Torchlight XBLA better than on PC?

By Robert Purchese Published 6 January, 2011

Runic Games details meaty changes.

Torchlight is set to arrive on Xbox Live Arcade either next month or the month after that, but when it does there will be changes, developer Runic has said.

Character control has had to change, most obviously, as a cursor-lead point-and-click, click, click action-RPG does not translate to console without some adjustments.

"Control is [now] direct," explained Runic on its forum (via VG247). "No virtual cursors ever."

As enemies can't be click-selected, you now move forwards slightly with each swing, smashing whatever is closest (this will be highlighted red) and bruising anything nearby. Animations have been "redone" accordingly, and it all "feels natural and does what you expect", apparently.

Ranged combat is "in many ways easier", thanks to auto-targeting and more comfortable dodging, and "Lobbed" skills are handled by the analog triggers - a light squeeze throws near, a heavy squeeze throws far. Overall, combat is said to feel "faster" and "more manoeuvrable".

The only feature that hasn't carried over from PC is secondary weapon sets, "because there was no way we could find that didn't feel horrible in inventory management".

Speaking of which, the user interface has been "completely overhauled". "Nothing works the same," according to Runic, and "all new art and navigation" had to be created.

"The concept of item 'slots' is done away with - you just have a number of items you can hold (50 - ignores stack counts). Potions and scrolls stack up to 99. Potions 'auto pick' the best potion to heal you or regenerate mana. You don't have to think about it or map it.

Four skills can be mapped for use at a time, plus a second set handled by the d-pad. "Most of us actually find it easier to use a variety of skills on the console vs. PC, oddly enough," Runic said.

What's more, the Xbox 360 pad will rumble for quakes, low strikes, low health heartbeats and tugs on the fishing line - obviously.

Runic has also employed some improvements from Torchlight II on PC, such as quicker loading times, better animations and automaps.

Finally, each of the three classes has a new armour set, there are new random quests and there's something called a Chakawary pet.

All that in one pint-sized 200MB download.

Torchlight is a bold and imaginative action-RPG that takes its lead from Diablo. Eurogamer pinned an attractive 8/10 rosette on Torchlight PC over a year ago now, complimenting the game on how "confidently and prettily it takes the fight to [Blizzard]".

And with Blizzard not planning on a Diablo III console conversion, Runic Games' manouevre onto Xbox 360 could prove to be a masterstroke for players and accountants alike.

Incidentally, Runic has "no plans to speak of" for Torchlight to PS3.

Why? "Microsoft is acting as the publisher on this one," Runic explained. "And given how much work it was to get one console game done, I'm a little relieved we didn't attempt both platforms at once anyway."

Microsoft announced Torchlight as an XBLA game to be released under the House Party promotion period - a timeframe not unlike Summer of Arcade, where MS tries to concentrate its big-hitters. The House Party kicks off on 16th February with the release of Hard Corps Rising. Beyond Good & Evil HD, Bejeweled Blitz, Full House Poker and Torchlight will follow in subsequent weeks in an undetermined order.

Runic Games is also making Torchlight II for PC, and has a spring 2011 release in mind.

Torchlight II on PC debuts multiplayer.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (34) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Dizzy #1 1 year ago

    Consider this day one for me.

    Have it on PC, but would love to play in from the couch more.

  • TruSmiles #2 1 year ago

    I have it on PC too, but these improvements mean I wouldn't mind giving it a go again!

  • Xardan #3 1 year ago

    Wow, that actually sounds really good. I'm quite excited for this game now.

  • IronCladChicken #4 1 year ago

    Have this for the PC - already play it on the couch :p

  • geeza2020 #5 1 year ago

    Excellent news. Can't wait for this. Played the demo on a mates PC, but never played the full game. I had heard very good things though, and this article has confirmed that the console port is going to be just as playable.
    Edited by geeza2020 at 06/01/11 @ 12:21

  • TheBiGW #6 1 year ago

    This is an excellent game and deserves to do well on console. Day 1 purchase for me.

  • Apaar #7 1 year ago

    I wouldn't mind if those improved animations and added armor sets etc. were patched in the PC version as well.

  • number3son #8 1 year ago

    "The only feature that hasn't carried over from PC is secondary weapon sets." You mean that, plus a lack of any of the excellent mods that have been released over the last year, right?
    Edited by number3son at 06/01/11 @ 12:28

  • Xboxfanuk #9 1 year ago

    I think with Deathspank, Torchlight and D&D Daggerdale this might be the new big genre on XBLA. Stay Tuned!

  • butler` #10 1 year ago

    If they actually pull this off it'll fill a MASSIVE gap in the market on consoles. ARPGs are a natural fit in a lot of ways and this generation is begging for a game like BG: Dark Alliance.

    Anyone know if it has retained hardcore mode?

