Torchlight II Preview

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Written by BuckGB on May 2nd, 2011

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While all of this will be music to the ears of the initiated, the release date will not. Slipping past the scheduled May/June window, Runic CEO Max Schaefer now expects a July release, naming the Xbox version responsible. '˜Having to do the extra work with the interface has pushed us back a little bit' says Schaefer, and early adopters who were playing Torchlight long before it graced XBLA may well curse the console for this intrusion. However, for those planning to join the ranks of Portal 2 PC gamers with pitchfork in hand, Schaefer adds that '˜optimisations and technical improvements' that were made in the Xbox version's development have now also been implemented on the PC, perhaps offering some vindication for the delay.

Whether this description of XBLA's influence is indeed accurate or just a tactful attempt to quell the fury of PC gamers scorned, the improvements made since the previous game are already clear from what we have seen. Dungeon crawling veterans currently jonesing for Diablo III may scoff at the humble graphics, but Runic have managed to substantially tweak the new visuals without endangering the popular, super-deformed art style. New lighting touches give dungeons some much needed variety, and the effects associated with your attacks and spells have an increased sense of impact. However, the distinction between titles is most apparent when you escape the dungeons for new overground areas, which include day/night cycles, changing weather conditions, and random events to add a feeling of being in a moment in time while you are questing.

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