At its core, Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap relies on the same formula as its predecessors, but the set of tweaks it brings to the action-tower defense series all work towards emphasizing replayability.
Eschewing a traditional story campaign for chainable individual missions set across a variety of different biomes, the game challenges us to master six playable heroes, each with their own set of skills.
Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap
Vaan’s crossbow fills enemies with arrows while his unique trap and active skill help him instantly teleport to the rift and render this key objective invulnerable for a limited amount of time.
Sophie dual-wields daggers to dish out significant damage, whether by throwing them from afar or using them in close combat. Her trap stuns enemies and turns all damage against them into critical hits, while her ultimate ability summons Bartholomew, a skeleton warrior who temporarily aids her in battle.
Mixing and matching different heroes in Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap’s four-player co-op mode lets groups tap into specific skills, but solo players should also have a good time, thanks to the title’s scaling difficulty.
Regardless of which heroes you select, your goal is to defend the rift from multiple waves of orcs and other nasty creatures that seek to enter it. Let too many through and your run ends.
To this extent, you have access to a plethora of traps – some available at the start, others unlocked and upgraded via currency earned from completed runs – that attach to floors, walls, and ceilings.
Barricades come in a limited number but allow you to create chokepoints in specific areas of the level. Coupled with the ability to combo traps, creativity is very much encouraged.
In between enemy waves, you can select one of three Threads – randomly generated cards that boost your abilities in specific ways, ranging from granting additional upgrades to increasing the damage of traps or heroes and beyond. As you kill foes, you gain coins that allow you to place even more traps throughout the level.
New waves also open additional doors for enemies to pour through, keeping you on your toes. Complete a mission, and you can choose between returning to the fortress, which acts as a hub area, or continuing, albeit with the number of rift points you had at the end of your current mission.
This encourages you to perfect your trap placement and skill usage, adapting them to the level’s layouts so that you finish missions with as many rift points as possible.
Coupled with the large numbers of unlockable and upgradeable traps, tower defense aficionados could find quite a bit to keep them busy.
Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap launches for the PC and Xbox Series X/S on January 28, 2025.
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