  • evild_edd #11 1 year ago

    Never got round to playing Deathspank, which suffered some average reviews. Might see how this gets on, and try a demo, before making any purchase.

    Too many decent XBLA titles means my 20gig HDD is really struggling for space :0(

  • apoc_reg #12 1 year ago

    WOw so it basically plays itself.... er yeah. Great!

  • Ryuken #13 1 year ago

    "Microsoft is acting as the publisher on this one,"

    Seems like we know why they're being silent on bringing over certain improvements to the original game on PC, which they self-published.

  • Mockerre #14 1 year ago

    And no sign of coop :(

  • Rack #15 1 year ago

    All this and yet no multiplayer. Hopefully Torchlight 2 can use some of this code and get ported across soon.

  • ChromeMud #16 1 year ago

    If it's online co-op then yes please otherwise I'd rather Deathspank it alone :))

  • SAMagic #17 1 year ago

    Just got Torchlight along with Deathspank in the Steam sale for about £5 each. Shame it doesn't have coop or multiplayer, and its 'inspiration' from Diablo borders on the absolute at times, but I'm still finding it to be a fun little game.
    Edited by SAMagic at 06/01/11 @ 13:38

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #18 1 year ago

    Sounds great to me.

    Let's hope it's a big success and that Torchlight II follows suit.

  • MadDave123 #19 1 year ago

    @Hippie_Killer - Did you not read the article then?

  • Xardan #20 1 year ago

    When is somebody going to make a full retail release hack and slash RPG game for the console? Or has one already been made and i missed it?

  • BabyJesus #21 1 year ago

    Missed out on this on PC, looking forward to the 360 version.

  • SteveHolt #22 1 year ago

    @Xardan: Sacred 2 and Too Human, I guess.

  • WiseNail #23 1 year ago

    @Xardan

    Lord of the Rings - War in the North - Christmas 2011 from EA and Snowblind of Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance fame. It has 3 player co-op and is out on 360, PS3 and PC.
    Edited by WiseNail at 06/01/11 @ 14:04

  • paulf #24 1 year ago

    nice little game that will lend itself well to console play

  • ShiftyGeezer #25 1 year ago

    The way these guys talk about the changes, it's as if they never even heard of Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance! They basically recreated its mechanics (that and CON). Was looking forwards to this, but the appearance of Dunger Hunter: Alliance which is the same game style but with four player coop means Torchlight is currently playing second fiddle. Still, it's a great title for solo player dungeon crawling and well worth the money IMO.

    Edit: Oh I missed PS3 has been dropped as MS take on the publishing role. I guess given the competition that makes sense.
    Edited by ShiftyGeezer at 07/01/11 @ 20:43

  • Seoh #26 1 year ago

    Wonder if they'll patch the PC version so you can play either classic or consolified torchlight.


    Very much looking forward to the sequel!!

  • agent55 #27 1 year ago

    Am I the only one who read the news post about Blizzard hiring a console-specific programmer for a Diablo 3 port? I can live without this spiritual successor knowing the king is coming to my PS3 eventually.

  • Salaminizer #28 1 year ago

    interesting how we don't even know if Fable 3 will actually come out on PC and MS is already taking Torchlight to consoles.

    and I'll probably get negged for this, but I don't see why it is better, sounds the same except for a few stuff (some animations and loading time), and there are also no mods.
    Edited by Salaminizer at 06/01/11 @ 15:51

  • WinterSnowblind #29 1 year ago

    @Salaminizer
    and uh.. new quests and armour? I'll take this officially designed stuff over the player created crap any day.
    And yes, I own the PC version and probably won't buy this one.

    1200 points (presumably) is a bit much for a game that's regularly £3 on Steam.

  • subedii #30 1 year ago

    @Hippie_Killer:

    You're being fairly disingenuous on a few levels.

    He never said that some majority of PC gamers have their PC hooked up to a TV, just that he does. Because he actually has the option of doing so, alongside playing games with a gamepad or a KBAM if he wishes. Your comments about how "PC is good for RTS but not for ARPG's" are about as apt as saying "Consoles are good for racing games, but not for FPS's". The control interface works with the input devices it was designed for.

    Still, the "awkward as sin" play, as you state it, is pretty easy to use. You just need a decent setup. If you're leaning over to use a keyboard then you're doing it wrong.

    Besides, you know what I do when I feel like leaning back and playing a game with a gamepad? I plug in a gamepad and lean back on my bed. I've even done this with games that technically don't even natively support using a gamepad, with handy apps like XPadder and ControlMK. Nice having options isn't it? You know the last game I played on my PC with a gamepad? Shank. Before that, Devil May Cry 4. Batman: AA and Darksiders I actually found easier to control with KBAM (Arkham Asylum in particular. They even natively mapped useful commands to MB4 and 5 by default, which I don't think I've ever seen before. Well thought out Rocksteady)


    "I'd love to see Diablo 3 come to consoles. Not really seen any PC only games that interest me due to most games coming to console too but diablo style games are proven to work better on console imo (control wise that is) "

    Blizzard have already stated that they've tried things like direct control input and that this did not suit the style of play they were trying to promote with Diablo 3. And if you've actually been paying attention to their Blizzcon panels, you know that not only have they been doing a LOT of extremely varied iteration trying to get Diablo 3 "right" (far more so than anything they ever attempted with Starcraft 2 it would seem), they've also been doing it for years.

