official Torchlight II

[Buio]

http://www.torchlight2game.com/


(image borrowed from http://www.runicgamesfansite.com/ )
 

TORCHLIGHT II

Torchlight II ignites the franchise created and developed by Runic Games in this exciting sequel to the award-winning Action RPG Torchlight. Runic Games, located in Seattle, is a veteran team composed of the designers and leads of projects like Diablo, Diablo II, Mythos, Fate, and Torchlight, which won the Game Developer?s Choice Award for Best Debut of 2009.

Torchlight II is richly textured with our unique art style, drawing from traditional animation influences and expanding on the whimsical and quirky world captured in the original Torchlight. We aim for that broad appeal that?s appropriate for older kids, but is really intended for the kid in every adult.

CO-OP ACTION

The most exciting new feature of Torchlight II is the multiplayer element. Play with your friends, and use the free peer-to-peer matchmaking service to meet new players of a similar level and interest. Together players will discover expansive randomized outdoor areas and deep ominous caverns; random instanced and persistent dungeons, a huge variety of all new monsters and villains, endless variations of loot to find, and quests to complete. Players journey through the perilous Overworld, enjoying all new weather features, time of day events, and a rich and cunning story to drive gameplay.

BACKSTORY

Beyond the town of Torchlight lies a world shrouded in adventure and mystery. Guardian-warrior Syl appears in a prophetic dream, summoning the player to the Estherian Steppes. There, you meet with the Destroyer and soon venture across the continent of Vilderan, an exotic frontier besieged by forces of evil. A discovery unfolds, that the Alchemist, following his conquest of dark ember, disappeared on his quest to defeat the unknown corrupted force responsible for destroying the mystical race of Estherians. Aided by Syl, the remaining Estherian Guardians, and clues left behind by the missing Alchemist, you will find yourself battling a powerful enemy that threatens to unravel the elements of the entire world.

Runic Games will release Torchlight II initially as a digital download in Spring of 2011.

KEY FEATURES

• Multi-player ? Play with your friends over a local area network, or over the Internet. A free matchmaking peer-to-peer service lets you make new friends for exciting co-op play.
• Customizable Characters ? Players create and customize a character from one of four classes available and choose an animal companion. Through cosmetic, class, and gender choices, skill path decisions, and the treasures they acquire, each character can be custom-tailored to each player?s needs.
• Moddability ? Torchlight II will release with an updated version of TorchEd, the Torchlight editor. Players have the option to create their own mods, adding even more content to the world. You and your friends can download the same mod and play together!
• New User Interface ? Torchlight II boasts an entirely new, improved user interface, designed to be easier than ever for new players to pick up and play. Thanks to this intuitive interface, players have immediate access to a rich and varied world, with little experience necessary.
• Overworld Areas ? Torchlight II has large randomized overworld areas to explore with weather, time of day cycles, and random events that provide players with even more content to experience.
• Random Dungeons ? Delve into randomly generated dungeons within the game at any time for extra experience and rare loot. Dungeons in Torchlight II have even more branching paths to explore with friends filled with random events, rewards and dangers.
• Retirement System ? Once characters are sufficiently leveled up, they can ?retire? and bestow specific benefits and perks onto new characters.
• Pets ? Players choose a pet to accompany them. Pets level up along with the player, and help in battle, learn spells, carry items, and perform a variety of support services.
• Fishing ? Fishing returns in the sequel! Players can take a break from the high-energy pace of adventuring to relax by one of the many fishing holes and see what they can catch. Fish have unique benefits for the player and pet, while a number of other rewards can also be discovered.

 

 

[Skulltrail]

Never heard of it. :huh:

[briangw]

This is great news. Love Torchlight!

[XionUK]

Woo Hoo!! Torchlight is epic!!!

[epk]

Nicee ! will be looking forward to the multiplayer side ^^

[Buio]

Never heard of it. :huh:

Buy it on Steam then. Well worth the $20 or lower that it has cost from start if you like Action-RPG games like Diablo etc.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/41500/

[Lukemc86]

I recently started playing some Torchlight again so I'm excited to see Torchlight 2. It's a little rough that I'm going to have to wait until spring of 2011 for it, but co-op should make it worth the wait.

[Colin-uk Veteran]

:woot: loved the first version. this version sounds good :)

[Buio]

PC Gamer interview with Runic Games about Torchlight II:

http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/08/04/torchlight-2-interview-with-runic-games/

PC Gamer artwork images from Torchlight II:

http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/08/04/exclusive-torchlight-2-first-artwork/

(thanks to GrahamSmith on Runic Games forums)

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Awesome news. The first one was fun. It's a shame I didn't play much of it since I bought it in Dec '09. I remember reading about plans to add multiplayer to Torchlight so I'm guessing they decided to work on Torchlight II (and add MP to that instead).

