Dearest War Mages!

Not too long ago, Patrick Hudson (CEO and Founder) and Kyle Snyder (Game Director) from the Robot Entertainment team headed over to r/Games for an Ask Me Anything on all things Deathtrap. We’ve picked out the best questions and answers for you, so you can gain a little more insight into the game and what to expect. If you want to read all the questions and answers, with some about the studio and wider franchise, be sure to head on over to the Subreddit.

As a reminder, for all things OMD related – join our Discord[discord.gg]!

Let’s dive in, shall we?

How many traps will be in OMDD at launch and, why is Spike Trap still the best?
There will be just under 50 traps at launch, and plenty more to come.
I agree, but also Flip Trap best trap. - Kyle

Is Deathtrap free to play?
No, OMD Deathtrap will be a paid game similar to OMD3. - Patrick

Will cross platform play be available between PC and Xbox? Any plans on bringing the game to other consoles like the Switch or PlayStation?
Yes, Crossplay across all platforms at launch. We do plan to bring the game to other consoles. We're still working on the specifics with the console owners. - Patrick

Hey folks, thanks for the opportunity. Question: Will there be cross-progression across Xbox and PC? Using Series X at home and travelling with the Steam Deck!
There will be cross-progression between Xbox and Windows but not between Xbox and Steam. There will be cross-platform play. - Patrick

Would you consider making barricade limits a choice ie. choose for the limit or turn it off?
For the core loop of the game, the limited but free barricades will remain. The team is convinced that this was the right move for the game. Now that number can go up pretty high during a run. In the future, we're open to adding modes and other ways to play that either remove the limit or adjust how it works. - Kyle

Any plans to bring back other playable characters like Bloodspike? Also, PS5 version?
We are open to bringing back characters from previous games. In fact, I was working with Elizabeth Maxwell on a different role for OMDD, and she said she'd love to come back as Zoey. So no promises, but I am thinking of who to bring back and how to do it in a fun, graceful way. – Kyle

Offline single player support? GOG release? Always online?
Yes for offline single player! GOG is still TBD. Unlikely at the initial release. - Patrick

If you had to choose, which is your personal favorite trap combo for each character?
Don't make me pick. Right now, though, I love using Sophie and Cursed Ground. The Cursed Ground is a 2x2 floor trap that gets more powerful as it collects the souls of Orcs that die on it. Works great for a melee character like Soph, and fits with her goth aesthetic. - Kyle

Any thoughts around an unlimited mode for trap and combo testing? All maps with no trap limits, no coins, everything unlocked. This could make for some great TikTok videos showing crazy setups and kills.
I'm not against this idea on paper, but it would be a performance challenge and eventually it'd really slow down. If we could introduce it in a way where that is understood, sure. Regardless, we do want to offer more sandbox-like options in the future. - Kyle

How are you handling difficulty in your new games? Is it one set more or will there be options?
Great question. There is a pretty big change here. You no longer select from three difficulties. Instead, it's one core difficulty based on the number of players. It then gets more difficult as you play more Missions during a single Run. However, with the new progression systems and Threads, there are quite a few ways to make things easier. And if you want to make things more challenging, we have a slider that cranks up enemy HP and damage for bonus skulls. It's been super fun and hilarious to see how well we can do with that turned all the way up. - Kyle

Any plan to bring back Dwarf Minions or possibly a Dwarf player character?
Yes and yes. I was a Dobbin main. There will be a Dwarf War Mage in the future. - Kyle

How big is the dev team? Not including those who are play testers only. I thought it would be bigger since you've been around for more than a decade, but it sounds smaller than I thought.
We're a 30-person studio. Close to two-thirds of us are in Texas with the remaining folks spread around the US and one in Mexico City. - Patrick

Love the franchise and Deathtrap is looking good, but barricades having a limit is taking some getting used to. What’s a good way for me to approach Deathtrap?
(Here are a few reasons we really love the barricade changes: with the free barricades, you can plan your pathing before even starting wave one instead of needing to invest in barricades over time; you can take that rune coin and spend it on more traps; 16 is the starting number, and that's a lot of barricades to play with; that number isn't fixed and can go up quite a bit during a run; and most importantly, it allows us to design challenges for players of all levels because we know they'll have at least this many barricades.So we hope players approach the barricades with an open mind. It's a change, but this game is still very much Orcs Must Die!, and traps are more powerful than ever. -Kyle

Will Crossplay be implemented into Deathtrap? What is the content roadmap like post launch?
Crossplay is implemented, yes. We'll be sharing a high-level content roadmap post-launch. We intend to continue pushing content updates to the game, and we're working on those details. - Patrick

What made you pivot to rogue-lite? Are you planning to perhaps make a game in the vein of previous ones but with 4 player co-op?
When I started drafting the pitch for this iteration of OMD, I really wanted to focus on two things: replayability and four player co-op. The "rogue" elements give us far more variety than a short, linear campaign followed by Endless and leaderboard chasing that only appeals to a small percentage of our overall player base. The Mission Run system is also far friendlier to groups of friends that may have players jump in and out at different times vs. a linear campaign or six-hour Endless map. But! This is called Deathtrap and not OMD4 for these reasons. There's always a possibility we will return to the traditional format in the future. - Kyle

