Torchlight II: The Kotaku Review

Torchlight II is also a welcomely generous game. It offers a 20-25 hour quest (on normal difficulty), as well as a vast amount of replayability both in New Game+ and in its many multiplayer options, particularly given the four different character classes and myriad available character builds. And on top of that, Torchlight II is fully moddable, meaning that users can freely change everything about the game, from the graphics to the rules to the “level cap” of 100. Time will tell what wonders (or disappointments) this feature will bring, but if I know anything about the PC modding community, it’s that they rarely fail to impress the living crap out of me.

The story of Torchlight II takes its structural cues straight from Diablo II, in that you spend most of your time tracking down the hero of the first game, who has turned evil. The Alchemist, one of the stars of the first Torchlight, has become corrupted and set off on a killing spree across the land. He’s trying to unleash some great evil or another and open a gate to some neatherrelam or another… none of it’s that important, because unless you have decided to make it a point to care about Torchlight lore, the story is just a mishmash of fantasy gobbledygook. But while the story of Torchlight II is a forgettable mess, rarely has a game’s story had less of an impact on my overall enjoyment of it.

In part, that’s because the world of Torchlight II is just such a pleasure to be in that I don’t much care about the whys and wherefores. The world looks lush and painterly, with rich-hued flora and fauna offsetting the brighter neons of spells and powers. It’s a simplified look, almost MMO-like in its broad shapes and low-polygon construction. It’s warm and inviting while simultaneously foreboding and exciting. Torchlight II is a fine example understated art direction.

The world itself feels much more cohesive than the story. Enemies have a way of being connected to the environment in ways that, while not strictly “necessary” for the gameplay or story, make everything feel organic and of a piece. Giant bats swarm out of mud-nests in the desert while bugs skitter forth from nests that have grown up in the corners of a cave. Werewolves lie in wait high in trees or down in cottage cellars—everything feels like it was here before you walked onto the scene, and like it’ll be there if you leave without killing it. (As if that would happen.)

One of the first things you do in Torchlight II is choose a pet for your character. This animal will follow you around for the entire game, fighting at your side, carrying your loot, and even making runs to the store to pick up more potions while you’re in a dungeon. I almost feel as though this one inclusion says everything you need to know about Torchlight II. Yes, it will give gave you tasks and treasures, a lovely world and a grand quest in which to partake. And it will also give you a cat, or a dog, or a dragon.

Enemy design, too, is outstanding. It’s a steampunk-fantasy via Brothers Grimm pastiche sort of deal: Giant, robotic metal centurions with huge machine guns (yep, machine guns) patrol one room, but in the next, a loping gravekeeper leads a pack of goblins. Add a touch of H.P. Lovecraft (Tentacle-face alert!) and a hint of the bizarre (Spear-wielding Fungus-men?) and you’ve got a highly enjoyable bestiary. Enemies are also interesting to fight, attacking in a number of varied patterns that can be strategically countered. It can really pay dividends to learn each enemy’s tells, particularly on the higher levels—while it’s possible to just potion-chug your way out of most tight spots, the game is much more doable if you watch for the enemy’s attack patterns and move out of the way at the right moment.

As sprawling, generous and occasionally unwieldy as Torchlight II is as a single-player game, it’s doubly so as a multiplayer game. Everything in the game can be done in singleplayer or in multiplayer, and it all seems designed with a completely open-ended approach. Want to take your level 40 mage back to help out your level 7 friend? Go ahead! Want to trade some ridiculous unique high-level loot for a low-level shirt? Have fun! Want to solo the game on the same server with your friend, chatting as you fight your way through opposite ends of the map? Go ahead!

It’s difficult to truly evaluate Torchlight II‘s multiplayer at this early stage—I can at the very least say it’s functional, and a good deal of fun to team up with friends and take down monsters. It can be tricky to match levels with someone, though, and you’ll probably want to have characters set aside that you play with together. In the games I’ve played (all on pre-release code), I’ve also seen some weird bugs—enemies that stop attacking and stand still, other players’ avatars engaging in nonstop attack loops, that sort of thing. That said, simply opening up your own server to anyone of a certain level who wants to drop in has a lot to be said for it. I plan to continue to play Torchlight II multiplayer over the coming weeks, and if anything substantive changes I will update this review. For now, multiplayer feels loaded with potential, particularly as player vs. player gets going and the modding community has some time to get their hands dirty.

For a game about crushing demons with a giant hammer, Torchlight II feels lighthearted. It moves with a spring in its step, bouncing you ever closer to that next level up, that next piece of shiny kit. It’s a game designed around momentum, and it’s stickier than anything I’ve played in a long time. It gives the player a simple task and focuses on making that task as pleasurable as possible, then does it again, and again, and again.

Play any video game for a long enough period of time, and you’ll start to wonder why you’re playing. Torchlight II, with its laser-like focus and medulla-tickling appeal, is a welcome reminder of why we play. We play to visit other worlds, to unlock incredible new power, to meet mysterious new beasts and destroy them. We play video games because they’re awesome. Click, kill, loot, level up. Click, kill, loot, level up. More, please.