PAX East 2015: Hands on with phase 2 of Orcs Must Die Unchained

I played a ton of Orcs Must Die Unchained while it was in closed beta and I really enjoyed it. It combines MOBA elements with the Orcs Must Die tower defending everyone loved in the original games. 

Phase 2 of Orcs Must Die Unchained is a huge update that will go into closed beta later this month, and with the update comes a number of changes for the game as well. The first thing I noticed is that the game both looks and plays a lot nicer than before. The game has also been streamlined as well. The card packs have been removed. Now everyone starts with traps and can purchase more from the store with either real money or in game currency. I am happy that the card packs have been removed as it was a really confusing system to get characters and traps.  

The other huge change is that now all characters are either classified as offensive or defensive characters. I played as Smolder during my time at PAX East who is a defensive character. She uses fire attacks and if an enemy is on fire, one of her ability can be activated and will do extra damage to anyone near her. The cool thing about defensive characters now is that all of them will get a character specific trap. Smolder can place fire traps on wall ignites enemies, which in turn can work well with her abilities. I think that when the game goes live I will be playing more defensively. It reminds me a lot of the previous Orcs Must Die game and it's fun setting traps and attacking enemies as they rush through your gates. 

Boss minions have also been added to the game. You can throw them in your war camp and will spawn with your normal minions. There is a great sense of fear when you see a boss minion approaching knowing that the opposing team is planning for a massive push so everyone needs to be on their toes. Even with these changes, Orcs Must Die Unchained is as fun as ever and while I didn't play it at PAX East, the team did say that a brand new map will be coming with Phase 2 as well. 

Orcs Must Die Unchained is a lot of fun and I cannot wait to play more of it and start learning new characters once Phase 2 releases later this month. Orcs Must Die Unchained will also be hitting Playstation 4 later this year as well.