OMD:U is a game that really came out of left field for me this year. I was not anticipating its launch or really even aware that it was on the horizon, but I could not be happier now that I am playing it. This is a perfect game for coming home and getting in a few matches, since Sabotage is played in 20 minutes or less every time. The average game is around 8 minutes in my experience so far, and 20 is the far high end of the spectrum. This is something you can sit down and enjoy after a long day when time is limited and you just want to unwind, but also something that you can sink a substantial amount of time into if you choose.

Orcs Must Die: Unchained might just be my surprise game of the year to this date. The amount of fun that I’ve had with this game is insane. The game is polished and balanced. The year open beta definitely benefited the game a ton. I will recommend just about any gamer try this game, especially with the price of free. However once you begin your journey of killing orcs, you might not want to stop!

Free-to-play games often carry the stigma of being “pay-to-win” — a design philosophy that says if you want to win, buy in. Orcs Must Die! Unchained isn’t that. It’s a hoopla of co-op action that works whether or not you want to drop some dough. While the new Sabotage mode is a welcome, albeit lesser refined addition to the series, it’s in Battlegrounds that Robot Entertainment flexes its action gameplay muscles and it’s the game type that will keep me coming back for dozens more hours — or at the very least, to nab those daily login bonuses.

OMDU is an enjoyable game, with a nice combination of strategy and action gameplay with enough inherent randomness to keep the maps you've played a number of times before interesting. That being said, you should be aware that progression in the game comes in terms of access new traps, trap upgrades, and trap mods, as well as gear and perks, rather than in making your way through a campaign or a large number of levels. I found it odd and a little frustrating that trap upgrade points are awarded as random drops rather than through using the traps in the game, so it can take a while to upgrade the traps in your favorite loadouts while traps that you don't really use have reached higher upgrade levels. While there is variety in terms of enemy types at different difficulty levels and the number of heroes and traps you can use, the number of maps in the game is naturally limited. Achievement chasers will be in heaven, though, as the game features over 100 achievements to unlock.

Orcs Must Die! Unchained is best consumed with friends, ideally with a lot of yelling and frantic arm-waving over impending victories and losses. The single-player game is good, but it lacks the high-paced frenzy that comes with challenging human opponents.

Random drops and subsequent grinding could disappoint someone, but Orcs Must Die! Unchained is able to combine a balanced gameplay with a huge load of mechanics and it's a worthy free-to-play chapter of the Orcs Must Die franchise.