Robot Entertainment has just announced Orcs Must Die!: Unchained, the third installment in the Orcs Must Die! franchise, and it’s going to flip the franchise on its head.

“For the first time in Orcs Must Die!, teams of players are responsible for both sides of the battle—building traps to stop the enemy assault AND summoning their own armies to lead against the enemy defense” Robot Entertainment’s website reads.

This time around, players will get to both defend and siege strongholds instead of just defending them. “Unleash your minions and charge into the heart of the enemy…[or] build an impenetrable gauntlet of traps to hack, grind, flatten, gibletize and incinerate your foes. Your team must master both tactics to triumph.”

“We’ve been calling it a fortress siege game,” Robot Entertainment CEO Patrick Hudson said in an interview with IGN.

The changes don’t end there. Orcs Must Die: Unchained is going to be a free-to-play game with a strong multiplayer focus of 5v5, though solo and coop modes are available against bots for those who don’t wish to fight online.

Both the emphasis on multiplayer and the nature of free-to-play games means the hero base in Orcs Must Die!: Unchained is going up drastically. The first game gave players control of the Warmage, the second added the Sorceress, and Orcs Must Die!: Unchained is going even further with “dozens of unique and powerful heroes.”

Robot Entertainment is currently doing a “Founder” program where, for a fee, players can opt in as beta-testers and get new items, skins, and heroes for their early support.

Orcs Must Die!: Unchained is currently slated for release 2014.

My Opinion

This news has made me so gloriously and stupidly happy! Orcs Must Die! is one of my favorite franchises, and I’ve logged over a 100 hours between the two games, aiming for respectable scores and achievements. The series is the perfect combination of twitch shooting and tower defense, making it a mixture of skill and forethought. It’s addictive. It’s fun. I love it.

My gut reaction to the free-to-play news is to frown, but I trust Robot Entertainment to deliver a strong game that is balanced well. Their small-yet-complex game Hero Academy is awash in different teams with different functions, yet it’s well balanced. If they did it there, they can do it here.