Amusingly enough, the developers of Torchlight consist mostly of ex-Blizzard employees who worked on the first two Diablo games, so it seems to be just them (now Runic Games) going back and showing everyone else how it’s done. To set the scene, Torchlight is set in a small mining town unsurprisingly named Torchlight, which was founded after the discovery of a mysterious ore under the town named Ember. This ore allows the enchantment of weaponry and the use of magical powers, however with this comes a lot of potential corruption, which becomes the primary problem in the small town. Thus, adventurers are sent in to check it out, and this is where you come into the fray.
Torchlight gives you the choice of three unique and different classes; The Destroyer, a warrior-based melee class; The Alchemist, a spell-casting, ranged class; and The Vanquisher, a ranged-based class with traps and physical attacks. All three classes give very different and interesting styles of play as you progress through the game, allowing full customisation as you level up with the skill tree and attributes section. Gameplay essentially revolves around the basic ideology of all action-RPG games; click on monster to kill, pick up loot, move through dungeon, rinse repeat. It does indeed sound awfully repetitive, but any fan of the genre knows just how addictive and enjoyable it can actually be. Dungeons are never actually the same and are always randomised, and the same goes for loot and special monsters too, so going through the game is always an unpredictable and different experience, adding an obscenely high level of replayability, especially considering the three classes to play with as well.
The Destroyer eats a Burrito, and all Hell breaks loose.
And if you’re any kind of old school Diablo player, you probably already picked up on the fact that this all sounds very similar to the original classic. Well, it is. The three classes are essentially re-designed and re-thought out versions of the original Warrior, Rogue and Sorcerer classes, Dungeons, loot and special monsters are randomised and always unique, and the whole thing in general definitely feels very Diablo bar from the ultra-evil feel. And yet regardless of all its similarities, Torchlight is still a whole lot of fun and feels strangely fresh. This may be due to its many improvements featured in the mechanics, in particular the ‘pet’ you have as a companion in your journeys.
The one major gripe that action-RPGs have always had have been the fact that when your inventory is absolutely full, you have to head off back to town to sell it all off so you may continue stealing things from peoples coffins. It’s not necessarily a big issue, especially considering you have access to town portal spells, but it becomes one in the long run because there’s just that much loot that needs collecting. The pet alleviates this and quite brilliantly in Torchlight. Your pet also carries an inventory system of its own, allowing you to offload a lot of the loot you grab onto your companion, giving you more space to play with. When you do fill up however, with the press of a button you can automatically send your pet off to sell the loot while you continue to fight your way through dungeons. It works really, really well, as not only does it keep you in on the action but allows you to continue looting corpses while earning money. If only grave robbers in the real world had such luck.
Your pet is also used for another feature, which is combat. While it doesn’t necessarily do much in its normal state, pets can actually be fed certain foods that you find in the game, transforming them into hellish conjurations of destruction and terror that aid you in incinerating monsters in your path. While we found we didn’t use it that much with our Alchemist (we were feeling obscenely overpowered with some of the spells we had at our disposal), it’s a very nice addition to have that makes your pet useful for things other than selling stolen goods.
Place your bets here! The big monster, or the Cyclops?!
Apart from the utterly addicting nature of Torchlight, the game also keeps you hooked with its great use of visuals. While it’s certainly no technical masterpiece, Runic Games seem to understand that having a great art style with stylish animations is far more important, and it shows. Combat is full of colour and flair, with abilities and attacks feeling appropriately powerful, and lighting and environments are used to absolutely fantastic effect. Enemy designs are also full of character and are animated very well, giving the game a very unique look. Sound is also well done in Torchlight, with powerful abilities sounding thunderous in their execution, and the squeal of burning monsters sounding devilishly satisfying. It’s all a very consistent and well-designed package that favours style over raw power, and Runic Games deliver on all fronts.
If you are any kind of fan of the action-RPG genre, or are a manic Diablo fan eagerly anticipating the third in the franchise, then you should already be buying this game without hesitation. Torchlight is an addictive, fun and memorable piece of gaming that’s definitely worth a buy, especially considering its low price. While it does lack Multiplayer for the moment (an ‘free-to-play’ MMO is in the works), and isn’t quite as expansive or long as some big-budget productions would be, it’s a damn good piece of entertainment that confidently flexes its polished muscles to the gaming public, and does it deservingly.
Loading...