Has Max been aged up to reflect the ageing original fanbase? Or is it more to reflect the changes of the game industry overall?
We mostly thought it would be interesting to see Max and Gabby once the Order had been rebuilt. And it was difficult to introduce War Mages when most of them were dead. Going forward allowed us to start showing the new generation of orc slayers and how Max and Gabby's influence would affect them. - Kyle

Today we dropped a new trailer during today's PC Gaming Show, giving our fans a glimpse of what's to come in the upcoming installment.

The trailer today not only unveiled the official release date—January 28th, 2025—but also showcased Maximilian's gameplay, offering a sneak peek at the thrilling action and strategic defenses players can expect.

With a classic blend of tower defense and hack-and-slash gameplay, this announcement should have you all awaiting the chance to dive back into the chaotic world of orc-slaying.

If you missed out on the first Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap technical playtest, your next chance has arrived! Certain technical fixes and gameplay changes have been made based on your feedback from the first technical test.

Starting today, sign up for a chance at joining our limited technical playtest. For two days, selected players (at random) will get hands-on time with OMDD.

If you participated in the first test - YOU DO NOT NEED TO SIGN-UP AGAIN. YOUR GAME WILL BE AVAILABLE TO PLAY WHEN WE BEGIN THE TEST SINCE YOU ALREADY WERE GIVEN ENTRY!

As we did before, participants will be able to click on a link in game that leads to a form to provide technical feedback.

Additionally, we'll host a dedicated gameplay feedback channel on our official Discord[discord.gg].

TLDR:

• What: Sign up for the OMDD Technical Playtest
  
• How: Go to our Store Page and scroll down until you see the request access link for the playtest!
  
• When is the Playtest?:
  
  • Start - Wednesday, November 13th, 2024 at 10AM CT/4PM UTC
    
  • End - Friday, November 15th, 2024 at 12PM CT/6PM UTC

Sign-ups are live now. Don't miss your chance to slay orcs early!

Good luck!

Eager to dive into Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap before anyone else? Your chance has arrived!

Starting today, sign up for a chance at joining our limited technical playtest. For two days, selected players (at random) will get hands-on time with OMDD. And don't worry if you don’t get chosen this time around - we'll have a larger test soon.

Participants will receive a form to provide technical feedback, and we'll host a dedicated gameplay feedback channel on our official Discord[discord.gg].

TLDR:

• What: Sign up for the OMDD Technical Playtest
  
• How: Go to our Store Page and scroll down until you see the request access link for the playtest!
  
• When is the Playtest?:
  
  • Start - Wednesday, October 30th, 2024 at 10AM CT/3PM UTC
    
  • End - Friday, November 1st, 2024 at 2AM CT/7AM UTC

Sign-ups are live now. Don't miss your chance to slay orcs early!

Good luck!

Dearest War Mages!

We have heard our fans online mentioning how they'd like to see more merch for Orcs Must Die!, so we've reached out and teamed up with Makeship to bring you your very own light orc.

1. Pledge $2 today to help our Petition reach the 200 supporter goal.
   
2. If our Petition reaches 200 unique supporters, the concept will become a real product.
   
3. You'll be charged the remaining balance ($27.99 + shipping and tax) automatically when the Campaign launches. If the petition fails, you'll get a refund.

https://www.makeship.com/petitions/orcs-must-die-light-orc-plush

What you do with that orc is your business, but make sure you don't miss out on this plush!

Hello, you little Ogre spudge stains, Kyle here again – Game Director on Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap. This time I’ll be going over every single enemy in OMDD except our big boss boys (and even there, I’ll leave a teaser or two). I’m excited about this one – not only do we have a lot of new enemies, but we’ve also reworked some veteran units to make battles more fun, interactive, and focused. Let’s break it down by category and see what we’ve got.


I do need to explain a few things before we dig in: Distortions and Unstable Rifts. Distortions, if you’ve not read previous blogs, are randomized challenges you’re offered when you are selecting which Mission to play. Many of these can add specific enemy types to the waves of enemies you’ll face. And Unstable Rifts are portals that can spawn at any point during a wave in random spots on the map. If you don’t destroy the portal in time, it will spawn in more enemies – with many of these being more challenging units than you’ll see in the basic waves.

These guys are perfect, so you’re not going to see a lot of changes here. However, given the name of the game, I made it a focus early on that we get some new Orc types in the ranks.

You’ll be familiar with how our basic Orcs behave if you’ve played previous entries. Don’t tell them, but given their massive numbers, they mostly function as cannon fodder. We did remove the shield units (I never found the implementation fun to counter). And recently, we worked with our actors to get in a ton of new Orc lines – so be sure to listen in to their conversations.

