Orcs Must Die boss talks DLC, their new secret project, and reviving elements of Unchained for future games

‘We intend to support the game with additional content through at least the end of 2021’

I really enjoyed playing Orcs Must Die 3 on the Stadia back in 2020, and it’s only going to go up from there. Now that the cat is out of the bag that the exclusive Stadia deal is done, we know that developer Robot Entertainment intends to bring the new entry to basically every platform but Switch. So about that! I had the chance to chat with Robot CEO Patrick Hudson and VP of Production Chris Rippy to chat a bit about what’s to come for this beloved series.

The prospect of Orcs Must Die 3 coming to modern, more accessible platforms with all of the updates and hindsight of the past year kinda rules. But what about Switch?! When asked about the possibility of a port, Hudson notes: “We’re still big Switch fans! Right now, we’re focused on a great release on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation. We haven’t made any decisions yet about platforms beyond those.”

Speaking of, I wanted to dive in further to see what the PS5 and Xbox Series X releases would be like, and Rippy was happy to oblige. He explains, “The official PS5 launch will be later this year, but in the meantime, those players will have the same benefits as those with a PS4 Pro and can play via backwards-compatibility in July.” He further clarifies that it “means a bit higher graphics fidelity than the original PS4 and HDR support,” and that “the Xbox Series releases will feature our highest graphical settings, HDR support, and 60 fps.

Hudson is still very thankful for Stadia though. After all, without them, the game wouldn’t have gotten made! And Hudson says as much: “As I had said publicly in a Reddit post almost two years ago, Orcs Must Die! 3 would not have been possible without Stadia’s support. Their investment in the game allowed us to develop it into what it has become. We had a very good experience working with the publishing team at Stadia. They were very supportive of our team and the game. However, we are really excited to be back self-publishing our own game on Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam. It’s rewarding having that direct connection with the players as we gear up for release.”

Talking about all the new Orcs hotness got me feeling nostalgic though. In preparation for the threequel, I played through the first two Orcs Must Die games (the second one in co-op, with my spouse). Will we ever see those outside of Steam? Not anytime soon, Hudson confirms: “I wish! Those two games were built on an old engine that is no longer supported so it would require quite a lot of development effort to port those games to modern consoles. But never say never!” So you’re saying there’s a chance? Got it.

The new hotness will be picking up the slack though, as Hudson says they are “already working on DLC” for the third game, and “intend to support [it] with additional content through at least the end of 2021.” And poking the sleeping giant, I asked once again about whether or not Unchained (the team’s canceled online project) would ever see the light of day again now that it’s technically obliterated from existence. “Bringing back the entire game as it was would not be possible,” they said. “But we do often hear from fans about their desire to see some of the content from Unchained, especially some of the heroes, appear in Orcs Must Die! 3 or a future game. It’s something we talk about fairly often.” Well, if Orcs 3 is getting DLC, maybe it can happen by the end of the year, eh?

There’s something else on the horizon for Robot Entertainment, too. Hudson says that their “new project” is “coming along very well,” and the team “hopes to have something to say publicly” about it very soon.