Why so much change in a formula that worked like a charm? :: Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap General Discussions

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap

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Mesarthim Jan 29 @ 5:19am

Why so much change in a formula that worked like a charm?

Why have they removed the best part of the previous game by allowing us to equip different items like trinkets, amulets and whatnot? It really feels like I'm being ripped off.

Some heroes don't even do enough damage, especially the melee ones.

The barricade change... well, everybody talks about it.

And the trap improvements? We can't decide to give them special features anymore? Like the barricade who became a large one?

I don't know what to think about this game, the heroes aren't specially attractive either if you can't customize them more than that. The skill trees are very very limited and do not make me want to invest time and points into them. There's nothing special really.

I don't know if the devs can fix the game at this point.

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Showing 1-15 of 29 comments

Pretoryan Jan 29 @ 6:01am

Why?

Because how else do you make the next installation of the franchise in 6 months with little effort?

Mesarthim Jan 29 @ 7:18am

6 months? That might explains a lot !
I just requested a refund, I'm really not happy about the direction the devs took.
I was already not very happy with the 3rd one but I got used to it and even enjoyed the war scenario.

And now, no more war scenario, no special upgrades for the traps, no more sentinels... I think that does it, they've definitely ruined the game.

They should have worked on bringing back unchained instead.

Black Hammer has Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap

Jan 29 @ 7:24am

I assume you don't mean Sophie as not enough melee damage, as she can chunk bosses incredibly hard when used correctly. And her ability to restore health on crits means you can play pretty aggressively, too.

Barricade system is different. I'm not ready to call it an improvement, but I believe it's actually a good thing for multiplayer as you can have the discussion about where to maze once and be done with it before starting. Barricades being free also skips the phase of "build maze and sit through two waves with almost no traps."

Trap upgrades are in the thread system. Yeah, it's random. Is that good? It's different, and frankly if you want to play OMD 1, 2, or 3, those games are still there. This is not OMD4 for a reason.

Hero designs are visually lackluster, and the kits are kind of all over the place. Sophie is good, Wren is a bit odd, and while Harlow's basic attack (shotgun) is very strong, the rest of her kit is kind of clunky. Several abilities suffer from needing the player to be standing perfectly still on flat ground long enough for the game to accept the input, and that makes abilities like Harlow's gust knockback far too fiddly to risk getting close to orcs regularly.

EDIT: OMDU came out in 2017, OMD 3 came out in 2021. This is again four years later with OMDD, in 2025. I doubt they cooked the entire game from scratch in six months.

Last edited by Black Hammer; Jan 29 @ 7:25am

Mez Koo

Jan 29 @ 8:06am

Because developers get bored and want try new things.

Sirius

Jan 29 @ 8:25am

I'm painfully missing "trap upgrades offering a strategic choice" - I loved being able to change up how certain traps work.

This "new" system feels sterile and not worth the skull investment.
I'm sure it makes a difference in high difficulty situations, but yay a number went up or down slightly. Excitement?

Meanwhile in older games, do I upgrade my arrow trap to fire flaming arrows or do I want to be able to slap it on the ceiling? That was interesting and felt like a meaningful choice.

Now, I'm not very far in (just a couple of hours) and playing blind (meaning without looking stuff up) so I don't know if the roguelite system is supposed to change traps meaningfully later on in-run, but this is really my only sticking point so far.

Latest hotfix update made the barricade situation bearable, maybe even a bit over corrected, now I'm just sad that certain traps are (as of yet) missing like my beloved pop-up flamer and that trap upgrade seems MMO-ey and clinical in the sense that slight increments in values don't feel good.

Everyone seems to have a bigger or smaller bone to pick with this instalment (I consider mine a smaller one to be honest, love the game otherwise), I would be interested to hear new players' thoughts on the whole thing.

But yeah they seem to alienate a lot of older players, or rather older players seem to feel alienated by their old mechanics not being what they were before, but that's how it goes.

