Orcs Must Die!

 PC
Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 25
  3. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. Gamekult
    Oct 20, 2011
    70
    Quotation forthcoming.
  2. DarkStation
    Oct 12, 2011
    70
    Sure, the game is tepid in some spots and the steep price and lack of any multiplayer options does sting a bit, but provided you haven't grown tired of this tried-and-true formula then Orcs Must Die can definitely provide some hours of silly, unrelenting fun.
  3. PC Games (Russia)
    Nov 23, 2011
    65
    A Tower Defense game which is so fast, you'd sometimes wish for it to slow down. [December 2011, p.100]
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Awards & Rankings

30
#30 Best PC Game of 2011
48
#48 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 525 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 399 out of 525
  2. Mixed: 105 out of 525
  3. Negative: 21 out of 525
  1. Kluge
    Oct 16, 2011
    8
    Orcs Must Die! is a fun diversion. They've combined FPS with tower-defense. The traps are fun to place and watch, and being in on the actionOrcs Must Die! is a fun diversion. They've combined FPS with tower-defense. The traps are fun to place and watch, and being in on the action takes away a lot of the tedium that eventually sets in with most TD games. There are quite a few mechanics at work, but I really wish they would have created alternative currencies or role-playing persistent upgrades (beyond the skull system where you can get just one upgrade per trap). The coin currency is essentially the only currency you use throughout the game, and thus everything depends on it. This tends to make the first couple waves quite difficult to not let an enemy get through, and later waves too easy. In normal difficulty, the game doesn't feel particularly challenging, but once you unlock the nitemare mode (for which you unfortunately must complete every level on the normal difficulty), getting beyond the second level's pretty tough. The nitemare difficulty would have been a welcomed addition to the game, but it unfortunately is the same levels, dialogue, and cutscenes with much more difficult monsters. With many low-budget games, a good chunk of time has gone in to making the game look great without much processing power required, and Orcs Must Die! is a particularly good example of how good aesthetics will beat good graphics any day.

    Modding tools really would have turned this good, fun game into a massive and fantastic time sink. Unfortunately, you're stuck with DLC from the devs, and that's it. It seems a bit odd they'd do that, too, considering the TD genre became popular only by Blizz having their RTS games effectively be a platform, with very powerful modding & map-making tools allowing Starcraft/Warcraft to be a simulator, RPG, RTS, FPS, MMO, and just about anything else you can think of. It's certainly a game which could have been much better (and that's absolutely not to say it's at all a bad or unenjoyable game) with more dev time focused on giving consumers more choices. I suspect there'll be a sequel, and hopefully they'll add it in then. I look forward to it.    … Full Review »
  2. LordAlamar
    Oct 21, 2011
    10
    Here's a little game that came out of nowhere and proved to be immensely fun. It has nice graphics, awesome music, a lot of humor and a lot ofHere's a little game that came out of nowhere and proved to be immensely fun. It has nice graphics, awesome music, a lot of humor and a lot of soul. Excellent game, worth every cent :)… Full Review »
  3. KazMx
    Oct 21, 2011
    9
    The Defense game along with action-adventure is a formula that i would never imagine it would work this good. A thing to have in mind is thatThe Defense game along with action-adventure is a formula that i would never imagine it would work this good. A thing to have in mind is that sometimes the camera doesn't do the best thing when moving arround. I hope for Co-op which is the main flaw of this game… Full Review »
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