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Review: Orcs Must Die: By The Blade
The most recent time I played an Orcs Must Die game was on the Xbox 360, and I appreciated what it offered at that time. However, it didn’t compel me to purchase the subsequent installments. Now that it’s available in virtual reality, it seems like the perfect opportunity to dive back in and take down some Orcs.
Game Details
Release Date: February 12th 2026
Developer: Teravision Games
Publisher: Teravision Games
Price: £15.99
Reviewed On: Meta Quest 3
* Access Provided For Review *
Stormwreck’s Shallow War Tale
In Orcs Must Die: By The Blade, you take on the role of a War Mage tasked with defending Stormwreck Island against waves of savage Orcs. The narrative unfolds at the beginning of each of the three chapters through a cardboard cutout theatre performance. However, I found the story to merely serve as a backdrop for the battles, lacking the engagement needed to truly captivate my interest.
Promising Upgrades, Patchy Execution
In terms of gameplay, it largely feels like a cycle of repetition throughout the four levels in each of the three chapters. You will navigate through straight hallways and occasionally eliminate some stationary Orcs, until you arrive at a room where you must either endure waves of Orcs, protect an object from them, or at times, fulfil objectives while fending off the oncoming waves.
The number of waves, along with the types and quantities of Orcs present, will change across the twelve levels of the game. Similar to the flatscreen version, your strategy for defeating the Orcs involves utilising the weapons and traps at your disposal. Therefore, before the waves commence, it’s wise to survey your surroundings and identify the best vantage points for placing traps to maximise their effectiveness in reducing the Orcs’ health. Each trap you can deploy has unique benefits; for instance, Spike traps are effective for gradually diminishing enemy health, while catapults can be strategically positioned to hurl enemies into environmental hazards like lava, provided they are set up correctly. I fondly recall my time playing the original game on Xbox 360, where setting traps and witnessing their effectiveness against the Orcs was one of my favourite aspects. However, this isn’t always feasible in By The Blade, as the traps can be quite unreliable, sometimes failing to activate, and the environmental traps can be tricky to trigger when you’re focused on combat.
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If the Orcs manage to reach you outside of the traps, you’ll have your weapons or fists ready to take them down. The team at Teravision Games has crafted the game from scratch for VR, allowing for first-person combat where you physically swing your weapons, creating an immersive experience. You’ll have a great variety of weapons at your disposal to defeat the Orcs. You begin with a sword, but you can also find other weapons, severed Orc limbs, and items scattered throughout the levels. Additionally, you can unlock these items back at your base after each level to use them from the start. Your weapons will wear down with use, but you can find traditional blacksmith’s whetstones in the levels to repair them during your journey or in the heat of battle. Since this is physical combat, you can block and parry the Orcs’ attacks; however, like the traps, this can be inconsistent in its effectiveness. Fortunately, these manoeuvrers aren’t always necessary, as I found that when they swing at you, simply stepping back can help you avoid their strikes. If you find yourself surrounded, just keep moving to break their formation, and then use the step-back technique again.
This gives the combat an impression of being relatively easy, especially when paired with the unreliable traps. Furthermore, the occasional frame drops during larger enemy waves contribute to a rather disappointing experience in this regard, which is unfortunately central to the game. As a result, I ended up playing in brief sessions, as it just couldn’t maintain my engagement.
As you progress through the game, defeating Orcs, smashing wooden crates, or protecting chests, you’ll collect coins that can be used to enhance your weapons and traps. These enhancements will boost their effectiveness, introduce elemental effects for extra damage, or even change the functionality of certain weapons. I believe the upgrade system is fantastic, but other problems detract from its potential. If the team addresses the issues with combat and traps, the upgrade system will stand out even more, allowing you to genuinely experience the benefits of the upgrades.
Cartoon Carnage, Clashing Polish
The game retains the overall visual style of the flatscreen version, featuring both your character and the Orcs with exaggerated, cartoonish muscles and traits. The enemies are vibrantly coloured, creating a striking contrast with the more subdued hues of the environments, which have been designed thoughtfully to ensure they feel cohesive. While the environment’s colours are toned down, they complement the overall aesthetic, with textures that are also cartoonish to align with the characters.
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However, there are a few visual issues to note. One is that the inventory system is somewhat overly sensitive, leading to instances during combat where the intrusive inventory interface can unexpectedly appear, disrupting the immersive experience. Another issue arises from the animations of some enemies not blending seamlessly, which may contribute to the inconsistency in the physical combat.
When it comes to audio, the world springs to life with environmental sounds, the clink of hitting armour, and the squelching noises as you sever limbs, along with music that builds in intensity during combat waves. The game also features the humorous remarks of your character and the Orcs during battles, though you may notice these can become repetitive quite fast. Additionally, there are other audio issues; at times, the sound may cut out for a brief moment while you’re playing.
I am confident that the team can resolve the problems with the visuals and sound fairly easily through a patch. If it weren’t for these minor issues, I would have no complaints about the overall presentation of the game.
Comfort
Verdict
Orcs Must Die: By The Blade has introduced a somewhat popular franchise to virtual reality, but sadly, it currently falls a bit short. Although they have successfully captured every aspect of the game and rebuilt it specifically for VR, there are inconsistencies throughout. For instance, traps occasionally fail to activate, and the blocking and parrying mechanics often struggle to register, which will discourage players from utilising this part of the combat system. When combined, these issues make the core gameplay feel lacklustre, preventing me from becoming fully immersed and engaged in the experience. I believe that if they can address these problems and enhance the combat feel, the game could truly shine, especially considering its well-implemented upgrade systems. Unfortunately, the overall presentation is marred by bugs, such as an overly sensitive inventory system, awkward enemy animations, audio dropouts, and repetitive quips that lose their humour over time. This resulted in an experience that failed to keep me entertained beyond brief pick-up and play sessions.
Copyright / Virtual Grip (formally The VR Realm) / 2016 -
