Torchlight - Jan 5th Retail Release, Interview

Encore has announced a January 5th release date for the NA retail edition of Torchlight.  This is also the date for the NA version of Divinity II, so despite being an odd date, there's some good gaming to be had in the New Year:

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Encore Software, Inc. and Runic Games announced today that they have entered into an exclusive publishing agreement to release the new single-player RPG game, Torchlight for PC. The product will hit retail shelves on January 5th, 2010.

Torchlight is the widely anticipated role-playing game, from the designers and leads of Diablo®, Diablo® II, Fate™, and Mythos. The game emphasizes a simple and intuitive interface, fast and furious action, and a colorful and compelling game world.

Max Schaefer, CEO of Runic Games, said, “We are very happy to partner with Encore in bringing Torchlight to retail locations. Torchlight is a AAA title for an affordable price, and in concert with the experienced Encore team, we look forward to bringing this game to all fans of the Action RPG genre.”

Torchlight will be available on January 5th, 2010 for Windows XP/Vista/7 with a MSRP of $19.99. A Mac version is also slated for release in 2010.

Encore published the digital download version of Torchlight at http://torchlight.encoreusa.com on October 29, 2009.

I'll add Werit's final Torchlight interview here.  Matt Lefferts is a founder and animator and here's a snip:

Werit:  What sets Torchlight apart from other Action RPG's, like Diablo II?

About 10 years for one.  As kidding as that is, there’s a lot of truth to it.  D2 has been around for a while now as one of the most fundamental games in the ARPG genre.  It set and reset the bar many times over.  Since then, the genre has had time to evolve in different ways but at its heart remains pure kickass fun.  When we set out to make TL that was the number 1 thing we tried to keep in mind.  Let’s not get bogged down with attempting to create a new innovations, let’s stay true to the roots and make it a badass click fest.