Orcs Must Die! Unchained announced, is a multiplayer lane-pusher

Has anyone stopped to consider why orcs must die?

orcs must die? No? Well, okay then. As long as we're blindly following that statement, we can at least take advantage of new ways to dispatch the green-skinned irritants. Gameforge and Robot Entertainment have announced Orcs Must Die! Unchained, a multiplayer adaptation of the third-person tower defence game.

Judging from the announcement and its trailer, the game does look a bit MOBA-ish. That said, there is some of the old OMD DNA on show, leading to the hope that this will be an interesting angle on the idea, rather than another me-too grab at the genre's massive audience. For one thing, there's also a card-collecting element.

It's a 5 vs 5 game (naturally), in which you pick from a roster of varied heroes (naturally), escort your minions (naturally), and attempt to destroy your opponent's fortress (naturally). The addition of the Orcs Must Die! trap template provides the potential for more divergent tactics, but this is perhaps not the most exciting return for the series.

The game will be free-to-play when it launches later this year. As is the way of these things, a beta is currently running, but requires the purchase of a founders packto access.