Recent reviews by Tempren

I really enjoyed my time with the game. I finished it and might go back to play it again another time. The deckbuilding is a great mechanic because it is directly affected by who you have the main character spend time with. This changes your strategies when haggling and other events. Potion brewing is interesting and trying to make the perfect potion can become an obsession.

In such a character heavy game the characters have to be interesting. I did not find one of them dull. The music, art, and writing are all top-notch and greatly contribute to the depth of the characters. If you have any interest in good stories, deck building, or VNs, give it a try.

It's a really solid combat system. It's a combination of a D&D style with some XCOM (Overwatch mechanics and cover) thrown in for good measure. The story is goofy. The humor is lighthearted and a little basic, but matches the tone of the game overall.

I saw a lot of people complaining about how much you miss when attacking. You have to use your buffs and positioning effectively. The game will tell you your percent chance to hit, but doesn't seem to adjust this based on the enemy's dodge percent, which is a little odd and not at all intuitive. This resulted in the Ranger missing on a 130% chance to hit. Something to keep in mind. You have to keep a careful eye on what buffs the enemies have going on.

All in all, really solid, hard not to recommend if you like turn-based style games like XCOM or Divinity Original Sin, just don't expect that same kind of freedom in character development that Divinity has.

kill people as killer
run away as survivor
10/10 would get stabbed by michael myers again

A great throwback, and at the same time, modernization of the old Hexen series. It's really nonstop action and such a joy to play if you grew up with those games. Can't recommend this enough.

Made my gf swear in the chat. 10/10

As the tower defense genre has gotten more popular there have been many games that have added to or improved upon the formula. This has allowed the genre to stay relatively fresh and not to become a tired trend. The original Orcs Must Die provided the interesting spin of not only forgoing the towers completely in exchange for traps, but putting the player directly into the fray themselves. Orcs Must Die 2 successfully adds to this formula in a number of ways.

The goal of Orcs Must Die 2 is to protect the rift points of each level from the invading orcs and other creatures. First, the player must choose between the Warmage and the Sorceress, both with their own unique ability. Players are given a set number of slots for them to bring both weapons and traps. Some players may prefer to try their hand with minimal traps, while others will rely on them almost exclusively. As players progress through the game, they will be thrown new enemies, forcing them to adapt their strategies on each level. Based on their performance, players earn skulls, which allow them to unlock new traps, weapons, and even outfits for their character.

Arguably, the largest addition is the cooperative multiplayer. Instead of taking on the hordes of orcs alone with a single loadout, you can now play with one other person, each with their own specific loadouts. This encourages teamwork in a number of ways. Strategic combinations of traps allow the duo to rack up combos, affording them more currency to place more traps or hanging onto the currency to get a better rating, and thus more skulls, at the end of the level. Picking weapons that work well together allow for clearing out any stragglers that get past the traps or simply an easier time for those who prefer the more hands-on approach.

The levels are appropriately sized for what's asked of the player. Many of the larger levels also give players shortcuts to different areas, ensuring they have ample time to respond to each wave of enemies that appears if they have a good strategy. While the perfect strategy might not be stumbled upon immediately, after a couple of tries the various choke points in the levels become more obvious with a couple of exceptions. Many levels also incorporate special traps of their own for the player to utilize, simply adding to the fun and strategy of a given place.

Different enemies with different weaknesses encourage the player to use a variety of traps and weapons to find the playstyle that suits them best. While the option does exist to go heavy on the weapons, it's clear the game was designed around the use of both traps and weapons for a player to progress very far. This means only the most skilled third-person action players will have any chance at all of beating levels without the heavy use of traps.

The art style and mixed rock soundtrack add a lot to the game's atmosphere and personality, which is far from serious. The Warmage and Sorceress bust into breakdancing after a particularly good performance. Sarcastic and humurous quips are constantly dropped by the heroes. Orcs and other enemies make exclamations about wanting their mother while they are chewed to bits by a wall grinder or other nefarious device. The amount of violence is large, but the exaggerated proportions of both the heroes and enemies leads to it not being disturbing to teenagers and adults.

While Orcs Must Die 2 can be played alone, it is painfully obvious that is not the way the game is designed. Solo orcslayers will have a hard time making meaningful progression, especially in the higher difficulty settings. Large numbers of enemies, in combination with some of the more complex levels, makes micromanaging the stages without one defined choke point more of a chore than fun. This difficulty is greatly eased with the presence of a co-op partner. It's hard to recommend the game as a solo experience given the huge artificial spike in difficulty thanks to the game's focus.

Certain levels crank the difficulty level up far too high past what was in the previous stage. Even with a co-op partner, most players will run into some of these stages like a brick wall that require a lot of frustration and annoyance to climb over. The story is bare minimum, and while not terrible, only really serves as an excuse for the chaos going on within the game's universe. Most players likely won't have an issue with this, but the game is not for those looking for a narrative heavy experience.

Despite its flaws, Orcs Must Die 2 is incredibly fun and addictive. The thrill of getting five skulls on a level that has become the bane of your existence is hard to beat. With a friend, the game is guaranteed to provide you with hours of amusement and fun, even long after you've beaten the campaign, as long as you can deal with the steep difficulty spikes you encounter.