Redbana US is bringing Mythos back from the grave. We spoke to Eric Liu, the company's Global Manager, about acquiring Mythos and what their version of it will be like. Mythos was originally developed by Flagship, but never made it far. The team that built it resurfaced and later brought the world Torchlight.

MMORPG.com: How did Redbana get a hold of the game? Can you tell us the story from your side?
Eric Liu: We were very fortunate to have the opportunity to take on Flagship’s project and continue its development. HanbitSoft acquired the intellectual property for Mythos, and now HanbiSoft’s parent company T3 Entertainment is developing it in conjunction with Redbana US Corp. Redbana will also be the publisher for Mythos in North America.
Read it all here.
What an unattractive website that is.
The trailer makes me irk in a "vaporware" kind of way... I hope the game works out for this small company though :)
Shame they couldn't get a hold of hellgate too for the west :(
I'm with you on the Hellgate comment!
I hope this never comes out.
It would be a complete and utter travesty for some scrub company like this to cash in on Flaship North's hard work. the original team that created Mythos from the ground up pretty much had the game complete before Flagship got closed down. Now, since Flaship closed, this scrub company is going to be able to take their completed game, act like they're working on it, and then cash in on it.
There's no justice in this world, I tell you.
I agree completely. I was one of the lucky players in the Mythos closed beta both before and after the open world changes. It was an incredible game, tons of fun and almost perfect. I liked it better before they added the open world thing, but it was still magnificent. From the sound of this interview they arent adding anything. Why should this company benefit from Flagship's hard work? Mythos was better than Torchlight even in closed beta, but maybe we should just let the dead rest in piece.
I agree with the posters above. I had the pleasure of playing in the Mythos beta phases (from very early on), and I have never seen a development team so open and caring as Flasgship was to their Mythos community. Frankly, if Hellgate had half of the love they put into Mythos (and half the issues), it might have been a blockbuster. I digress; Flagship, especially Travis and a few others, were outstanding and I can't help but hope this Mythos fails so their MMO version of Torchlight can shine when it is released.
I was also in the Mythos beta and played HG:L. I loved Mythos, but honestly I dont care about this game anymore. I love Torchlight, same group of people and can not wait for the Torchlight MMO. Like I said on the Torchlight forums, I am sort of happy that Flagship closed shop. Because I like the look, feel, and world of Torchlight much more so than Mythos. Except HG:L, I miss that game so much, I loved Mythos and HG:L. I dont miss Mythos so much because of Torchlight, but I miss HG:L more and more. I just dont think any one is gonna make a game like it for a long while, loved the whole 1st person/3rd person ARPG with really nice graphics. Oh well.
What a sad story ...
I'm with Torchlight and Runic Games, credit where credit is due!
I was in the Mythos beta as well and while it was entertaining, I think I'll be playing Torchlight now. Mythos was fun but Torchlight is like a more polished, even more entertaining upgrade (no surprise considering who's working on it)
All Mythos could offer is an online aspect, but even then I'm not sure I'd try it again.
They literally stole this game from their developers.
I would be ashamed to have anything to do with this game now.
Mythos was sweet, Torchlight, cool, but Mythos was the sh*t... Just saying...
I concur with everyone, though by the look of it they seem to want to change quite a few superficial things and in the process will probably kill the Mythos (beta) alot of us remember.
Gosh mythos was fun :/ - hope this fails in time for the torchlight mmo, I guess...
Torchlight vs Mythos.
One is single player.
Another is a MMO.
Torchlight should have made their MMO by this time, oh they didnt? what a shame, their own damn fault. When they release their MMO, years from now, good luck getting back your player base from Mythos.
Off course, Mythos devs can screw it up by themselfs by being greedy and selling power in cash shop in a game where people play mainly to get power.... so if they sell it in cash shop, why play? and if people play and dont get it, because of the cash shop dependent design, why play?
As much as I like Torchlight, and I've played through it with all three classes, Mythos was far better even in closed beta (before they added that annoying open world stuff). Mythos had more varied quests, enviornments, bosses that took skill, multiple race choices, fabulously complex crafting, and there was alot more gameplay time per run through. I really miss Mythos, but as stated above, I hope it dies rather than let these leeches make money off of Flagship's awesome game.
No one stole anything, Flagship sold the rights to Mythos and HGL to Hanbitsoft then still failed even with the money from the sale. They got what they deserved.
And Hanbitsoft have already tried to re-release HGL in the west, but Bandai (current publisher for it in the west), refused to let them with a threat of legal action. So instead the sequel to HGL will make its way to the western market instead.
I have no sympathy for Flagship, they shot themselves in the foot and threw all the money away on a bad release. The original devs of Mythos went on to do Torchlight and they're happy, so I don't see why anyone should cry about someone trying to bring Mythos to market, they sure as hell aren't.
I also played beta and wtf did my eyes just read here. "annoying open world stuff"? Remember how the population double when they introduced "open world" even though it was some what of a gimmick.
