ABOUT TITAN QUEST

From the mouth of Brian Sullivan, the game's creator: '[Titan Quest] is an epic story of good versus evil that spans Greece, Egypt and other ancient civilisations.'

Age of Empires proved to be a partial inspiration of Sullivan, who got the idea for Titan Quest while working at Ensemble on the popular RTS title.

Obviously, Titan Quest is a very different game to Age of Empires. In TQ, you control a single character on a quest to save the world from a group of titans. These guys have just escaped from their magical prison, and they're pretty upset about being couped-up in a little cage for eons. So, they're throwing lightning bolts, plagues and livestock at anything and everything that moves, making it hard for said moving things to go about their business of moving.

Hence, it's up to you as a mythological hero, to rescue the world from the clutches of the titans. If you were wondering, titans are the guys who created the gods.

Yeah, they're darn powerful.

But it's not like you're going to leap into this adventure with a loincloth and a bowl of olives. Not only will you eventually equip yourself with a self-cleaning loincloth and a magical bowl of olives, but oodles of enchanted gear as well. And there's not just one type of magic gear, no, there's a bunch of sublevels ranging from the mildly mystic to the almighty.

Weapons and armour still aren't enough to do the job however. You'll get access to various skill masteries, which include everything from bows to harnessing the power of the Storms. Each skill mastery allows progression up a tree of abilities, eventually granting you access to the really good stuff. What's the good stuff? You'll have to play the game to find out.

Just to give you a rough idea of the amount of content in TQ, let's have a look at some numbers: Over 70 creatures to fight; some 1000 swords, axes, bows, staves, chest pieces, gauntlets, helmets and boots to find and equip and 1500+ pieces of art for all of this stuff. There's no way you're going to find everything first time round.

Indeed, you'll be going back to TQ for quite some time. In fact, you can bring some friends along for the journey. Titan Quest supports co-operative multiplayer, and many of the abilities in the game are designed to work with friends around. So, if you like the idea of questing forth in lands unknown and need someone to hold your hand, well, you can do that.

Have we talked about the gameplay enough? Not really, but there's so much to say. Take the graphics engine for example.
Yes, it's a beautiful thing. Iron Lore has but four years into making it a gorgeous creation. Perhaps the most standout feature of the engine is making powerful weapons look, well, powerful. Ever picked up that 'supposedly' billion-year old Scythe of Dragon Slaying and been unamused when you equipped it, and it looked exactly like that rusty scythe you started the game with? Well, that won't happen in Titan Quest. If a weapon is meant to scare the crap out of whoever deals with its business-end, then they'll definitely be crapless.

In addition to this, every surface in the game has a normal map on it to give it the detail it deserves. For added effect, the game's artists can also selectively include specular, glow and reflection maps, depending on the object they're working on. Soft shadows are also abundant, adding depth and realism to ever scene.

Finally, there's the particle engine, which Iron Lore has spent a while perfecting. Flames, sparks, magic effect, dust - it'll look so real you'll be brushing the bottom of your pants to remove specks of virtual muck.

So, are you ready to check out Titan Quest? You better be! You can find more information by clicking the links on this site, everything from beasties to weapons to developer diaries. It's all here!

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