Tldr; I WAS WRONG

[MADSEN]

I'll just put my review here for people to see as well since I have comment's off for reviews. Feel free to respond if you agree/disagree.

My initial thumbs down can be seen on my actual review. This is my thumbs up review after playing some more.

==== REVIEW ===
So, after playing a few more hours I can indeed see what the developers are doing here. I want to publicly apologize to Robot Entertainment.

What they have done is to take the classic OMD experience and added more replayability and rogue-like elements. It is no longer about having max traps or optimizing the paths orcs take, even though I still feel the change of barricades are annoying, more of that later. In this game it’s about failing until you are strong enough to take on a map and succeed. You can literally upgrade everything in order to get stronger to be able to move on. You can upgrade your hero, traps and add perks etc. It’s no longer just about the traps. The heroes have a full skill tree now you have to use in order to get stronger and add passive skills. In order to do all this, like in the classic games, you need skulls. You get skulls by completing maps. A tip is to replay a map (The Garden is great for this since you can block off all paths but one and use the classic experience to your benefit) until you get enough skulls to move on.

Barricades. Yes they are now limited but free. They are very limited. Some maps you just can’t block all paths. This becomes a problem if you are a solo player, and I don’t like it. I wish they added some benefits for solo players, for example, after every wave you get one or two extra barricades. You can unlock more if you are lucky with the threads (by the way, I like the threads system) and I think you can unlock more from the skill tree. But having some extra help as a solo player would be nice.

Another problem is the melee heroes. They are very limited towards flyers, making traps even more important, and the lack of barricades again becomes a problem if you’re a solo player since you have to watch several paths And flyers.

It is by no means a solo player friendly game, and that’s probably my biggest problem with this game for now. Robot Entertainment needs to consider adding solo player benefits.

Overall I think the game is worth its price and you will, if you give it a chance, like it for what it is. It Is Not Orcs Must Die 4! It’s another take on the games and I respect the developers for trying something new. Let’s just say that we all really want OMD4! This will do for now.

[MechBFP]

As long as they improve the single player experience so the majority of the players time isn’t spent as an exercise in frustrating micromanagement and constantly running back and forth like a chicken with your head cut off, then I will definitely look into it. The barricade change for solo play is definitely a good starting point to help alleviate that problem.

[Robot Entertainment Community]

Originally posted by MADSEN:

I'll just put my review here for people to see as well since I have comment's off for reviews. Feel free to respond if you agree/disagree.

My initial thumbs down can be seen on my actual review. This is my thumbs up review after playing some more.

==== REVIEW ===
So, after playing a few more hours I can indeed see what the developers are doing here. I want to publicly apologize to Robot Entertainment.

What they have done is to take the classic OMD experience and added more replayability and rogue-like elements. It is no longer about having max traps or optimizing the paths orcs take, even though I still feel the change of barricades are annoying, more of that later. In this game it’s about failing until you are strong enough to take on a map and succeed. You can literally upgrade everything in order to get stronger to be able to move on. You can upgrade your hero, traps and add perks etc. It’s no longer just about the traps. The heroes have a full skill tree now you have to use in order to get stronger and add passive skills. In order to do all this, like in the classic games, you need skulls. You get skulls by completing maps. A tip is to replay a map (The Garden is great for this since you can block off all paths but one and use the classic experience to your benefit) until you get enough skulls to move on.

Barricades. Yes they are now limited but free. They are very limited. Some maps you just can’t block all paths. This becomes a problem if you are a solo player, and I don’t like it. I wish they added some benefits for solo players, for example, after every wave you get one or two extra barricades. You can unlock more if you are lucky with the threads (by the way, I like the threads system) and I think you can unlock more from the skill tree. But having some extra help as a solo player would be nice.

Another problem is the melee heroes. They are very limited towards flyers, making traps even more important, and the lack of barricades again becomes a problem if you’re a solo player since you have to watch several paths And flyers.

It is by no means a solo player friendly game, and that’s probably my biggest problem with this game for now. Robot Entertainment needs to consider adding solo player benefits.

