If you know 3D tower defense titles, then you’ll know all the classics. Sanctum, Coffee Stain’s breakout franchise before it disappeared into Satisfactory land; Dungeon Defenders, the OG hack and slash action RPG meets tower defense whose recent titles couldn’t quite match up; and, of course, Orcs Must Die! Robot Entertainment’s output over the past 13+ years has been impressive – even after it faltered with the free-to-play Unchained, Orcs Must Die! 3 was a significant bounce-back and return to the franchise’s roots.

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is yet another addition to the formula, though it experiments with rogue-lite mechanics. Even if there’s somewhat of a grind and doesn’t significantly evolve on the beloved gameplay loop, Deathtrap does score with its map design, character variety, and presentation.

The story is what the story has always been – Orcs want to jump into the Rift and it’s your job as a War Mage to defend it. You’re a venerable one-person army, running around and unleashing hell with blades, arrows, magic spells, and whatnot. There are six heroes to choose from, each with unique abilities and Ultimates (aka Overdrives).

"Creating a killzone with Saw Blade Launchers bouncing back and forth in an enclosed space is cool. However, a Tar Trap to slow incoming enemies, ensuring they’re hit by all the bounces is even better…"

Sophie, with her dual daggers, can leech health from enemies with critical hits, create a trail of darkness that damages anyone in its path once it’s activated, and summon Bartholomew, a skeleton soldier who fights alongside her. Then you have Wren, a spell-slinger whose Overdrive summons copies of herself for more damage and who can perfect reload, Gears-style to gain additional ammo. The variety of playstyles is solid overall and allows for interesting synergies depending on your approach.

However, you also have traps, which truly even the odds. Said traps include the standard Arrow Wall for launching volleys at unsuspecting foes, Auto Crossbows to target from afar, and, well, Ceiling Lasers because of magecraft. Or something.

Traps fall into three categories – Ceiling, Wall, and Floor – and while it might make sense to cover the map in Auto Crossbows, you can’t. The Rift Coin cost often discourages this but you also need to account for the map’s architecture, since traps can’t be placed wherever, whenever. Some traps also work better on some maps than others. A tall staircase that Orcs have to climb is ideal for some Flip Traps – just remember that the tallest foes can’t be launched, at least not initially.

It’s also important to remember that trap efficiency is as important as quantity. Creating a killzone with Saw Blade Launchers bouncing back and forth in an enclosed space is cool. However, a Tar Trap to slow incoming enemies, ensuring they’re hit by all the bounces is even better, especially since you can space out like Brimstone and Spike Trap to give them more to reset.

Each map presents an intriguing puzzle in this regard, especially as subsequent waves open up more spawn doors for the Orcs to filter through. Take the Patio Gardens, for instance – the open-air space around the Rift isn’t ideal for Arrow Walls or Ceiling Lasers. Use those barricades to carefully filter them towards the keep’s door, where other Orcs eventually emerge, and you can lay down enough Floor Traps, Saw Blade Launchers, and more to deal damage.

"Extra War Mage health, primary attack damage, and trap damage are nice, but a three percent increased critical hit chance from Primary Attacks doesn’t exactly inspire joy."

However, this may not always pan out depending on the chosen modifiers during a run. You may opt for flying enemies that can heal their allies since that sounds less annoying than reduced crit chance and headshot damage. But you need traps (or heroes) that can deal with said threats, lest you face waves that out-heal your traps’ damage. Kobolds having double health and counting for two Rift Points may not seem too bad until your entire set-up falters and you’re swarmed. Then you have options like the barricade limit getting reduced by one per War Mage, which isn’t troublesome when playing solo.

Each subsequent mission requires picking a new modifier, so everything will add up en route to facing the boss on the last node. Completing waves during a mission allows for selecting Threads, upgrades ranging from her Overdrive continuing to build for Sophie even while Bartholomew is active, launching enemies twice as far, and much more. You could even bestow Saw Blade Launchers with a chance to Rend leading to more critical hits, which means more health leeching opportunities for Sophie. You only have three choices, though, and I’ve yet to discover a way to reroll them, which means one wrong move could lead to negligible benefits (if not hamper a run entirely).

As you complete missions, you’ll earn Skulls to unlock new Threads, trap upgrades, and character passives. Maybe it’s because I played solo, but a single run (albeit failed) was only enough for one passive upgrade on a character and a few trap improvements. Traps are unlocked using gold Skulls, and the rate they’re doled out feels fine enough, but considering you need to level up each hero individually and complete Thread Quests to make the modifiers available to purchase, there’s a significant grind to be had.

The character upgrades also aren’t the most exciting outside of the ability improvements – extra War Mage health, primary attack damage, and trap damage are nice, but a three percent increased critical hit chance from Primary Attacks doesn’t exactly inspire joy. At least they’re more affordable than a lot of the Threads. Those cost hundreds of Skulls, and while I’m all for long-term pursuits, they feel a bit excessive.

"Despite its rogue-lite machinations, Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap sticks to what makes the series work – setting up elaborate kill boxes and slaying Orcs by the dozens, ideally with friends."

The map layouts can take some getting used to, especially when accounting for the different enemy types, but they offer up some interesting nuances. They also look incredible, with the entire animated presentation coming up exceedingly well, and it’s hard to not get hyped when the epic metal riffs begin, and Orcs are burned, rent, launched, and diced. Performance is also solid throughout, though I did find some visual noise when selecting different upscalers. TSR on DLSS 3’s Quality Mode works well enough, thankfully.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t really mess around with the online co-op, which is the main attraction of any Orcs Must Die! title. While the solo component is robust enough, you’ll have the most fun playing with others, so keep that in mind. It’s also worth noting that I couldn’t save a run and exit, picking up where I left off. Perhaps the option will be available at launch, but considering that runs can take an hour or more while solo, it would be appreciated.

Despite its rogue-lite machinations, Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap sticks to what makes the series work – setting up elaborate kill boxes and slaying Orcs by the dozens, ideally with friends. I would have liked some kind of Classic Mode for that old-school experience, but what’s here can be quite fun. Here’s hoping for further optimizations to the grind for Threads, skill tree points, and trap upgrades to make them more palatable alongside more quality-of-life features and rogue-lite essentials.

This game was reviewed on PC.