Hands-On With Torchlight Frontiers and Remnant: From the Ashes
While Perfect World Entertainment has been publishing various games for the past decade, the company has yet to become a household name. A subsidiary of parent company, Perfect World, Perfect World Entertainment is perhaps best known for publishing titles such as Neverwinter Online, Blacklight: Retribution, and the Torchlight Games from the now defunct Runic Games. We went hands-on at PAX West 2018 with the revived Torchlight Frontiers (Echtra Games) and new Remnant: From the Ashes (Gunfire Games) and came away impressed with the experiences.
Torchlight Frontiers
Torchlight Frontiers is an action-RPG that exists in an MMORPG landscape, and the developers behind the original Torchlight games have returned for Torchlight Frontiers. This is quite evident in both the art style and gameplay of Torchlight Frontiers, which looked and played like classic Torchlight. In my short hands-on time with the game, I was treated to lots of loot, action, and a nifty day-night cycle. Unfortunately, I did not get to partake in any of the online aspects of the game and am eager to see how the franchise operates as an MMORPG. With any luck, Torchlight Frontiers will take their classic formula and integrate it perfectly into their online landscape.
Remnant: From the Ashes
The other title I got to go hands-on with was Remnant: From the Ashes, which I was intrigued by due to its awesome trailer. What I did not expect was to be so deeply engrossed into a game I had not seen in action before playing it. Remnant: From the Ashes is described as a third-person cooperative action survival game. Put into layman terms, it is a “souls-like” game with guns, melee, and drop-in/drop-out cooperative play. In my hands-on time with the game, I was brutally defeated a couple of times before grasping the controls, eventually completing the demo.
The two levels I experienced were vastly different both in terms of the atmosphere as well as the enemies. The first level featured a post-apocalyptic setting, with enemies that were relatively slow and had an affinity towards fire. The second level I played was set within a jungle environment, and the enemies were more abundant, faster, but with less health. Needless to say, both levels had their challenges but were equally fun to play. Leaving the demo, I can safely say that Remnant: From the Ashes has officially caused a blip on my radar.
While Torchlight Frontiers and Remnant: From the Ashes are expected to release in 2019, both of them appear to be on the right track with some impressive environments and gameplay.