According to IGN, Zynga provided a statement about shutting the studio down. The company put the decision down to a “strategic realignment” of its priorities and resources.

“Zynga has made the difficult decision to cease operations at its Echtra studio, ending development on future titles and reducing roles,” said Zynga in its statement. “This decision is part of a strategic realignment of the company’s resources and priorities. We will work closely with impacted employees so they are treated with the utmost respect and consideration as we navigate this difficult process.”

Zynga had acquired Echtra Games just a year after it had released Torchlight 3, with the studio being put to work on a new action RPG alongside Zynga’s NaturalMotion. No details about the action RPG had been announced aside from the fact that it would feature cross-platform multiplayer, however.

“Echtra Games is delighted to be joining the Zynga family,” said studio founder Max Schaefer when the acquisition was first announced. “We share Zynga’s vision that cross-platform play is an essential part of the future of RPGs and interactive entertainment and are eager to apply our vast experience and talents to this effort.”

Echtra Games was founded by Blizzard North veteran and Runic Games co-founder Max Schaefer. Echtra Games had previously released Torchlight 3 – a game that was originally meant to be an MMORPG that the studio was working on with alongside Perfect World.

For more details about the studio’s last release, check out our review of Torchlight 3 from back in 2020.

Echtra Games is working on a new action RPG with NaturalMotion but support for Torchlight 3 is far from over. The developer announced new updates and patches for the title, starting with a new class. The Cursed Captain serves as a Summoner class and can summon ghost pirates to fight alongside it.

Said pirates include Riflemen, the First Mate, Cannoneers and more with players able to command them to utilize additional skills or focus on a single target. The Cursed Captain also gets a class-specific weapon with the Cannon and capes as a class-specific armor. Of course, if you’re keen on playing the Captain without summons, you can simply use Doubloons (its combat resource) as ammo or bring the entire flagship to a battle.

Other updates coming to Torchlight 3 include forty new pets and variants with four new species; changes to the Pet UI  to make them easier to manage and sort; and more slots. Along with the Cursed Captain, new dyes, pets and fort decorations will be coming in the Fur and Fashion contract update. Finally, an option to reset one’s instance is also inbound, allowing players to farm in an instance without having to wait for its timer to reset.

The Cursed Captain is coming to Torchlight 3 in Spring. Stay tuned for more details on it in the coming days.

Even after adding 20 Bethesda titles to the service, Microsoft has even more games coming to Xbox Game Pass. It announced that Empire of Sin would be available for Xbox consoles, PC and Android devices via the cloud on Mach 18th along with NieR: Automata and Torchlight 3 on PC and Star Wars: Squadrons on consoles.

Next week is even more interesting as Square Enix’s Octopath Traveler arrives for Xbox consoles and PC on March 25th. This will mark the RPG’s debut on Xbox One after previously releasing for Nintendo Switch, Google Stadia and PC over the years. Galactic-scale adventure title Genesis Noir will also be available on console and PC along with Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire – Ultimate Edition and Supraland for PC on the same day.

But that’s not all as Sega’s Yakuza 6: The Song of Life also comes to Xbox, PC and cloud on March 25th, followed by pixel platformer Narita Boy on March 30th for the same. As announced yesterday, next month’s Game Pass offerings begins with People Can Fly’s Outriders coming to Xbox and cloud (but not PC) on April 1st. Stay tuned for more details on other titles in the meantime.

Fittingly for a game that has worked through so many labels, Torchlight III’s gameplay is a combination of various elements of the premium dungeon crawler the series is known to be and the freemium MMO that this game initially was. At its heart, it’s still a straightforward isometric action RPG. You take your created character through an increasingly difficult series of dungeons to complete both the contextual goal of saving Novastraia and the practical one of improving your character with better stats, improved buffs, and, most importantly, better loot. From the outset you choose from one of four default classes, ranging from the traditional archetypes of strength to finesse, balance to technique. Also at the outset you select a relic that powers an additional skill tree and gives you powers like improved healing or fire control.

The gameplay itself is altogether relatively engaging, if not revolutionary. Once you reach a certain level, you can have up to nine unique attacks equipped, but, as is common for a game that allows for so much variation, it’s easy to find a powerful skill and become reliant on it. For me, this came in the form of a massive fiery sword that slammed down on enemies and left a blazing trail in its wake. Not only was it incredibly powerful, especially when upgraded, but it was also ridiculously fun to employ.

"Torchlight 3’s fundamental aspects are passable and often interesting, and while it never takes the step to push itself above and beyond its predecessors, it’s great for a lighthearted, casual grind."

When you look outside of the best skills, though, while there is a good selection of skills that counterbalance each other, including ones for my character that built up heat and others that used heat, it’s almost always easier to turn back to simple short and long-ranged weapons. There’s an inherent decision between spreading your skill points across many skills or focusing in and making one or two as powerful as they can be, and I found that having fewer, more powerful attacks, combined with the basic weapons, was almost always enough to get by.

