This week Orcs Must Die! Unchained brought some big changes to their game. Originally Unchained followed a third person view MOBA format which grew popular with fans of the original. Now as Producer, Chris Rippy and the team continue development they just released a huge PvE patch for the game. Players will be able to enter into co-op play and take on hordes of enemies similar to what made the original Orcs Must Die so much fun.
The PvP aspect of Unchained follows the third person MOBA format, but the developers wanted to add in a fun and fluid multi-player system which took advantage of the game’s mechanics and was more closely in line with the original game's co-op vision. As players honed their skills against each other, it was fun for the team to finally throw them into the deep end against hordes of Orcs where they have to work together. You can play this mode in single player or co-op. We asked the guys at Robot Entertainment what goes into balancing the characters when it comes to building out this type of game play. Basically in the MOBA format the characters are split between and offense and defense. They found that in the PvE version the defensive characters really took center stage. The team is working on the balance to bring the offensive characters up to speed. They want to you be able to play whatever character you want in the PvE mode. It’s just that because you are facing down loads of Orc enemies, the format benefits the more defensive heroes.
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In testing this new format Chris and crew saw a great trend break out on the leaderboards as to how people were keeping score. The new mode is set up to be increasingly challenging like Horde Mode in other games explained Chris. “As players go through the game we want them to look back and say, if I had just put that trap there, or changed the way I set that up.” It’s that kind of experience that they want to bring to the PVE. This also works very well in the co-op mode. Getting the right mix of characters is always important so co-op mode remains a solid challenge to small groups of players.
For the game play, players will spawn into the map and have some time to set up their defenses. Once set, the waves of Orcs come rolling in. Right now players in closed beta are being put into a matchmaking system to group up. The team should have party play set up soon. The big buff your team will get is called Unchained, which increases your attacks and reduces your cooldowns. The solo and co-op play spawns boss mobs and higher forms of orcs to fight. Chris said that the team is messing with the idea of adding in full heroes as foes. If you can get through twelve waves of orcs you are considered to be doing very well. The leader boards paint a good picture of where players are ranked.
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Robot continues to work on building out this new side of the game. They want to see where players take it in closed beta and are looking at player feedback very closely. Chris mentioned that along with the MOBA experience they are really excited to deliver this throwback to what made Orcs Must Die! so popular in its first iterations. Fighting against so many foes, especially in third person view brings a lot to the tower defense format which the series has been known for since it debuted.
Orcs Must Die! Unchained now has stepped in as a twofold game for players to enjoy. If you want a break from the heavy competition of fighting against your friends then maybe it’s time to team up and see how well you can do against hordes of orcs. It will be great to see what type of game play mix Robot Entertainment can come up with combining the MOBA and Co-op formats for fans of the game. We find ourselves wishing more MOBAs would offer some form of PVE aspect like this, as it brings a much needed change of pace to the game. We’ll keep you posted as more news come in. For now you can register for the closed beta here.
