Google Stadia received one of its first notable timed exclusives, as Robot Entertainment sprang Orcs Must Die! 3 on the game streaming platform today. The unexpected launch is an even sweeter surprise for Stadia Pro subscribers, who will be able to play the title for free.
While it is far from the killer-app or high profile release that Stadia has been waiting for, the latest entry in the Orcs Must Die! Series is likely to garner interest from fans of puzzle and action games alike. The Orcs Must Die! Franchise originally debuted in 2011 with a blend of tower-defense and third-person combat, customizable traps, and a steady stream of tricky, orcish enemies. The second game in the franchise added 2-player co-op to the mix, which also features prominently in this latest installment.
Robot Entertainment teamed up with Stadia for a timed exclusive release for several reasons, particularly the platform's ability to make the games' new features available to all players regardless of their platforms' specs. The title's Lead Designer, Jerome K. Jones, also admitted that Robot Entertainment originally had no intention of creating a follow-up to the 2012's Orcs Must Die! 2, but after the Stadia team professed its fondness of the franchise, the project naturally evolved from their partnership.
New additions to the Orcs Must Die! Franchise formula include War Machines and War Scenarios, which will pit players against well-over 1,000 enemies simultaneously. The series' cartoon-ish graphics have never looked better than they do on Unreal Engine 4, which also enables the game to break free from its standard indoor onslaughts in favor of massive, outdoor battles such as the castle siege depicted in the game's launch trailer.
Orcs Must Die! 3's surprise launch announcement arrived amidst Googles' Stadia Connect event, which revealed a broad offering of high profile titles arriving on the platform this fall, like Super Bomberman and Sekiro. Google has been aggressively courting established studios and young, indie developers to produce timed-exclusives for their platform, which has had something of an underwhelming launch.
The market's tepid reaction to the streaming console can be attributed to a number of reasons, but Stadia's inherent Achilles' heel is that players with slow internet connections are essentially locked out of the platform—or destined for miserable user experiences.
Some developers, like Take-Two's CEO, Strauss Zelnick, even acknowledged that Google may have oversold Stadia. But Stadia is far from dead in the water, with new features like messaging and Android device support being added at regular intervals, and an expanding catalog of free games to users who subscribe to the pro service. Even if Orcs Must Die! 3 fails to immediately turn the tide, its presence on the platform may be enough to make players who are familiar with the franchise sit up and take notice.
Orcs Must Die! 3 is exclusively available on Google Stadia and free for Google Stadia Pro subscribers, with a wider release on other platforms to follow in the future.