Just like the humble adventure game, dungeon crawlers are seeing a bit of a resurgence of late – obviously there’s Diablo 3 on the horizon, which like all things Blizzard is set to swallow any indie bystanders in its all-consuming wake of fan-gush, but set to arrive ‘before it’s done’ are both a sequel to a perenial favourite and the long awaited next game from an industry great…
Torchlight
Wild Tangeant may be hated for their casual gaming shovelware and trojan-esque game launchers, but they often get a few things right. One of those things was Fate.
Initially looking like nothing more than a casual and cutesy adventure game, Fate hid a great deal of depth under its low-poly graphics and laptop-friendly control system.
Torchlight is the spiritual sequel to Fate, what with it being headed up by the very same guy who put together its progenitor. He’s helped along by both the Schaefer brothers (Diablo I & II) and the team that made Mythos (you know, that dungeon crawling server stress test for Hellgate: London that actually turned out better than Hellgate: London?)
Here’s the teaser, some class intros and an interview with Max Schaefer from PAX.
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DeathSpank
I don’t think Ron Gilbert couldn’t be tongue-in-cheek if he tried and DeathSpank shows it. Whilst Torchlight plays its cards close too its chest and incredibly straight, DeathSpank revels in being a parody of the dungeon crawling genre.
Being described as a cross between Monkey Island and Diablo alone should hint at what to expect, but should you still be confused, check out the PAX trailer, some gameplay footage and an interview with Mr. Grumpy Gamer himself.
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