[spacer]

Sounds awesome. I'm a huge Diablo fan, so Torchlight was a Godsend. Torchlight 2 should be even better by the sound of it, so it's definitely going to help tide me over until Diablo 3 comes out.

[Nagisan]

The first was fun for a bit, but I got bored of it pretty quick. Maybe the new Co-op mode will change that. I an surprised they announced this so soon, less then a year after the first released and they are already announcing the sequel.

I have a feeling what happened is the features they wanted to add to the first (I remember reading that they were going to add Multiplayer to the first game) grew too large, so they decided they would release it as a sequel instead of updating the first one that much.

[rajputwarrior]

i love the first one, so looking forward to this one for sure (Y)

[Xilo]

Torchlight got boring REALLY fast.

Hopefully they learned from their mistakes.

[Buio]

Torchlight got boring REALLY fast.

I disagree, and still play Torchlight now and then. Well I didn't play the game 24/7 when it arrived, I prefer a more leisurely pace at high difficulty level.

It's not about a deep story, it's about smashing an endless horde of monsters in different ways and getting loot. Well that's what I play the genre for anyway.

[Swerz]

Awesome. I enjoyed the first one a lot.

Can't wait to play some online co-op :D

[Rhialto]

The first was fun for a bit, but I got bored of it pretty quick. Maybe the new Co-op mode will change that.

Same here... Usually when I hear about a Diablo II ladder reset I want to start playing it again. Now I hear this news and I don't think I will rush home playing Torchlight tonight. I will nonetheless look for Torchlight 2 as I did with the 1st one because price was attractive and also the fact that co-op will add a lot to the experience.

[scokem]

Can. Not. Wait!

I got so hooked on Torchlight last December when I grabbed it at half-price during the sale period. It's such a fun game and it kept me going back again and again. Me and my bro have always said it could only have been more fun if it had co-op so we could play through it together so this announcement has pretty much made my day :)

[c3ntury]

There will probably be 3-4 Torchlight game before Diablo 3 arrives xD Can't wait for this sequel!

[Buio]

A bunch of info from a Shotgun Podcast. Runicgamesfansite.com sums it up good:

http://www.runicgamesfansite.com/content.php?1102-Shotgun-Podcast-with-Runic-about-Torchlight-II

Some of the points:

• The Railman class is "an engineer turned into a melee tank." They are charged with developing transportation and pushing it into the wilderness.
  
• The Outlander is a hybrid of ranged with "superstitious magic." Survivalist vibe.
  
• Identification system will be changed, if not completely removed.
  
• The loot you see drop will belong only to you, and item trading will be available. Trading interface included, but you can throw things on the ground for anyone to pick up if you want.
  
• Co-op is a minimum of four players, and a possible maximum of eight. Summons are a major factor in these numbers. Not finalized.
  
• More monsters scaling this time, not as much as oblivion but better than the main dungeon in the original game.
  
• PvP might appear in the game, but it won't be possible to do it cheat-free. (due to heavy modability and p2p multiplayer probably)
  
• Skill system has changed.
  
• The world will be divided into zones with sub-areas, and random outdoors.
  
• Three major distinct outdoor types - Grassy mountain Steppes, Desert and Dark, Spooky Battlefield Forest (Swamp?)
  
• 200+ Unique weapon models.
  
• New weapon types, including Cannons and Fist weapons.
  
• No mounts.
  
• Price point close to the last game.
  

[Rudy]

I really enjoyed the game,..... for a bit over 2 days (but I played a lot for those 2 days)

[tiagosilva29]

I played this game on a friend's GNU plus Linux box at the university. It was quite amusing although the monsters and maps were a bit repetitive.

While the developers didn't release a native GNU plus Linux client they made quite an effort to ease the experience for gamers willing to purchase the game and run it via Wine.

[speedstr3789]

It's really fun..for about an hour. Worst use of my money in a long time. It isn't as exciting as some people are making it out to be.

[Buio]

Torchlight II teaser trailer released at GamesCom.

Note, it's about 0:48 of blablabla, the actions starts after that. ;)

"HD" link;

&hd=1

Looks awesome! Great new spell effects, great looking monsters... and multiplayer. :woot:

[McCordRm]

Hmmm... coming in 2011.

Man, if this gets released anywhere near Diablo 3 the investors are going

to be ****ed. <--Angry.

Just sayin'.