Not much about their basic behavior has changed – the dynamite archer is like the orc archer, but you know, with dynamite. You won’t want to fight him while standing near your barricades, or they’ll take damage from the explosions.

What has changed is where you’ll see this unit. We’ve taken “barricade-destroying” units out of Onslaughts (waves of enemies). You’re only going to see them if you select their Distortion or if they happen to spawn out of an Unstable Rift.

The Skeleton Orc comes out at night, mostly. Outside of Distortions and maybe a certain boss, you’re only going to see these guys if you choose to take on a Night Mission. In this case, they do not come through the gates with the rest of the enemies – they crawl out of the ground at random spots around the map.

Their attack resembles those of the basic Orcs, but they do have a few unique features. You can only hit them with one headshot before their skulls pop off. No more headshots mean no more headshot bonus damage, but that doesn’t slow them down. They also have their own unique voice over lines that we absolutely love.

You’ll hear the Drummer Orc’s banger beats from miles away, and when you do, you’ll want to find him quickly. His inspiring music pumps up the enemies around him – speeding them up and giving them a damage boost. He’s just one example of the kind of support units we’ve added that give the player a little more to focus on during the waves without needing to threaten barricades.

The Balloon Orc is one of my new favorites – in part because of how much the studio execs hate encountering him. This Orc doesn’t care about the Rift, he’s a Hunter. That means he’s coming for the player. And he’s a Flying unit, which means he goes over barricades and isn’t affected by floor traps.

His little slingshot hits hard, while he’s hard to hit. The Balloon Orc is also our first strafing unit, so between shots he’ll try to break your ankles. They’ve also got their own voice lines, although the long-term exposure to the gases needed to inflate their rides seem to have affected their vocal cords.

You’ll recognize the Ogre and Armored Ogre from previous games, but we have introduced one big change. Their unique rush attack no longer stuns the player. Instead, it now bounces the player back a few trap spaces and deals damage. We’re finding this to be a lot more fun. It means you no longer lose complete control of your character, but it can be more dangerous. If you’re getting charged by one of these enemies, make sure you’re not going to get bounced off the map. And take note, the Armored Ogre will hit you further than the smaller Ogre. They’ve still got their hard-hitting swing attack as well.

We’ve tried shield-wielding enemies in the past, but I’ve never loved their implementation. In some games, enemies hold a shield that blocks all the damage of the first hit dealt to them, and in Unchained, you simply could not attack an enemy from the front regardless of the shield’s size.

These new Shield Ogres are more fun to fight. They carry a wide shield to protect themselves and their comrades, but players can still deal headshots or hit them from behind.

These units also do not attack players. They head straight for the Rift.

Much like shields, Fire Ogres have shown up in a few different iterations. This time around, they carry a large hammer they use to smash the ground, leaving behind a large burning ring of flames. You’ll take damage from the hammer hit and by standing in the ring of fire. Nearby barricades will also take damage from the fire, so be careful where you stand. They also have a basic swing attack as well. You’ll only see the Fire Ogres if you take the Distortion or if they spawn from Unstable Rifts.

All Trolls still have their unique passive that allows them to regenerate health after not taking damage for x seconds. That means, if you start fighting a Troll, you need to keep constant pressure applied until they’re dead.

No major changes here, but just look at this dude.

The Mountain Troll is back with a cool new ability – he can now Root players. You’ll see the Mountain Troll start his spell animation when he’s nearby and a preview of the Root’s area-of-effect appears on the ground. You’ll need to jump or move out of the way.

But don’t worry, it’s not all bad if he gets ya. I made the call to remove the Ogre stun because it wasn’t fun, so I wanted to make sure any player CC in OMDD wasn’t that annoying. You can’t move while rooted, but you can still attack. It’s a more interesting interaction with a clear way to avoid it.

Say “hello,” to the new Troll Archer. This sharpshooter packs a punch and leaves you with a little present to remember him. The Troll Archer uses much larger arrows than the Orc Archer, so like the Ogre charge, the Troll Archer’s attack knocks back players. Sometimes to their doom. And if it doesn’t knock them into the drink, the arrows are dipped in poison – leaving the player poisons which ticks a small amount of HP for x second.

He runs fast, he doesn’t attack players, simple as.

Everyone’s favorite. This is the only enemy in the game that only targets barricades – they care about nothing else. We did make some changes here, though. First, they only show up with their Distortion or from Unstable Rifts. Second, they no longer explode on death, which means you can kill them near your barricades. And finally, they now brace themselves for a moment before exploding at a barricade, giving the player a second to take them out and not lose any barricades.

Unlike his barrel-carrying colleague, the Gas Sapper only cares about the player. They’re a Hunter type enemy that seeks out War Mages, then much like the Boom Sapper, explodes after a moment. Instead of a boom, this Kobold leaves behind a poisonous cloud of gas. Standing the gas applies the poison status effect to players. Take them out before they blow to stop the cloud from appearing.

