Torchlight Frontiers is Dead but don’t worry, Perfect World has confirmed that their new MMORPG is returning as a traditional ARPG.
In a move that returns to the roots of the Torchlight franchise, developer Echtra and publisher Perfect World have detailed some changes to the upcoming Torchlight installment. Due to hit PCs later this summer, Torchlight Frontiers was due to be the first massively online Torchlight experience but after feedback from the potential player base, things are changing. Instead, Torchlight III will launch on Steam, with closed alpha testing beginning as early as 29 January.
Changing Faces
The fast-paced dungeon crawler first emerged as a free to play experience when we got a glimpse at Gamescom 2019. The Torchlight III reveal brings the game back as a premium buy to play model that the first two games used. On top of the pricing change, the game will now move away from a horizontal progression system, refocusing on the linear world structure that influenced the franchise thus far. The title will be playable on and offline, which is great for those of us with limited connectivity, and pets are back. When players drop into Torchlight III, they will be able to choose a fluffy alpaca, a swift owl or a good doggo to accompany them as they head out to quest their way to glory.
These changes sound like a great choice to us here at Gamespace and it seems like this change will make the game an all-round more enjoyable experience for the player base.
“When we started developing Torchlight Frontiers, we were focused on creating a shared-world experience,” said Max Schaefer, CEO of Echtra Games and co-founder of the Torchlight franchise. “During development, you often discover what type of product a game was meant to be and we found Torchlight Frontiers was meant to be a true successor to Torchlight I & II. Based on this and extensive feedback from our Alpha testers, we decided it was time to take the game back to its roots and model it after the classic Torchlight games that ARPG fans have come to love. We’d like to thank our dedicated player base for supporting us and providing such insightful feedback during early development.”
If you haven’t heard of the newest installment in the Torchlight series then check out our coverage of Torchlight Frontiers so far. three’s no doubt that Torchlight Frontiers is dead but the new king is here and it looks like Torchlight III is going to be awesome. Check out all the details over at the official torchlight website.