Torchlight demo released on Steam for frugal fantasy fans

by Griffin McElroy { Oct 28th 2009 at 11:20PM }

Your money is precious, like a precious, precious flower, made out of a precious crystal of some sort. We understand your hesitance to drop a wad of cash -- or in this case, a lone $20 bill -- on unfamiliar IP. Fortunately, so does Runic Games, developer of the recently released top-down RPG Torchlight.

The studio has answered the call of the "try it before you buy it" contingency and added a demo for the game to Steam. It's there right now, and it's free, and it has Diablo-ish sensibilities. If that's as enticing to you as we think it is, you can click right here and make it your own.

Tags: demo, rpg, runic-games, steam, torchlight

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Discotheque @ Oct 28th 2009 11:23PM

The game looks fun. Downloading the demo riiiight....now

Filter @ Oct 28th 2009 11:27PM

just get this game, its amazing. Better than titanquest, if it had multiplayer, maybe as fun as d2.

RKN @ Oct 28th 2009 11:28PM

Demos sure are nice, the demo of Wolfenstein let me know it is a real let-down and not to buy it unless it is $10 or below. : /

The PC should get more demos, especially of multiplatform games where the consoles get a demo and the PC doesn't. Don't make me torrent a game just to try it out!

Rirath @ Oct 28th 2009 11:53PM

Torchlight looks right up my alley, but $20 is just a bit higher than I'd prefer. Maybe I'm spoiled by all the $5 sales lately - but I can't help but believe that if I wait around a bit, I'll get this less fairly soon.

Einhanderkiller @ Oct 28th 2009 11:59PM

$20 is high? Wut.
Yeah, it's only single-player, but it's very polished and it's an RPG, so it has a lot of content.

Riley @ Oct 29th 2009 12:07AM

I've already put 5 hours into the game and there's obviously lots more. I'm already thinking about playing through with the other classes. Considering this game came out this week, $20 is a bargain. As a deal lover myself I can't fault you for wanting to get a better price, but this game is definitely worth what they're asking.

Filter @ Oct 29th 2009 12:23AM

Yeah 20 dollars is a steal, though if they would have included mp, they could have sold it for 50+

Viney @ Oct 29th 2009 12:36AM

From what I understand, they want to use the money they make off the single player sales to fund MMORPG content for the game. That is, if it does well and there's enough interest.

So if you want multiplayer, show it some love now.

Rirath @ Oct 29th 2009 11:55AM

You guys are probably quite right about the quality, I'll certainly admit. I'm still a bit sated on PC games at the moment myself, mainly due to the recent sales, but releasing it at a reasonable $20 is nice to see.

I'll see what it's going for after I clear a few titles out of the queue.

Solstice @ Oct 29th 2009 12:52AM

This game looks like a cross between WoW and Diablo. They should call it WoWablo. It would sell 10 gajillion copies! :P

Seriously though, it looks neat. I'll give the demo a whirl even though i'm already 3.5 games behind in my queue. *Sigh*.

Farseer (GDI) @ Oct 29th 2009 1:30AM

That looks really fun - off to dl the demo...

liquid @ Oct 29th 2009 3:04AM

I've been playing it for 13 hours since its release. And it's amazing. Buy it!

Wildside @ Oct 29th 2009 4:41AM

fyi, Runic Games made this game n another one called TorchLight MMORPG is on it's way. If u want multiplayer, wait for that version.

Runic Games was founded by Travis Baldree, creator of Fate n the co-founders of Blizzard North, Max Schaefer and Erich Schaefer. The staff is made up by the developers at Flagship Studio Seattle who are responsible for the free MMO, Mythos. Keep in mind that Flagship Studios was made up by ex-Diablo creators. What i love is that Runic Games hired Matt Uelmen, who composed the music for Diablo 1 n 2.

says here on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runic_Games

sinergy @ Oct 29th 2009 11:59AM

That would explain why the music is so much similar to Diablo :p

Thierry @ Oct 29th 2009 8:45AM

They'll have the free online version of Torchlight next year which will generate revenue through micro-transaction. Think of this $20 entertainment for the current offline game and some kind of down payment for the development of the online version. After all, if people can drop $5 - $60 to pre-order a game that won't be out for months, $20 for actual game is a bargain.

ScottG13 @ Oct 29th 2009 8:50AM

Its a terrific game at $20. If DS or PSP had more games like this at $20, I'd spend alot more time with my portables.

Buy this game.

Draimen @ Oct 29th 2009 11:23AM

Awesome game. Especially if you like action RPG's like Diablo, Fate, Titan Quest, etc. It's made by the same guys as Fate. And some of the designers were co-designers on Diablo 1 and 2.

Plus, it's an indie developer and I always like to support them. Especially if they're local. I met the guys at PAX when I demo'd it there, they were really cool people.

Also, these are the gays that made Mythos before Flagship shut down. Which, if any of you have heard about it, was going to be a free to play MMO. I was in beta and it was AMAZING, one of my favorite games. This is pretty much that. Especially when the MMO version of the game hits, I imagine it will just be Mythos reborn. Which is a good thing. That game never should have died. Ever.

TheKingInYellow @ Oct 29th 2009 12:56PM

I bought two copies since my wife saw me playing and was ready to kick me off my laptop to play it.

Seriously, if you even liked Diablo a little bit, buy this game. It's fantastic.

briankun @ Oct 29th 2009 3:37PM

Within ten minutes of entering the dungeon in this game, my PET CAT was shooting movement-impairing frost spells at my enemies! I have been waiting for a fun single-player RPG for a long time (since FFX-2 because FF12 was bad) and this one is beautiful and intricate.

The only problem, of course, is that I have no idea how I'm going to find the time to complete this, as well as Eufloria which was released that week, Wolfenstein and Plants versus Zombies. I have now thoroughly sworn off MMOs due to lack of quality, so I have a lot more time to enjoy single-player games again =)

matahtak @ Oct 29th 2009 5:51PM

No multiplayer? No thanks.

TJCoolguy @ Nov 2nd 2009 2:23PM

I hope I don't get torn apart for saying this, but I hope they release it on XBLA or PSN as well. I'm not a PC hater by any means, it's just that my longtime PC (which I spent many years upgrading and pouring money into) died. Apparently irrevocably.

So I'd be glad to pay 20 bucks (or 1600 made-up ninja points) for this on a console.