# Orcs Must Die! \[tower defense, with headshots!\] **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 28, 2011, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062 "2011-10-28T11:08:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/1 "2011-10-28T11:08:40Z")
Searched around a little and didn’t find a thread for this. Anybody playing _Orcs Must Die!_? The gameplay could be characterized as… a third-person-shooter-tower-defense-real-time-strategy-role-playing-puzzle game. No, really. It’s like Serious Sam had illicit sex with Evil Genius, but was forced to leave the offspring in a seedy Warcraft 3 tower defense alleyway. The result is just…pure distilled undiluted awesomitude. You play as the apprentice of some legendary War Mage who slipped in a puddle and cracked his head on the ground just in time for the armies of darkness to invade. You, the apprentice, jack his phat lewts and go off to do battle with the unrelenting hoards. As a player, you get a crossbow and sword-on-a-stick - you later begin acquiring magic spells as well. However, you also get traps! Many, many traps: spikes that shoot up from the floor, ripsaws that spin out from the walls, catapults to launch the invading orcs into poison gas, or lava, or maybe some archers. Your opponents are, not unexpectedly, orcs - from “work, work” peons to flying fireball spitting imps, with the occasional lumbering miniboss thrown in for fun. It’s really a very satisfying game. For those who like shooters, it’s perfectly efficient to rely heavily on your crossbow and strafe around while shooting orcs in the head. More tactical players might take the time before or between waves to set up elaborate networks of traps that leave the player little to do other than mop up and continue building. You can even wade in for some Dynasty Warrior style smash-and-slashing if you so desire. Generally though, you’ll be using all of the above styles at one point or another. It has lighthearted but high-quality graphics, and the player response is satisfyingly crisp. At only $15 on Steam, this game is absolutely worth it, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/2 "2011-10-28T22:44:06Z")
Seconded. This game is _great_. After much playing 've 5 starred all but the final level on the standard difficulty and am currently stuck about a third of the way through on Hard. But i’m having fun trying various strategies. Also my current body count stands at 45,000+ orcs. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/3 "2011-10-29T06:30:23Z")
Would someone who doesn’t much like tower defense games but who likes fps games get into it? For reference I can’t get into toy soldiers. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/4 "2011-10-29T10:28:35Z")
I would say so. It plays very differently from Toy soldiers, which i’ve also got and am much less keen on. You are running around from a third person shooter perspective and are heavily involved with the action. It’s not just set traps and sit back. You get personally stuck in with a variety of spells and weapons. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/5 "2011-10-29T11:01:10Z")
No Mac version, so I’m out. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/6 "2011-10-29T15:41:41Z")
FYI, there’s a demo on Steam, so you can try it first. I’m downloading the demo now. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/7 "2011-10-29T19:52:55Z")
Say this thread yesterday and picked it up. It is pretty awesome, although short. It took me about 5-6 hours to beat it, and I’m now trying to get 5 skulls on each of the normal levels. About 4 left. What are everyone’s favorite traps? I’m liking the mace. ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/8 "2011-10-29T21:26:54Z")
I love this game. It’s funny as hell, and a good game as well. Picking a favorite trap is hard, but I think the Arrow Wall is it - good range (especially when upgraded) and good damage. I take them on every map, and I love putting them high up to take out flyers. I’m also very fond of archers - they both do damage and soak up damage, which is cool. And the slow traps are very useful for bunching up enemies. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/9 "2011-10-29T22:01:51Z")
Thanks, I’ve downloaded the demo and will give this a try. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/10 "2011-10-30T22:08:16Z")
Has anyone tried **Iron Brigade** (formerly **Trenched** )? Which as i understand it is a similar idea only with mecha and machines instead of Wizards and orcs. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/11 "2011-10-31T12:53:49Z")
I bought it after trying the demo, good game. It would be nice if there was an infinite/endless mode though, like most tower defense games have. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/12 "2011-11-26T19:33:31Z")
Got this game during the sale, it’s really fun. Very actiony without feeling overwhelming, good mix of tower defense and shooter. It’s missing two critical staples of the tower defense genre though - saved resources generate no interest, and leftover resources don’t count towards your final score. Almost all tower defense games have this, and it creates a challenge-within-a-challenge - you’re always trying to get by using the minimum you can, either to accrue interest and be better prepared for the later waves, or to beat your friends scores on the leaderboard by defending with fewer resources. The scoring system in general is a bit hard to grasp. You only get half as many points for killing them yourself compared to letting your traps/guardians do it, which makes me hesitant to fire on the enemy a lot. But that might be somewhat offset if it adds to killing streaks. I’m also not quite sure what counts for the purposes of combos - does getting shot by the player add to the combo? What about other stuff like the wind belt and crossbow stun? I also grabbed the little DLC packs when I bought the game, so I’m running through the first time with the aid of stuff that people who played the game originally didn’t have access to, which I just realized. The alchemy bomb is extremely powerful and I’ve been using the floor fire traps like crazy. I should probably go back and just use the vanilla traps and weapons to get the proper balance of the game as it was originally designed. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/13 "2011-11-26T20:10:19Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > I also grabbed the little DLC packs when I bought the game, so I’m running through the first time with the aid of stuff that people who played the game originally didn’t have access to, which I just realized. The alchemy bomb is extremely powerful and I’ve been using the floor fire traps like crazy. I should probably go back and just use the vanilla traps and weapons to get the proper balance of the game as it was originally designed. Yeah, the floor fire traps are pretty damn good. I’ve found the alchemy bombs to be nice, but not a game breaker. The aerial trap is pretty awesome in the right situation, but if you’re quick it’s nothing a little ice can’t handle. I’ve completely ignored the scores and just tried to five skull everything. I can’t get the last level of regular content. I always miss too many logs and can’t take out the ogres fast enough. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/14 "2011-11-26T23:19:27Z")
Mass archers on the inner courtyard, drop tar on the entrances to the courtyard so your archers can hammer them more and put decoy bombs to distract leakers and ogres. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/15 "2011-11-27T06:31:51Z")
> [@DeptfordX](#): > > Mass archers on the inner courtyard, drop tar on the entrances to the courtyard so your archers can hammer them more and put decoy bombs to distract leakers and ogres. Hmm, that’s what I’ve tried, sans decoys. Can you place them on top of other traps? If not, would you place them inside or outside of the tar traps? ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/16 "2011-11-28T14:23:48Z")
Place them inside, between the tar and the gateway. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/17 "2011-11-28T15:55:46Z")
Oh also, don’t put the archers in the courtyard on the ground. Put them on the inner ledge above the courtyard where they won’t be directly attacked. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/18 "2011-11-28T16:26:01Z")
Oh, thought it was free then read the last line of the OP. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/19 "2011-11-28T17:39:46Z")
I tried the demo then bought it. It’s really fun! Of course, it will likely led to me visualizing where traps would best be located at work, but at least it makes the time fly. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062/20 "2011-11-28T17:48:11Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Oh, thought it was free then read the last line of the OP. ☹ Keep an eye on the xmas steam sale. It was massivly discounted for one day in the Thanksgiving/Black Friday sale. I’d be suprised if it wasn’t again. Just looked, it’s still half price now. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orcs-must-die-tower-defense-with-headshots/601062.md?page=2)