September 6th, 2009 -- Runic Games took us on a hands-on tour of their upcoming action-RPG Torchlight -- a Diablo-like game with more than a few twists -- not to mention a complete toolkit for making your own levels -- thrown in to broaden its appeal.
Runic Game's roots are in Flagship Studios, which closed its doors last year. Considering that Flagship Studios was founded by Bill Roper, Max Schaefer, Erich Schaefer, and David Brevik (the original developers of Diablo and former Blizzard North executives), it should come as no surprise that Torchlight looks and plays a lot like Diablo -- albeit a brighter, more cartoonish version of Diablo.
Choosing one of three characters -- the Vanquisher (archer/ranger), the Alchemist (mage), or the Destroyer (hulking barbarian), you'll set out on a glorious quest to kill things and take their stuff, level up, gain new powers and improved stats -- and then kill bigger things and get better stuff.
Every dungeon and item in the game is randomized, so Torchlight will never play the same way twice. There are also sets of magic items that can be acquired, and items can be socketed with gems to increase their power. You can also use scrolls to teleport back to town, buy and sell new gear, and quickly return to the fight.
And like Diablo and its ilk you can improve your hero's statistics (Strength, Dexterity, Magic, Defense), and buy special feats and improve them as you gain levels. (The Destroyer we played went from level 1 to level 6 or 7 in about 40 minutes, and we selected some cool sweeping attacks and high-damage single target attacks for taking out bosses.)
While it's a familiar formula, it's obviously one that still works well. We kept playing the game long after we'd pretty gotten all the info we needed to write this article. It's familiar, it's fast, and it's fun.
A few new twists
But Torchlight also builds on the formula to broaden its appeal to both the casual end of the spectrum and the traditional gamer end of the spectrum.
One addition is that every class can find scrolls and read them to gain the ability to cast certain spells -- so even the hulking Destroyer can still lay down a little magic mojo from time to time.
Another addition is that every class picks either a dog or cat (more of a wolf or bobcat, really) as a pet at the beginning of the game. Your pet can carry inventory, fight with you, and even take your stuff back to town and sell it for you while you continue fighting in the dungeon. (The differences between the dog and cat -- at least for now -- appear to cosmetic only).
You simply move the items you want sold to your pet's inventory, click a button, and your pet will run back to town and return in about 15 seconds with your gold. You don't have to wait for your pet to return you can keep plowing through monsters while its away.
Pets can also be upgraded if you feed them fish, which you can catch when you stop at a fishing hole. Pets also have two slots for magic items (a necklace and collar) that they can equip.
More than meets the eye
Similar to games like League of Legends, Torchlight also takes some 'core' game play elements and adjusts them to be a little more 'casual gamer' friendly.
The first of these features is that Torchlight saves your game exactly where you're at, so if you need to quit a game mid-level you can return to exactly the point where you left off. In addition, there's virtually no death penalty. If you fall in combat, you can either resurrect on the spot where you died (for a cost in XP and gold), you can return to the beginning of the level (which costs only some gold), or you can return to town (for free).
Both the reduced death penalty and the save game system were specifically modified to allow for more casual play.
It's a mod mod mod world
Perhaps one of the coolest features to be included with Torchlight is a complete set of tools that allow the player to customize virtually every aspect of the game -- textures, levels, music, etc. -- and you don't need to be an expert modder with high-end software and hardware to create your own mods.
This will allow players to create plenty of custom content and share it with the Torchlight community. It's also part of the reason the game's graphics engine is relatively simple in comparison to modern game engines -- it allows for easier modding by less experienced modders.
Perhaps best of all, Torchlight will be released at a price of $20 directly through the Runic as well as popular digital distribution channels like Valve's Steam service.
Torchlight will be released on October 27th, 2009.
Read more at Torchlight's home page
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Comments
This was a really well written and informative article.
Good information about the death penalty and pets.
Really appreciated the time to level info, "The Destroyer we played went from level 1 to level 6 or 7 in about 40 minutes".
That and the fact that you actually played for 40 minutes and had fun the whole time says the most about the game.
Can't wait to buy it.
Thanks again for the info.
Thanks for reading! Torchlight was a game I'd scarcely heard of before visiting their booth, and I'm definitely glad I did. I hope the game and the company do well ---I may do more stories on it and/or Runic in the future -- turns out they're right in Seattle.
Thanks for the short nice article!
Iam located in Germany so I cant bring my hands on the game.
But as you wrote the game looks interesting, so I hope I can buy it in Germany as well.
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