ORX
- August 30, 2022
- johnbell
- 3h median play time
Get on SteamTry other games from CRITICAL REFLEX About the Game Defend your lands and save your kingdom from the relentless attacks by a never-ending swarm of ORX! ORX is part-tower defense, part-deck building card game, set in a beautifully drawn world of dark fantasy. Expand your territory, call soldiers to arms and fortify your castle with every card that you play! As you progress through the ga…
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Unique blend of tower defense and deck-building mechanics, providing a fresh gameplay experience.
- Beautiful art style and engaging sound design enhance the overall atmosphere of the game.
- High replayability with different factions and randomized maps, allowing for varied strategies and play styles.
- Numerous bugs and performance issues, especially in late-game scenarios, leading to crashes and unplayable situations.
- Lack of clear tutorials and explanations for game mechanics, making it difficult for new players to understand how to progress.
- Unbalanced gameplay where certain strategies can trivialize challenges, while others can become frustratingly difficult.
- gameplay120 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by innovative mechanics and a blend of genres, including roguelite elements and tower defense, which provide a unique and engaging experience. However, many players have noted performance issues, a steep learning curve, and a repetitive gameplay loop that can lead to frustration. While the game shows potential for improvement, particularly in user interface and mechanics explanation, it currently offers a mix of fun and clunky interactions that may require further refinement.
“With a beautiful, unique art style and mechanics that keep the gameplay interesting, this is a delight on all fronts.”
“The gameplay is very fun and addicting.”
“If you love rogue-lite deck building, tile placement, and challenging gameplay, I'd highly recommend this.”
“The gameplay gets a little stale after a time, and I find myself quitting after a few maps.”
“It's still early access, but currently it's just not fun; the cards and artifacts add little to no difference to the gameplay, and the game itself is no fun. It's like they tried to combine too many different things from other games and ended up with a too restrictive game about building roads and castles with very little choices on what to play or even how to.”
“I haven't actually gotten to play the game because, holy hell, I've spent 116 minutes trying to figure out a core mechanic of it.”
- graphics36 mentions
- 61 % positive mentions
- 31 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their unique and appealing art style, which many players find delightful and humorous. While some users express disappointment with certain visual aspects and technical issues, the overall aesthetic and design contribute positively to the gameplay experience. The art style is frequently highlighted as a standout feature, enhancing the game's charm and engagement.
“With a beautiful, unique art style and mechanics that keep the gameplay interesting, this is a delight on all fronts.”
“I absolutely love the art style of this game, and the general sense of humor it's got.”
“Despite the bugs and the fact that it is in early access, Orx really masters an addictive gameplay loop with a visual style and aesthetic that seems to just melt away time as you play the game.”
“Which is very disappointing given how low the graphics look.”
“The visuals and orientation of the castle walls and placement in relation to one another and roads are frustrating, non-intuitive, and poorly explained.”
“Aside from that, I love everything about the game from the gameplay to the design and the graphics.”
- story32 mentions
- 6 % positive mentions
- 84 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The game's story features three distinct factions and some campaign arcs, but players find the missions to be unevenly paced, with early missions feeling tedious and later ones becoming chaotic. While the humor and varied mechanics are appreciated, the overall experience is marred by balance issues and awkward gameplay, leading to a sense of wasted time. Players express a desire for longer missions or additional content to enhance the narrative experience.
“3 very different factions to play, randomized maps, randomized rewards, and some story arcs to follow in the campaign.”
“It's like you've made some mistakes you're not proud of and you enter the last mission.”
“I understand what they want me to do, but getting there is a whole different story.”
“Potential to be fun, but it's too slow, at least in my experience; you spend so much time on building a huge castle and then an hour later a few orcs show up, die, and the mission is over, leaving you feeling like you wasted your time.”
- optimization26 mentions
- 12 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has been criticized for significant performance issues, particularly in later stages, where even high-end machines struggle to maintain playable frame rates. While some recent updates have improved performance and resolved major bugs, many players still experience frustrating lag and unoptimized gameplay, especially when dealing with numerous units on screen. Overall, the game requires further optimization to fully realize its potential and enhance the player experience.
