Torchlight III is officially happening, though it is not exactly a new game announcement. Instead, Perfect World Entertainment revealed today that Torchlight Frontiers is being rebranded and that includes dropping the free-to-play model.

　　That's just the beginning of the changes. Torchlight Frontiers was meant to be an MMO-like 'shared world experience', but Torchlight III will stick much closer to the previous franchise installments. In fact, players may even play offline entirely if they so choose. Max Schaefer, CEO of Echtra Games and co-founder of the Torchlight franchise, explained:

　　When we started developing Torchlight Frontiers, we were focused on creating a shared-world experience. During development, you often discover what type of product a game was meant to be and we found Torchlight Frontiers was meant to be a true successor to Torchlight I & II. Based on this and extensive feedback from our Alpha testers, we decided it was time to take the game back to its roots and model it after the classic Torchlight games that ARPG fans have come to love. We’d like to thank our dedicated player base for supporting us and providing such insightful feedback during early development.

　　To be honest, it's hard not to imagine there was a fair amount of overlap between Torchlight Frontiers and Magic: Legends, also a free-to-play MMOARPG with Perfect World as the publisher. The switch to Torchlight III is probably an effort to diversify the game from Magic: Legends.

　　Anyway, Torchlight III is now scheduled to launch this Summer on PC via Steam, while Closed Alpha testing begins on Wednesday, January 29th. Below you can find the game's key features as they were outlined in the press release.

　　Travel the Frontier: Players can explore the wilderness, party with friends, gather materials to craft loot, use magical maps to enter unknown dungeons, or show off their spoils in town! There’s always something to do in the new frontier.

　　Build & Upgrade Your Fort: It’s time to rebuild! Players will enjoy their very own account-based fort,where they can upgrade gear, and make renovations to show it off to their friends and the world. The game allows them to build monuments of power, pet stables, and more!

　　Choose a Relic:  Relics are objects of great power that grant players a suite of active skills and passive skills. Players can craft them, level them up and store them in their fort. The relic is an important part of a character's strategy - choose wisely!

　　Collect Epic Gear - Whether it's armor, weapons, dyes, recipes, ember cores, or even new pets ... there's always more to find as adventurers battle through dungeons and take on dangerous foes. Every randomly-generated area can be replayed over and over again since each instance brings different items. Those who want even more epic gear can run maps from the Mapworks, or take on a contract to earn Fame and unlock elite items.

　　Pets are Back: Players can fight their way to fame and glory with loyal companions! Each of the many species comes in a myriad of colors and styles so adventurers shouldn’t settle for the first one they find. They can also make these pets stronger by adding skills, equip them with gear to make them hardier, and together battle enemies as a team.

　　Build Your Hero: With four classes to choose from, players can utilize class-specific mechanics to maximize damage and their odds of survival. Torchlight III lets them gather epic gear, select your Relic powers, and customize loadouts to create a unique combat style for their heroes.