order Fortress where you can explore a small map and interact with different people. Here, you can learn about the basics of the game from the previous game’s protagonist, upgrade your War Mage, upgrade, manage, or purchase new traps, Threads and do everything that requires calm and peace such as forming a lobby with your friends or people from around the world. Once you are ready to tackle the main game, you can head over to the level selection stone and initiate a run with your desired loadout and War Mage.

Review Orcs Must Die Deathtrap

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap gives you a selection of five unique War Mages to play with. Each War Mage has its own unique weapon, attack style, traps, and upgrades. Depending on your playstyle, you can pick a War Mage and jump into the game with them. If you want something that plays like the previous titles, you can go for Vaan which comes with a crossbow and powerful rift protection abilities. Similarly, you have War Mages with Wand, Shotgun, Hammer, and Daggers as their weapons and similar abilities. The most curious one is perhaps Sophie, a cat that wields dual daggers, can throw knives, and also turns into a shadowy form for added movement and deadly damage. Each War Mage is unique and offers something for every type of player.

Thanks to the new rogue-lite formula in place, you can expect that no two runs will be the same. This time around, you do not just pick a map and jump into it and keep retrying it until you complete it but instead, you enter a ‘run’ which comprises different maps. When you start a run, you are presented with three map options, and each map comes with a unique challenge. These challenges range from difficulty options like headshots causing less damage to different challenges like harder boss battles. Once you clear a stage, you again gain a selection for the next battle and this time around, each map will bring its challenge to take into consideration. You will need to be careful with your selection because the challenges will stack up with each selection. The challenge for the previously selected mission will stack with the new one and thus it will continue making each subsequent run harder and harder.

Review Orcs Must Die Deathtrap

Each mission has multiple waves of enemies before a boss shows up and you have to defeat the boss to complete the run. These missions take place on wide, open maps which give you plenty of opportunities to put down your traps and take down the enemies. But it also means that invading orcs have a lot of space to run around and approach the rift from multiple sides. Each map has multiple entry points for the orcs to enter the arena and their path is shown initially during the planning phase. During this time, you can put down your traps and plan where you want the Orcs to go. Because the maps are huge, you can control the Orc movements by putting down barriers and creating choke points with plenty of traps in a single location. Depending on the selected map, this may be an option, or you may need to think of another strategy to tackle the incoming horde.

Despite having multiple entry points, they are opened gradually to give you plenty of time to secure each passageway. You start off with your Mage’s basic kit including their primary weapon and abilities but as you complete waves, you can choose different boosts or as the game calls them Threads. These Threads are different modifiers, and they can also be upgraded for bonuses. Out of the three choices given to you, you can equip only one once you complete a wave and this Thread will stack further as you choose other Threads after completing further waves during the same run. These Threads range from giving you Mage-specific bonuses to general bonuses like increasing your Health or damage dealt to the enemies. You can complete different challenges to power up certain Threads or head over to the Threads merchant and purchase new ones to add them to your arsenal as well.

Review Orcs Must Die Deathtrap

While Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap may feature a rogue-lite mechanic, but the core gameplay still remains the same. Put down traps and slaughter Orcs. Before the start of each level, you can plan your traps, block certain routes, and prepare for the wave. Once you are happy, you can initiate the wave and during the wave, you can use your weapons and abilities to assist the traps to defeat Orcs. You can also put down new traps as you earn money from killing Orcs. Certain enemies will drop different consumable items as well which you can pick and restore your health or mana. Your abilities take time to recharge once you have used them, but you can pick items or upgrades to reduce their recharge times. The Orcs will come in all shapes in sizes, and you will need to deal with them accordingly. Some will be immune to traps, some will be too fast for these traps and some will be too big for the traps to handle. There are champions as well who will target you with their attacks. In short, you must ensure that every Orc is slaughtered and none of them reaches the Rift.

It is still incredibly fun and intense, but it is also a lot more grindy this time around for some reason. This may be because the game expects you to grind to unlock upgrades for your War Mage and then return later to annihilate the tougher, later levels. This time around, the game switches to another mechanic which directly impacts the late-game progression. Instead of increasing the number of Orcs in later missions, it just buffs them up and they take longer to die. This means that your arsenal, which was initially cutting through the enemies, starts to feel weak and the Orcs start overwhelming you. No matter how many traps you put down and no matter how much you shoot these Orcs, they absorb tons of damage and ultimately, you succumb to their bullet-sponginess. To deal with this issue, you must grind the initial levels, collect skulls, and head back to the Order Fortress to purchase various permanent upgrades to make your character powerful and stronger in every way possible. Only then can you return and expect to conquer the game, but it will take you some time because the skulls do not come easy.

Orc Battle

Similar to previous games in the franchise, you have White Skulls and Golden Skulls. White Skulls are used to upgrade traps and purchase Threads and War Mage upgrades. As you purchase upgrades, your War Mage will level up. Each War Mage will level up when you buy upgrades for them. The Golden Skulls are used to purchase new traps and add them to your collection. You can only equip a certain amount of traps so this is also a choice that you will need to keep in mind before starting a run. These White and Golden Skulls can be earned by completing missions, killing enemies, and also finding and opening hidden chests in missions.

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap runs excellent on the Xbox Series X however the menus are a little trouble to navigate because of the cursor. It takes a little time to move it around and there is no way to increase its move speed. There were a few instances where the buttons also showed my keyboard commands instead of the Xbox Series X|S buttons. This is a little weird to see in the game but these issues should be removed with some initial post-launch patches. The menus and the game’s UI are fine but navigating them could have been better. Apart from these small hiccups, the game runs well on the console and we did not encounter any game-breaking bugs or glitches.

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap - Gameplay Overview Trailer

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Final Verdict:

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap proves that switching the core formula of an established franchise can be fun too, but it has to be done right. Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap ditches the formula of its previous titles and instead goes for a roguelite formula which still holds up the fun and challenge level that this franchise is known for. Most maps and the core gameplay formula are aimed at co-op gameplay, but it is equally fun in solo with tons of traps to choose from and plenty of enemies to slaughter. If you are looking for a fun tower-defense game with added roguelite mechanics, Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap will highly appeal to you. If you are a fan of this franchise, it is a fresh concept but still highly playable and immensely fun. It comes highly recommended by us.

Final Score: 8.0/10

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About the Author: Umair Khalid

Founder of GamesHedge, Umair enjoys a wide variety of video games ranging from RPGs to racing games. Currently busy with The Crew Motorfest and Kingdom Rush 5: Alliance.

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