Through persistence and perseverance, they prevail in the face of darkness – they are Torchlight. As civilization faces unprecedented crisis, an elite task force of fighters emerges. Behind the facade of a prosperous civilization, the corrupting influence of Ember is beginning to wreak havoc on the land and the lives that depend on it. “In the era of Ember Technology, 200 years since the events of Torchlight II, humans have resorted to Ember as the main source of power for machinery operation and magic practices. As of last summer, the game was being touted as singleplayer, which if it stays true will mean we won’t be covering it again, but it’s worth a note here anyhow as it’s the next phase in what was at one point a major multiplayer IP and MMO. It’s free-to-play, but it’s also apparently being run as live service game (“play-to-slay” and I swear I’m not making this up) with a cosmetic cash shop. We do know it’ll have “ open-ended hero building” with 24 talent trees and loads of skills, randomized dungeons, “unlimited” loot, and multiple heroes to pick from (four now with “many more to come”). IGN’s got a new video that’s basically an animated backstory for the game and its heroes and contains little information about gameplay itself the biggest info dump has been on TapTap.

But PWE still owns the IP in spite of Echtra Games’ move to Zynga, and as it originally announced last year, it’s going to use it: on a mobile “hack-and-slash ARPG” title called Torchlight Infinite, developed by Chinese studio XD.com. MMO players are likely still smarting from the dramatic shift Torchlight Frontiers took – from an actual MMORPG into a stripped-down Torchlight III that currently sees under 200 players on average and was considered a great disappointment following its launch.

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