By Jason Venter | 04-23-2012 2:00PM
Torchlight II still doesn’t have a release date, despite originally being slated to arrive in 2011, but that probably won’t remain the case for long. The game’s opening cinema is now available online, a likely sign that an official release date will follow soon. 2012 looks like a go.
The trailer, which was produced by Klei Entertainment, doesn’t show any actual gameplay footage. The familiar artwork within should be more than enough to whet your appetite for adventure in spite of that fact. A narrator reveals what you might have expected: even in death, the vile Ordrak has managed to make a nuisance of himself. Evil remains strong and the familiar heroes who once vanquished it are slowly falling (as demonstrated so effectively in the cinematic, which depicts an extended brawl with a heavily-armored warrior). There is hope, though, in a new generation of heroes. You can expect to control those new heroes in the sequel.
Torchlight was a big success for Runic Games. Originally developed as a means to raise the money that would be needed to fund development of an MMO, the dungeon crawler drew favorable comparisons to the Diablo series. Since its release, the title has sold more than a million units across the PC and Xbox 360 platforms. Torchlight II represents another delay for the intended online epic, but that only makes sense. MMOs aren’t cheap to produce and the team members at Runic Games were likely anxious to put their efforts into a sure thing. Besides, Torchlight II could help to build a larger audience for the eventual MMO.
When it finally releases later this year, Torchlight II will be going up against Diablo III, a real heavyweight that’s due next month. That’s not an enviable position, but if the trailer is any indication, Runic Games is headed into the brawl with both fists swinging. Hopefully, the game fares better against Blizzard’s latest effort than the previous generation of heroes fared against Ordrak.
