Torchlight II Opening Cinematic Trailer and Q&A

I realize many of you have already dove head first into the Diablo III open beta, but if you happen to come up for air, you definitely want to check out Torchlight II’s newly released two-and-a-half-minute cinematic opening. Fits the art style we’ve grown accustomed to, that’s for sure:

And if you’re wondering why they decided to go with that particular art style or why cinematics were important to them this time around, have a look at this new Q&A on the official website:

What led to the decision to include cinematics in Torchlight II?

It was really two things that led to the decision to include cinematics in Torchlight II.

One, we simply had the time and budget for it this time around… things that were in short supply for the first game.

Two, we were very aware that the story was an area where we could improve upon Torchlight greatly in a sequel. Like I said, we didn’t have a whole lot of time to invest into properly setting up, fleshing out, and delivering a particularly engaging story for the first Torchlight. We had a lot of our backstory and key points mapped out “in our heads” (we have a collective hive mind), and we tried to hint at greater things where we could, but it wasn’t necessarily translating into a narrative. We wanted to make sure we addressed that for Torchlight II.

We’re still not making a “story game”, but I think we do a much greater job for providing context and motivation with Torchlight II.