PC Gamer

It's been more than 11 years since the release of mythologic action-RPG Titan Quest and its single expansion, Immortal Throne. It was a "gloriously entertaining action-RPG," as we described it in our 2013 post-THQ roundup, but that didn't keep developer Iron Lore Entertainment from going under less than two years later. The property ultimately went to THQ Nordic, which re-released the game and expansion last year as the Titan Quest Anniversary Edition. And today, despite all that time gone by, it unveiled a surprise: A new expansion called Ragnarok that's available for purchase right now. 

"Since the day we acquired the franchise in 2013, we've been toying around with ideas on what's best for Titan Quest. We were quickly motivated to do another expansion as we realized Titan Quest is still actively played," executive producer Reinhard Pollice said. "Unfortunately, it took quite a bit until we assembled a good setup for the project and meanwhile we made ourselves familiar with the inner workings of Titan Quest through the Anniversary Edition which was a huge overhaul of the original game. The end result is Ragnarok!" 

As the title suggests, Titan Quest: Ragnarok will take the game into the realm of Norse mythology. It will feature a brand new playable act with "dozens" of quests, new bosses and enemies, a new Runemaster mastery, and an increased level cap of 85. Character customization options have been expanded, new shaders, effects, and ragdoll physics have been added, and the control options, interface, and modding tools have all been improved as well.

"We set out to create an expansion that is closely modeled after the size of Immortal Throne, both regarding playtime and geography, including items and monsters," design director Henrik Törnqvist explained. "However, looking at the finished expansions side by side in the Level Editor, the physical size of Ragnarok definitely grew to be a bit larger than Immortal Throne over the span of development." 

And while the timing might seem suspect, there's no connection between this new expansion and the Thor flick that's now making the rounds: Pollice said everyone involved simply found the title "striking ... way before we realized there was a Thor movie of the same name and also in the same time frame as our game." 

The new expansion requires the Titan Quest Anniversary Edition on Steam—the original boxed edition isn't supported—and is available for 25 percent off its regular $20/£18/€20 price.   

PC Gamer

The recently-renamed THQ Nordic is continuing its efforts to breathe new life into old brands with the release of Titan Quest Anniversary Edition. The heavily-updated version of the sorely-underrated Iron Lore action-RPG includes both the original game and the Immoral Throne expansion, and if you happen to own one of the previous releases of the game on Steam, you get it for free.

The full anniversary edition changelog is available here, but it's stupidly huge (ten years of updates will do that), so here are the high points:

  • Restored and improved multiplayer functionality, including new features like a built-in voice chat and NAT resolving for best multiplayer connectivity
  • Support for more resolutions, larger camera distance and scaleable UI size
  • Improved performance and general stability
  • Support for modders through new modding options and a fully integrated Steam Workshop
  • Complete balance rework with improvements to all Masteries, damage types, unique items and sets
  • Countless bug fixes and other improvements, including ten years’ worth of community fixes
  • Increased challenges and rewards for larger parties and on higher difficulty levels
  • Dozens of new heroes and bosses to encounter Improved enemy and pet AI
  • Quality of life features like higher stack limits, quick item pickup, a larger stash and a speed setting
  • Reduced cheating with curbed exploits, removal of test items and mod comparison in multiplayer
  • Steam Friend Invites
  • Steam Achievements
  • Steam Trading Cards

Titan Quest was a really good action-RPG that, despite largely positive reviews, suffered a rough launch and never really caught on. Iron Lore went under shortly after the release of the Immortal Throne expansion, and that was the end of it although on the bright(ish) side, that failure ultimately led to the creation of Grim Dawn, another top-notch ARPG.

For those of you who don't have Titan Quest in your Steam library, the Anniversary Edition is still awfully cheap: It's on sale for 75 percent off on Steam and GOG, dropping it to $5/ 4.50, until September 7.

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