Should You Buy Orcs Must Die! 3? Excellent Action/Tower Defense Hybrid

Orcs Must Die! 3, the latest game in the series where you need to defend your base from a savage horde of orcs with traps and weapons. A simple premise, but one that works incredibly well when you look at it as a puzzle. A deadly puzzle game where you win once your machinations massacre the enemies mercilessly.

But, the question is, should you buy Orcs Must Die! 3? Is the latest title in this franchise the best one? Are the new traps fun enough? Are the weapons and characters cool? Is the level design intricate and complex?

In this Orcs Must Die! 3 reviews we’ll answer all your questions and go over everything in the game, from the characters, the gameplay, the fun factor, and more. But first, let’s answer some of the most common questions!

Common questions

We’ll go over the most asked questions, but if you have anything else to ask feel free to do so in the comments section!

When did Orcs Must Die! 3 release?

Orcs Must Die! 3 was originally a timed exclusive for Stadia, and it was released there on July 14th, 2020 first.

When did Orcs Must Die! 3 release on PC and consoles?

After the timed exclusivity deal ran out, Orcs Must Die! 3 released for Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on July 23rd, 2021.

Is Orcs Must Die! 3 free?

Orcs Must Die! 3 isn’t a triple-A title, so it isn’t as expensive as most new releases but it’s not a free-2-play title.

How much does Orcs Must Die! 3 cost?

Orcs Must Die! 3 costs €24,99/$29.99

Does Orcs Must Die! 3 have local co-op?

Unfortunately, there is no local co-op support for the game. But the game has regular online co-op.

Is Orcs Must Die! 3 better than Orcs Must Die! 2?

While Orcs Must Die! 3 has interesting new traps, a lot of cool-level designs, and a ton of weapons and characters, hardcore fans of the franchise still say the second game in the franchise is the best one in terms of replayability. Still, anyone that’s a fan of this franchise will have a blast playing the third game as well.

Now, let’s start with the review by going over the thing I hated the most while playing this game.

Extremely unlikable characters

Who the hell came up with these characters? Bland, annoying, and totally unfunny. The Orcs Must Die! franchise never impressed us with the story. We’re not here for that anyway. We came to slaughter orcs in the most ingenious of ways with our traps. I loved the wacky and cheese humor and sarcasm thrown in the mix in the previous two games though. It wasn’t needed but I found myself laughing at insanely cartoony oneliners a lot more than I expected. I even grew to love the franchises’ totally ridiculous humor.

Max was just the goofy, handsome hero that was oozing with charisma. His one-liners and comments during fights were a welcome addition. Even if it all got a tiny bit stale once you heard it for the millionth time, it never became annoying.

Our two protagonists are seriously lame

For some reason, our beloved heroes get replaced in Orcs Must Die! 3 by their young students. Who were written to just be annoying little twats. Seriously, one-liners said by these two are so lacking in energy you’d think someone was pointing a gun at them and forcing them to say it.

Their humor never lands, their jokes are awfully boring, and there is 0 Carisma with these two. Which is a big problem considering you have to play through a lot of the Campaign to unlock other characters. And listening to these two for that long will damage your mental health. I’m not overexaggerating, and if you played the previous two games, you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

We miss the old Max but the new one is still funny as hell

But, at least we unlock Max later on. However, he’s not the young, dashing, and eternally optimistic hero anymore. 20 years passed since we last saw him, and now he’s a cynical old man. For some reason, the third installment of the Orcs Must Die! franchise decided to butcher our favorite hero. Still, Max remains an enticing character that just cannot be boring in any way. His lines are still absolutely amazing throughout.

Appealing to a different audience with the new protagonists is an understandable move. Thankfully, for everyone that hates the new generation, there’s always the old one that’s not cynical and sarcastic. Just the way I like it.

A graphical step up

When I’m thinking about graphics, Orcs Must Die! 1 or 2 aren’t that different. Well, the third game is quite a step up in that regard. The goofy and lovable art style, like something from a 90s cartoon, stayed the same, but the overall graphical fidelity improved immensely.

The visual effects of the weapons, traps and even the enemies look amazing. Crisp, vibrant, but a bit too overabundant. You see, once you get blood, flesh, acid, frost, flames, combo numbers, and magical arrows all on one screen with a ton of enemies, things get messy. It’s a glorious and grand mess, but a mess nonetheless.

While the screen can get quite cluttered, it’s never to the point where you’ll get annoyed. So the overall enjoyment never suffers from the ton of visual effects. I even enjoy the mayhem when so many different types of attacks massacre the orcs. Isn’t that the whole point of this franchise?

Traps vs Weapons

Now it’s time to talk about the actual important things in this game. You don’t care about the story or the graphics that much. Both are serviceable. But we’re not here for them. We’re here to come up with the most ruthless combination of traps.

Since you can mix and match a ton of different trap types, your options are endless. And the Orcs Must Die! community loves this. So do I, which is why I keep coming back to these games. It lets you explore that sadistic side of yourself that wants to create a deadly maze filled with all kinds of violent gadgets and devices which will cripple, maim, and slaughter the enemy.