This little dude is nasty. The Infected Kobold is another player hunter, and this one’s coming to nibble on them dogs. If you get bit, you’ll be affected by Infection. Infection halves your maximum HP for x seconds.

The OG player hunter is back and as bloodthirsty as ever. The Gnoll Assassin hits hard, but no longer slows players. Instead, their status effect causes the player to take x% higher damage for x seconds. And like other hunters, you can no longer lure these guys straight into the Rift (sorry, not sorry).

No big changes here, but like other barricade destroyers, you’ll only see them from Distortions and Unstable Rifts. They also cannot be lured into the Rift.

In the air! Flyers got an overhaul for OMDD. They no longer come out of their own gates; they fly lower than before (about the height of a Troll); but they still go over barricades and do not trigger floor traps. With these changes, they still serve an important purpose but are far less frustrating to encounter.

The Hellbat is your basic flying unit – it soars over barricades and shoots fireballs at players.

The Hellbaby now functions as a flying runner. It’s faster than big papa and doesn’t attack players.

The Lifebat flies around looking for ally units that need a little panacea. They shoot healing orbs pretty frequently, so you’ll want to focus ‘em.

I destroyed your precious Stone Staff, and then I gave the ability to the enemy team. The Stonebat’s attack applies the Petrified status effect. If the orb hits you, you’ll be turned to stone for x seconds – being unable to move but impervious to damage. You get to sit there and watch as enemies enter the Rift.

The Cyclops Mage makes his return with a nice change to his attack. He launches a large ball of green magic from his staff that moves slowly and slightly homes towards the targeted player. It’s slower and less accurate than before, but it hits hard. And when he dies, the Cyclops Mage heals nearby enemies.

These next two got such a major rework that we think they deserve new names. The former Mesmerizer is now the Druid. The Druid’s eye laser applies the Silence status effect – leaving the player unable to use any abilities except their primary for x seconds. They’re also a flying unit, meaning they go right over barricades. And finally, they no longer heal nearby enemies on death.

The Cyclops Shaman was extremely frustrating for players, so he’s left that life behind him. Now referred to as the Guardian, he casts a powerful AoE spell that buffs nearby allies – giving them x% damage reduction for x seconds. This has taken him from one my least favorite units to one of my favorites.

The Lizard Thief is a player hunter that only appears in certain environments. He aggressively pursues the players and steals coins and deals damage with every hit of his primary and combo attacks. He does not enter Rift and does not turn invisible.

Little Moneybags is a very unique lil guy in OMDD. He can spawn anywhere on any level with his big bag of dough. He won’t attack you or enter the Rift – he doesn’t even want to be there. He seems to have teleported to the wrong location after a heist, and you only have until his teleportation spell recharges to take him out. He drops coins behind him with every hit and drops a huge pile of loot if you finish him off. Little Moneybags also has his own VO lines, and I love him.

You won’t find any Elementals in default Onslaughts as they kind of like to do their own thing.

The Fire Elemental spawns with a Distortion and Unstable Rifts. They now have a ranged attack that launches a huge fireball at players. Upon death, they break into two small Firelings.

The Firelings only spawn from defeated Fire Elementals. They’re a fast hunter unit that seeks out players and barricades, however they prioritize players.

We’ve finally made the Earth Elemental as tanky as they deserve to be. They are a force to be reckoned with. And even when you are able to take one out, they spawn into two smaller Earthlings. The Earth Elemental spawns from Distortions and Unstable Rifts, and come out swinging with a melee attack.

The Earthlings also only spawn from defeated Earth Elementals. They’re basically beefy Kobold runners – quick and going straight for the Rift.

The Water Elementals only show up when it’s raining. They can appear anywhere on the map, but if you’re quick, you can prevent them from spawning by destroying their puddle orb in time. This works just like the Unstable Rifts.

If they do finish spawning, they’ll attack the player by stretching out their limbs a few trap spaces and giving them a good smack. When defeated, the Water Elemental spawns two Waterlings. Waterlings behave like smaller, weaker versions of their larger counterpart.

Here we have a few new powerful Elemental types. The Rift Elementals only spawn from Unstable Rifts and give you a reason to consider just letting that Unstable Rift finish doing its thing. See, if you let the Blue Rift Elementals or Riftlings into the Rift, you actually GAIN Rift Points. On the other hand, the Red variants will subtract some major Rift Points if they make it in. All versions are immune to CC.

Both larger versions of these units also have special abilities on death. The Blue Rift Elementals reset nearby traps, and the Red Rift Elementals disable nearby traps.

I’m going to save the bosses and let you all experience them when OMDD is released early next year. They’re a whole new experience with their own Onslaught type, unique behaviors and abilities, and voice actors that bring a whole lot more depth to the characters.

They’ve also got their own intro scenes, so here’s a little teaser of Ghostfang’s entrance.

And there we go! Hope y’all are excited to start slaughtering this lineup. We’ve been having a ton of fun facing off against them and all their new tricks.

