After a year of Stadia exclusivity, Orcs Must Die! 3 arrives on PC and consoles with a lot more competition than its predecessor had in 2012 - and a lot less novelty. Developer Robot Entertainment delivers a solid batch of tower defense scenarios that will be familiar to series veterans, but this sequel feels more like a modern-day refresh than the next step forward from Orcs Must Die! 2.

The main hook of Orcs Must Die! lies in zooming into the action of a typical tower defense setup. Playing as one of several protagonists in either single-player or co-op, players use crossbows, firearms, and magic to repel the galloping hordes as they march mindlessly forward. Setting up traps is just the start, as shooting Orcs and guiding them away from the path is just as important as strategizing an optimal lane of sawblades and flippers. The levels ramp up quickly, as do the variety in deadly enemies that can take out perfect setups. As with previous games, Orcs Must Die! 3 is great at forcing on-the-fly strategies and keeping things tense to the end of each and every round.

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Hitting headshots on approaching enemies while wall traps and spike pits activate makes for satisfying gameplay, although the overall presentation feels less than premium for a name that goes back so many years. The writing is sub-par all around, filled with lackluster jokes and tedious character descriptions. This is one case where a DOOM Eternal-style tutorial pop-up might have been preferred, especially early on when new enemies are either bigger or smaller variants of what's come before. There's even less guidance for the traps, which mostly all return from previous games. Orcs Must Die! seems to expect players to know what they're getting into, but some of the included gadgets aren't intuitive and could have used more introduction.

Orcs Must Die 3 Fire Fiends

The big addition to the franchise is War Scenarios, which take the concept of combating an overwhelming horde of opponents with traps and supersizes everything. It's very similar to how Serious Sam 4 upped the stakes last year, but that isn't necessarily a good thing. Getting out of the typical corridor spaces is a plus, but the larger traps exclusive to these levels are limited. The bigger levels also give the orcs more room to move around setups, meaning that the best strategy often involves luring them into more closed quarters. At that point, much of the unique energy of facing down an opposing army fades away. What's left is a handful of levels that feel like gimmicks tacked onto what was already there.

The add-ons included with this new release of Orcs Must Die! 3 do improve the game quite a bit from its initial Stadia version. In addition to an entire second campaign, there's the Scramble Mode that adds roguelike elements to the proceedings. Enemies ramp up in difficulty between levels and players can combat this with random boons. Eventually, whether due to the crushing tide of orcs or a particularly unfair debuff, the orc-slaying protagonist will die and lose all their progress, starting the cycle anew.

While this doesn't feel as gimmicky as the War Scenarios, this side activity feels like it has a lot of untapped potential. A whole game that adds replayability to the also-included Endless Mode via a ton of random elements feels like a true contender for a sequel. As is, the mode is a fun diversion that offers a way for players to use weapons and traps they didn't try during the campaign, but it probably won't last beyond a few initial playthroughs.

Orcs Must Die 3 Drastic Steps

Orcs Must Die! 3 feels like a known quantity from the moment it loads up. Those who have never played before will have a great time discovering the various traps and monsters the developers at Robot Entertainment have come up with over the years, but experienced players don't have much to get excited about. The additions are nice for what they are, but they don't give a true upgrade to what the series is known for beyond the graphical bump that comes with making a game on new hardware like Xbox Series X. There's no denying that this is the best that Orcs Must Die! has looked, and the War levels do throw more enemies than ever at players. Going in with the lowered expectations of a remaster rather than a full sequel makes all the difference, but it's hard to say whether or not a game that still feels a decade-old is worth the return trip.

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Orcs Must Die! 3 is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Stadia. Screen Rant was provided an Xbox Series X code for the purposes of this review.