In a dense new livestream, Perfect World and Echtra Games developers behind Torchlight Frontiers, have showcased a ton of new gameplay elements and footage of the upcoming title.
Torchlight Frontiers combines much of the traditional ARPG elements with a persistent online world. Players can interact with each other both as parties of adventurers while taking on the procedurally generated levels choked with loot-containing enemies, or they can team up to build Forts. These forts are a base-building mechanic that Perfect World and Echtra Games plan to extend over time as well. The forts contain all of your loot, upgrade facilities and other goodies. Think of this as an equivalent to Hideouts in Path of Exile.
Because this is a traditional action-RPG first, the game features all of the typical trappings of the genre. Unique classes with their own play style and equipment, each iteration creating a huge number of ability combinations that players can experiment with the find the most powerful character that they enjoy playing. Part of this expansive loot and gear is Relic Weapons. These powerful and ultra-rare items are unique in that they level up alongside the player. These weapons not only get stronger as you play, but they also unlock new skills. Each weapon type has an array of Relic Weapons for you to use. And if you’re concerned about them messing up your gear progression, don’t. The Relic Weapons are special augmentations that can be activated, and then have a cooldown period, providing massive damage boosts while active. Think of them like a second weapon that gives your character superpowers.
Torchlight Frontiers uses what the developers call “horizontal progression,” which allows the game to constantly be expanded with new areas and other content over time. This means that as players progress through the various randomly generated areas, there will always be new combinations of different areas and enemies to take on.
There is a bunch more in terms of gameplay like skills, leveling up and how the general gameplay works contained within this livestream, so if you’re interested in Torchlight Frontiers, you should check this out.
Torchlight Frontiers will debut on PC in 2019. A console release for Xbox One and PS4 is planned at a later date. No price point, or if the game will be free-to-play with microtransactions, has been announced as of yet. Check out the full livestream down below.
