We were privileged to have a hands on play of the new Orcs Must Die! Unchained version at GamesCom this year, checking out the new PVE mode and then having an exclusive interview with Robot Entertainment’s CEO Patrick Hudson. For those unfamiliar with the game it is essentially a MOBA base MMO where two teams of 5 focus on pushing their waves of minions into the enemy base to claim victory whilst simultaneously placing traps in key areas to battle both players and AI creatures. The game was originally a PVE focused game and so the new PVE mode will be a welcomed feature for the old fans.

Right now the game doesn’t change up much insofar as different modes, it’s a fairly standard “Get as many of your minions into the enemy rift and don’t let them get into yours”, there are three available maps in the closed beta that are currently in rotation and new heroes and features are continuously being added. Speaking to Patrick Hudson it seems this will continue to be the main focus moving onward, not wanting to follow a Heroes of the Storm style alternative objectives and instead staying more traditional and true to the core idea. That said the PVE does now offer something different, removing enemy heroes altogether it acts as a horde mode where the number of monsters in the wave increases as do their strength, not only that but multiple lanes open up as the game progresses and forces the team to split up.

Overall the PVE is pretty fun, but by preference we’d always go for PVP as the extra challenge of trying to defeat the enemy just adds that extra element of satisfaction when you know that victory is at the expense of someone else’s misfortune. Hudson commented that through the beta they have found that more players want to enjoy the game, especially those who originally played Orcs Must Die! 1 and 2, but don’t necessarily want the competitive edge and extra pressure of being against other players. The game will continue to cater to both audiences, with unique elements for just PVP or just PVE, but ultimately the PVP is going to be the continued focus moving on.

Our experience was fun, though short lived as our team wiped a little way into the game, having to determine where you are placing traps and who is going to defend which lane takes considerably more planning and coordination than our random group of press had, but for real players there is definitely a challenge there. One of the things the devs have now started to work on is the idea of dynamic events, in one such case we saw the new Castle Siege map that is being worked on and in this map random events can occur, bosses appearing at different times or new areas unexpectedly opening up that can continue to change the gameplay strategy throughout the match to keep each game original and fresh.

In the future there were talks of seeing customizable Guardians, but this is still something being worked on, providing players the option of choosing the type of Guardian they wish to use (though whether this is PVP or just PVE we’re currently unsure). In the Castle Siege map particularly we were informed of a Blacksmith Guardian that could churn out some real damage, however, when placed in his Forge area then he gets greater buffs and makes himself a more formidable opponent. With all new physics being added, best displayed with the spring traps that would hurl minions across the map, there’s a definite slow overhaul of many aspects of the game to improve the quality of it.

One of the major changes that Orcs Must Die! Unchained is to face is the conversion to free to play; originally the game had to be purchased on Steam and downloaded, but now it will be completely free to access. When asked about the change in direction Hudson confirmed that it was due to wanting to make the game more accessible and by using a globally accepted model it increases the chances of reaching areas that the original OMD games never saw much of an audience (particularly Russia and Asia). The business model continuing forward will be the option to purchase heroes, get access to traps and different minion cards but we were told that any aspect that can be purchased can also be acquired through playing; the only exception to this is vanity items which are purchase only.

Orcs Must Die! Unchained is coming to the close of its Europe/North America closed beta and will hopefully be coming into open beta soon with a timely release shortly after, hoping for an early 2016 release; so keep your eyes open for that!

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 10th, 2015 at 4:02 pm and is filed under Articles, MMO News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.