Torchlight Frontiers is getting a name change to better suit what it’s become. The third game in the franchise is now titled Torchlight III. Perfect World Entertainment and Echtra Games announced Frontier will release as the third game in the series later this year.
The developers say they made the decision during the development of the Torchlight Frontiers.
“When we started developing Torchlight Frontiers, we were focused on creating a shared-world experience,” said Max Schaefer, CEO of Echtra Games and co-founder of the Torchlight franchise. “During development, you often discover what type of product a game was meant to be and we found Torchlight Frontiers was meant to be a true successor to Torchlight I & II.”
The change also comes from players who participated in the alpha version. They realized it felt similar to the first two releases and so the developers decided to change the name to Torchlight III.
Based on this and extensive feedback from our Alpha testers, we decided it was time to take the game back to its roots and model it after the classic Torchlight games that ARPG fans have come to love. We’d like to thank our dedicated player base for supporting us and providing such insightful feedback during early development.”
It’s always great to see a developer listen to its fanbase. Knowing what fans really enjoyed or particularly disliked can enhance a game and make it all the better.
Rather than focusing on horizontal progression, the game shifts back to the familiar linear world structure that was introduced with Torchlight I & II. Longtime Torchlight fans will be happy to hear that the game features the same mechanics that set the original series apart from other ARPGs on the market.”
However, the game is forgoing the free-to-play route and will be a premium model this summer. Torchlight III is releasing on Steam will support both on and offline play.
The closed alpha starts on January 29, 2020.