Next up is the blog on War Mages! I’ll be breaking down who they are and how they play. Until then, come join the Discord[discord.gg] and make sure to wishlist Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap on Steam.

<3 Kyle

Game Director
Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap

Hey Floor Spike Spammers, Kyle here again – Game Director on Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap. It's time to talk about traps. There is A LOT to cover on that topic because as the name implies: traps are more important than ever. But I decided to skip the basics and just jump straight into the fun stuff. Let’s go over some reworked traps and then, of course, the new ones we’ve added to Deathtrap.


These first two might not immediately seem very different, but they both offer something totally new to OMD!: “Poison.” We’ve decided to make some elemental magic and status effect changes in Deathtrap for a few reasons, including reducing the types of crowd control and making our magic types easier to understand. For now, this means that both “confusion” and “arcane” are gone.

“But Kyle, why do we need poison when we’ve already got fire?” Well, poison is another damage-over-time status effect, however, it deals lower damage over a longer amount of time than the burning effect. This means you can choose to trade some quick damage for an easier time getting combo points.

You’re also going to see a few enemies capable of poisoning the player as well.

While the Grinder, Wall Blades, Wall Charger, and Arrow Walls do have differences, we wanted to take the least popular of the bunch and give players a better reason to take it instead of or with the others. To make this happen, we took the Wall Blades and sliced them in half to make them more versatile.

Some of you aren’t going to recognize the name of this one, but that’s okay because it’s basically only similar in name to our old Unchained friend. The old Cursed Ground kind of worked like the Arcane Brimstone trap upgrade in OMD!3. This iteration of Cursed Ground collects the souls of the Orcs that die on top of it. As it collects souls, it becomes more powerful. This increases its damage, which is dealt out by a burst attack that triggers after a cooldown. It’s also a big boy, giving you more surface area to collect those souls.

These two were War Machines in OMD!3 that we’ve reworked to be normal traps but also to achieve one of our design goals to have more trap size variety. The Ice Vent is the size of two floor traps. It freezes the enemies on top of it when it triggers.

The Morning Star shooter is a bit more of a rework. First, it’s only ¼ the size of a normal wall trap. You also no longer need to manually trigger it. And finally, it does not simply shoot out and roll in a straight line. It fires at a slightly random angle and then bounces off everything it hits for x seconds. This one is super fun to watch.
The Bomb Dispenser drops bombs that act as physics objects and explode on a timer. We changed this from the static Boom Barrel the player shot to blow up for a couple of reasons. First, the larger maps meant the previous iteration wasn’t as effective if you weren’t near the trap to shoot the barrels when they arrived. And second, it’s more fun to see these round bombs bounce around, fall down the stairs, etc.

The Wall Scorcher is a rework of two traps: the Floor Scorcher and the Deep Freeze – almost making it a new trap. It’s a wall trap that blasts fire over multiple trap spaces for x seconds. It’s beautiful to see in action. The change fulfills two goals for us: it gives us a fire trap that doesn’t go on the floor, and it helps us keep our number of CC traps in check. Don’t worry – there are still multiple ice traps.


Here it is! You’ve probably seen this one in the reveal trailer. It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time. The levels in OMD!2 featured tracks and minecarts in many of the maps, but in Deathtrap, you get to build them yourself.

It also introduces two other ideas that I’d like to keep exploring as we continue adding content to Deathtrap: a trap that requires two loadout slots and traps that offer the player a chance to be a bit more creative with their setup. This is made up of two separate but equally important traps: the Minecart Dispenser that releases the minecarts on a timer and the Track that the minecart follows. Dun dun. You’re free to just place the Dispenser and launch carts down some stairs into Orcs, but if you connect to the track, it’ll follow it until its end and deal more damage as it travels.

You switch between straight and turn pieces by rotating the trap. We’re discussing adding more types of track pieces in the future.

Acid didn’t get enough love in OMD!3, so to make up for that we’re introducing the Acid Shower. This is a ceiling trap the same size as the Ceiling Lasers. As Orcs walk underneath, acid rains down for x seconds, applying the “Melting” status effect. Instead of increasing “physical” damage like in OMD!3, acid now causes enemies to take more damage from War Mage abilities, including primary attacks.

There are a lot of high ceilings in OMDD; and this baby will work from any height. This is also true for the Shock Zapper and the Ceiling Lasers.

Besides just the high ceilings, you’ve probably noticed we have quite a few outdoor areas in Deathtrap. While we still made sure there are some great spots for your Ceiling Pounders and Swinging Maces, we also wanted to make sure we designed some ceiling traps that could work from a distance. This led to us creating a couple more ballista-style traps. The Ice Lance is a large ballista trap that fires a giant ice arrow at a target from a long distance. It deals massive damage to its target and then freezes other nearby enemies in an AoE blast.

Our other new ballista-style trap might be my new favorite Orc-slaying toy. The Hookshot is a ceiling trap that launches a hook attached to a chain at a small target. It then reels that target back in to its base and dangles them in the air for x seconds before dropping them down.

