Darkest Dungeon vs Orcs Must Die!
Darkest Dungeon is a horror roguelike game from Red Hook Studios (2016) while Orcs Must Die! is an RPG strategy game from Robot Entertainment (2011).
Quick answer: Darkest Dungeon has the higher Metacritic, 84 to 83.
What each one is
Darkest Dungeon is filed under Horror and Roguelike. In contrast, Orcs Must Die! under RPG and Strategy.
Darkest Dungeon is a challenging gothic roguelike turn-based RPG about the psychological stresses of adventuring. Recruit, train, and lead a team of flawed heroes against unimaginable horrors, stress, disease, and the ever-encroaching dark. Can you keep your heroes together when all hope is lost?
Slice them, burn them, skewer them, and launch them - no matter how you get it done, orcs must die in this fantasy action-strategy game from Robot Entertainment.
Story, characters and reception
Plot
At the outset of Darkest Dungeon , the player learns that they have inherited an estate from an Ancestor who, while seeking to fulfill his ambiguous ambitions by excavating the dungeons and catacombs beneath his manor , has unearthed some terrible monstrosity and released a number of horrific and evil creatures and corruptions onto the world. Now as the owner of the estate and the surrounding lands, the player must recruit a roster of adventurers and… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception The game received generally positive reviews on its full release in 2016, holding a score of 84 out of 100 on Metacritic . The Escapist awarded it a score of 4 out of 5, saying "Darkest Dungeon will kill your party, drive you insane, and leave you a gibbering mess at the Sanitarium. Yet it's so compelling and rewarding at the same time, you won't be able to resist diving back in for one more quest. (Wikipedia)
Plot
In a fantasy world, civilization is dependent on magic that's used to bring the rains, cure the sick, erect enchanted fortresses, and so on, and which comes from rifts, openings leading to "the dead world of the orcs ". The game takes place entirely within great fortresses built on the other side of the rifts, where incursions of the orcs, a race of murderous savages, are held at bay by an elite faction of wizards and warriors called the Order. The dregs… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception The game received "favorable" reviews on both platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic . Joystiq called the Xbox 360 version a "finely-tuned whirling chamber of death". IGN praised the length of the campaign as well as the combat system. (Wikipedia)
At a glance
| Darkest Dungeon | Orcs Must Die! | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 7.9/10 | 7.9/10 |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (92%, 161,942) | Overwhelmingly Positive (96%, 8,516) |
| Critic aggregate | 84/100 | 83/100 |
| Price | $3.74 | $9.99 |
| Install size | 2 GB | — |
| Steam Deck | verified | playable |
| Released | 2016 | 2011 |
| Developer | Red Hook Studios | Robot Entertainment |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Darkest Dungeon vs Orcs Must Die!, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Darkest DungeonHorror roguelike gameOrcs Must Die!RPG strategy gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Darkest DungeonTurn-Based Combat, Dark Fantasy, Dungeon CrawlerOrcs Must Die!Tower Defense, Action, StrategyThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Darkest DungeonScore 7.9 · 92% on Steam · 84 criticOrcs Must Die!Score 7.9 · 96% on Steam · 83 criticThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
Darkest Dungeon161,942 reviews · 7 add-ons · 2 GBOrcs Must Die!8,516 reviews · 2 add-onsReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Darkest Dungeon ✓$3.74Orcs Must Die!$9.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
On a Steam Deck
Darkest Dungeon ✓VerifiedOrcs Must Die!PlayableValve's own Deck compatibility rating.
Darkest Dungeon takes 2 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueDarkest Dungeon and Orcs Must Die! on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
- PlayStation
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The cheaper right now: Darkest Dungeon ($3.74)
- Better on a Steam Deck: Darkest Dungeon (verified)
- The safer bet by weight of reviews: Darkest Dungeon (161,942 reviews)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
RPGSingleplayerStrategyIndieFantasy
Where they differ
Turn-Based CombatDark FantasyDungeon CrawlerRogue-likeLovecraftianDifficult
Tower DefenseActionThird PersonComedyFunnyThird-Person Shooter
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Darkest Dungeon is demanding, for players who want a challenge. Orcs Must Die! is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| Darkest Dungeon | Orcs Must Die! | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | Open GL 3.2+ Compliant | NVIDIA GeForce 6800 |
| Minimum CPU | — | 2GHz Dual Core |
| Minimum RAM | 2 GB | 2 GB |
| Install size | 2 GB | — |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Darkest Dungeon · Orcs Must Die!.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for Darkest Dungeon and 1 for Orcs Must Die!. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Darkest Dungeon and Orcs Must Die! in scope?
Darkest Dungeon has drawn 161,942 Steam reviews, ships 7 add-ons and installs in 2 GB. Orcs Must Die! has drawn 8,516 Steam reviews and ships 2 add-ons.
Is Darkest Dungeon or Orcs Must Die! better?
By the GamingPickz Score, Darkest Dungeon rates higher (7.9 to 7.9). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, Darkest Dungeon or Orcs Must Die!?
Darkest Dungeon is cheaper right now at $3.74, against $9.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.
Should I get Darkest Dungeon or Orcs Must Die!?
Darkest Dungeon has the higher Metacritic, 84 to 83. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
How we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.