Torchlight II – Playtime at PAX Prime 2011
Posted: 9/1/2011 12:00:00 AM
By: WebPimp

It was the evening of 03.10.2011 and I had just come to the end of my Torchlight experience on Xbox LIVE Arcade I sat there for a moment and I came to the realization that I wanted more. Not because the game was short or because I had nearly every achievement the game could offer, but because I was at a loss. Would the game have a sequel and if it did, would it be as good as the first? I wanted more Torchlight and I wanted it now! Scroll ahead in the timeline a few months later and the registration for PAX Prime 2011 is all squared away and an email arrives in my inbox. It states that Runic Games would be showing Torchlight II at the show this year and appointments are available for media interviews and game demos.  I shuddered a tiny bit with joy and calmly typed out my response in a professional manner: Yes, we would love to get a hands on demo of Torchlight II, let’s setup a time.  This article will explain to you what we found during that interview and hope you will be as excited as we are, if not more.

Runic is a small development house compared to many other developers out there and they pack a fantastic punch. With just about 32 people total, which includes developers and the rest of the company support staff. Invariably, that means their budget probably isn’t as big as their larger brethren but that hasn’t stopped them from developing something super awesome. After checking in at the media desk and greeted like I was part of the family, I was given the back story about what we can expect to see with Torchlight II. For starters you are going to pretty much see the same graphic and character design from the original, but spruced up a bit. It’s always nice to see some updated graphics whenever you play a new version of a game and with Torchlight already looking good, this is a feature I can get used to.

If you have played the first game, you will recall that you saved the town of Torchlight and you being part of the group of heroes that did this are walking tall and feeling good about yourselves. Unfortunately someone got wise and stole the essence of power that the defeated Ordrak who flowing through his body.  That person is now wreaking havoc on the six elements of the world and you decide you can’t sit around watching this happen because you have fans to make happy. As you head off into the familiar world ahead, and finally ending up in a place that can only be described as an eternal hell of herding kittens. Each area that you will encounter is not only larger, like massively larger than the first, but they are now split into three zones. So instead of the first game in which you essentially spiralled down from one level to the next, you have something a little “flatter” and more vast in feeling. In a nutshell, because of the sheer size of the landmass now, your quests are now exponentially larger than the first when it comes to the number of main quests and side quests. On top of this, expect day and night cycles as well to add to the feeling you are in a true world and not just a darkened area of the woods. Because the levels are all randomly created, each time you play, the world around you will be different.

Each character that you can play is fully customizable and can be either male or female from one of the new four character classes. Because we are in a new version of Torchlight, expect to be able to use new skills that are both passive and active when it comes to their use along with new loot as well. Probably one of the funner parts of the game, grabbing all of those goodies dropped by your defeated enemies and then figuring out if you should drop it, or make your pet do the lame work and head to town and sell your goods for you. Your character can also retire when you get to a certain level and doing so will give specific extras to whatever new character you choose. Torchlight II will also release their editor, TorchEd, in an improved format. This will give you the ability to create your own mods and allow your friends to download them and play together with you. 

Yes, you read that last sentence correctly. Besides having the usual upgrades that a sequel should have in a game, this time, Torchlight went into awesome mode: Multi-Player capability! Besides playing single player, you can also play over the internet or local LAN with up to 8 people for some co-op play making the game even more enjoyable. While we didn’t have an chance to do this during the show, we are being told that this WILL be released when the game comes out.  Finally, you are probably asking, when will this game be available for the masses?  We have been told it will be “4th quarter 2011” and that was a very strong statement. It will be available for digital download through Steam or via the web on the main game website. It will cost a very reasonable $20 and be available first on the PC. After that we can expect it to be available on the Mac in roughly the first quarter of 2012.  Sadly, there isn’t any confirmation if this will eventually make its way onto the Xbox LIVE Arcade. If we send many kegs of premium beer to the people of Runic, I think a Xbox LIVE Arcade version of the game may make it’s way onto the marketplace. Torchlight I was a fantastic game and very addicting and after having some hands one with Torchlight II, nobody is going to be disappointed in the next version because Runic has outdone themselves.