PC Gaming Show: Torchlight III just hit early access, New World’s beta begins in July

Torchlight III entering Steam Early Access marks the exciting return of the Torchlight franchise that ARPG fans know and love,” said Max Schaefer, CEO of Echtra Games and co-founder of the Torchlight franchise. “Player feedback is incredibly important to us, and we look forward to working with the community as we continue to expand Torchlight III to make it the best Torchlight title yet. With Torchlight III in Early Access, it’s time for all adventurers, including longtime Torchlight fans and newcomers, to gather their wits and brave the frontier!”

Set in the same universe from Torchlight I & II, Torchlight III for Early Access features all of the franchise’s signature gameplay mechanics, including satisfying hack and slash combat, epic loot drops and a unique pet system that captured the hearts of ARPG fans around the world. The return of the iconic franchise also introduces new features, including fully customizable forts that allow adventurers to leave their personal mark on the world. Over the course of the game being in Early Access, additional features, game content, including a new act, and quality-of-life improvements will also be added via periodic updates.

In Torchlight III, it’s been a century since the events of Torchlight II, and the Ember Empire is in decline. Novastraia is again under threat of invasion against the Netherim and its allies. To defeat the Netherim threat, adventurers must choose to party up with three fellow adventurers via online cooperative multiplayer or venture alone to fight their way to find fame, glory and new adventures through a vibrant world filled with hordes of dangerous creatures waiting at every turn. Torchlight III Early Access game features include:

Travel the Frontier: Players can explore the wilderness, party with friends, gather materials to craft loot, or show off their spoils in town! There’s always something to do in the new frontier.

Build & Upgrade Your Fort: It’s time to rebuild! Players will enjoy their very own account-based fort, where they can upgrade gear, and make renovations to show it off to their friends and the world. The game allows them to build monuments of power, pet stables, and more!

Choose a Relic: Relics are objects of great power that grant players a suite of active skills and passive skills. Players can craft them, level them up and store them in their fort. The relic is an important part of a character’s strategy – choose wisely!

Collect Epic Gear: Whether it’s armor, weapons, recipes, ember cores, or even new pets … there’s always more to find as adventurers battle through dungeons and take on dangerous foes. Every randomly-generated area can be replayed over and over again since each instance brings different items.

Pets are Back: Players can fight their way to fame and glory with loyal companions! Each of the many species comes in a myriad of colors and styles so adventurers shouldn’t settle for the first one they find. They can also make these pets stronger by adding skills, equip them with gear to make them hardier, and together battle enemies as a team.

Build Your Hero: With four classes to choose from, players can utilize class-specific mechanics to maximize damage and their odds of survival. Torchlight III lets them gather epic gear, select your Relic powers, and customize loadouts to create a unique combat style for their heroes.

Torchlight III features four diverse hero classes with unique abilities and powers:

• The Dusk Mage is an enchanter who harnesses the power of light and dark energy to conjure devastating attacks.
• The Forged is a powerful robot who relies on an arsenal of weaponry to build up heat and unleash explosive assaults.
• The Railmaster is a locomotive savvy powerhouse who steams into combat with a massive hammer and heavily armed battle train.
• The Sharpshooter is a powerful and nimble ranged character who uses incredible skill with ranged weapons and magical trinkets to take on enemies from afar.

Torchlight III is the latest successor to the ARPG cult classics, Torchlight I & II, originally developed by Runic Games. This fast-paced dungeon crawler brings fans back to the beloved Torchlight universe to hack and slash their way through a brand new world filled with hordes of goblins, undead and other dangerous Netherim creatures. Adventurers can party up with friends or venture into the vast wilderness alone, where they will find loot, explore dungeons, collect epic gear and build their very own fort to show off to the world. Torchlight III features four unique hero classes (Dusk Mage, Forged, Railmaster and Sharpshooter), plus a myriad of new and familiar combat pets to help players fight their way to fame and glory.