This one is fun to put over water, and we made sure to give you plenty of spots for exactly that. But even when you use it elsewhere, it’s great because those dangling targets count as “Launched” and take double damage.


Each War Mage in OMDD has a unique trap they bring with them into battle. These are free to place, but you only have a certain number of them. Six of seven of these are new traps and one is a returning classic. You might notice that a number of these fit more into the “support” category rather than straight damage-dealing. This is something we really like about the Hero Trap system. It allows us to give players different kinds of traps without them having to sacrifice Combo potential. It also allows us to make these as powerful as we want by limiting the number that can be placed.

Vaan’s Rift Teleport is a floor trap that allows him or his teammates to instantly return to the Rift when things get hairy. This is especially useful on Deathtrap’s larger maps. He starts with one available.

Wren’s Time Crystals lower the retrigger time on adjacent traps. You’ll know which are affected by the glowing effect. Each time a trip triggers, a crystal is consumed. The crystals reset with each wave or by a specific Wren ability. She starts with two available.

Ah, the Boom Barrel. It’s a classic, but I always had a hard time as a player justifying bringing a trap that was costing me precious Rune Coin but going away after triggering once. Enter Harlow (and Henry). Harlow gets three free Boom Barrels to place around and on top of traps. She or her teammates can attack them to blow them up. Any exploded Boom Barrels go back into inventory after completing the current wave.

Mac brings with him OMD’s first sniper weapon; and to make the most of it, he really needs some good vantage points. Mac or his teammates can use his Gravity Lift to gain height. This is great for finding shortcuts to better angles or just getting to another part of the map. You can also use it to simply float in the air for a few seconds. And when coming out of the Gravity Lift, you’re granted feather fall – making this another great mobility option. He starts with one available.

Did you know we’ve brought back losing Rift Points when you die? Oh! And you also no longer heal at the Rift by default. Pretty cruel, I know. But Kalos is here with his magic berry bush to save the day. Kalos can place his Healing Berries on the floor anywhere on the map for him and his teammates to snack on and regain some HP. He starts with one available, but it comes with multiple uses that recharge over time.

There’s another new status effect coming to OMD called “Rend.” While affected by Rend, all War Mage damage dealt to that enemy has a 100% Critical Hit chance. Oh yeah, we have Critical Hits in Deathtrap. Anyone can deal Critical Hits, but melee War Mages have a higher chance due to range War Mages’ headshot advantage (yes, there are Critical Headshots).

Our dagger-wielding Sophie brings with her three Vampiric Jaws traps that each stun a single enemy and inflict Rend. Like Harlow’s Boom Barrels, these can be placed on top of other traps and triggered traps return when the wave is completed. Rending is especially important for Sophie, but I’ll get into that another time...or you can figure it out by the name of the trap.

I don’t want to show off everything Max has to offer just yet, but I thought we could at least share his trap. This one’s for you, Discord. Max brings with him one Friendly Flip Trap that allows him or his teammates to quickly flip themselves to another part of the level. He’s still customizing his trap’s look, but we can see the ability in action.

Phew, thanks for making it to the end. There is one more type of trap, but I’ll wait to dig into that when I do the map blog. Enemies are up next. In the meantime, join the Discord[discord.gg]. I’m always in there leaving little tidbits about Deathtrap in between blogs. And don’t forget to Wishlist Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap on Steam.

Kyle – Game Director

Hello Knights of the Order,

Kyle back again – Game Director on Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap. We’ve been busy over in Germany showing off the game at Gamescom, but I still wanted to give y’all something to sink your teeth into. This week’s topic is something we see brought up a lot in the OMD community and Steam reviews: solo and cooperative multiplayer balance. So, let’s dig into how it’s been handled in the past and how we’re tackling it in OMDD to make sure the game is playable for everyone regardless of team size. If that sounds a bit dry to you, don’t worry - I’ve thrown in a few surprises as well.

There’s a sentiment that shows up quite often that Orcs Must Die! 3 is designed and balanced around co-op, and that single player was an afterthought. And to be fair, the imagery is often presented that way: Max and Gabby, Kelsey and Egan, and Cygnus and Vorwick. But to give you a little peek behind the scenes, that was truly not the case. Orcs Must Die! 3 was designed, balanced, and primarily playtested as a solo experience. In fact, there are very few differences in cooperative play because it was not a focus when it came to balance. Yet it feels like the game was built around co-op first – why? And how do we make OMDD more flexible?

When you go from one player to two players in OMD!3, not a lot changes: enemy health and damage is the same, your loadout bar is the same size, the par time doesn’t get shorter, and the orcs come at you at the same pace. The only slight difference is that the waves of enemies, which we call Onslaughts, have a few extra orcs and friends. That means the challenge is basically identical, but now you have a second player to take aggro, hold a lane, deal damage, and keep your combos going - which equals more rune coins. So, here’s our issue: a second player simply makes the game easier regardless of the single-player focus - leading to a solo experience that feels unfair and a multiplayer experience that isn’t as challenging or interesting as it could be.

