While it is far from the killer-app or high profile release that Stadia has been waiting for, the latest entry in theOrcs Must Die!series is likely to garner interest from fans of puzzle and action games alike.TheOrcs Must Die!franchise originally debuted in 2011with a blend of tower-defense and third-person combat, customizable traps, and a steady stream of tricky, orcish enemies. The second game in the franchise added 2-player co-op to the mix, which also features prominently in this latest installment.
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Robot Entertainmentteamed up with Stadia for a timed exclusive release for several reasons,particularly the platform’s ability to make the games' new features available to all players regardless of their platforms' specs. The title’s Lead Designer, Jerome K. Jones, also admitted that Robot Entertainment originally had no intention of creating a follow-up to the 2012’sOrcs Must Die! 2, but after the Stadia team professed its fondness of the franchise, the project naturally evolved from their partnership.
New additions to theOrcs Must Die!franchise formula includeWar Machines and War Scenarios,which will pit players against well-over 1,000 enemies simultaneously. The series' cartoon-ish graphics have never looked better than they do on Unreal Engine 4, which also enables the game to break free from its standard indoor onslaughts in favor of massive, outdoor battles such as the castle siege depicted in the game’s launch trailer.
Orcs Must Die! 3’s surprise launch announcement arrived amidst Googles' Stadia Connect event, which revealed a broad offering of high profile titles arriving on the platform this fall, likeSuper BombermanandSekiro. Google has been aggressively courting established studios and young, indie developers to produce timed-exclusives for their platform, which has had something of an underwhelming launch.
The market’s tepid reaction to the streaming console can be attributed to a number of reasons, but Stadia’s inherent Achilles' heel is that players with slow internet connections are essentially locked out of the platform—or destined for miserable user experiences.
