Torchlight 3 has finally ventured out of early access
Full steam ahead for a goblin smackin'
Dungeon diving loot 'em up Torchlight 3 leaves early access today. Eight years after its stellar hack 'n' slash predecessor, with a studio closure and a complete pivot away from a shared-world online vision, it's kind of amazing the game's even made it this far. But now, Torchlight 3's long journey towards being a pretty alright goblin-puncher finally comes to an end.
After warming up with a quest through Steam Early Access for the past few months, Torchlight 3 is ready to brave a full release with the help of a new launch trailer.
Set a century after the close of the very good Torchlight 2, Echtra's sequel has you once again facing off against a resurgent Netherim menace with four new plucky adventurers - a train-summoning beefcake, a pressurised boxing robot, a centrist wizard and "guy with gun". Off you pop into the woods and caves and dark corners of the earth, bludgeoning spiders and goblins to save the day make your gear numbers rocket upwards.
It's a more traditional game than first planned, mind. As the story goes, Torchlight 3 was once Torchlight Frontiers, and would've been a shared-world, free-to-play online game as much Destiny as it was Diablo. Those plans were ditched earlier this year in favour of a more traditional sequel, but some ideas - forts, contracts and such - stuck around past the name change.
I've been playing a bit of Torchlight 3 over the last few days, beating up goblins with a magical gun train, my pet wolf and a massive two-handed wrench. It's alright, I s'pose. A lot of the new systems feel like leftovers from Frontiers, and the story is absolute guff - but hey, I'm having a fun enough time turning mobs of monsters into a pulp. For a second opinion, check out our Torchlight 3 review.
Torchlight 3 is out now on Steam for £31/€33/$40.