Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap

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Orcs Must Die! is one of those unusual franchises that’s stuck around for long enough to have run into multiple industry-spanning trends and survived to tell the tale. The first two games, Orcs Must Die! and its sequel, were hybrid tower-defense and third-person shooters at a time when tower defense was the thing to be. Later on, Orcs Must Die! Unchained would hop on board the free-to-play train, and Orcs Must Die! 3 hitched its horse to the embarrassingly short-lived Stadia streaming platform.

If there was a fad to chase, you can feel pretty confident that Orcs Must Die! was there to chase it. That continues even today, as Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap notes that roguelikes are big at the moment and proudly blends into the crowd.

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Fads aside, this is still Orcs Must Die! – you’ve got a bunch of orcs trundling toward a rift and you’re tasked with, well, making them die before they get there. Toward that end, you’ll choose a War Mage to control and blast away with a combination of weapons and traps. This time around there’s a much greater focus on  2-4 player cooperative play and teamwork, as each War Mage has specific weapons and abilities rather than the player customizing a character to their liking. You’ll want to grab some friends to get the most out of this one.

What customization remains makes up the core of Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap’s roguelike elements. Beat up orcs and earn run-spanning upgrades that can enhance your weapons or traps, allowing  you to specialize in your favorites much like the collectible skulls from previous games. This certainly isn’t as satisfying as the aforementioned system since you can’t really create your own broken builds to crush each level…but, well, it’s something.  Again, this system shines when you’re playing with pals, since doing so offers you a little more breathing room to specialize in specific directions. Permanent upgrades still exist, but these tend to be yawn-worthy MMO-style percentage boosts that are unlikely to inspire players.

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap looks and sounds…a lot like Orcs Must Die! tends to. You’ve got a signature style here, a sort of Pixar-meets-World-of-Warcraft aesthetic that remains as endearing as it’s always been. Combine this with rock-solid performance on PC and technical issues aren’t something you’re going to have to worry about; this also helps when you’re trying to recruit your friends with lesser hardware to join you on orc-slaying adventures.

The fact that Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is available on Game Pass makes this an easier endeavor than you might expect, and this might be this game’s greatest asset. Beyond the fact that it’s cheap as free, this iteration continues the franchise’s tendency to be an entirely OK way to spend one’s time, and there’s plenty of fun to be had within the chaos. While it’s a little unfortunate that customization has been slimmed down in favor of shoehorning in the industry trend of the moment, and if you come in expecting that you’re going to enjoy orc-slaying regardless.