Torchlight Fever
I had never even heard about Torchlight before last night. I was a little bored last night and seeking something different for some gaming. I just needed a little interlude from all my current games. I booted up Steam to try to find a game to play, whether it be something I owned or purchasing something new. I was actually going to look into Borderlands when I saw the front page of the Steam store advertising Torchlight for only $20.
I checked my main resources (Wikipedia and GamersWithJobs) to find out about this game pre-purchase. I found the link to a GiantBomb gameplay video of Torchlight on the GamersWithJobs forums. They basically said it was the most Diablo game since Diablo.
Torchlight has an interesting history to its development. It was created by Runic Games, company formed by a group of people that were formerly working on the Action RPG game Mythos under Flagship Studios. Many of the team members worked on the Diablo series at Blizzard North before they worked for Flagship. The composer for Torchlight is also the same composer for the Diablo series. Once Flagship tanked and Mythos was canceled, the team went and formed Runic Studios and made Torchlight in under 11 months. There is also a free to play MMO being created set in the same world as Torchlight and is set to come out in about two years.
The game is set in a mining town next to a giant mountain and deep mine in a steampunk-esque (yes, this made me squeal with delight) setting. The town is built on a rich vein of Ember, a mysterious ore that gives people magical power. In the mines, evil has risen and you must go fight it. The game has three class: the melee-brawler Destroyer, the steampunk spellcaster Alchemist and the ranged/rogue city guardsman Vanquisher. During character creation you get to have a pet dog or cat.
The animal companion is awesome. Your pet can learn spells, has its own inventory, and can go back to town to sell items while you still progress through the dungeon.
For a game that I had no idea existed before today I, like many others, am very enthusiastic about playing through it. Apparently the main storyline is about 12 hours long and after you beat the game once, you have access to an "infinite dungeon". The general consensus about the game is that you should not start playing if you have anything you plan to do within a couple hours as the time will quickly vanish and this game may end up being more Diablo than Diablo 3 will be.
If you do not buy this game, you are doing a disservice to humanity. C'mon it is only $20... you know you want to!