Long ago at PAX 2009, I took time out of my busy schedule of contracting H1N1, to avail myself of some new titles coming out this year. One of the more exciting booths I stopped by (for an appointment, but I feel like I would’ve found myself there anyway), was for developer Runic games. All of the folks there were super nice and very knowledgeable about their new game coming out. What game is that, you ask?

TORCHLIGHT.

And when is that beauty coming out?

TORCHLIGHT WILL BE AVAILABLE ON PC THIS OCTOBER 27TH.

By Jove, it’s nearly October now! Well if you like things that are fun and nice to look at, please give Torchlight a try. Although all of the stations were full at PAX, and I didn’t get to try Torchlight for myself (which is probably a good thing, because I’m rubbish at PC games), I did annoyingly stare over a guy’s shoulder the whole time. First of all, I really truly was blown away by how nice the game looked. The art style and execution of it made the whole atmosphere of the game seem really approachable. And from what the Rep standing next to me told me, all of the dungeon levels are randomized, so you’ll never crawl the same dungeon twice. Now, I can tell by this point that you’re interested, but you’re wondering what exactly Torchlight is about. From the website (http://www.torchlightgame.com/) itself:

The adventure is set in the mining settlement of Torchlight, a boomtown founded on the discovery of rich veins of Ember – a rare and mysterious ore with the power to enchant or corrupt all that it contacts. This corruptive power may have dire consequences however, and players set out into the nearby mountains and depths below to discover the full extent of Ember’s influence on the civilizations that have come before.

Players will choose from among three character classes, and venture from the safety of the town of Torchlight into randomly generated dungeon levels, with a huge variety of creepy monsters, endless variations of loot to find, and quests to complete. The endless randomization ensures a long-lived gameplay experience.

Oh, and did I happen to mention that the lead developers of this game are Max and Erich Schaefer, the guys who co-designed Diablo and Diablo II? Pretty much anyone who has ever owned a PC and is a gamer has played Diablo at some point. If you like what you see, definitely throw these guys some support. Their game truly seemed quite fun, and I know what I’ll be doing October 27th.