Runic Games partners with MMO portal Perfect World for their upcoming game
by Seraphina Brennan 
Apr 22nd 2009 at 6:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, MMO industry, New titles
Perfect World Entertainment, the MMO portal of the self-titled Perfect World International and Ether Saga Online, has announced a partnership between themselves and the phoenix game studio Runic Games for the publishing rights of the upcoming MMO, Torchlight.This is a large step forward for Runic Games, the previous Mythos game team of the now defunct Flagship Studios. Their agreement with Perfect World is for global publishing rights, meaning Torchlight could be seeing an international release.
Little is currently known about Torchlight, other than the game will be focusing on a single city and centered around the acquisition of a magical ore that imbues equipment with power, but also has a downside to it as well. The game has a bit of a cartoony, playful character to it, as seen in some early concept art shown on the main Runic Games website.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
OrganiClockwork said on 6:43PM 4-22-2009
I wouldn't say that the cartoony look is necessarily a downside. It is, honestly, a rather aesthetically pleasing style, at least judging by the concept art.
For me personally, though? Enough cartoons, give me some quasi-realism. I like stylization as much as the next person, but something -different- would sure be nice.
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Webbstre said on 10:38PM 4-22-2009
Two screenshots have been released, one to each of the two fansites currently in existence for Runic Games:
http://www.runicgamesfansite.com/2009/04/22/first-screenshot-of-torchlight/
http://www.runicinsider.com/?p=21
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Ripper McGee said on 11:45AM 4-23-2009
Artistically, it looks like Mythos 2.0:
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa64/ripper_mcgee/Mythos/screenshot_000020.jpg
Based on those screens, it also appears to be a Diabloesque/Dungeon Runners crawler. Definitely a fun concept, so it'll be interesting to see what they do to distinguish themselves.
~Ripper
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mcietwie said on 12:31PM 4-23-2009
Nothing wrong with it looking like Mythos. After all Mythos was eagerly awaited, and never released. They'll do fine if they just remake Mythos again from ground up.
Ripper McGee said on 6:28PM 4-23-2009
I agree. I greatly enjoyed playing Mythos, especially near the end with the Overworld. I thought it needed work, but it was definitely a fun game.
Regarding Torchlight, I assumed it would be a MMO, but it's apparently going to be released as a single player game first, then MMO later. Here's a great write-up by former Mythos Community Manager Taylor Balbi at runicinsider.com:
http://www.runicinsider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20
~Ripper