On the other side of the development cycle coin are the relics of when this game was a free-to-play MMO, relics that are mostly covered but sometimes rear their heads without warning. The entire economy feels made for a free-to-play game, as there’s a lack of any real market and many things cost more than they should. Respawning takes up to 10% of your coins if you don’t want to warp back to town, and there’s almost no market for gear whatsoever. You can buy either a base weapon or gamble on a random item for a set price, but ever since Destiny’s Xur, lacking any form of higher-level gear salesman misses the mark.

New to the series is the fort-building system, which allows you to create and manage multiple forts along the map to gain different stat buffs and store items. In theory, this idea is great for those who want to completely max out their stats, but in practice, this mechanic is entirely avoidable and feels most fitting in a free-to-play experience. In my 15-20 hour playthrough, I only felt the need to come back to a fort a handful of times, as I wasn’t pressed for any small stat buffs it could offer.

"New to the series is the fort-building system, which allows you to create and manage multiple forts along the map to gain different stat buffs and store items. In theory, this idea is great for those who want to completely max out their stats, but in practice, this mechanic is entirely avoidable and feels most fitting in a free-to-play experience."

A more fundamental element of the game that both offers a staple of the genre and gives a reminder of the free-to-play aspect is the continual grinding necessary to progress. Loot provides the game’s almost sole form of reward, and upgrading your gear at every opportunity is both satisfying and essential. You can have up to nearly a dozen unique items equipped at once, ranging from basic weapons to multiple pieces of armor and buffs for your companion pet, and everything comes with its own set of stats and perks.

Naturally, a lot of loot can be compared simply by looking at level or damage numbers, but some enemies are stronger or weaker to different types of damage, from poison to fire or electric, and are better faced with different gear, even if it’s a lower level. However, th grind itself gets a little tedious. It sometimes feels like leveling up happens at a snail’s pace, and, especially near the end of the game, level requirements for certain locations jump quickly, almost requiring you to sit and grind, which forces out the more repetitive nature of the combat and the enemies. While it is possible to make your way through while underleveled, the game gives you ample opportunity and encouragement to grind, but this tends to mute the more interesting aspects of the gameplay.

Along the critical path, the story is broken down into three acts. While the story itself is mostly set to the background, the tone is constantly in the forefront as a lighthearted, humorous, colorful romp through Novastraia. NPCs speak whimsically, enemies have absurd names, and the story is over-the top and generally enjoyable nonetheless as it brings you through a set of somewhat linear locations. Each location has two or three different parts that you’ll visit, and each act is mostly delineated by one particular damage type, most notably the second act’s focus on poison. This means that within each act, you’ll see a lot of the same enemies repeatedly, and, while there is a good number of different enemy types, you’ll become very familiar with them as you grind. Environments, too, can be a little repetitive within the acts, tinted with a very specific color palette that makes each act mostly similar within itself but distinct from one another.

"While the story itself is mostly set to the background, the tone is constantly in the forefront as a lighthearted, humorous, colorful romp through Novastraia."

As you progress the story, you’ll visit virtually every location in the game, and almost every single path ends in a boss fight, as I fought somewhere in the range of three dozen in just story missions, not including ample optional ones elsewhere in the world or in side missions. Boss fights are certainly the most enjoyable parts of the gameplay because they have the highest stakes, and each boss both drops high-level loot and has a boss chest that does the same. Over time, you’ll notice that boss types recur, especially within each act, but they are unique enough between acts for this to not ultimately matter. Taking down massive bosses with a swing of my fire sword was always satisfying, and the loot that came with it was the cherry on top.

Torchlight III is by no means the best or most innovative dungeon crawler in recent memory. It cobbles together pieces of its stages of troubled development, and while many of them work, some clashes are noticeably present. Gameplay is fun in short bursts and when fighting new, major bosses, but the grind often feels like more of a chore than an exciting path forward. The economy, too, feels more like a relic of a free-to-play game than something that should be this barebones in a full-price experience. Nevertheless, while the underlying structural issues diminished the full product, I still enjoyed the romp. Though the aspects of Torchlight III that miss the mark dampen some of its enjoyability, there is enough light that shines through to make it an interesting experience anyway.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Echtra Games’ Torchlight 3 is out of early access tomorrow and it’s been quite the ride since its initial days as Torchlight Frontiers. To help get players up to speed on all the different features, a new video has been released that breaks down nearly everything about the game. Check it out below.

Taking place 100 years after Torchlight 2, Torchlight 3 features four major classes – the Dusk Mage, Sharpshooter, Forge, and Railmaster – each with their own unique skills and abilities. Players can also equip one of five different Relics that provide access to different passive benefits and skills. There’s also fort building for upgrading one’s gear and showcasing their various achievements.

