Torchlight

Torchlight
Torchlight's retail box art features the game's three character classes: from left to right, the Vanquisher, Destroyer, and Alchemist.
Developer(s)	Runic Games
Publisher(s)	Runic Games Perfect World NA: Encore, Inc. EU: JoWooD Entertainment Microsoft Studios
Distributor(s)	Runic Games Perfect World Valve Corporation GOG.com
Designer(s)	Travis Baldree
Composer(s)	Matt Uelmen
Series	Torchlight
Engine	OGRE
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows OS X Xbox 360 (XBLA) Linux
Release date(s)	Windows (download) WW: October 27, 2009 Windows (retail) NA: January 5, 2010 EU: April 9, 2010 OS X WW: May 12, 2010 Xbox 360 WW: March 9, 2011 Linux WW: September 18, 2012
Genre(s)	Action role-playing, hack and slash
Mode(s)	Single-player

Torchlight is an action role-playing game developed by Runic Games and published by Perfect World, released for Windows in October 2009. The fantasy-themed game is set in the fictional town of Torchlight and the expansive caverns and dungeons nearby, which adventurers explore to collect valuable loot and battle hordes of monsters. Following the October 2009 digital distribution release, a Windows retail box version was released in the U.S. in January 2010 by Encore, Inc, and JoWooD Entertainment published a retail box in Europe in April 2010. A port for OS X was developed by World Domination Industries and released through Steam on May 12, 2010. Runic Games and World Domination Industries developed a port for Xbox Live Arcade which was released on March 9, 2011. A Linux port was released as part of the game's inclusion in the Humble Indie Bundle 6.

Development of the game was led by Travis Baldree, designer of Fate, joined by Max Schaefer and Erich Schaefer (co-designers of Diablo and Diablo II), and the team that worked with Baldree on the original incarnation of Mythos. In September 2012, Runic Games released a sequel, Torchlight II, for Windows.

The player controls a lone hero who explores a series of randomized dungeons, fighting large numbers of enemies and collecting equipment, gold, and other loot. The game also features a single town which serves as a hub, to which the player character can periodically return to buy and sell items to NPC vendors and obtain quests. As the protagonist delves into the dungeon, a series of quests are presented which involve battling unique bosses that advance the main storyline. Optionally, the player may take on side quests, random quests or visit branching dungeon areas. The graphics are three dimensional and viewed from an overhead perspective, similar to the isometric perspective used in the original Diablo. On personal computers, the game is controlled using a point-and-click mouse interface and keyboard hotkeys, while the Xbox Live Arcade version uses a controller and has a completely redesigned user interface.