Torchlight II
A dungeon crawler with multiplayer and extensive modding support.
Torchlight II is an action role-playing dungeon crawler video game developed by Runic Games and released for Microsoft Windows on September 20, 2012. It is the sequel to Torchlight and introduced peer-to-peer multiplayer support and extended modding capabilities, addressing a major criticism of its predecessor. The game received mostly positive reviews from critics and sold nearly 3 million copies by 2015.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Runic Games
- Designer
- Travis Baldree
- Series
- Torchlight
- Composer
- Matt Uelmen
- Engine
- OGRE
- Genre
- Action role-playing, hack and slash
- Modes
- Single-player, multiplayer
- Platforms
- Windows
- OS X
- Linux
- Nintendo Switch
- PlayStation 4
- Xbox One
Facts from the source article.
Did You Know?
- The Alchemist, a playable character from the first game, becomes corrupted by the Ember Blight and destroys the town of Torchlight, setting the plot in motion.
- The game's three acts are set in the Estherian Steppes, the Mana Wastes, and Grunnheim, a haunted forest with dwarven ruins.
Development
Runic Games originally planned an MMORPG set in the Torchlight world, but in August 2010 announced Torchlight II as a sequel to gain experience with multiplayer. Some work on the sequel was intended to carry over to the planned MMORPG. The PC release was initially expected in 2011, but was pushed to 2012 for further polishing and beta testing. Involvement in the Xbox Live Arcade port of the first game delayed development, but optimizations from that port improved the PC version. Cinematic sequences were produced by Klei Entertainment. A closed beta stress test ran from May 18 to May 24, 2012, with limited keys given to users who had created a Runic Games account before the beta. In April 2013, a patch added the GUTS editor for user modifications and Steam Workshop support.
Sequel
Runic Games shifted focus to Hob. Max Schaefer departed in 2016 to found Echtra Games, and Runic Games was closed by its parent company in 2017. In 2018, Echtra Games announced Torchlight Frontiers, a free-to-play MMORPG, which was rebranded as Torchlight III in January 2020, becoming a premium game with microtransactions removed.
Reception
Torchlight II received favorable reviews, with a Metacritic score of 88 out of 100 from 67 critics. Game Informer called it excellent and noted the margin between it and Diablo III was razor-thin, giving the nod to Torchlight II. IGN praised its near-perfect formula of varied monster behavior, interesting items, and skill design. GameTrailers highlighted its reasonable $20 price tag. Criticism included a lack of innovation, with GameSpot stating the genre may need new ideas. The game was nominated for Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year at the 16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. It sold over 1 million copies in 2012 and nearly 3 million by 2015.
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