Torchlight 3 ventures out of early access next month
Switching on the lights this October
It's been a strange and murky road for monster-bashing diablike Torchlight 3. But even after the closure of series creators Runic games, a pivot away from the persistent online plans of Torchlight Frontiers, and a brief stint in Steam Early Access, Echtra's loot-grabbing threequel is finally preparing to face the cold light of a full release this October 13th - and it's brought some fancy fairies along for the ride.
Echtra broke the release date in an news post today, announcing platform-specific "glittersprites" with us PC folks getting the purple variety as our exclusive. Personally, I prefer dungeon-diving with a pup at my side.
It's been something of a bumpy ride to get here, mind. Formed of folks from now-defunct Torchlight 1 and 2 devs Runic, Echtra Games initially pitched their follow-up as Torchlight Frontiers. But earlier this year, the devs scrapped their persistent, live-service plans in favour of a more traditional entry, ditching the Frontiers moniker and reworking the game into a more traditional sequel.
That version of the game has been in early access for a few months now, wrapping up its campaign with a final region back in June. While persistent base-building and a "contracts" battle pass still hint at the game's online roots, what we've got here is largely a traditional Torchlight romp - an old-fashioned number-crunching dungeon diver with train-summoning wizards, pressurized punch-robots, and a mountain of loot numbers to grind up until you're old and grey.
Torchlight 3 will be getting a bit of a price hike (a tenner or so) when it launches next October 13th. Folks who already own it in early access will still get access to launch, 'course. If you're into colourful loot bashers, it might be worth picking up Torchlight 3 on Steam for £23.79/€29.99/29.99 while you can.