-
Search
Fellow Developers
Listings
Jun
9
If you’re missing Mythos…
Posted under Commercial, MMO, PC, Projects
E3 has come and gone, and I can’t say there was anything in it that really grabbed me by the throat. Well, apart from perhaps one thing…
First of all, if you didn’t get sucked up in the miniature hype tornado that appeared around Mythos before it sadly disappeared off the face of the internet, let me explain a bit. It was a point-and-click action RPG in the vein of Diablo and Dungeon Siege, and it had a ton of potential. Unfortunately, Flagship Studios – its ill-fated developer – went bust early last summer, taking Mythos with it. But in a twist to the story, it turns out that virtually all of Flagship’s development team has been signed up into a new software house called Runic Games. What are they working on? Well, it’s this little ol’ thing called Torchlight…
Now, with Diablo III well and truly in development, only a serious betting man would suggest that Torchlight will be king of the “click ‘n’ kill” hill, but one thing that’s definitely in its favour is that the initial release will be made later this year – that’s way before we’ll get to bash on some demons in Sanctuary. Also, you’ll see that I said “initial release” – at first, Runic intend to debut the game in single player mode, with an MMO multiplayer aspect coming around a year later. They also claim to be shipping the first version with extensive modding tools that will let you create your own dungeons, skills and spells.
At a first glance the game looks to have a Dungeon Runners-esque cutesyness about it, but I don’t find that a huge barrier to get past. All I care about is variety. Content that doesn’t look like it’s all the same just with a different texture. Dungeons that are random enough that you can’t predict where the dead ends will be, or where the really nasty monsters are lurking. A game that is challenging yet doesn’t make you feel that you’re grinding toward an anticlimatic ending. So… yeah, the holy grail of ARPGs, I suppose 
You can see for yourself some of the other screenshots over at Gamespot, then check a short teaser video at Perfect World. Finally, get involved with suggesting things or just asking questions over on the Runic Games forum.
Whatever the level of hype Torchlight ends up getting, I’ll be keeping my ear pressed tight to the ground on this one. You can never have too much shiny loot! 