Torchlight II Reviews

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Written by WorstUsernameEver on October 2nd, 2012

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Overall, I didn't come away impressed by Torchlight II revolutionizing the way I play dungeon crawlers. Instead, the title excited me by developing the hallmark mechanics of the genre to such a thorough and complex extent that it becomes difficult to pull away from the experience even in the face of the occasional bothersome slow down. If you're prone to teaming up with a few friends and raiding enemies for loot, be warned Torchlight II will likely ensnare you in its addicting trap for hours and hours of clicking.

If this sounds familiar to Torchlight fans, that's because it is. It's more. An absurd amount more. More multiplayer and difficulty levels, more places to go and things to see. It's new, in the sense that it wasn't in Torchlight, but it's hardly different. What you're playing, beneath all the polish, is essentially the same. Torchlight 2 is clicky nirvana. But Torchlight 2 isn't is a step beyond the familiar. The game feels like the cumulative work of perfectionists intent on making the action role-playing game of their dreams.

I take back what I said before. The nicest compliment I can give Torchlight 2 is that it's so good, I can't help but dwell on wondering what's next.

There's still plenty to be excited about though, and most of it comes in the form of item creation, the freedom to explore, and the sheer amount of content there is here. Once you've completed the easily 10+ hour campaign, an entirely new world is unlocked in Mapworks mode, and players will most certainly want to partake of online multiplayer failing that. Mapworks is a randomly-generating set of dungeons and maps that you can choose to undertake after besting the main story content for a potentially never-ending journey through Torchlight II.

Runic Games knocked it out of the park with the original Torchlight, and impressively, for a small studio with limited resources has created something almost as colossal and engaging as its previous endeavor for less than half of the price.

Torchlight 2 isn't just a great game, it realizes the full potential of its predecessor. It's got heart. Moxie. It's the scrappy underdog that everyone wants to love, and it just so happens to be the best Action RPG I've played in years. There are a lot of great co-op titles releasing this fall, but do yourself a favor and don't miss out on Torchlight 2.

I was pleasantly surprised by Torchlight 2. The gameplay is intuitive and genuinely fun while you explore the maps, and the array of enemies and items you pick up is large enough to keep you interested. The main campaign is easy to understand and easy to play, while on harder levels you are given a much harder task, just as it should be. The addition of the extra modes means the game should last you even longer than the original, and the level editor should satisfy even the most dedicated fan of the game. Torchlight 2 is easy enough to play to make it a great introduction into RPG gaming, while on the harder levels it offers a satisfying challenge.

Torchlight II really does improve on its predecessor in every possible way. Well, almost every way, because the fishing is still pretty damn boring. The co-op, New Game+, mountains of loot, new classes, and a lengthy campaign all come together to make this one of the best dungeon crawlers to date. At $20, this is also quite possibly the most high-quality content you're like to get for so little cash.

Think of it this way for the price of one Xbox 360 game, you could buy three copies of Torchlight II, share two with friends and begin having an awesome co-op multi-player dungeon-looting game session within minutes.

It's one of the problems with discussing and reviewing any TV show, film or video game: should we compare it with others of its genre, or should we judge it against the medium as a whole? Torchlight 2 succeeds in that it is a brilliant example of a hack-and-slash action RPG, but does little to advance the genre. Torchlight 2 is cheerful, streamlined and addictive, but it hasn't attempted to break any boundaries. Should we mark Torchlight 2 down for failing to take the opportunity for advancement left by the relative failure of Diablo 3? Torchlight 2 is not going to appeal to people who disliked the older Diablo games, or the original Torchlight itself. However, by restricting its ambitions to pleasing fans of the genre, Torchlight 2 made sure of its success, albeit on a smaller scale than it might have enjoyed by innovating.

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