    It would appear they are in the process of creating a Diablo franchise game for console, and if I were to guess, it would be in the vein of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. You can say what you wish about how ARPG's are "proven" to work better (seriously? Whatever the subject matter, when someone says "proven", I expect a link to empirical analysis with a statement like that), but the very manner in which BG:DA controls defines it as having a different play style to something like Diablo.

    Torchlight's coming out on XBLA, and hopefully it'll be good. And if they've learned anything from its development that they're putting into Torchlight 2, so much the better (the devs behind SupCom 2 did similar with Paint Select). But Torchlight was a Diablo clone that in its very design deliberately pared down a lot of the complexities of the Diablo franchise in order to try and make a more straightforward experience. And Diablo 3 itself is going through massive evolutions compared to Diablo 2, some removing ancillary complications that weren't fun, others introducing entire new gameplay mechanics.

    ARPG's in general have always been a genre that is more well suited than most for being ported to a console interface. But the decision of where Diablo 3 is "proven to work better" is one that the dev takes based on the style of gameplay they're trying to promote. With Blizzard, if there's one thing you can say about them, they are very definitively a company that focusses on polish, and getting the feel of every game right.

    There's still time for them afterwards to rejig the mechanics of the game to work as well on a gamepad. But if it's a case of trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole, they're not going to try and force that. Which is why they would appear to have opted to make a different iteration with a gameplay style that will be more suited to a console interface instead.
    Edited by subedii at 06/01/11 @ 17:37

  • subedii #31 1 year ago

    I don't recall talking about how "PC Gaming is dying". Or "Not Dying" for that matter. That wasn't the topic of discussion

    I just addressed the points you raised, and thought it best to be do so in an assiduous manner as you took the time and effort to write them.

    As opposed to simply posting a "LOL @ PC Purists!" comment, which you pretty much just did. Still, since you're intent on reading into things what you WANT to see and not much else, I'll try to keep this simple and leave little room for creative misunderstanding:


    1 - A KBAM and TV setup is by no means common, but if you've tried it, it's certainly very practical.

    2 - Blizzard have already iterated on the control style you recommended and said that it doesn't suit the gameplay they're trying to promote with Diablo 3, therefore:

    3 - Blizzard are likely creating a separate iteration of Diablo specifically for the consoles because that works out BEST for the consoles, as opposed to trying to force something that will end up being lacklustre to control and play.


    I don't see any of those statements as being particularly puritanical. I really don't see how it takes a "PC purist" to say that Blizzard probably don't want the equivalent of a repeat of Starcraft 64 to happen with Diablo. But then, I'm thinking you're reading into my words something I never actually said.

    We're both in agreement on one thing, I don't care about whatever deeply rooted 'fundamental truths' you seem to have ingrained in you, or to try to convince you otherwise. But if you're going to get huffy because you posted on a public discussion forum and someone actually addressed the points you raised, then perhaps you should wonder why you posted in the first place.
    Edited by subedii at 06/01/11 @ 23:34

  • subedii #32 1 year ago

    I'd be vaguely insulted if what you said referred to anything at all I've typed so far.

    As it is, it's just kind of sad that you can't even read three items in numbered point form.

    It's odd how you keep saying "I don't care" whilst simultaneously trying to get the last word in each time, and make some bizarre unrelated point about "the death of PC gaming".

    I hope FOUR whole sentences aren't overly taxing for you.
    Edited by subedii at 07/01/11 @ 02:27

  • UncleLou #33 1 year ago

    I'm sorry I didn't read it I just really don't give a fuck about what makes PC gaming so great. It's dead and gone as far as i'm concerned.

    It obviously isn't, seeing how you'd love to see Diablo 3 come to consoles. But if you feel better by deluding yourself, be my guest. Just consoles wouldn't be enough for me, they're excellent for certain things, but there's still a shocking lack of more cerebral games.

  • UncleLou #34 1 year ago

    Unclelou. Blizzard are the only ones who are now developing games JUST for PC.

    Er, no, they aren't. Firaxis, Creative Assembly, CD Projekt, etc., and that's without mentioning more "leftfield" stuff like Paradox. But it's a general trend that there are fewer exclusives, Ill give you that. I can count the games I bought my PS3 for on one hand.

    But anyway, you put your head in the sand, while I pick the cream of the crop independently of the platform. To each his own.