Torchlight II

Since the pen-and-paper days of the 80s, players have been tearing through foes with swords, bows, axes, and magic missiles. Hack-and-slash titles, at first a fun way to pass the time, tend to render a player mindless with slaughter by the legion. To stand apart from the rest, developers must blend a memorable story, balanced gameplay, and minimal pointless grinding. Is Torchlight II capable of meeting those criteria, or will it prove to be another title that drives players into a state of mind-numbing repetition?

Torchlight II throws the player into the destructive aftermath left by a mysterious character known only as “the Alchemist.” This introduction is delivered through a creative and skillfully animated cutscene. Upon finishing it, the player configures their character. There are four classes available: Outlander, Embermage, Berserker, and Engineer. These cover a wide range of playstyles, including melee, ranged, and magic, though players who prefer a mix of all three may find the selection limiting. Character customization options are sparse, which limits how distinctive your persona feels. Despite that, the game offers one thing to look forward to right away: the selection of a pet. There are several to choose from. Once in game, the player gets an immediate quest that puts them on the trail of the Alchemist.

The art style in Torchlight II could be described as cartoonish. It meshes well with the tone of the game and the overall flow. The introduction animation is distinct in style and creates a stark contrast to the game itself, though this does not detract from graphical quality. The developers did a good job with aesthetically pleasing visuals throughout.

Drab, boring characters can be a problem in hack-and-slash titles. In a game built around destroying enemies by the dozens, giving NPCs personalities beyond punching bags is rarely a priority. This lack of interaction adds to the mind-numbing grind factor. The developers took note of this and gave personality not only to their main storyline characters but to some of the sideline characters as well. It helps alleviate some of the grind while playing.

Torchlight II’s soundtrack is freely available to download from their website. The songs are wonderfully composed by Matt Uelmen. Most of them are a little understated for an action title, but this should not be mistaken for a defect. The audio quality is top notch throughout.

Controls in PC hack-and-slash titles follow a common pattern: the mouse determines where you run, what you kill, what you pick up, and how you interact with the world. TL2 is no exception. Holding the shift key while clicking an enemy keeps you in place and prevents you from running into a new group, especially useful for ranged characters. The one caveat is that there is no range indicator, so players may fire at an enemy only to watch their shots fall short. Inventory management is shared between your character and their pet. Empty slots are equipped automatically, and inventory is swappable with a simple shift-click. (I have yet to figure out how a ferret can carry that much armor and weaponry. When in doubt, blame magic.) Loot drops keep upgrades coming at a reasonable pace, which is something not every hack-and-slash gets right. Some titles leave players several levels between meaningful finds. The camera is a little too restrictive for my liking and does not allow much freedom when zooming out, though this is not uncommon in the genre. Torchlight II also uses random map generation, a feature popularized by Diablo II that works just as well here. A player can run the first map twenty times and get a meaningfully different experience each time.

Multiplayer in Torchlight II is straightforward. Select your character, hit the multiplayer button, and you are dropped into a lobby with a list of games to join. I found two caveats while playing. First, you may be placed into a game where the average character level is considerably higher than yours, sometimes five or six levels. This makes your character feel a bit fragile. Second, players seem to be quick with the vote-kick for no apparent reason. A player will join and a vote to remove them will immediately appear. Password protection exists for a reason. Neither caveat significantly detracts from the overall multiplayer experience.

Torchlight II has taken a genre known for turning players into mindless button-mashers and loosened the chains by adding personality to it. From the aggressive, charged-up pets to the lively NPC personalities, the game offers a genuinely enjoyable experience. Reliable, level-appropriate loot helps too. At $19.99 on release, the value proposition was excellent, and with random map generation, multiple classes, and multiplayer it holds up on replay. If the developers were to learn anything from this release, it would be to revisit the camera restrictions and the limited character customization. Otherwise, Torchlight II is an impressive, well-considered game that manages to make the grind feel like the point rather than the problem.