Every Orcs Must Die! game, ranked
All 4 Orcs Must Die! games we hold, spanning 2011 to 2021: 4 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 49,138 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: Orcs Must Die! 2 (GamingPickz Score 7.9), the highest-rated entry we can score.
- For canon order: begin with Orcs Must Die! (2011) and follow the release-order timeline below.
- For the money: Orcs Must Die! gives the most score per dollar right now.
The Orcs Must Die! games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 4 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
4 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 4 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
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
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.
4 best Orcs Must Die! games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
Orcs Must Die! 2 at a glance Released 2012 Studio Robot Entertainment Player sentiment 92% positive of 19,620 Critics 83/100 Price $14.99 Steam Deck playable Install size Not stated Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 92% shrinks to 91.8 on 19,620 reviews, then blends with the 83 critic aggregate, giving 7.9.
- 2
Orcs Must Die!
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
7.9GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceOrcs Must Die! at a glance Released 2011 Studio Robot Entertainment Player sentiment 96% positive of 8,516 Critics 83/100 Price $9.99 Steam Deck playable Install size Not stated Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 96% shrinks to 95.5 on 8,516 reviews, then blends with the 83 critic aggregate, giving 7.9.
Worth checking first- Players rate it well above critics, 95 against 83. Usually a sign it improved after launch, or that it delivers something reviewers undervalued.
- 3
Orcs Must Die! 3
Best for: Handheld play, small install and Deck verified
7.3GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceOrcs Must Die! 3 at a glance Released 2021 Studio Robot Entertainment Player sentiment 86% positive of 14,895 Critics No aggregate Price $29.99 Steam Deck verified Install size 12 GB Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 86% shrinks to 85.9 on 14,895 reviews, giving 7.3. No critics data, so that weight was redistributed across the rest rather than counted as zero.
What the data supports- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
- Small install at 12 GB.
Orcs Must Die! Unchained at a glance Released 2017 Studio Robot Entertainment Player sentiment 69% positive of 6,107 Critics 87/100 Price Not listed Steam Deck unsupported Install size 8 GB Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 69% shrinks to 69.9 on 6,107 reviews, then blends with the 87 critic aggregate, giving 6.7.
What the data supports- Small install at 8 GB.
Worth checking first- Critics rate it well above players, 87 against 70. Worth reading why before buying.
- Carries in-game purchases. Check what they cost before committing.
- Valve rates it Unsupported on the Steam Deck.
Best and worst entry
The best-received Orcs Must Die! game we can score is Orcs Must Die! 2 at 7.9. The lowest is Orcs Must Die! Unchained at 6.7, a 1.2-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
How the series scored over time
GamingPickz Score against release year, 2011 to 2021. The later entries score lower than the earlier ones: the series has been trending down.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: Orcs Must Die! at $9.99. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: Orcs Must Die!, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the Orcs Must Die! entries on Steam:
- Verified: Orcs Must Die! 3
- Playable: Orcs Must Die!, Orcs Must Die! 2
- Unsupported: Orcs Must Die! Unchained
Platforms across the series
Where the 4 Orcs Must Die! games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 4 of 4 |
The Orcs Must Die! series, game by game
Every Orcs Must Die! game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 2011
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. (Steam)
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)
- 2012
You’ve tossed, burned and sliced them by the thousands – now orcs must die more than ever before! Grab a friend and slay orcs in untold numbers in this sequel to the 2011 AIAS Strategy Game of the Year from Robot Entertainment. (Steam)
Plot
The game takes place some time after the events of Orcs Must Die! . The Sorceress is hiding from The Mob when mysteriously, a Rift opens next to her. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Orcs Must Die! 2 received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic . The Digital Fix gave a score nine out of ten, praising the gameplay, graphics and the addition of co-op play. (Wikipedia)
- 2017
Orcs Must Die! Unchained takes the award-winning Orcs Must Die! action tower defense game to a whole new level with team-based gameplay! Bust skulls with your best pals in PvE co-op Survival, or put your teamwork to the real test in Sabotage Mode! (Steam)
Plot
Despite being the third installment in the Orcs Must Die! franchise, the game is considered non-canon in the storyline of the following game, Orcs Must Die! 3 . (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Orcs Must Die! Unchained received "generally positive" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . Chandler Wood of PlayStation LifeStyle rated the PS4 port an 8 out of 10, praising its balanced free-to-play experience, mix of action and tower defense gameplay, and indirect versus mode, while criticizing menus unoptimized for console and subpar quick communications functions. (Wikipedia)
- 2021
Slice, burn, toss, zap, grind and gib massive hordes of repugnant orcs in this long-awaited successor to the award-winning Orcs Must Die! series. (Steam)
Plot
The story picks up 20 years after the events in Orcs Must Die! 2 . ^ Cite error: The named reference cooptimus was invoked but never defined (see the help page ). (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Orcs Must Die! 3 received "mixed or average" reviews for Stadia and "generally favorable" reviews for Windows according to the review aggregation website Metacritic . Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received strong approval, being recommended by 72% of critics. (Wikipedia)
Orcs Must Die!, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
Orcs Must Die! vs other series
How Orcs Must Die! stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Also: Orcs Must Die! vs Sniper Ghost Warrior, Orcs Must Die! vs Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Orcs Must Die! vs Age of Wonders, Orcs Must Die! vs Baldur's Gate, Orcs Must Die! vs Beholder, Orcs Must Die! vs BioShock, Orcs Must Die! vs Brothers in Arms, Orcs Must Die! vs Call to Arms, Orcs Must Die! vs Darkest Dungeon, Orcs Must Die! vs Day of Defeat, Orcs Must Die! vs Divinity, Orcs Must Die! vs Dungeons, Orcs Must Die! vs Insurgency, Orcs Must Die! vs Kingdom Rush, Orcs Must Die! vs Might & Magic, Orcs Must Die! vs Pathfinder, Orcs Must Die! vs Payday, Orcs Must Die! vs Red Orchestra, Orcs Must Die! vs S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Orcs Must Die! vs Sanctum, Orcs Must Die! vs Shadowrun, Orcs Must Die! vs Soda Dungeon, Orcs Must Die! vs Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, Orcs Must Die! vs Town of Salem, Orcs Must Die! vs Wasteland, Orcs Must Die! vs XCOM
Common questions
How many Orcs Must Die! games are there?
We hold 4 Orcs Must Die! games in the catalogue, released between 2011 and 2021. 4 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which Orcs Must Die! game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, Orcs Must Die! 2 rates highest at 7.9. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the Orcs Must Die! games in?
Release order is listed below, from 2011 to 2021. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
More franchises
Browse every game franchise ranked the same way, or head to the full grid.