The Monsters of Torchlight II

Starting today and running until E3, Runic Games will be giving us weekly updates providing teasers and glimpses of their upcoming hack ‘n slash sequel Torchlight II. This week’s update profiles six monster types.

Dwarven Automata
When the dwarves ruled the land, they built armies of Ember-powered Automata to act as servants, and sentinels, and even armies. Their clockwork armies helped them conquer and enslave countless other races, who they then forced to mine more Ember, to build more Automata, to conquer even more races. The Automata were the dwarves’ most efficient tool for building their world-spanning empire. But today, the Automata continue stumbling and clanking along, still following commands given thousands of years ago, still guarding the crumbling bones of their masters … with a murderous efficiency.

Spectral Dragon
The dragons are all but gone from the world. In the waning days of the dwarven empire, when Ember became scarce, the noble beasts were hunted, enslaved, and harnessed, so that the dwarves could siphon off their energy to power their machines. Then, after the dwarves died out, an ancient cult of Estherian zealots found the enchained dragons, and worshipped them as captive gods, feeding them tainted Ember, until they were mad with corruption. The dark Estherians slaughtered the dragons when they became too dangerous, but it was too late: Their Ember-fouled spirits lingered on as Spectral Dragons maniacal, feral spirit-dragons, with an insatiable hunger for magic … and for those who use it.