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Runic Games, a Seattle-area game studio which developed the Diablo-inspired Torchlight series and its latest title Hob, has been shut down by its Chinese parent company Perfect World Entertainment:
Runic Games, the studio behind Torchlight, Torchlight II, and Hob, has been shut down. In a statement published on its official website studio head Marsh Lefler confirmed the news and thanked fans for their support.
[...] For fans of the Torchlight series, Lefler said there "will be some news coming" and he also noted that "community and multiplayer services will keep running even after the studio's lights go off."
[...] Runic is the second studio to be shuttered by its parent company, Chinese publisher Perfect World Entertainment. Motiga, the developer of Gigantic, announced its closure shortly before Runic. In a statement to Kotaku, Perfect World Entertainment said Motiga "has reduced the staff of its studio" but its game "will continue to be available on our platforms." With regards to Runic, it said the decision was part of "the company's continued strategy to focus on online games as a service."
If you like the Diablo games, I'd suggest trying out Torchlight I/II (Windows, OS X, Linux) or Path of Exile (Windows and Xbox One).
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday November 05 2017, @09:53PM (6 children)
Path of Exile is server-based and limited to Windows, but it is free to play. I found it fun with some fresh ideas and a more rugged look than the cartoonish look of the Torchlight series.
Median XL [median-xl.com] is a great mod for Diablo 2. I have heard there is a multiplayer community for it. See also PlugY [plugy.free.fr].
Finally, I heard a (coinciding with BlizzCon 2017) rumor that Blizzard might do an HD version of Diablo 2 like they did for Starcraft 1.
I haven't touched Diablo 3 but I might consider it if it goes on sale and I get a new PC.
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(Score: 3, Informative) by pbnjoe on Sunday November 05 2017, @10:12PM
Re: Diablo II mods, nice! That plays into the more optimistic comment I just wrote. Fingers crossed that TL II gets that kind of treatment at some point.
I'm sure it's better five years later, but I remember some friends of mine got Diablo III on release and were dying in single player because of terrible lag. Single player. When they could log in. Bah, I abhor that kind of stuff.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Sunday November 05 2017, @10:13PM (4 children)
Not all that surprising. They made a copy of a popular game, the Blizzard went and made a new version of its game and blew them out of the water. I remember trying Torchlight but all the time thinking why I would play this when I could play D3 instead.
D3 should be fairly cheap now considering it has been out for awhile and there has been extra content released a few times. I don't think there was any Diablo news at Blizzcon17. That said you can still try and play some of it for free, same as with most of the Blizzard games. At Blizzcon17 Heroes, Hearthstone, Overwatch and WOW (next expansion & WOW Classic servers) all had a slew of news as per usual, but nothing for D3.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday November 05 2017, @10:25PM (1 child)
I guess this is what I meant by rumor:
https://www.reddit.com/r/diablo2/comments/7am414/no_d2_hd_announcement/dpbzfs1/ [reddit.com]
An implication that it might be done some time in the future.
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by looorg on Sunday November 05 2017, @10:35PM
It will probably happen eventually. After the Starcraft remaster and SC2 going free-2-play it seems inevitable they'll remaster their other hits sooner or later.
(Score: 3, Informative) by chromas on Monday November 06 2017, @01:52AM (1 child)
Torchlight was made by some of the Diablo devs from Blizzard North, while D3 was made by some random other guys who went out of their way to change game mechanics because the way people played D2 "wasn't fun".
While D3 has the graphics and story, when it first came out, it had no random dungeons and barely any loot drops. Oh, and almost any decent item is account-bound now so you can't trade with friends.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @09:44AM
It was buggy as hell at release, but it really turned out to be a sick game. If only the weapons had had more variety to them stock...
Also D1/D2 Alum.