Runic Games is a new developer that was formed by, among others, Max and Erich Schaefer, who were original co-founders of Blizzard North. Blizzard North was the developer responsible for the Diablo series, which is now considered by many to be the most important action RPG game ever made.
In 2003 Blizzard North essentially fell apart, with several key employees leaving to form Flagship Studios, who then went on to develop Hellgate London. Following the disappointing reception of Hellgate London, Flagship closed its doors in August 2008.
Not content to throw in the towel and accept that its game developing days were over, the Shaefer brothers, along with Travis Baldree, went on to set up a new studio: Runic Games. All 14 members of the former Flagship Studios’ Seattle team signed up with Runic late in 2008.
Today Runic Games announced its first game, an action-MMO entitled “Torchlight”. Billed as a simple action-based isometric MMO, Torchlight hardly sounds like the kind of ambitious ground breaking game many might expect from a developer with such pedigree. However, perhaps this is exactly where Runic belongs.
The Premise: “Adventurers set out from the town of Torchlight into the nearby mountains in search of the magic ore that imbues their equipment with power, yet imperils their very existence.”
Interestingly, all 14 of the former Flagship staff working at Runic worked on the unreleased action-MMO “Mythos”. Originally designed as a development tool to help optimize Hellgate London’s networking technology, the game went on to become an independent game, but was eventually canned due to the financial hardships faced by Flagship Studios.
It is far too early to tell if Torchlight is one to watch. However, considering that two of primary creative directors behind Diablo are involved in this “Diablo clone”, it may be more of a “Diablo 3” than the real Diablo 3 which is being led by former Fallout and Dawn of War developers.
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