Varied quest and environments? Lol not it didnt. The quest were your standard go kill this and the environments were either open jungle esque or dungeon esque. The bosses took no skill. Seriously. Long as you had Pyromancers and Gadgetteer, you were good to go. Sadly melee in the game was a complete joke.
Crafting was not complex, it was simply grindey and required too many f'ing ingredients and didnt make you feel powerful at all. You always created equipment that seemed a few lvls behind what you could find. Although modifying the effects on weapons was pretty cool.
What i got from the interview is that they added absolutely nothing. Don't over glorify this game simply because you played it for a few months and now its gone.
That's funny, but last I checked I was allowed to have an opinion. I didn't like the open world change at all. That's my opinion. I thought it was half-assed and completely unnecessary and bogged down the gameplay considerably. The gameplay, if you played on hard, was MUCH more skill-based than Torchlight.
The bosses were more varied in Mythos. In Torchlight, every boss is spam it with skills until it dies. In Hard mode in Torchlight, Im practicly invincible using Devistate. The only class that requires ANY skill at all to play is the Alchemist since they nerfed Ember Lance.
And just because you didnt like the crafting in Mythos doesnt mean everyone felt the same as you. I loved how there were crafting trees, recipes, and tons of different kinds of ingrediants. The ingrediants added incentive to run more dungeons on top of better gear.
And the quests in Mythos may have been typical MMO fare, but they were lightyears ahead of Torchlight. Anyone who has played Torchlight knows that there are 4 quest giving NPCs (before the infinite dungeon). One asks you to find a rock on every other floor, the same quest every time. One asks you to kill a named mob every other floor, same quest every time, one that asks you to go through a portal to find a piece of loot every time, and one pushes forward the exceedingly basic main storyline and requires you to do nothing to complete the quest, just delve deeper. At least in Mythos, there were interesting storyline quests, the NPCs didnt ask you to do the exact same thing 20 times in a row, there was at least an ATTEMPT at giving each individual quest its own story and flavor.
Keep in mind I bought and enjoyed Torchlight. I just dont think it holds a candle to the Mythos CB. And I am entitled to that opinion. One thing I DO like about Torchlight that it has over Mythos is the modability. I think that could be the saving grace of single player Torchlight, otherwise it was just a tasty but ultimatly unsatisfying treat.
Yeah I agree... I could careless about Mythos, it's Hellgate that Redbana/Hanbitsoft/T3 (or whoever holds IP in NA region... is it still Namco?).
Anyways, Redbana should bring back Hellgate, and just drop mythos.
Yea, can't wait for this one to get under way again. I had a lot of fun.
After reading my post, this is how you respond? Proving everything i just stated? I thought the idea was to disprove what i said. Thanks for making my point for me, unless you don't even read what you type. Saying you are entitled to your opinion does not, somehow,magically make what you've written different or influence anyone to take you seriously. Your opinion means squat.
Evidently you cannot read and are a giant douchebag. Nothing I wrote proved anything in your post. If you think that the quests in Torchlight are a tenth as varied as they were in Mythos, you're retarded as well as a douchebag. Maybe in your troll-rage you didnt notice that I was complaining about TORCHLIGHT's quests in my post. But considering that you're a troll who obviously doesnt read posts before quoting them, Im done feeding you.
Edit: I went back and read your post again, and my response again for good measure just in case. There is absolutely no way a rational human being could gather from my response to you that I either agreed with you or helped make your point. Obvious troll is obvious.
Lots of varied opinions here, as usual, and here is mine..... :)
I absolutely ADORE Torchlight. Probably the most fun I've had with a single player rpg in a good decade. I ALSO was in the Mythos beta and was seriously shocked and bummed out when they closed up shop. I couldn't understand, at the time, why such a great game would get that far and just crash and burn.
However....after having played Torchlight and knowing that the same people that made such a delight of Mythos are there and working on an MMO for Torchlight....there is no way I'm going to go play Mythos "in different hands." I would much rather just wait on the Torchlight MMO and see what kind of magic they can work with THAT.
I'm sure not everyone agrees, but...that's my take on it.
Also...I'm not usually shocked to see someone say they don't "like" game X or game Y or whatever, but someone in this thread actually said that didn't like TORCHLIGHT....and my jaw literally dropped. For ME...that game is nothing buy unadulterated pure rowdy ass whoopin' FUN FUN FUN. I've only played it through once (so far) with the little gun slinger spellcastin' rogue-ish type gal (don't remember the name of the class suddenly...I'm getting old), but I can hardly wait to run it through as an alchemist or brawler (or w/e that warrior one is)...lol!
To each....their own. And to me....it can't be Mythos...not this time around.
You do realize that you're comparing an MMO to a presently single player game right? I've NEVER played any single player rpg that had "complex crafting," and of COURSE with an MMO there is more gameplay....there had BETTER be....it's a persistent world, FFS. O.o
I get your comment....other than the fact that you can't really FAIRLY compare an MMO to a single player game.
