Torchlight 3 may be taking a cue or two from Nintendo’s massively popular Animal Crossing series: when the game hits Steam later this year, you’ll be able to start working on your own fort early in the campaign. Forts in Torchlight 3 are players’ home bases, and spaces that they can outfit with furniture, decorations, and rewards they unlock through play.
In a recent update, Torchlight 3 developer Echtra says forts will be “your personal mark on the world,” giving players the tools to position items they find or craft however they see fit within their forts’ walls. You’ll unlock your fort early in the Torchlight 3 campaign by clearing out a plot of land that’s been seized by a local tribe of goblins. Once that’s done, you’ll be able to start setting things up the way you want – forts start out with several assets to rearrange when you move in, and you’ll find more decorations by completing quests or crafting them.
The decorations aren’t all cosmetic. Echtra says you’ll also be able to construct “gameplay enhancing buildings” within your fort’s walls, and these include structures that aid your character’s progression and others that help out other players who visit. The lush pink Luck Tree, for example, provides a blessing to players who stop by, and they can also visit your enchanting station to learn a few of your choice crafting recipes.
If Torchlight 3 is anything like the two games that have come before it, however, one of your fort’s biggest functions will likely be as a storage unit for all the stray pieces of gear and material you pick up during your adventures. In previous Torchlight games, you’ve been able to rely on pets to cart stuff back to town to sell, which was extremely handy – inventory space is at a premium, and it’s hard to bear the thought of leaving tasty loot just lying on the dungeon floor, unlooted.
Another interesting feature of forts – and another one that’s reminiscent of Animal Crossing – is that they’re shared by all the characters on an account. You’ll have a single fort that all your characters contribute towards improving, which means your higher-level characters will be able to hand off useful items to newly rolled ones as you make them.
We don’t have a release window for Torchlight 3 yet, but it’s due out sometime in 2020. In the meantime, have a look at our list of the best RPGs on PC.