It’s easy to look at what we’ve shown of OMDD and its four-player co-op and assume we’ve gone even further in neglecting the solo experience. But you don’t need to worry. Ironically, balancing the game first around four player teams and then tuning it down for three, two, and one has given us more knobs to play with and more determination that we get this right. Let’s get into exactly how we’re tackling this.

When we set an enemy’s base health and damage values in OMDD, that’s for four player co-op. Then, we reduce both by a percentage for each “missing” player. So, if a light orc has 100 base health, he’d have 75 health with three players, 50 with two, and 25 with one. Our numbers aren’t always that clean, but you get the idea. It’s worked well so far with using the same percentage at each step, but if we need to really fine tune it, we can get more granular.

Doing it this way means we can balance our combat around not needing the enemies to be too spongey with four players while still making it fun and challenging for solo players.

Onslaughts, those groups of enemies we send out that make up a Wave, in previous games came out at the same speed regardless of the number of players. In OMDD, if you are playing solo, we pace out the Onslaught so that the groups of enemies from different doors have longer delays between their arrivals. This gives the solo player time to handle defending the Rift from multiple angles. And I’ll also get into how moving around the level can be made easier in a bit.

Take a look at this minimap to see the multiplayer Onslaught compared to the solo Onslaught pacing. This change is in addition to what was done in OMD!3 with multiplayer Onslaughts featuring a few more enemies, like two Gnoll Assassins instead of one.

This change is more indirect but makes a huge difference. If you remember from the last blog, you now have as much time as you want between waves. In previous games, those waves that would start without a break were far more challenging to handle as a solo player. It often felt like you’d have to memorize the Onslaught to perform well. These “Go Breaks,” as we call them, now give you all the time you need to plan and implement your strategy for the next wave.

I’m bracing myself for this one - but trust me when I tell you that the design team truly believes this is the best change made to the game.

Barricades in OMDD are now free to place…however, you only have a finite amount. The default number is 16, but this can be increased in multiple different ways through different Threads and Skill Tree upgrades. We’ve made this change for a few reasons - but the big one is how difficult it became to balance barricades between different skill levels. We find that less experienced players place far too many barricades, especially at the start of the level, then don’t have enough Rune Coin for traps, then rely on player damage, and then feel traps don’t deal any damage. While higher skilled players are able to use the Combo system to earn so much money for barricades that any challenge we could create becomes trivial.

The new barricade mechanic means all players get to spend the first couple minutes of a map planning out their pathing strategy without worrying about their Rune Coin budget. No more needing to learn between which waves to sell early traps to place more barricades for a new door.

So what does this have to do with solo and multiplayer balance? Well, it means that solo players now get the support of at least 16 barricades before the first wave begins without spending a single Rune Coin. Barricades are the most powerful tool in the game, and this is a big buff to the early game. And the barricade number is divided (mostly) evenly between players in multiplayer, while in solo play, it’s completely up to that player how they want to route the orcs.

In OMDD, we’ve returned to reducing your number of loadout slots if you’re playing co-op. It’s minus one slot for each additional player. The first three slots are locked – with 1 being your weapon that allows you to use your War Mage abilities, 2 being your War Mage’s unique trap (which is also free and finite), and 3 being barricades. The remaining four to seven (really, it’s three to eight with upgrades and Distortions) are for whichever traps you want to bring.

A War Mage’s ultimate ability in OMDD is called their Overdrive (Overdrive, Distortion, can you tell that this OST is going to go hard?). These are unique, powerful abilities that are built up by getting Combo kills. The Combo system in OMDD mostly works the same as in previous games: kill an orc quickly with multiple damage types and sources and you get a Combo that grants you extra coins and points.

However, in OMDD, the player that gets the killing blow on a Combo kill also gets Overdrive charges to build up their ultimate.

Co-op teams have more abilities, traps, and damage sources; but solo players have weaker enemies and every killing blow to themselves – giving them some advantages in charging up that Overdrive.

I’ll wait until a future blog to get into more specific Overdrive abilities; but related to that – it’s important to note that when I was designing the War Mage kits, I wanted each one to be a viable solo player option. While it’s inevitable that some might be a bit better for solo, or different comps, or new players – they are all well-equipped enough to handle things on their own.

We’ve already been doing some external playtesting – with much of that focused on the solo experience because we have to make sure we get that right. We are never done playtesting, but I couldn’t be happier with the results we’ve seen so far. The number of players, especially new players, who can jump in on their own and take down Missions has been great to see. And it’s worth stating that this game does not have the same slow buildup as the first five levels in OMD!3. We do have some cool new ways to teach players how to play, but we also throw them straight into the action with full loadouts and big four-gate maps – and they’ve been killing it.

Again, I’ll be back next week with more. In the meantime, come hang out with us in the official Discord[discord.gg].