Interesting new traps

I wonder what kind of traps we’ll get in Orcs Must Die! 4. The devs have to run out of ideas eventually, right? Whatever the case may be, the formula always stays the same but we get new toys to play with. Furthermore, OMD 3 doesn’t disappoint on this front. We didn’t get too many new traps, but enough ones that combine well with all the others that we’re familiar with. And the standard ones now seem even better, like they operate smoother or something. I can’t quite put my finger on it but now even the most useless trap can seem good in some scenarios.

First, we have a laser grid that shocks orcs that pass through it. Second, there’s the acid trap which melts armor and flesh alike. If you’re a fan of this franchise, you can already picture a ton of new death mazes that would work great with these traps.

The Acid Geyser deals AOE damage over time. Can you imagine how effective it is when you combine it with the Tar Trap? It lets you melt down the Orcs and create Orc stew if you manage to catch enough of them at the same time.

Then there’s the Ceiling Laser. Continuous lightning damage. Upgrade it to also do fire damage and you get a death machine that fries anything that stands in it for longer than a second. The Ceiling Laser is extremely efficient and probably one of the best DPS traps in the game.

Weapons are overturned while traps usually underperform

While the traps do their job quite well, they’re mostly overshadowed by the weapons in most cases. Why? Because their upgrades and secondary abilities come with too many benefits. For example, take the Blunderbuss, a short-ranged shotgun that has an upgrade that makes its secondary freezy enemies.

Do you know what happens to a group of orcs that end up frozen in the middle of multiple volatile traps? Well, let’s just say that they’re in for a bad time. Yet, this isn’t even the most outrageous weapon yet.

The Stone Staff. A weapon I never once switched for anything else. Its ability to turn larger enemies into stone is insane. You slow down the entire Horde to a crawl with this weapon, letting your traps and your other weapon constantly barrage them with attacks. In other words, it’s the best weapon in Orcs Must Die! 3 and you should use it all the time.

However, you never get a trap that impresses you as much as some weapons. Sure some traps are much better than others, but they’re never something that’s going to be outclassing both you and the other traps by themselves. I know, that’s why you combine the traps, but what trap combo can beat the magic longbow + stone staff combo? Nothing ever comes even close, and I’m not sure how to feel about that.

New additions in the form of War Scenarios and Scramble

War Scenarios

Want to blow up a ton of orcs? Slaughtering dozens of them isn’t enough anymore? I understand, and so does Robot Entertainment, which is why they made the War Scenarios. It’s a mode where you experience gigantic large-scale fights where a ton of orcs comes pouring in. Furthermore, your tools get bigger as well, like the catapult that can crush a lot of orcs in just one shoot.

It’s more of the same, but bigger. Enough fun to last you for a couple of hours but you won’t be playing it over and over again. But that’s where you get the other new addition, the so-called Scramble mode.

Scramble

Five levels. One pool of rift points that doesn’t recharge. Each level gives you one buff and one debuff. Each level gets a lot harder. Can you survive? Even though the Scramble mode isn’t anything revolutionary, it’s fun enough to take on every now and then to test your adaptability.

The dangers are different each time, so Scrambles is a good enough way to see just how much your understanding of the game developed. After all, your resources are scarce and the enemies are a real threat this time. Your tactics need to change constantly or you’re done. It’s a clever way to test yourself over and over again with content that’s constantly challenging. Definitely, a worthy addition that I hope they expand more upon in Orcs Must Die! 4.

Conclusion: Should you buy Orcs Must Die! 3?

Nice visuals, some cool new traps, more insanely good level design. Orcs Must Die! 3 doesn’t stray far from the series’ formula, but it doesn’t need to. Orcs Must Die! 3 isn’t a revolutionary title in the franchise but it does everything you like about these games right.

Even if you never played the previous Orcs Must Die! games, you will love this entry in the series of action/tower defense hybrids with their charming graphics, silly and deadly traps, and goofy orcs that just love getting shot with arrows, sprayed with acid, and barraged with a million other things over and over again while moving very slowly.

Where to buy Orcs Must Die! 3

To buy Orcs Must Die! 3 for the PC, I urge you to go to HRK Game.

We’re a platform that takes pride in its fast key delivery, fast customer support, and a ton of deals on game keys! Doesn’t matter if it’s cheap PC game keys, cheap Xbox game keys, cheap PlayStation game keys, or even apps, programs, and more, we have it available for a killer price.

So anyone that wants to get their hands on a cheap Orcs Must Die! 3 Steam key, head on over to our store. The game is -59% off at the time of writing this. What are you waiting for? Buy Orcs Must Die! 3 today and enjoy the latest action/tower defense hybrid Robot Entertainment has to offer!

Also, anyone that wants to try out Orcs Must Die! and Orcs Must Die! 2 can get both of them for under 5 euros!