All Articles: Torchlight II

Torchlight II Review: Diablo II Never Looked So Good

Posted on November 20, 2012 by Anthony Amato

Torchlight II builds off of Torchlight‘s rock solid foundations to create a game that fully delivers on developer Runic Games’ goal to “give [the players] what they’re asking for.” Oddly, even though the game was in development long before Diablo III‘s release, what the players wanted seems to be all the things Diablo III got wrong.

Blizzard’s Diablo III is certainly the 800-pound gorilla in the room, and some might try to write a review of Torchlight II without mentioning its major league rival, but I’m not going to bother. Anyone who is a fan of the click n’ loot fest likely has played the Diablo games at some point, and that series pretty much defines all the core elements, so I see little reason in avoiding the comparison. Considering Torchlight’s developers include Max and Erich Schaefer, the co-founders of Blizzard North and co-creators of the Diablo series, it’s interesting to see how much Diablo has diverged while Torchlight II has remained true to its origins. (more…)

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Torchlight II hacks and slashes its way onto online stores on September 20

Posted on August 31, 2012 by John Scalzo

Two years after it was first announced, Runic Games is finally ready to announce a release date for Torchlight II. The dungeon-crawling RPG will be available to download from Runic Games, Steam, Perfect World, GamersGate, GameFly, and GameStop on September 20.

Runic Games’ CEO, Max Schaefer is particularly proud that the company could keep their promise of a Summer 2012 release: “We worked incredibly hard to make sure we could release Torchlight II before Summer’s official end. Development will continue right up until we ship, and we couldn’t be happier to be putting the finishing touches on a great game. We want to get it to the fans as quickly as possible. Honestly, we can’t wait.”

To celebrate the release date announcement (and today’s kickoff for PAX Prime), Runic has released a new trailer, which you can view above.

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Pre-order Torchlight II, receive original Torchlight or access to Neverwinter beta

Posted on April 27, 2012 by John Scalzo

Torchlight II still doesn’t have an official release date. Developer Runic Games will only say that it’s coming in the Summer and that they’re shooting for June or July. But that hasn’t stopped Steam and Perfect World from offering plenty of pre-order loot to RPG-hungry gamers.

If you pre-order Torchlight II from Perfect World, you’ll receive access to the Neverwinter beta. However, Perfect World was quick to point out that the “exact date of access will vary.”

If you go the more conventional route and pre-order from Steam, you’ll receive a copy of Torchlight absolutely free. That’s right now! No waiting!

Both online shops have priced the game at $19.99, but if you buy a four-pack of copies from Steam (one copy for you and one copy for three of your friends), you’ll only pay $59.99, meaning that one copy was free. And you’ll also receive four copies of the original Torchlight on top of that.

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Torchlight II suffers a slight delay to ensure it’s “awesome”

Posted on November 17, 2011 by John Scalzo

Travis Baldree, the President of Torchlight developer Runic Games, has announced that his company’s next project, Torchlight II, won’t make it out in 2011 as previously promised. Baldree wouldn’t commit to a new release date, but he did say, “The amount of time we need to take it the rest of the way is relatively small.” So I think it’s safe to assume that Torchlight II will make it out sometime in the first half of 2012.

In his quest to make Torchlight II “awesome… all the way through,” Baldree doesn’t feel too bad about delaying the game as he (rather correctly) reasons that everyone is already playing all of this Fall’s biggest reasons:

We feel pretty safe in saying that if you enjoyed Torchlight at all, this sequel is superior in every respect. Right now our job is to ensure that the quality level is consistent all the way to the end.

Besides, you’re all playing Skyrim right now anyway, aren’t you? Or Battlefield 3? Or Uncharted 3? Or Saints Row 3? Or Arkham City? Or Skyward Sword? Or Minecraft? Or Modern Warfare 3? Or Dark Souls? Or Assassin’s Creed Revelations?

You definitely can’t say he’s wrong. But he forgot Halo Anniversary.

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Torchlight II is priced and the Embermage is primed

Posted on August 26, 2011 by John Llewellyn Martin

Got a spare $19.99 USD and a love for Torchlight? You’re in luck, because Runic Games has announced that Torchlight II will retail for exactly that much! The announcement was made at the beginning of the Penny Arcade Expo 2011 and was followed by the announcement of a fourth playable class. The Embermage, a class that focuses on magic, will be available alongside the Engineer, Outlander, and Berserker. The different tools each class can utilize should provide hours of varied dungeon-crawling fun. Also at a $19.99 price point, the original Torchlight proved to be a lot of bang for an affordable amount of buck. Here’s to hoping that the sequel, set for release on the PC in 2011, will be just as beefy.

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