[PC] Torchlight Preview

[Ghostbear]

Torchlight is an action RPG in the vein of Diablo or Titan Quest, but the art style is more Pixar than Diablo. It is an utterly charming game that I found myself very excited about.

The main quest runs about 15-20 hours to completion, taking you to level 30. After you finish that, you can play in an infinite randomized dungeon, leveling all the way to 100. The game is exceptionally easy to just pick up and go. Choose one of the three classes, Destroyer (ranged damage), Vanquisher (melee damage) or the Alchemist (magic/summoning) and you're off! You also have a pet who will help you on your journey. It can attack, carry items or even take those items back to town to sell them for you. As well as having equipment of its own. What I really like about the pets though is the ability to transform it into various creatures to help you in combat. You do this by feeding it various fish that you can catch. We managed to turn ours into a beetle that shot electricity. The duration of the change depends on the quality of the fish that you give it, some can make the change permanent.

The dungeons are randomized, but will incorporate a lot of mini events, we had to blow open a cave entrance and fight off a few waves of bad guys, this goes a fair way in keeping the dungeons fresh and new.

There are no class restrictions on weapons, if the weapon is in the game your class can use it. Runic wants to encourage weird combinations. Want to make the Vanquisher use wands and pistols? You can do that. The spells in the game are class agnostic as well allowing for interesting mix ups. All equipment can be socketed and enchanted, so the customization just keeps on coming.

The game will be fully moddable and comes with a full featured set of editing tools. You can edit classes, dungeons, monsters and the like. All in all, a modder's dream. The Runic team plans on supporting modders with tutorials, art assets and FAQs. Creating levels is akin to building legos, grab your set pieces and drop them in. You will also be able add your own art assets, giving you the ability to create the world you want to. You will be able to edit sounds as well, with the ability to check those sounds within the editor. Don't like the level cap of 100? Change it. Want to combine the abilities of the Vanquisher and Alchemist? Do so.

I would like to thank Runic for taking time out of their schedules to show us the game and let us play around in their world. The game looks like a ton of fun and I am greatly looking forward to it. It will be released on October 27th for $19.99. It will be available on their website initially with a boxed copy release next year.

Trailer:

[bapenguin]

That first picture is AWESOME. Great photo Mightbe.

[PathMaster]

Looks awesome. Looks like the perfect type of time killer.

[Hawkzombie]

Wow, I knew nothing of this until seeing this post. I am really looking forward to this because it looks like a ton of fun.

Screw Diablo 3

[RandoM51]

Are they stitching together 3d tiles? They look good too, which will be a first for that. I might have more fun with that editor than I do with the game.

Add a link to Runic's website.

[Troggles]

Only 20 dollars and all those modding tools? Sold.

[mightbe]

Originally Posted by bapenguin

That first picture is AWESOME. Great photo Mightbe.

Thanks! Glad you like it.

I'm more excited for this game than I probably should be. It's also worth mentioning that these are the former Mythos devs and that this game has gotten to this point in development in 11months.

Crazy eh?

[mightbe]

Originally Posted by Hawkzombie

Wow, I knew nothing of this until seeing this post. I am really looking forward to this because it looks like a ton of fun.

Screw Diablo 3

You'll also get this game two years before d3.

[PathMaster]

Preditor looks fairly robust at a glance, so it should be fun to play around with.

It reminds me a little bit of Beyond Good & Evil graphics wise. That is a compliment though.

System requirements should be fairly lax as well, which should increase the possibility of sales.

(Great Preview!)

[Alkanos]

Originally Posted by Ghostbear

You also have a pet who will help you on your journey. It can attack, carry items or even take those items back to town to sell them for you. What I really like about the pets though is the ability to turn it into various creatures to help you in combat. You do this by feeding it various fish that you can catch around the dungeons. We managed to turn ours into a beetle that shot electricity. The duration of the change depends on the quality of the fish that you give it.

I read this and thought, "So, either they're really really blatantly ripping off Fate, or they have the same folks working on it." Glad to see it's the latter! Looks like it's also got some ex-Blizzards and the folks from Flagship that were working on Mythos. Neat!

Somehow, this game has completely evaded my radar. I'd heard the name before, but never really paid attention or read anything about it. But it looks really good! I may be grabbing this when it comes out.

[mightbe]

Originally Posted by PathMaster

System requirements should be fairly lax as well, which should increase the possibility of sales.

One of the developers may or may not have told me that it gets a solid 20fps on his netbook.

Checking my notes the actual quote is "Anything with hardware T&L and a little bit of ram will run this like a top".

[Ghostbear]

I should have the trailer up in a few minutes. Standby

[Drayven]

I just wish it had multiplayer, even just LAN based or something

[PathMaster]

Originally Posted by mightbe

One of the developers may or may not have told me that it gets a solid 20fps on his netbook.

Checking my notes the actual quote is "Anything with hardware T&L and a little bit of ram will run this like a top".

Yea, I read that it has no shaders, and that basically a TNT2 could run the game. Should be fine all around then, spec wise.

On the pet feature. What type of summons does the Alchemist get, and do they work in conjunction with the regular pet?

[Karmakin]

Yeah the game is pretty much Fate 3, which isn't a bad thing because IMO Fate is the best of the Diablo clones.

[Ghostbear]

Originally Posted by PathMaster

Yea, I read that it has no shaders, and that basically a TNT2 could run the game. Should be fine all around then, spec wise.

On the pet feature. What type of summons does the Alchemist get, and do they work in conjunction with the regular pet?

That was my understanding, yes. There are also skills to make the pet travel faster, do more damage, etc.

[Exodus]

Looks neat! hope the skills add up I might pick this up to keep me occupied on the upcoming lonely winter nights...

[cawblen]

guess i'm gonna have to pick this up to bide my time until D3

[Spectre-7]

Originally Posted by mightbe

Checking my notes the actual quote is "Anything with hardware T&L and a little bit of ram will run this like a top".

Originally Posted by PathMaster

Yea, I read that it has no shaders, and that basically a TNT2 could run the game. Should be fine all around then, spec wise.

Errr, uhhhh... A TNT2 doesn't have hardware transform and lighting. Message otherwise understood, though.

[Card930]

I had not heard of this game before this post. Now I'm planning on trying it day one.