The Orcs Must Die! series launched a new entry earlier this year, altering the formula by adding roguelite elements and removing the campaign. In our review, we appreciate the game’s roguelite elements, but didn’t find many of the choices to be engaging or meaningful. It looks like the team at Robot Entertainment is listening to all of the feedback, and it has released patch 1.0.9 addressing some of the game’s issues.

Along with fixing several bugs and crash fixes, the biggest change to gameplay is the addition of a new Rift Barricade. The barricade restriction in Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap has been controversial, to say the least, and the Rift Barricade is designed to address it. Basically, it’s a trap that can be added to players’ loadouts and costs rune coins to place. These barricades not only have a ton of health, but they also power up adjacent traps. They will not have an effect on the free barricades.

Patch 1.0.9 also revamps Thread choices, allowing players to spend rune coins to either reroll or skip. The reroll—which affects all three Thread choices—starts at 1,000 coins and doubles with each use, resetting the cost at the start of the next mission. Skipping a Thread starts at 5,000 coins and doubles, resetting at the start of the next mission. While the cost seems high, skipping grants an additional free barricade that remains in the inventory for the rest of the run.

The Threads themselves have also been overhauled to make them more interesting, powerful, and rewarding. Some tiered Threads have been combined into a single more powerful Thread, while less interesting choices had their weights reduced. Fans of Double Wide, which we mentioned in our review, might be disappointed to hear that it’s now a Cursed Thread that also doubles the value of orc-type enemies entering the Rift. While we haven’t had a chance to test it out to see if the risk/reward is worth it, it was a necessary change since Double Wide was far and away the best Thread a player could choose. Of course, the new Rift Barricade trap might also diminish its appeal.

Other gameplay updates include changes to when difficulty scales in multiplayer, bosses rewarding 100 skulls when defeated, tweaks to melee War Mages, and numerous balance changes. You can read the full patch notes below.

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap Patch 1.0.9

Gameplay Changes

• A new Rift Barricade has been added.
  • Check your Trap menu. You’ll find a new barricade that Gus and Hugo have infused with a little Rift magic. This barricade takes up a loadout slot and costs rune coins to place. However, it has a ton of health and powers up adjacent traps. This has no effect on your free barricades.
• Players now have the choice to spend rune coins to either reroll Thread choices or skip Thread choices.
  • Thread reroll starts at 1,000 coins and doubles with each reroll. This resets at the start of the next mission. It rerolls all three Thread choices.
  • Skipping a Thread starts at 5,000 coins and doubles and resets at the start of the next mission. Skipping seems expensive but you also gain a free barricade that stays in your inventory for the remainder of the run.
• Complete Thread balance overhaul.
  • The entire Thread inventory has been adjusted to make Threads more interesting, powerful, and rewarding. Many tiered Threads have been combined into one more powerful Thread, less interesting choices had their weights lowered, and many others received strong buffs. Many previously mutually exclusive Threads are no longer mutually exclusive.
• Double Wide is now considered a Cursed Thread that doubles the size of free barricades but doubles the value of orc-type enemies entering the Rift.
  
• Downed players can now choose to give up instead of waiting for their downed timer to run out.
  
• Difficulty now scales per wave based on the number of players.
  • The game now checks at the beginning of each wave for the number of players and scales the health and damage accordingly. This does not affect coins and barricades, but we are looking into solutions to refund coins and barricades when a player leaves.
• Bosses now reward 100 skulls when defeated.
  • This is intended to make boss levels a more attractive choice during a run.
• Gamble HP scaling for enemies reduced to 25% from 50%.
  
• Difficulty Slider HP scaling for enemies increased from 40% to 50%.
  
• Chance for a chest to spawn on a map increased to 100%.
  
• Further tweaks on melee War Mages to allow smoother combat and quicker animation cancelling into and out of secondary attacks.
  
• Removed Gnoll Assassins from Random Nodes
  • Previously, extra Gnoll Assassins could spawn from Random Nodes in each Onslaught on every map. This chance has been reduced to 0%.
• Cyclops Druid health reduced to 3,000 from 5,000.
  
• Bartholomew barricade immunity range increased to 600 units from 300 units.
  
• Buffed Electrified status effect. Double its base damage and chain segment reach.
  
• Disabled Rollback Thread for Wren.
  
• The Victory screen has been reworked to better communicate the Gamble mechanic.
  
• This is part one of a two-part overhaul of the Victory screen. The skull reward size has been increased and the word “Wager” added to the “Gamble Forward” button.
  
• Steam Vent is now super effective at taking out flying enemies.
  • Unlike other floor traps, flying enemies can now trigger the Steam Vent and take major damage in the process. We hope this adds another option to your loadout for air defense.
• Push Trap now stuns large enemies by default.
  
• Increased Max’s Friendly Flip Trap base count to 2 from 1.
  
• Added a Steam Vent Thread that allows it to be placed on the wall

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Ghostfang was dying on spawn
• Fixed an issue where some players were not spawning correctly and getting stuck in the ground.
• Fixed an issue where the Heat Exhaustion Thread would show up with Wall Charger instead of Wall Scorcher

Crash Fixes

• A crash with malformed News has been fixed
• A crash occurring for some at startup has been fixed