It’s that time of year. Once again, as everybody gets prepared for the new year, we’ve been slaving away over a massive pile of indie games that got released in 2011 in order to bring you our very best. And what a year it was!
It feels like it was only just a month ago that Steam was ravaging our cash reserves with day after day of ridiculous indie deals. Probably because it was. Not satisfied, the monster that is Steam has risen again from the depths to take every last penny we have, and this time the indies are in on it. In addition to a great big mess of Steam deals, indie games all over the store have (as previously reported) updated with Christmas-themed challenges and achievements. Complete these, and you get free goodies, including DLC and even some full games! After the break, the notable indie daily deals and challenges of the day:
There’s no such thing as too many dead Orcs. Don’t believe us? See our review! The folks behind the game agree, as yesterday, Robot Entertainment released the second DLC pack for their defensive action game Orcs Must Die offering another five levels (including Nightmare Mode variants), two new enemy types, a new defensive structure and extended leaderboard support. Hit the jump for the trailer, and news of something potentially even cooler for owners of the PC version.
We loved Orcs Must Die! from Robot Entertainment when it came out at the beginning of the month, as you can see from our review. If you loved it too, and you’re gagging for more ways to kill all those orcs, you’re in luck. Robot Entertainment have just announced details of the game’s first DLC pack, the “Power Pack”, which will be available on Steam for $2.49 this Tuesday. Here’s the trailer:
And here’s the details about what it includes:
Vampiric Gauntlets – Armed with these grim gauntlets, you can drain the enemy’s health while healing you at the same time. If you have a desperate need to use spells, you can also use the gauntlets to drain your health in exchange for mana.
Alchemist’s Satchel – Toss a series of deadly acid bombs that explode on your command to melt flesh from the bones of multiple groups of orcs at once.
The Shock Zapper – Mount the Shock Zapper on the ceiling and zap fliers and ground units equally dead with this oversized pest remover.
Floor Scorcher – By the time they see the fire, it will be too late. Burn entire groups of complacent enemies with this pop-up flaming surprise.
New Trap Upgrades – You’ve got two new reasons to go back and earn those 5-skull ratings on War Mage and Nightmare levels. With the Artifacts of Power pack, you can now spend skulls on new upgrades for Shock Zapper and Floor Scorcher.
There’s another DLC pack planned after this one, although no mention of a release date for them on the Xbox 360 just yet.
The tower defense genre is a rather crowded market at the moment. Most would trace the history of such games back to a particularly addictive Warcraft 3 mod, and most will make the mistake of lumping Robot Entertainment’s multiplatform title Orcs Must Die! in as part of that comparatively recent offshoot. In reality, OMD draws most of its strengths from much more venerable stock, blending the gameplay of 1994′s The Horde and Tecmo’s Deception series. But do the charms of those mid-90s hits hold up in the year 2011? Read on and all will be answered – just mind the spike trap under the doormat.
Robot Entertainment’s third person strategy title, Orcs Must Die! has been unleashed onto the Xbox Live Arcade, with the PC version getting a October 12th release, via Steam. Orcs Must Die! sees you doing battle with hordes of, what else, hundreds of Orcs. The combination of Action and Strategy has you setting traps at a distance, commanding minions, casting spells, and using either long or short range weaponry to dispatch the hundreds of Orcs coming your way.
It looks like an interesting mix of testing your both headshot skills and your strategic prowess. Tower Defence with a nice bit of hand-to-hand fisticuffs and man-shooting mixed in.
It’s available right now on the Xbox 360 for 1,200 MS points, and it’s up for prepurchase on Steam for £11.99/$14.99.
Here’s the launch trailer. You might want to turn your speakers up a bit to get the full effect, gotta love In The Hall of the Mountain King:
Robot Entertainment has written us this morning with some juicy release information regarding their upcoming, brilliantly titled games: Orcs Must Die! That being… the game will be released on Xbox Live Arcade on October 5th and Steam on October 12th. yes, that’s right, in less than one months time you’ll be slaughtering your very own horde of ravenous orcs.
But what, you say… what is Orcs Must Die!? For that I refer you to the game description:
Orcs Must Die! is an action-strategy game that challenges players to defend fortresses under siege. With a wide variety of traps and weapons to choose from, Orcs Must Die! dares players to find the best ways to hack, launch, flatten, gibletize, and incinerate an endless army of filthy orcs and their vile allies. Orcs Must Die! features a vibrant look, addictive gameplay, and a blatant disregard for the welfare of orcs.
And don’t forget the feature list!
- Play as the War Mage and defend 24 fortresses from an enraged mob of orcs and 11 other villainous monsters.
- Choose from a selection of 6 weapons and magic spells and 17 traps that hack, launch, flatten, gibletize, and incinerate your enemies.
- Upgrade your traps, spells and weapons to cater the game to your personal play style.
- Cleverly combine traps and spells for higher scores on the leaderboards.
- Expertly wield your wits and your weapons through the story-driven campaign and unlock a brutal “Nightmare” campaign.
- Replay fortresses endlessly, combining different defenses and tactics every time!
And, finally, the trailer…
Trailer
I… can’t… wait!
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