Overall I think the game is worth its price and you will, if you give it a chance, like it for what it is. It Is Not Orcs Must Die 4! It’s another take on the games and I respect the developers for trying something new. Let’s just say that we all really want OMD4! This will do for now.

Thank you for not only giving it a bit more time but also writing in such detail.

We appreciate you and what you're saying good and critical (needs improvement).

<3

[MADSEN]

Originally posted by Robot Entertainment Community:

Originally posted by MADSEN:

I'll just put my review here for people to see as well since I have comment's off for reviews. Feel free to respond if you agree/disagree.

My initial thumbs down can be seen on my actual review. This is my thumbs up review after playing some more.

==== REVIEW ===
So, after playing a few more hours I can indeed see what the developers are doing here. I want to publicly apologize to Robot Entertainment.

What they have done is to take the classic OMD experience and added more replayability and rogue-like elements. It is no longer about having max traps or optimizing the paths orcs take, even though I still feel the change of barricades are annoying, more of that later. In this game it’s about failing until you are strong enough to take on a map and succeed. You can literally upgrade everything in order to get stronger to be able to move on. You can upgrade your hero, traps and add perks etc. It’s no longer just about the traps. The heroes have a full skill tree now you have to use in order to get stronger and add passive skills. In order to do all this, like in the classic games, you need skulls. You get skulls by completing maps. A tip is to replay a map (The Garden is great for this since you can block off all paths but one and use the classic experience to your benefit) until you get enough skulls to move on.

Barricades. Yes they are now limited but free. They are very limited. Some maps you just can’t block all paths. This becomes a problem if you are a solo player, and I don’t like it. I wish they added some benefits for solo players, for example, after every wave you get one or two extra barricades. You can unlock more if you are lucky with the threads (by the way, I like the threads system) and I think you can unlock more from the skill tree. But having some extra help as a solo player would be nice.

Another problem is the melee heroes. They are very limited towards flyers, making traps even more important, and the lack of barricades again becomes a problem if you’re a solo player since you have to watch several paths And flyers.

It is by no means a solo player friendly game, and that’s probably my biggest problem with this game for now. Robot Entertainment needs to consider adding solo player benefits.

Overall I think the game is worth its price and you will, if you give it a chance, like it for what it is. It Is Not Orcs Must Die 4! It’s another take on the games and I respect the developers for trying something new. Let’s just say that we all really want OMD4! This will do for now.

Thank you for not only giving it a bit more time but also writing in such detail.

We appreciate you and what you're saying good and critical (needs improvement).

<3

Thanks!
Would you consider adding placeable guardians? That would help a lot for solo players. Especially rangers.

[Sylxeria]

See this is the kind of criticism I really think is the best sort: Laying out what one thinks isn't good, explaining how they could improve it, and doing so in a professional way

[Sylxeria]

Originally posted by MechBFP:

As long as they improve the single player experience so the majority of the players time isn’t spent as an exercise in frustrating micromanagement and constantly running back and forth like a chicken with your head cut off, then I will definitely look into it. The barricade change for solo play is definitely a good starting point to help alleviate that problem.

I guess since I spent time with Unchained I was already used to maps like these, but I agree - the barricade cap increase is a good first step. I've found myself some maps have places you can funnel the majority of the horde towards without too much running around, I'm still trying to figure out the other maps~

I might add, perhaps, metaprogression unlocks for a few extra (if they dont already exist - I didnt check each and every skill point since I last played the other day) and maybe allowing purchasing extra barricades at increasing cost?

[Sylxeria]

Originally posted by MADSEN:

Originally posted by Robot Entertainment Community:

Thank you for not only giving it a bit more time but also writing in such detail.

We appreciate you and what you're saying good and critical (needs improvement).

<3

Thanks!
Would you consider adding placeable guardians? That would help a lot for solo players. Especially rangers.

I think they're doing kinda what Unchained did, where the Guardians are stronger than before but only in fixed locations so you're meant to plan around these locations. Maybe they could give us an option to buff them?

