Torchlight Frontiers has abandoned it's MMORPG aspirations and rebranded itself as Torchlight III, a more traditional ARPG. Here's why.
Game publisher Perfect World Entertainment and developer Echtra Games have announced that video game Torchlight III Winter-themed update Snow & Steam is coming to all platforms.
WTMG's Thomas Medina: "While I understand those less than impressed, I still really enjoy Torchlight III. I feel if the game had stuck with its original title, reception would have been totally different. As it stands, it feels like this weird hybrid game, with elements of both Frontiers and a proper Torchlight III haphazardly mashed together. Most blatantly is the fort system, which is your standard mobile timegated building simulator which serves little purpose beyond decoration in the final game. Presumably in the F2P version, it would have been a much bigger feature, both gameplay and monetization wise. Likewise is the Battle Pass that’s now just tacked on and hidden behind a menu as of now. Still, as long as you know what to expect and go in with the right mindset, there’s still so much classic ARPG fun to be had."
Jamie Davies of GameGrin reviews Torchlight III, writing: "Taking over from Runic Games, developer of the first two Torchlight titles, Echtra Games initially saw fit to take the franchise in a new free-to-play direction. When that new direction, titled Torchlight Frontiers, seemed to head towards a place devoid of anything resembling fun, the team decided to change course and create a more traditional Torchlight title with a microtransaction-free “premium” business model to match. And so, after years in development, an identity change and around four months in Early Access, Torchlight III was released."
Technically there's still a Torchlight Frontiers, it's just the mobile version. The PC/console version is being redone to remove the mobile monetary sink it has and made into the more traditional Torchlight experience with mostly the same content.