Torchlight is one of the game’s most influential gaming brands, but its creators still dream of making MMOs.

Torchlight is probably one of the most miserable gaming franchises I’ve known in the last few years.

Initially, Torchlight was not even a game brand its developer wanted to make, but just a “remnant” from the remains of two different game projects, Hellgate: London and Mythos by Flagship Studios. Hellgate: London is a heavily invested and loot-ahead MMO looter shooter, while Mythos is both a different game and a project created to support Flagship. Studios on the technical side of Hellgate development. However, both games are “sinking” – Hellgate is too far ahead of the time, while Mythos died because Hellgate made Flagship Studios bankrupt.

Torchlight Frontiers và chuyện về một MMO hai lần

MMO Torchlight Dream

While both Hellgate and Mythos were later revived with different publishers, both games had nothing to do with the people who created them. Instead, they reestablished a new studio called Runic Games in 2008 with members of the game industry: Max Schaefer and Eric Schaefer – two of the creators of Diablo – and Travis Baldree. , designer of the popular Fate series (not Fate / Stay Night).

Runic Games was founded to continue what the founders did at Flagship Studios: making a top MMO title that gamers love. However, creating such a game is not easy and requires many human resources, things that Runic Games does not have at this time. To earn funding, Runic Games began to create a game similar to Diablo to prove their ability, and 11 months later, they launched Torchlight.

Torchlight Frontiers và chuyện về một MMO hai lần

Torchlight is exciting, and I’m not the only one who thinks so – the game scores 83/100 on Metacritic, and its success brings the funding that Runic Games needs to create the project. MMO in my dreams. They immediately started working on that MMO title, but soon Runic Games changed their decision and changed the project to Torchlight 2. It is not clear whether this was the cause of Eric Schaefer’s departure. And Travis Baldree or not, but not long after the game was released, they left Runic Games to form Double Damage Games and created the now-famous Rebel Galaxy brand. Meanwhile, those who remained with Runic Games made another game (Hob) before closing in 2017.

But Max Schaefer’s dream of being an MMO Torchlight has not ended here. In 2016, Max Schaefer left Runic Games to create Echtra Games, hired many of his former colleagues, and opened a new MMO Torchlight project. The game was officially announced in 2018 as Torchlight Frontiers and is expected to be released in 2019, and it seems like the dream will soon come true.

But no, once again, Max Schaefer failed. Last January, Max Schaefer announced that MMO Torchlight Frontiers was “dead,” and the game he was about to release would be an offline game called Torchlight 3. It was made up of what Echtra Games have done for Frontiers and will be sold on Steam, where you only have to pay once to play all its content.

Good or bad?

For me, a person who is not very fond of microtransaction, loot box, battle pass, or any other method of collecting money after the game’s release date, this might be a good thing. But for those looking forward to a new MMO project set in the world of Torchlight, Frontiers having to make way for the number 3 is sad news for them. Because the game is now only available for a fixed price, what the game receives after the release date is probably just a few patches and fixes instead of a stable new content stream that lasts for years.

Max Schaefer announces the death of Frontiers and the birth of Torchlight 3.

If Torchlight Frontiers is born, it has a lot of potential for success. The colorful and captivating world Runic Games created for Torchlight still exists in the images of Frontiers that Echtra Games released, so they will surely conquer both Torchlight’s veteran fans and the unknown people to the game. Besides, for years games like Warframe, Path of Exile, and Destiny 2 have proved that the looter game is very suitable for MMO’s repeated gameplay. However, many game players are increasingly afraid of “game services” and the MMO genre has cooled.

While a traditional borderland or Diablo looter can ultimately become boring in gamers’ eyes after they have played all, know all and have everything worth possessing in the game, an MMO game or live service, Absolutely not suffer from this problem because they are continually being updated. The money that gamers spend on microtransaction in the game allows the publisher to continue developing new content for the game – new worlds to explore, new monsters to destroy, new weapons to collect, and new levels to plow. This content gives you a reason to come back to the game and continue to stick with the character you’ve worked so hard to develop.

Torchlight 3.

But Torchlight Frontiers will also face severe competition if it launches. Torchlight itself is not a major brand that most gamers know. Simultaneously, the successful titles I mentioned above have a better foundation and a larger community, not to mention big titles like Diablo 4, Path of Exile 2 are coming out. The launch of a new MMO in this era proved to be a risky decision because of the saturation of service games and the competition from the more prominent names.

But saying the above is probably meaningless because Torchlight 3 is now a thing, and we can only hope that the game will be beautiful. I Will experience this game, compare it with its two predecessors and take the game review.