Torchlight Frontiers has been rechristened Torchlight III and completely revamped from its original free-to-play model. A closed alpha will begin Jan. 29 on Steam, and it will launch in summer.
The dungeon crawler will follow the mold of the previous Torchlight titles as players hack and slash their way through enemies in the action role-playing game’s linear world. Unlike what was planned with Frontiers, the premium title will give players full access to all of the playable content and can be played offline.
There will be four character classes available: a Dusk Mage that uses light and dark energy, the robotic Forged, the battle train-using Railmaster, and a fourth class yet to be named. In addition to their class, players will get to select a pet (an alpaca, owl, or dog) that will accompany them on their adventures in Torchlight III.
“When we started developing Torchlight Frontiers, we were focused on creating a shared-world experience. 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,” explained Echtra Games CEO Max Schaefer. “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.”
Other Torchlight III features include the ability to upgrade the player’s personal fort, being able to explore the wilderness with friends, and a wide array of epic gear to collect. Players can gain rare weapons and pets from completing in-game contracts. There are also relics that can be crafted and then leveled up in order to gain new active and passive skills.
Following its PC release, Torchlight III will receive a console release “shortly after.”
