Torchlight 3 Announced as Rework of Free-to-Play Torchlight Frontiers

Torchlight Frontiers, the free-to-play video game from publisher Perfect World Entertainment and developer Echtra Games, is no more. The folks behind it have announced that the video game will see a fairly massive rework to release as Torchlight III this summer. Along with the shift in name, so to goes the free-to-play model; Torchlight III is a premium video game you pay money for once.

According to the developers, this extremely significant change comes after extensive feedback from alpha testers. Torchlight III will still have both online and offline play, but much of the progression systems appear to have been or will be reworked, and offline characters will not be able to play multiplayer games. Other changes include the return of the act structure from previous Torchlight titles, the removal of the in-game real-money store, and more. You can check out all of the announced changes on the official website for Torchlight III.

“When we started developing Torchlight Frontiers, we were focused on creating a shared-world experience,” Max Schaefer, CEO of Echtra Games and co-founder of the Torchlight franchise, said. “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. 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.”

What do you think about the Torchlight III announcement? Are you more excited for a direct sequel to the original Torchlight video games? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!

Torchlight III is scheduled to release for PC via Steam this summer, with closed alpha testing set to begin tomorrow, January 29th. Torchlight Frontiers, at this point, is basically dead and converted into the new video game. You can check out all of our previous coverage of Torchlight Frontiers right here.