Kyle – Game Director

Oh, I still owe you a surprise.
Don't forget to wishlist Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap now on our Steam page!

Get it? Steam? Steam Vent? It’s back. K, bye.

Hello War Mages,

Kyle here – Game Director on Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap. I’ll be posting a series of deep dives between now and launch into all the different features and content we’re bringing you in Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap. I figured the best place to start is the gameplay loop and the progression systems. Because while OMDD is still about defending Rifts by placing traps and slicing orcs – the journey, rewards, and challenges have gotten far more interesting.

After Vorwick’s defeat in OMD!3, the orc armies splintered into four factions, each led by a different general vying for control. Your goal is to help the Order bring them all down, but the road there is not a traditional linear set of levels.

Each time you set out to defend a Rift in OMDD, you’re offered a different selection of three levels. Each level has a randomized challenge attached to it that we call a Distortion. These Distortions add some flavor to your defensive duties. For instance, one raises the rune coin price of a trap every time one is placed, another makes trolls worth more Rift points, and another prevents you from selling traps entirely (tfw the trap’s half a spot off). There are dozens of Distortions, and you’ll want to consider how each affects your setup. The combination of a level and a Distortion is called a Mission.

You won’t have to take on the Distortions and hordes of orcs with just pure grit and spike traps though. During the break between each wave, you’ll get to choose a boon that we call a Thread. Threads are choices offered to the War Mages by magical beings known as Weavers that bridge the gap between destiny and free will with Rift magic.

At the end of each wave, three Threads are randomly selected from your collection, and you’ll choose one. Don’t worry – you'll have plenty of time. Waves no longer start until players start them. Threads augment a variety of your War Mage abilities and trap attributes like cooldowns, trap prices and damage, and character stats. And it’s easy to list out how these change your stats, but there are plenty that go beyond that: changing trap sizes, throwing ogres and trolls into the air, and adding homing to your War Mage’s shots. There are over 500 Threads in total.

So you’ve used your Threads, traps, and skills to overcome the orcs and the Distortion – now what? We judge you. Like in previous games, you’ll be rewarded with Skulls based on your performance during the Mission. You’ll use these skulls to upgrade your traps and War Mages, as well as purchase new traps and Threads back in the Order Fortress.

Veterans will be familiar with a lot of the scoring system, like combos. But we’ve done away with the 5-Skull grading scale. Ironically, for many players, it became binary: you either get five skulls or you fail. And while there are plenty of bonuses for different accomplishments built into your score, the par time requirement is gone as well. All of this allows us a lot more flexibility in the challenges we create and the players a lot more freedom in where and how they defend the Rift. Instead of five skulls, you’ll be seeing numbers more in the dozens or hundreds.

But what if I told you, you could take those skulls and double or triple their value? Sound too good to be true? Well, let me tell you about Gambling.

If you win a Mission, you can take your skulls back to the hub and grab some upgrades; or stake half those skulls and choose another Mission. If you win again, you’ll multiply the staked skulls and win some new ones. You can continue to do this until you are faced with an orc army general or lose.

It’s not as simple as playing another Mission, however. When you Gamble Forward, you carry with you your current number of Rift Points, your Distortions, and the enemies get some health and damage buffs. But you also get to bring your Threads along. Gambling Forward includes some fun new surprises in the levels too, but I’ll get into that another time.

Win or lose, you’ll get some skulls for playing a Mission. But if you win a Mission, you also get a gold skull. Gold skulls allow you to purchase new traps in the hub. Each trap is one gold skull; so, every victory is a new trap until you’ve collected the whole lot. This means getting new traps is no longer at the expense of leaving your current loadout underpowered.

You can use your pile of skulls to upgrade any of the traps that you own. Instead of the one stat option with three levels in previous games, traps in OMDD each have three stats to upgrade up to five times. With this extra depth, we’re also showing a lot more detail about every trap so you can more easily make decisions. For example, on the spike trap, you can upgrade and see its exact reset time.

Other upgrade options from previous entries like Unique Upgrades are now worked into the Thread system with even more options.

Trap upgrades aren’t the only way to spend skulls in the hub. You can also chat with Gabriella to fill out your skill tree. The skill tree has four branches. Three of them apply to your entire profile (oh, profiles are back): Strength, Defense, and Traps. Strength contains upgrades for things like primary attack damage and damage to bosses, for Defense it’s hit points and Rift Points lost on death (oh, Rift Points lost on death is back), and the Trap branch affects entire categories of traps like floor trap damage and prices.

The final branch is for each individual War Mage. Here you can upgrade their stats and abilities.

Players can fill out the skill tree in its entirety with enough skulls.

Unlike Threads, upgrades purchased in the hub are permanent. With your skull coffers emptied, it’s time to hop back into a Mission and feel the power of those upgrades.

I’m back next week with more. In the meantime, come join the official Discord[discord.gg] - where I reveal more secrets about OMDD than they want me to. And don't forget to wishlist Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap now on our Steam page!

Kyle – Game Director