You do realize that you're comparing an MMO to a presently single player game right? I've NEVER played any single player rpg that had "complex crafting," and of COURSE with an MMO there is more gameplay....there had BETTER be....it's a persistent world, FFS. O.o
I get your comment....other than the fact that you can't really FAIRLY compare an MMO to a single player game.
Of course I realize. However, compare Torchlight's questing to even Diablo 1 or Titan Quest and you'll find it sorely lacking. Once again, I loved the game, and spent many hours on it and feel quite happy for 20 dollars spent. But the questing sucks. I think they could have easily spent a single business day and banged out better quest dialogue than the same thing over and over again from the same 3 npcs. I understand it's a budget single player game, which is why I was satisfied for my money.
There definetly ARE single player rpgs with crafting on the level of Mythos. Off the top of my head is Vagrant Story and Morrowind.
Of course I realize. However, compare Torchlight's questing to even Diablo 1 or Titan Quest and you'll find it sorely lacking. Once again, I loved the game, and spent many hours on it and feel quite happy for 20 dollars spent. But the questing sucks. I think they could have easily spent a single business day and banged out better quest dialogue than the same thing over and over again from the same 3 npcs. I understand it's a budget single player game, which is why I was satisfied for my money.
There definetly ARE single player rpgs with crafting on the level of Mythos. Off the top of my head is Vagrant Story and Morrowind.
Honestly Torchlight the single player game we have now is just a tiny little preview of what they really envision for Torchlight the MMO. I view this Torchlight as a preview teaser with the main point being the mod tools. Honestly I dont know what the hell you expect for a $20 game that was made in a year. Its not like they hid this fact from you, and its not like they hid the fact that this is just a small warm up for the main event. So if you want to compare something, compare the real torchlight in 1.5 years to Mythos. I am putting my faith in the guys that came up with Mythos, and with a set direction and lead I think Torchlight MMO will be much better than the Mythos they had originally planned.
Also imo crafting in Mythos was not that great or anything really to write home about. One of the reasons I liked Mythos so much was the open world area. Sure it was almost gimicky but it was cool to be able to play an ARPG with a bunch of other people in a persistent open world. It didnt take away from the private dungeons because there were still plenty of those.
I think 1 thing people are missing is the fact that Torchlight was always aimed at being an MMO, then they decided to release a single player version. Considering how much fun the single player game is, plus the fact its only $20, and it gives you an idea of the world, style, story, etc that Runic wants to go, I am glad they released the sp game.
I dont understand how people keep missing the somewhere around 5 times I have stated in multiple posts, including the one you quoted, that I was satisfied with Torchlight as it exists as a 20 dollar game.
Mythos... will be nothing but a brief stopover for me on the longer road to the Torchlight MMO, and I sure as hell won't be spending any money in their cash shop. Just the thought of them making money off of what is essentially Flagship North's hard work makes me a bit ill.
Runic Games > Redbana
I also agree with those who want Hellgate back, that game was fun despite its faults. It still boggles my mind that the man largely responsible for the downfall of an otherwise great company (Bill Roper) landed himself a nice, cushy job over at Cryptic while the devs wound up having to start again from scratch. Although in hindsight (especially after playing Torchlight) I think it was for the best that they parted ways.
Have you gone nuts ?
Torchlight is game made in under 8 month with a small team, and from a scratch.
What do you expect?
Mythos was developed for several years.
There is no question in my mind that once Torchlight MMO comes out.
It would be superb to anything of same style, Save Diablo 3 (which on other hand wont be a MMO)
I enjoyed torchlight alot abit short but very polished game and fun with a budjet price tag .
I'm excited to see what Redbana's been able to do with Mythos. I, too, was a closed beta tester, both before and after open world. Personally, I thought the game improved tremendously with open world and was fun, but thought it still needed a lot of polish. it seemed obvious to me that they were rushing development and, as it turns out, I was right - they were.
I've also been a big Dungeon Runners player and, at the time, I thought Dungeon Runners and Mythos were going to compete for the casual gamer, hack-n-slash MMO title. Turns out I was horribly wrong.
I did buy Torchlight and I've loaded it up exactly twice in about a month. For me, It's fun in short bursts, and is very well done for what it is, but it just doesn't hold my interest, mostly likely due to the single player aspect. I'm really curious to see how the MMO will turn out.
~Ripper
What a load of bunk. Mythos was not even close to ready, it was more alpha than beta and had a lot of issues and little content. I bought the Torchlight game thinking it would be like Mythos and was very disappointed, ancient Diable II is a better game.
Lets give this company a chance to see what they can do with Mythos. I have little confidence that Torchlight will ever be a decent MMO.
What a load of bunk. Mythos was not even close to ready, it was more alpha than beta and had a lot of issues and little content. I bought the Torchlight game thinking it would be like Mythos and was very disappointed, ancient Diable II is a better game.
Lets give this company a chance to see what they can do with Mythos. I have little confidence that Torchlight will ever be a decent MMO.
You're pretty wrong about this. The game was very polished as far as beta phases are concerned and had a very decent amount of content.
I do however look forward to it being released again, me and some friends wanted to play it together.