...which is better and why?

I personally liked Orcs Must Die better because it's actually possible to play in single player, and I just really dislike multiplayer games. Unless you plan on playing multiplayer Dungeon Defenders is basically impossible to complete. Dungeon Defenders definitely has a deeper upgrade system/multiple classes, but it's just not fun for one lonely player.

Although Orcs Must Die is definitely goofy/pop culture savvy so that might turn you off. Dungeon Defenders is straight fantasy.

Yes, your question is "singleplayer or multiplayer"?

I also prefer Orcs must die!, really like the humor and overall design.
Chasing for skulls for a perfect defend and a hardcore mode really add to replay value, of course some more dlc with new maps is also welcome.

Thanks for the tips. I'll probably get both!

I usually play single player games only, but I've really been looking for a fun Xbox live arcade game to play local co-op with my fiancee.

Another question: are they both pure tower defense or is there more to it? Thanks, +reps to you both.

Dungeon Defenders is a brilliantly designed game that's fun, inventive, and incorporates just enough of the loot-grubbing dungeon crawler aspect to tickle my fancy.

It's also a pain in the arse if you're trying to play single-player. They did incorporate a single-player mode and it is -possible- to play single-player, but just barely, and you have to gear and train at least a couple of the heroes. And let me tell you, it's like most RPG's in that most people have a strong preference for one or two of the classes, and it is not fun grinding with a class you don't enjoy so you can swap him in for five minutes to build a defense structure you really need.

In other words, multiplayer would be fantastic. For singleplayer, Orcs should be better, but I've never played - it's not on PS3 yet.

Edit: Dungeon Defenders is not pure tower defense, each hero has a couple of special abilities and a couple of regular attacks, and they are expected to participate in the fights - either in a passive role repairing defenses, or an offensive role. Supposedly with some characters it's even possible to play as an entirely offensive character while a partner handles defensive structures.

They are both TD, but there's few more things in DD. It's TD/RPG game with leveling up, skills, pets etc.

OMD is just awesome in single player. It is so fast and dynamic your index finger might hurt (and that is a good thing!). It's very enjoyable and very funny. The only difference to the standard TD games is that you can upgrade your traps and you've got only a certain numbers of slots for your weapons/traps/guardians so you need to choose wisely.

DD is only good in multiplayer. In single it's a bit boring and slow, and I mean slooooow (well, compared to OMD any game is slow).

If you've got 2-3 friends to play with, you should definitely try DD, otherwise OMD is a better choice.

Ideally you should get both. OMD was for $2.5 yesterday and there's hope it will be in this price again on the last day of the Autumn Sale.

I'm happy to help. As you probably figured, both games have a lot of third person shooter elements, but they are a little different.

Orcs Must Die is sort of pure tower defence, but it's traps based, which I personally find makes it more engaging than a typical tower defence. You can set up a lot of interesting combos and such with the traps; for example, one trap is a springboard that can launch the orcs backwards and into a wall of swords or off the edge or whatever. Unfortunately the combat is very basic; you have a crossbow and a sword and that's it for combat skills (or at least that's all I've unlocked, I've only beaten about half of the maps).

Dungeon Defenders is much more typical, using the standard kinds of towers you'd get in a tower defence. But there are a ton of upgradable combat skills and gear and such to equip, and there's a lot more variety and strategy to the combat during the waves. Also the classes make it much more varied, because each class has a unique combat style and also has a speciality that their towers revolve around.

Like I said before, I think Dungeon Defenders is the more robust/deeper game, but it's just not possible in single player. It's a lot like trying to beat Magicka by yourself, if you've ever tried it. But I can heartily recommend both, especially if you don't mind a bit of goofy pop culture humour in Orcs Must Die, and you plan to play Dungeon Defenders with your fiancee.

Orcs Must Die is a no go on my PC so I'm going to be more biased towards DD. lol

DD is enjoyable but the game play is pretty mindless..and very easy if you're playing with other people - something to relax to more or less.

The only complaint that I have is that when I first started the game I had access to one novice challenge mission in solo mode. After installing the new challenge pack DLC that novice challenge was removed and the new challenges appeared to be designed for higher level players.

I can still level in Campaign mode or go online and screw around in free mode so no problems with leveling up but I'm a bit worried that one novice challenge may have unlocked a fist full of others that could have also been replaced by the new challenge pack DLC.

Also, just to warn, default video settings placed the game on Low and I didn't realize it. Low video settings make the dark levels too dark to the point that you can't see what you're swinging at.

Steam. Although it was listed as $3.75 for me. Still quite a good deal. It's been over for a while now though.

I want both but that is me personally.

But I've heard more about the Dungeon Defenders, as it has more levels and better classes

24-hour Steam sale, you missed it.

As for your original question, that really comes down to whether you want multiplayer or singleplayer. OMD is single-player ONLY, and thus is a very focused effort and quite enjoyable as a solo experience. DD was designed from the ground up to be a multiplayer game. There is a single player mode available, but it just doesn't feel right playing it. That should be your deciding factor.

I have been playing DD purely single player and having fun with it,

orcs must die sounds like it has much less repeatability how ever there is a strong element of farming for DD

like others i would suggest getting both the games , they are equally good , orcs must die would have been awesome if there was co-op and custom maps

DD is a great concept and I got a lot of playtime out of it but the problem is the developers are woefully inexperienced and horrible at balancing. Moreover, given that it used to be a mobile game where they sold mana for cash they look to be trying to find a new source of microtransaction revenue with pay-to-win DLC in the two latest they put out. One is a reskin of the original classes with the same towers but stronger hero abilities. The other is a set of four maps that are just existing base game maps tweaked with an existing base game challenge mode... but... they have DLC unique/powerful item rewards. Additionally most of the community is comprised of crazy farmers that either try to min/max their gear (which is fairly pointless since you can complete pretty much any map/challenge on the base game on insane without maxed out gear) or sell such gear to the previously mentioned group of people.

While Orcs Must Die will give you less play time overall it's a more balanced and fun experience. Dungeon Defenders can get far too grindy and, as others mention, it's fairly hard to solo certain maps at max difficulty.