Editor's note: I have to admit, I hadn't heard about Torchlight until this post. I happened to get a chance to play Torchlight's spiritual predecessor, Mythos, when that game was in beta, and was really looking forward to its release (which never happened, due to the implosion of developer Flagship). -Demian

Not too long ago, there was a collective sigh from strategy aficionados -- Blizzard announced that StarCraft 2 would be delayed into 2010. But another, perhaps less audible, sigh could be heard -- the subtle realization that Diablo 3 will likely see store shelves sometime in 2011.

Blizzard quelled those fears by stating that the delay wouldn’t affect the release schedules of any other Blizzard titles, telling players to expect “two releases” in 2010. But fans were again disappointed to hear that the second Blizzard release that year would instead be the next World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm.

2011 is quite a ways off. What’s an action-RPG-with-a-slice-of-roguelike player to do? Torchlight.

From developer Runic Games, Torchlight has a lot of action-RPG muscle at the helm. Two of the studio’s founders, Max and Erich Schaefer, were also co-founders of Blizzard North, the team responsible for the original Diablo and its sequel, Diablo 2. Runic Games’ third founder, Travis Baldree, is the creator of the action-RPG Fate, a title similar to the Diablo games.

After Blizzard North, the Schaefers would go on to form Flagship Studios, best known for the unfortunate Hellgate: London. Set to be a sort of spiritual successor to the Diablo games, Hellgate was an action-RPG from a first-person perspective instead of the traditional isometric view. Some questionable business decisions and a rocky launch of Hellgate ultimately brought the demise of the studio.

The fallout from the closing of Flagship was the loss of Mythos, which was also under development at the time. Originally intended to be a test for Hellgate’s online multiplayer, the game evolved into a standalone product when then-Project Director Baldree got the green light to see how far he could take the game.

The closing of Flagship meant Mythos, now owned by South Korean publisher/developer HanbitSoft, wouldn't be completed by its original developers; however, Torchlight was born out of the ashes with the formation of Runic Games.

Gameplay trailers for two of the three character classes (Destroyer, Alchemist, and Vanquisher) have been released so far. I’ll let those speak for themselves.

One of the first things you’ll notice is the unique art direction of the game, which stands in contrast to other titles in the genre, taking on a more cartoonish aesthetic. Gamasutra published a feature detailing the design decisions which brought about the look of Torchlight.

Key features of the game include some genre staples, like dungeon randomization, and new concepts like a retirement system. The idea is that once a character has leveled up high enough, the player has the opportunity to retire that character. Doing so would grant certain benefits to new characters.

Furthermore, Runic will release an official editor with Torchlight, empowering players to build unique content.

Eurogamer had a hands-on opportunity with Torchlight this week, and the results are intriguing. The preview describes the game as balancing the fun of dungeon crawlers with the demands of a busy schedule.

Runic has addressed annoying aspects of genre, such as the frequent need to prematurely cease exploring a dungeon and return to a nearby town in order to free up inventory space by selling unwanted loot.

In Torchlight, the player has access to a pet which will level up with the player’s character and have its own independent inventory. While the player continues to fight through a dungeon, the pet can make a run to town and sell extraneous items.

The developers also claim that Torchlight will be similar to the first Diablo game in terms of its environment. In Diablo, the player traveled from a single location, the town of Tristram, further downward into the depths of a desecrated church. I’m excited by this news, as I really enjoyed the tight focus that Diablo had compared to its sequel.

Torchlight will launch as a single-player game, but Runic has plans to eventually release a free-to-play MMO to expand the game’s scope. The developer aims to layer Torchlight’s gameplay style, isometric view, and intense action on top of traditional MMO elements like guilds and raid content.

So while you endure the long wait for Diablo 3, why not take a look at Torchlight this fall? It's due out on PC October 27, at 20 bucks.