So by now we hope you've seen Travis Baldree's announcement, and had a chance to chat about it in the forums. Today, we're glad to give you an in-depth update on what's happening right now in development.

On Monday the 14th, we had five play testers in the office, invited to chat candidly with the whole team and play Torchlight 2. They are Mika, Jerich, Miroslav, Flux, and Hawkn, and we're so glad they made it to Seattle to hang out with us! As of today they'll also be sharing their personal take on the game with you, along with interviews from the whole dev team.

We are kicking things off with a podcast we recorded while they were here. Along with the play-testers asking questions were Travis Baldree, Max Schaefer, Marsh Lefler, Jason Beck (Art Director), Patrick Blank (Lead Level Designer), and Brock Jones (Producer). It's an hour of goodness that goes through many community questions, and wraps up with a check in from the devs about the current state of the game and what folks are working on now.

We also have a special treat for you thanks to Matt Uelmen. Matt sent three new music tracks from the Torchlight 2 soundtrack to each of the three fan sites that came out to play; Runic Games Fan Site, diii.net, and 4Fans.de. If you visit each one, you can read their hands-on impressions of Torchlight 2 and also download the teaser tracks.

Thanks to all our understanding fans and friends who've been so supportive! The game is going to be awesome.

"So… where is Torchlight II? Didn't you guys say that you were planning to try to release this year?"

Well, yeah. We did - and we made a good run at that. We've come to the realization, however, that getting a game of this scope up to the quality and polish level we want to achieve is going to take a little longer; especially since we want to run a small beta before release to ensure that our launch is smooth.

The first Torchlight was released in record time, but it had plenty of issues that a little more development could have resolved. We didn't have the resources at the time to give Torchlight that treatment. Right at this moment though, we do have those resources for the sequel, and we feel strongly that we should apply them to make this the best game we can make and hopefully one that you'll enjoy and continue to want to play in the future. We've probably had 18 months of full development time on it so far - not excessively long yet, as far as that goes. The amount of time we need to take it the rest of the way is relatively small.

We feel pretty safe in saying that if you enjoyed Torchlight at all, this sequel is superior in every respect. Right now our job is to ensure that the quality level is consistent all the way to the end.

Besides, you're all playing Skyrim right now anyway, aren't you? Or Battlefield 3? Or Uncharted 3? Or Saints Row 3? Or Arkham City? Or Skyward Sword? Or Minecraft? Or Modern Warfare 3? Or Dark Souls? Or Assassin's Creed Revelations?

Those are awesome games. When Torchlight II goes live, we want it to be awesome too - all the way through.

Since showing Torchlight II at PAX Prime, we've been hard at work! We want to keep you in the loop with what's brewing, but we're working on the final Act and want to keep it mostly under wraps. That way there are some surprises on launch day! :)

But if we can't tell you exactly what we're working on, we can at least show you that we're working. Brian Ward took some great photos of devs at their desks. We're here! And we're bringing you the game as fast as possible. :)

We can tell you that we have a website redesign in the works, as well as a very special piece of cover art that will serve as the face of Torchlight II and eventually be on boxes. Look for those coming soon as we are able to unveil them.

In the meantime, thank you for bearing with us. We're so grateful to our fans and all the gamers who love Torchlight I, and we are excited to bring you the sequel.

Back to the grindstone, Runic Games

PS: Check out some of our coverage from PAX below!

• 8 Part Exclusive from PAX at Runic Games Fan Site
• "Runic has outdone themselves" - JoystickWidow.com
• G4's Hands On with Travis Baldree
• Gamespot's Hands On with Max Schaefer