Orcs Must Die! 3

Orcs Must Die! 3 combines tower defence with action from an over-the-shoulder perspective. As a war mage, you defend magical rifts against orc hordes. Before the enemy waves begin, you place traps. During the attack, you join in yourself with weapons and abilities.

The game is from Robot Entertainment and can be played alone or in online co-op for two. Its special feature is sprawling war scenarios, in which not just individual corridors but entire castle approaches must be defended.

Orcs Must Die! 3 first released on July 14, 2020 for Google Stadia. The release for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S followed on July 23, 2021. The standalone PS5 version was released on June 7, 2022.

The German PlayStation Store lists July 22, 2021 for the PS4 release. At the console launch in 2021, the PS4 version could already be played on PS5 via backward compatibility. The native PS5 version released later is a separate matter. Google Stadia has since been discontinued.

Orcs Must Die! 3 is available for Windows PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. The Xbox version uses Smart Delivery and supports hardware generations with matching versions. On PlayStation, separate PS4 and PS5 versions exist.

The version originally released for Stadia is no longer playable because the cloud service was shut down. Robot Entertainment has not announced a native Nintendo Switch version.

Before each attack wave, you build defences along the enemy paths. Floor traps, wall mechanisms and turrets are meant to slow, injure or send orcs into pits. Then you switch to active combat, use weapons and reinforce vulnerable chokepoints.

The challenge is to build the most effective combinations possible with limited resources. After completing missions, traps and equipment can be upgraded to handle harder waves.

The Cold as Eyes expansion was released on November 11, 2021. It adds three icy maps, a new cyclops faction and equipment such as flamethrowers and the gold trap.

Tipping the Scales was released on April 7, 2022. The expansion adds five cards with the tuatara as enemies, including one war scenario. Alongside these paid expansions, the additional campaign Drastic Steps is included in the base version.

On PC, the minimum listed is an Intel Core i5-2300 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200, 6 GB RAM, a GeForce GTX 660 with 2 GB or Radeon HD 7870 with 2 GB, and 12 GB of storage. Steam lists Windows 7 in the original minimum configuration.

Recommended are an Intel Core i5-9600K or Ryzen 5 3600X, 8 GB RAM and a GeForce GTX 1060 or Radeon RX Vega 64. Today's Steam client requires at least Windows 10.

War scenarios are large battlefields in front of the castles, where hundreds of orcs can advance at the same time. Instead of guarding only narrow corridors, defenders must keep several entrances and a wider front in view.

Particularly large traps are available for this. The mega catapult trap flings whole groups of enemies into the air. A huge barrel thrower lets you hit attacking hordes from a distance.

The campaign can be played alone or online together with one other person. In co-op, the two war mages can share tasks: one player might hold off one entrance while the other activates traps or fights on another front.

Online co-op is supported on PC. On PlayStation, PlayStation Plus is required for online play. The standard version does not offer local split-screen co-op.

After the campaign, endless runs and changing challenges offer additional tasks. In endless mode, players hold out for longer and longer instead of reaching a fixed final target.

Chaos mode, called Scramble in English, changes several missions in a row with increasingly difficult drawbacks. At the same time, the player chooses their own reinforcements, so each series requires different decisions.

The story takes place more than twenty years after Orcs Must Die! 2. The war mage and the sorceress have rebuilt the order and are training new apprentices. But the orcs are once again attacking the magical rifts.

The narrative follows the apprentice mages through several defence missions. The focus is on battles, steadily growing equipment and building effective trap chains.

The PC version offers German menus, German subtitles and German voice acting. PlayStation also supports German for on-screen text and voices.

The game is designed for simultaneous planning and direct control of a war mage. The exact controls differ between mouse and keyboard on PC and controller on consoles.