Step 1: Pay to install the Guardian
Step 2: Pay to buff them once
~ X more times...?

[IHaveNoMercy]

It must be difficult to approach because on one hand the game is designed to play with 4 people. But most people are playing 1-3 players. For solo as a melee war mage I 100% agree that the constant air threat was too hard to deal with. There needs to be an anti-air tower that just nullifies air. And only special air units should really need the war mages to intervene. I know this game isnt supposed to be like DD2 and just make the wave trivial. But it really is a handful for SOLO. If the devs focus on building this game SOLO up, it will future proof it though.

[ChubbiChibbai]

I loved the idea of this but constantly hearing its not designed for solo play makes it a skip for me.

[Hillhome]

A bonus barricade after each successful mission in a run wouldn't be bad for solo (or even 2 player) but for 3 or 4 players would be too much. Still maybe it is something that could be considered by the devs?

[TheLastLine]

I think difficulty scaling based on number of players should be considered. Given the more action oriented approach and the different way that traps and barricades are utilized, it can be very challenging to approach some maps in solo play.

[IHaveNoMercy]

Originally posted by ChubbiChibbai:

I loved the idea of this but constantly hearing its not designed for solo play makes it a skip for me.

It got patched, you will be fine in SOLO, it takes some getting used to and a bit of grind, you permanently get stronger as you upgrade your traps and skill tree. Its permanent progression roguelite - each mission you do you earn "threads" which are bonuses that only count during your run of the mission, when you beat the boss or eventually lose, you lose the threads and get paid skulls, then you use the skulls to permanently upgrade your characters and traps, which makes you get better at the missions so you can go further. The game is honestly amazing, try it on game pass if you arent commited to buying it fully.

[Zouls]

Originally posted by IHaveNoMercy:

It must be difficult to approach because on one hand the game is designed to play with 4 people. But most people are playing 1-3 players. For solo as a melee war mage I 100% agree that the constant air threat was too hard to deal with. There needs to be an anti-air tower that just nullifies air. And only special air units should really need the war mages to intervene. I know this game isnt supposed to be like DD2 and just make the wave trivial. But it really is a handful for SOLO. If the devs focus on building this game SOLO up, it will future proof it though.

to me the biggest problem is also that i cant find any time where i would ever NOT want the auto-crossbow tower, because its the best tower for air units as they dont need to pass under it, and its the best tower for large units because it can focus alot of damage unto a single target over a fairly short time.

so i completely agree i think we need something like a tesla coil that zaps air units in a large radius, because right now i just spam crossbows at every rift point.

[Zouls]

Originally posted by TheLastLine:

I think difficulty scaling based on number of players should be considered. Given the more action oriented approach and the different way that traps and barricades are utilized, it can be very challenging to approach some maps in solo play.

it literally does and not only in giving them less hp which makes them incredibly easy, also spawn rates, and it staggers when doors open so on the arboreal map the doors are only both getting mobs like 5% of the time the rest they spawn from side to side.

[Zouls]

Originally posted by ChubbiChibbai:

I loved the idea of this but constantly hearing its not designed for solo play makes it a skip for me.

i said it before but the frustration for me comes from having played duo 5 hours and losing repeatedly, and then completely destroying it when playing solo because solo is so much easier.

and then seeing people who play solo, lose because they are bad, and then go "well clearly if we had 4 people i wouldnt have lost because there is definitely no scaling on enemy health or amount that would make it harder with 4"

people are basically just confidently lying, anything to protect the fragile ego of admitting that they made a bad strategy.

[Rando the Crit Clown]

Originally posted by MADSEN:

So, after playing a few more hours I can indeed see what the developers are doing here. I want to publicly apologize to Robot Entertainment.

Oh wow... It's almost like the barricade change was good, and all the people mad at the barricade change just haven't played the game and tried it out or something... But no, that surely couldn't be it. We need to do a day one patch increasing the barricade limit so that the game can go from 60% positive to 60% positive.