Orcs Must Die: Unchained raised some eyebrows when it chose to abandon the tower-defense style of its predecessors in favor of a MOBA-esque competitive multiplayer game. And while developer Robot Entertainment did eventually add in a Survival mode like that of the first two games, the player-versus-player Siege mode has remained a central component. Now, it’s being cut entirely so that Robot can focus on Survival mode.
In a frank blog post, Robot explained that “Siege PvP mode just hasn’t worked out.” Only a “small portion” of players actively play it, and those who do are “less likely to continue playing the game at all after their match.” That’s especially bad news for a free-to-play game like Unchained.
“As some of the most passionate fans of Siege mode, it’s been difficult for us at Robot to come to terms with this feedback and data,” the developer said. “Ultimately, the Siege game mode has a small hardcore group of players, but it isn’t building a healthy long-term community around itself. As the game has grown, Siege and Survival modes have competed with one another more and more for development resources. The need to balance the traps, heroes, and gear for both of these game modes and develop each in consideration with the other is holding them both back.”
With so much feedback suggesting that the game needs to be more like the first two Orcs Must Die games, Robot has decided to remove Siege mode altogether. This will happen with the game’s next update, at which time an account reset will happen that erases any progress or content players have obtained by playing. If you’ve purchased gold, that will be refunded back to you, and everyone will receive a free allotment of gold if they log in during the two weeks after the update goes live.
“Our focus will now turn entirely toward making Survival feel, look, sound, and play more like a clear evolution of OMD and OMD2,” it continued. “We’re doubling down on Survival mode to bring back the kick-ass OMD gameplay you love.”
This doesn’t mean Orcs Must Die will never again feature competitive multiplayer; Robot suggested it could still happen, but it won’t be Siege mode.
“We believe that competitive gameplay still has a future in Orcs Must Die, but we’ve decided that Siege mode is just not the right fit for that,” it explained. “Competitive gameplay could return to OMDU, and if it does, it won’t be in the form of Siege.”
The first two Orcs Must Die games were acclaimed tower-defense games. Unlike most, they’re played like a third-person action game where you square off against waves of enemies while building a variety of traps to prevent them from reaching their objective.
Unchained is currently available in open beta on PC. You can download it for free here.
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