Orcs Must Die series has always focused on tower defense style gameplay preventing the nasty beasts from entering the rift you’re protecting. In Orcs Must Die: Unchained you’ll now be able to take the side of the orcs and their heroes along with the other heroes from the first two titles.
As everyone filed into their respective spots for the demo we were each given a character to play as. Mine was Blackpaw.
The match begins with each players hero near our central rift we need to protect. Nearly every match is going involve ten players (5 vs 5).
Our “coach” directs us out of the central area towards one of our war camps. Here we can summon our minions we’ll bring into the battle. You’ll begin with some fairly simple minion cards that you can upgrade with points you already have in hand.
Afterwards we begin laying our traps. This function works similarly to the other games and features many of the same traps from the classic. Ooze pits, arrow traps and spike pits all make their return.
After a short countdown, the round begins and each sides minions come pouring out. We lead our troops into battle against the opposing team. I come across the a large set of traps placed by our enemies.
Our troops could be slaughtered by them, but one of Blackpaw’s abilities allows him to momentarily disable traps. Our troops are able to avoid the effects of each trap for at least a short an amount of time.
Deeper into the round my team is losing badly with our rift being overwhelmed several times. “We can still pull this off,” our coach states.
In a last-ditch effort he has me open another war camp. To the left of our central rift area lies another pair of doors. I invest some points into it, along with another teammate to create another area for minions to spawn.
With the new war camp in place we eventually overwhelm the good guys and invade their rift.
It was a short demo at PAX East 2014, but well worth the time and fun it was playing it. Orcs Must Die: Unchained will be a free PC download in late 2014.
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Senior Stiv pounded the pavement all weekend at PAX East 2014. Make sure you follow him on Twitter.
