Orcs Must Die! Unchained originally was planned as a 5v5 multiplayer game. While it still is that, the PvP mode has now been dubbed “Siege” mode, and Robot Entertainment has released a new “Survival" mode. This new game mode is most similar to the original Orcs Must Die! games.
In Survival, players join a team of five heroes to tackle waves of incoming AI orcs. Players can leave traps and summon allies to help the fight, but it’s the skills and attacks from each hero that make the biggest dent in enemy counts.
When playing, I controlled the newest hero released, Tundra, a big polar bear-type character. My attacks all revolved around inflicting freezing damage, including the ability to create ice walls and fling ice shards at the incoming orcs. The coolest and most powerful attack involved Tundra rolling up into a snowball and smashing into tons of enemies.
Tundra, like the other playable heroes, has a unique set of traps to lay down and deal with the waves of enemies. Players earn coins when killing the orcs, and can then spend earnings on buying more traps. This comes in especially useful in later levels, when the orcs start streaming in from multiple entrances. Having traps to deal with the orcs compensates for how thin your team has to spread to take care of every entrance.
Survival mode does exactly what it set out to do, it creates the feeling of the classic Orcs Must Die! tower defense games with the updated look and feel of Orcs Must Die! Unchained. This new mode isn’t meant to be a side mode or an afterthought for Robot Entertainment either, as they see both Survival and Siege mode working together. Not everybody wants to play games against enemies online, so Robot Entertainment wants to have something for everyone.
Orcs Must Die! Unchained is free-to-play and currently in an open beta on PC. Anyone can log onto the game’s official website and start playing right now. Both Siege and Survival mode are available to play, if one or the other strikes your fancy. A PS4 release is in the works, and will be coming out at a later date.
So what do you think? Are you interested in playing Survival mode in Orcs Must Die! Unchained? Do you think you’ll stick to Siege mode? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