And I guarantee lots of people would complain "it's just OMD3 in a new skin" if they didn't and "why should I buy the same game again just for new maps" and "why don't you just update the old game", devs really can't win anyways.

Starting to ramble here, but yeah some middle ground would be nice and feedback clearly reaches the developers, so I'm just enjoying myself in the meantime and let myself be surprised by what might change and what DLC might come down the line.

Mesarthim Jan 29 @ 9:16am

They advertised a classic orc must die experience on the steam store page which is totally a lie.

They brought some interesting change and the heroes system could have been interesting if well made but the thing is, it's not.

It's so far from OMD3 and OMD3 was already a disappointment compared to 2.

I don't think the DLC or future updates are going to change anything, it's a 1.0 release, now they will pop new heroes and tid bits of this and that here and there but it will keep the same horrible mechanics.

It's more about playing your hero than placing traps now.

Many aspects feel so lazy and uninspired. Sure, I needed a hub for that.

I thought it could have been the next OMDU but you feel how rushed the game was, the lack of originality in all skill trees is really felt.
Oooh, more health, traps are less expensive, more damage... Yeah, sorry but no.

Telzen

Jan 29 @ 9:30am

Originally posted by Mesarthim:
It's more about playing your hero than placing traps now.

Objectively incorrect. You can watch the dev streams and see that trap damage is way way higher than hero damage.

Mesarthim Jan 29 @ 9:42am

Originally posted by Telzen:
Originally posted by Mesarthim:
It's more about playing your hero than placing traps now.
Objectively incorrect. You can watch the dev streams and see that trap damage is way way higher than hero damage.

After how many skill point invested? How far are they in the skill tree and in the trap improvement?

Rager Jan 29 @ 9:47am

I get the impression that many that say they like the game are still unsure - playing the game and struggling to convince themselves that they're having a fun time.

Mez Koo

Jan 29 @ 9:57am

Originally posted by Mesarthim:
They advertised a classic orc must die experience on the steam store page which is totally a lie.

No they don't, this is literally the first line:

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap combines chaotic third-person combat with devious trap-laying strategy. Enjoy endless replayability as your War Mage grows stronger through roguelite progression.

Furthermore:

Face intensifying waves of orcs and other hideous beasts with randomized buffs and debuffs that impact your hero, traps, weapons, stats, and the levels themselves. Environmental factors like weather and time of day further influence enemies and your defensive options. As these buffs and debuffs stack, choose to push forward against the growing hordes or return to your castle hub to power up your hero, weapons, and traps before facing a formidable Orc General in a brutal boss fight.

The only thing mentioned is "classic orcs must die vibes"

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap stays true to the beloved humor, personality, and charm of the series. From witty orc chatter to over-the-top physics sending screaming orcs flying, and a strong guitar- and drum-heavy soundtrack, every moment is crafted to keep your adrenaline pumping.

Even then they only say stuff like humor, physics, music which are all there and there is no mention or hint about a story, campaign, or trying to be orcs must die 4.

#10

Mechaballe Jan 29 @ 10:00am

Originally posted by Mesarthim:
6 months? That might explains a lot !
I just requested a refund, I'm really not happy about the direction the devs took.
I was already not very happy with the 3rd one but I got used to it and even enjoyed the war scenario.

And now, no more war scenario, no special upgrades for the traps, no more sentinels... I think that does it, they've definitely ruined the game.

They should have worked on bringing back unchained instead.

No Unchained sucked donkey sacks. XD

#11

Mesarthim Jan 29 @ 10:04am

Heroes were super interesting in Unchained and co-op was really fun. Got lots of fun on that game with my friends. The game was getting better but that's when the devs gave up on it.

#12

Rager Jan 29 @ 10:07am

Originally posted by Mesarthim:
Heroes were super interesting in Unchained and co-op was really fun. Got lots of fun on that game with my friends. The game was getting better but that's when the devs gave up on it.

totally agree, that was the best OMD experience I had.

#13