Orcs Must Die! 3 Google Stadia Preview

July 19, 2020 at 2:53am
By Jason Stettner

Well, Orcs Must Die! has returned thanks to the efforts of Google Stadia and I’m very happy to get this third main entry in the series. I’m quite a fan of this perhaps niche franchise, having done the first walkthrough for it back in the day when it was on Xbox 360.

It’s been a long time, and while it has had a sort of rough road to get here due to Unchained, I’m very glad to be playing this game. It was generally really great, being larger in scale than ever before and completely taking advantage of the cloud based streaming service. I had a blast playing it, and this feels like the most complete entry in the series to date.

It had an expansive campaign that featured eighteen chapters and an endless mode for even more combat. These various levels could be played alone, or with another player in coop.

You could host matches, invite friends or try to find some online. It really felt like a complete package, and is certainly worth your time. For context, this series is all about setting up traps to decimate oncoming orcs in order to defend Rifts.

You’re actually playing an active role in this too, with neat abilities to blast away any stragglers. It’s very strategic in trap setup, and this one offered a wide range of options to grind those foes up. You also have to keep in mind that the orcs have some larger friends that run alongside them, offering a mix-up for the challenge.

Aside from having various complex level setups, new War Scenarios completely change the experience. These are massive theaters of war where hundreds upon hundreds of orcs rush in.

You destroy them with regular traps, and new larger offerings as well. These areas were insane quite honestly, and a treat to work through each time they popped up. This was aesthetically pleasing, and it looked the best of the series.

It ran mostly well on the base Google Stadia offering at 1080p 60fps with my current speeds being 70mb/16mb which honestly is lower than usual. I hope that the speeds get back to normal at some point as we’re still in quite a global situation. It did at times have some connectivity issues, but mostly in the form of a hiccup here or there.

Nothing that was detrimental to play, and it was incredibly stable even during absolutely massive situations of conflict. Orcs were flying, the AI was blasting off on my side as well as with the orcs roaming in. It was wild, and it played very cleanly while looking great. The visuals do pop, as do the various limbs of the orcs you’re slicing through.

There’s a good story here and generally a great package. This is definitely the best experience I’ve had on the game streaming service thus far, it’s a great exclusive to have quite honestly. You can read our review of the game below, or check out the general Google Stadia hub for further coverage of this service that does continue to grow in terms of its offerings.

Read our Orcs Must Die! 3 Review
View our Google Stadia Hub