Game review: Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap (Xbox Series X)

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is a unique third-person combat game where players have to control heroes to stop devious orcs from entering a rift. It's a spinoff from the tower defense genre, and it's quite fun once you know what you are doing. 

The premise of the game is simple because orcs want to escape to the rift in many rounds. Players have to make sure a specific number of orcs don't enter the rift until it is game over. Usually, you have to prevent at least 40 orcs from entering the rift, or else you have to start the map all over again. 

The cool thing about the game is the number of heroes that you are able to control. The heroes that are available from the beginning include Vaan, Wren, Harlow, Mac, Kalos, and Sophie. The latter two heroes are cool because they are a bear and a cat, respectively. 

Two other characters, Maximilian and Gabriella, are also available, but players will have to unlock them first. It pays to experiment with each character to see which one suits your playing style the best. Each character has different weapons and abilities in their arsenal. 

I remember I started playing as Wren first because I thought she was attractive, but she ended up being ineffective in my opinion. She's armed with a wand and shoots out magic to destroy the orcs. 

The only problem with her wand is that she has to reload every time she shoots out 10 blasts. The reload animation isn't long, but it can be annoying to wait for a few seconds when the orcs are still advancing towards your position. 

I preferred playing as Kalos and Sophie instead because they are both armed with melee weapons. Kalos has a huge hammer, while Sophie is armed with dual daggers. I can pretty much spam the right trigger to attack as many times as I want without worrying about cooldowns or reloading. 

Not to mention, the animation looks cooler when you attack the orcs using the melee weapons. Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap has some really cool physics because you can see the heads and limbs of the orcs fly off in gruesome fashion! This game has better gore than recent Star Wars games, as you can rip off limbs easily. 

However, attacking the orcs just using the characters is not enough to protect the rift. If you want to play the game with other people, four-player co-op is available. Playing with friends makes the game a bit easier because the orcs come in large numbers and in multiple directions. Playing the game solo can be a challenge on the harder difficulty settings. 

Attacking orcs is just a small fraction of what this game offers, though. The name Deathtrap in the game's title plays a huge part, too. Players can lay down traps on the floor, walls, and rooftops to kill the orcs without laying a finger as well. 

All players are armed with around 32,000 credits at the start of a round, and credits are used to spend on traps. For example, if you want to lay down spikes on the ground, they will cost you 800 credits per tile. 800 credits is also the cost of laying down spring traps, too. 

If you want to spend more money on traps, the best one in the entire game is the lava pit. These cost 1200 credits per tile, but they're the most effective trap in the game. 

Whenever an orc walks on top of the lava pit, they will burn to their deaths. The lava pits were way more effective than the aforementioned spikes that sometimes don't work all of the time. 

Some other, more expensive traps include a contraption that shoots out razor blades and a turret that is positioned on the roof. If you see yourself running out of credits, you can earn more credits by defeating enemies during rounds and earning combos. 

Probably the most important item in the entire game, though, is the barricades. It's advisable to surround the rift with barricades in order to prevent the orcs from getting past. It takes a bit of time for the orcs to destroy barricades, so you need to place them in strategic positions. 

At the end of each round, you can also earn some perks that help you kill the orcs at a faster rate. I remember my favourite perk was the one that made the floor traps slightly cheaper to buy. The 1200 credit lava pit cost only 900 credits when I earned that particular perk. 

Credits can also be spent on AI hunters that are positioned on some maps. These hunters are usually armed with bow and arrows, and they are really effective at killing the orcs from high positions. 

In terms of negative things I can say about this game, there aren't that many I can think of. The only small nitpick I can say about the game is that the gameplay can get repetitive at times because the missions are all the same. Aside from that, I had lots of fun playing this game in short bursts. 

If you're looking for a game that's fun to play, I recommend you should pick up Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap. It's surprisingly enjoyable, and the cartoon-style gore is humorous to look at. The game is available now for PC, Xbox, and PS5. 

Verdict: 8.0/10