“Edit: the performance seems a lot better as of late, some bugs, but the main show stoppers seem to have been fixed.”
“Once this game is optimized, it'll probably be one of my favorites; but, right now, it's a bit of a rough go in the later stages.”
“Deckbuilding is the core of the game - the base building leans more toward optimization of whatever cards you have on hand (default 5).”
“The later acts, due to poor optimization, have my fairly powerful machine (32 GB 4400 RAM, 3080 Ti, etc.) running at <1 FPS.”
“Was fun, but recent changes increased difficulty by just tanking performance.”
“The cards stay the same once you pick a path regardless of how many times you restart, making it not quite so randomized and more so if you choose the cards incorrectly you're stuck with an un-optimized build.”
- stability24 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 92 % negative mentions
The game is currently plagued by significant stability issues, including frequent crashes, freezes, and various bugs that hinder gameplay. While some users report minor glitches that can be temporarily resolved, the overall experience is described as frustrating and unbalanced, leading many to recommend waiting for major fixes before playing. Despite some positive impressions, the technical problems overshadow the enjoyment of the game.
“Runs great on the Steam Deck, and the game is a blast!”
“Also in its current state, it's very buggy; crashes and freezes too much.”
“The major problem is the game is horribly buggy; I can't recommend this game until most of the major bugs are fixed.”
“The game currently suffers from numerous quality of life issues and technical bugs (a lot of spelling errors in texts; constant freezes when something new loads; inability to scroll the map while hovering your mouse over cards; no clear indication of whether a card can be applied to certain objects; and so on), making it much more frustrating and irritating rather than fun to play.”
- replayability14 mentions
- 86 % positive mentions
- 7 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The game offers significant replayability, bolstered by its rogue-lite elements and unlockable content, which encourages players to revisit and experiment with different strategies. However, some users note that achieving this replayability can be challenging without exploiting certain mechanics. Overall, the variety and engaging game mechanics contribute to a high replay value that many players find addictive.
“The replaying system and the replay value for this part is extremely high and fun.”
“The game is fun, addictive, has unlockables, and replayability.”
“I also like that you unlock more cards after a completed campaign, giving you even more reason to play again (although I'd say the replayability is already very good without that mechanic).”
“There really aren't enough of them (Tower Tactics: Liberation and Monster Train are the only two that come to mind), and they're my personal crack when it comes to replay value.”
- grinding12 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessive and tedious, particularly due to the crown system and repetitive tasks like building structures and roads. Many feel that this grind detracts from the overall enjoyment, making it feel more like busywork than engaging gameplay, especially when compared to other roguelikes. Accessing more content often requires repetitive grinding through easy levels, which can lead to a frustrating experience.
“I don't like the crown system; it makes the game very grindy for no reason.”
“A lot of the economy stuff (building roads mainly) gets really tedious, and you spend most of your time doing it.”
“Compared to other roguelikes, there is just too much grinding in order to reach a challenge.”
- humor10 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is widely appreciated, with players finding the missions and graphics, particularly the quirky design of orc characters, to be genuinely funny. The game's art style and varied mechanics contribute to a lighthearted experience, although some bugs encountered are not considered humorous. Overall, the game's comedic elements enhance its appeal, leaving players eager for more content.
“The two missions you can play at the moment are very funny, and the mechanics are so different that you feel like you're playing different games.”
“I absolutely love the art style of this game, and the general sense of humor it has.”
“Found a rather funny bug where the game dealt between 5 to 12k damage with the voidmaker.”
- music10 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game has been widely praised for its soothing and beautiful qualities, complementing the stunning art style. Players appreciate the good soundtrack and find it enhances the overall experience, particularly as they engage with the progression system and explore various campaign modes.
“Beautiful art and music.”
“There is a progression system with the cards you unlock and everything looks great - the default music is also quite appeasing.”
“Art style is great, music is also very soothing.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players express a strong emotional response to the frustration of being unable to complete their ideal castle due to a locked finishing tile, highlighting a sense of disappointment and heartbreak in the gameplay experience.
“Nearly finishing what is supposed to be my best castle only to find the finishing tile locked is heartbreaking.”
