Xbox just landed a new console exclusive in this hit co-op tower defense franchise

What you need to know

• Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is the next entry in the long-running orc-killing tower defense series.
• Developed and published by Robot Entertainment using Unreal Engine 5, Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is bringing four-player co-op to the series, alongside bigger environments, gameplay tweaks, and more.
• Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is currently slated to launch at some point in 2025 across Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC.

There's always more orcs and gnolls to slay.

So goes the newly-announced Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap, which is being developed and published by Robot Entertainment. Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is bringing some new features to the franchise, including four-player co-op, roguelite progression systems, even larger environments, and some tweaks to the third-person combat. You can check out the first official trailer below:

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is currently slated to launch at some point in 2025. When it arrives, it'll be available at launch on Xbox Series X|S consoles and Windows PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.

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Orcs Must Die began as an indie arcade darling

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The Orcs Must Die! franchise began life with the original game, which released in 2011 on the Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360, with a PC port following quickly after.  The tower defense game prompted players to place traps and hold off hordes of increasing strength, with monstrous creatures like Orcs barreling through and trying to escape via Rifts.

Its commercial success prompted a sequel, Orcs Must Die! 2, which launched in 2012 and introduced two-player co-op to the gameplay, a feature that would quickly become a mainstay moving forward.

While the developers experimented with the free-to-play Orcs Must Die! Unchained in 2017, it looked like the series would be shelved for a time. That suddenly changed when the next big entry in the series came with Orcs Must Die! 3, which launched as a timed exclusive for Google's now-shuttered Stadia in 2020 — Google provided some funding to help the game get made — before later being ported to Xbox, PlayStation and PC.

I have to admit that I haven't played as much of Orcs Must Die! as many have. I enjoyed the original game, but for whatever reason my friends and I never got around to trying the follow-up games. I'm liking what little we've seen of Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap though, and this'll definitely be something to keep on my radar when 2025 rolls around.

The roguelike elements have me particularly intrigued, and I'm really curious how the developers will make balancing the choices of pressing on versus returning to your castle after a battle interesting.

It's always tempting to say "it's stacked!" before the inevitable announcements of game delays roll through, but 2025 is looking genuinely packed with tons of games across different genres and platforms. My personal highlights are still DOOM: The Dark Ages , Fable , Metroid Prime 4, and South of Midnight.