It's been a bit of a rocky road for the upcoming Torchlight game—developer Runic Games, maker of Torchlight and Torchlight 2, was closed 2017, and Torchlight Frontiers, the shared-world RPG being made at Echtra Games, was delayed from a 2019 release to 2020.
It's about time for some good news, then. Torchlight Frontiers is now Torchlight 3, and it's not just a simple change in title.
"Along with this name change comes a major shift in our design approach to Torchlight III," reads a post on the Torchlight site. "Torchlight III will be released as a premium title. For one box-price, you will own the game and be able to play the way that you want, online or off."
"Over the past year, we have gathered massive amounts of feedback from our Alpha testers," the post continues. "After reviewing this feedback, discussing with our internal teams, and receiving guidance from our publisher, we determined that this was the best course for the game. This shift helps bring Torchlight back to its roots and makes it the true sequel to Torchlight I & II that it was always meant to be."
Torchlight 3 will now follow a similar Act and progression structure to Torchlight and Torchlight 2. You'll be able to play both online and offline, and the "in-game real-money store" has been removed. It will launch on Steam as the first two Torchlight games did.
(Weirdly enough, I started a new character in Torchlight 2 just yesterday—I've just started playing another action RPG recently, Grim Dawn, but found the art style and atmosphere a bit too, well, grim for my tastes. I like my hack-and-slash RPGs a bit more cartoony.)
Despite these substantial changes for Torchlight 3, a 2020 release date is still planned. You can read the full announcement here.
Keep up with all of 2020's upcoming releases on our list of games of 2020.