With three major Acts, over 100 Legendary items and Pets, Torchlight 3 should be interesting to keep an eye on despite the mixed reception in early access. It will release tomorrow for Xbox One, PS4, and PC, with the Switch version out later this year. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

Echtra Games and Perfect World Entertainment have announced that Torchlight 3 will leave Steam Early Access on October 13th. It will be available for PC, Xbox One and PS4 for $39.99. The Switch version will launch “later” this year.

Max Schaefer, CEO of Echtra Games and co-founder of the Torchlight series, stated that, “The full release of Torchlight 3 wouldn’t have been possible without all of the incredible work from the entire Echtra team and our excellent community of Early Access players. We’ve put our heart into this new adventure and it has been awesome getting so much support from players while the game has been in live development.

“With the significant changes we’ve made throughout Torchlight 3 journey in Early Access, we have done our best to meaningfully integrate players’ feedback as much as possible into the game as we march toward launch. Next month, we can’t wait to welcome all players to the Frontier!”

Originally a free to play title called Torchlight Frontiers, Torchlight 3 takes place 100 years after the second game with players battling the Netherim. They’ll need to traverse across three Acts to ultimately push back the threat. Along with crafting, pets and maps making a return, there are new mechanics like fort building to get involved with. Forts can be used to upgrade gear and house monuments and laurels.

Four new classes will also be available along with over 100 Legendary items, Relics for different active and passive skills and much more. A good amount of content has been added since the early access launch but we’ll see how the final product fares next month. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

Echtra Games’ Torchlight 3 will be coming to Nintendo Switch this Fall. However, this release also marks the title’s exit from early access with a full launch on Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Those who buy on Switch will receive an exclusive pet, the Red Fairy. Check out the announcement trailer below.

Taking place a century after Torchlight 2, Torchlight 3 sees the Ember Empire fighting against the Netherim  to survive. Players will once again venture forth through the frontier, taking on various monstrosities, raiding dungeons and acquiring loot. This can be done with four playable classes, namely Dusk Mage, Forged, Railmaster and Sharpshooter.

Torchlight 3 launched in June for Steam Early Access and had a rough start due to being online-only. Offline single-player mode will be coming at launch and the developer has added substantial new content with recent updates. We’ll see how the full game pans out at launch so stay tuned.

It’s not Persona 4 Golden, but Echtra Games’ Torchlight 3 is yet another surprise release on PC. It’s currently available for Steam Early Access where it will remain for the next few months. During this time, the development team will add “new features and end game content.” This includes an as-of-yet unannounced end game experience.

Taking place a century after the events of Torchlight 2, Torchlight 3 will offer four playable classes, lots of quests and the previously announced custom Fort. There are also over 100 Legendary items to unlock. Currently, there are two Acts to play through in early access. Act 3 will be available further down the line.

Interestingly, Torchlight 3 early access is only playable in multiplayer mode. This means you’ll meet other players in public spaces and be able to team up. Offline single-player will be available when the game launches in full. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime, including when the game will launch for consoles.

After revealing the same last week, Echtra Games has provided more information on Torchlight 3’s Forts. You’ll claim one in Act 1 after disposing of some goblins and can essentially customize it to your liking. Check out the trailer below to see what we mean.

Available account-wide for all characters, Forts can be filled with cosmetics, decorations and crafted items. You unlock decorations by completing quests and Contract tiers, with better items provided by special Contracts. Forts can be used to store items but if you encounter another player’s Fort in the wild, then you can also use facilities like Luck Trees and Enchanting Stations.

The latter is especially useful since it allows players to share recipes they’ve learned with each other. It’s a pretty nice system and once that encourages the social element without forcing it upon players. Torchlight 3 will release this Summer for PC and then later for consoles. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

Echtra Games continues the march towards Torchlight 3’s release with the recent reveal of Forts. These will be available to players to customize and each will have its own unique look. Forts become available in Act 1 of the campaign when you’re sent to claim one from some goblins.

Along with different cosmetics and decorations to fill a fort with, players can also place any crafted items within. From there, it’s possible to stack items, move them around and so on. There’s also a Fort Inventory to safely store any items.

More decorations can be unlocked through playing the game, completing quests and going through tiers of Contracts (with special Contracts offering better items). Another nice twist is that you can encounter another adventurer’s Fort in the wilderness and vice versa. It’s even possible to add certain stations like Luck Trees and Enchanting Stations, the latter sharing one’s recipes with the world.

Forts are also account-wide and can be used by all of your characters. All the resources and upgrades within will also be available, which should help when leveling any alts. Torchlight 3 is currently slated to release this Summer for PC and later for consoles.