I’ve heard pretty much nothing about this game, aside from seeing it’s name pop-up here and there on a few news sites I frequent, and initially wrote it off as some obscure indie PC title that most likely wasn’t worth my time or money. However, after doing some research I discovered the game might be more interesting than I thought. Usually I would try to read reviews but there didn’t really seem to be many for Torchlight. After some internal debate I finally decided just to buy it. I mean, it’s only $20, right? Well, it turns out that this is one of the best $20 purchases I have ever made.
I’ve only played for a few hours but I’m already hooked. The game plays like a spiritual successor to Diablo, which makes sense considering who made it. I really like how they incorporated a skill tree and learnable spells. Almost like they took the systems from Diablo and Diablo II and combined them. Another cool thing is giving you a pet to start with, the neatest feature being its ability to take loot to town and sell it while you continue adventuring. How awesome is that? Not only is the game fun, but it looks great. The art style seems similar to WCIII/WoW. Some might not appreciate it, but I dig it. Especially since it runs extremely well on my dated laptop.
From what I have seen thus far I highly recommend Torchlight.
Anyways, I need to get back to scouring dungeons. I’ll try to poke my head up later for more impressions.
I’ve been enjoying the heck out of Torchlight all week, and when the dev tools are released in the next week or two, the amount of user made content is going to be ridiculous.
Definitely worth the 20 bucks to anyone who likes the Diablo series.
Is there a multiplayer LAN modus,
or even a Battle Net like online multiplayer?
This is a really, really well executed Dablo 2 clone. If you enjoyed Diablo/Diablo 2 and found yourself wanting more, then you’ll probably dig it, and $20 is about right. Otherwise there’s almost nothing new here, so you should probably pass. As for me… I’m definitely digging it.
There’s a lot of history to this game. Apparently Torchlight is very much like Mythos, the stillborn Diablo-esque MMO from the now defunct Flagship studios. The key people from Flagship reformed under Runic, and even though they lost Mythos they’ve picked it back up in spirit with Torchlight.
I guess they decided to get a single player out the door to start making some revenue and (hopefully) support MMO components in the future. If this ever turns into a full fledged MMO, it’s going to be hard to drag me away from the thing.
single player only.
They are working on the MMO using the same game world, expanded of course, which they say will be out in a couple years.
There is no multiplayer/LAN.
That seems to be a deal breaker for some people, but quite frankly, its insanely fun regardless.
@Lasdem
Unfortunately, no. Apparently they are making it into an MMO or something that should be released in 18-24 months, though. Quite a ways away.
Still a great game, though, even if it is singleplayer only.
When Graev finishes playing it I’m going to steal it and play. It looks like a lot of fun even if it’s just singleplayer.
Who is Graev?
😛
Even though Torchlight is like Fate 1.5, it’s a fun game and well worth $20 if you like ARPGs.
I find that magic items are in general pretty bland in this game. It has nothing like the diversity and awesomeness of the loot in Borderlands. That’s probably the biggest flaw in Torchlight.
Don’t forget they’re releasing the same tools they used to create the game as a mod software. Nothing has been taken out you could recreate the entire game if you wanted to.
check out the forums, full of good stuff.
http://forums.runicgames.com
Hehe, told ya is was awesome 🙂 Glad you’re enjoying it! Can’t wait for multiplayer.
Wow, this looks really nice! Very very diablo-esque which is a good thing. Crap, too many games all at once 8(
@ poster #8 are you kidding me with that borderlands comparison? its like comparing a Honda civic to a Ferrari
I’m not crazy about the cartoony art direction (at least when it comes to the character models) but Torchlight is a beautiful, fun time killer.
The teams previous game Mythos was itself a semi-spiritual successor to Fate, an indy Diablo-clone (and I think Flagship picked up the Fate talent to work on Mythos, don’t quote me on that though). The pet and fishing stuff had been done in Fate originally.
As such I posted some thoughts to colleagues after an hour or so of play and lambasted this game for zero originality (even the score is almost a rip off of Diablo at points). It doesn’t dream of hiding the Diablo/D2/Fate/Mythos origins.
Many hours later, and with a level 28 Vanquisher, my decision has reversed. This is lower budget than D3 for sure, and whilst it may lack some of what may come with D3 it already looks like it has implemented some of the lighter touches seen in D3 trailers. However it really shines from iteration (rather than innovation). It is the fifth game of this type for some of the Torchlight team, and it is smooth and polished and extremely playable. It was £12 for me, I don’t see how you can argue.
I’m really waiting for multiplayer though, the game could be a blast with a few of the different classes in play together.
I just played Diablo II a bit, but I didn’t like it very much. I felt like I never really knew what to do or why, and the world was kinda dark and boring.
After my first character died, which was just a couple of hours into the game, I never picked it up again.
By the screens, this game looks cool. Do you think I might like it though I never cared for Diablo?
@Squit
Well, Torchlight is way less dark and has a bit more of a bright and shiny atmosphere for the most part, so thats different.
It is also way more similar to Diablo than to Diablo 2, it is extremely linear and there isn’t really any question as to what to do.
The story is really a veneer for a random loot collecting game, which the ARPG genre is really all about. The main story line is fun but will only last you maybe 10 hours on any given character depending on how fast you play maybe more or less.
So, if you didn’t like DIablo 2 ONLY for the reasons you listed, then you might give Torchlight a try. However, if you don’t like the main game mechanic of clicking on things to kill them and make them explode into loot in various graphically pleasing ways, then you still won’t like Torchlight.
“This is a really, really well executed Dablo 2 clone.”
This is why I always laugh at people when they say “This game is nothing more than a XXXXX clone!” Sometimes that can be a good thing. It’s about keeping the great aspects of the game that people like and trying to improve upon the bad aspects of it. Pretty much what Torchlight sounds like it’s trying to do.
Not interested in playing it myself but kudos to the development team of the game for doing a great job.
[…] to have the circle of bloggers I seem to frequent giddy with excitement over the neato features and Diablo-esque memories it has […]
@Nollind:
I was thinking a bit about why I enjoy this game (a Diablo clone) and loathe Aion (a WoW clone).
There’s one major distinction here: time.
Diablo and Diablo 2 are so old now as to have largely faded into the murky past, and although you *could* still play them on a modern system they would look downright archaic. Diablo/Diablo 2 are, essentially, dead games.
Torchlight doesn’t shake up the formula because it doesn’t have to. The game it’s cloning is gone, leaving a void that it’s all too happy to fill. As such, it feels more like a loving tribute than a cheap knock-off.
Aion, on the other hand, is contemporaneous with WoW. It has to convince me that it’s worth playing *over* WoW (or the countless other WoW clones), and I think it simply fails to do that. In fact, I find it almost offensive that they would release something so derivative and expect it to capture my interest.
If Torchlight had been released right after Diablo 3, I think we’d all lambaste it as being wholly derivative, adding nothing. But coming when it has, in this gap, it’s managed to capture the spirit of a game that has been waiting far too long for a successor.
Jeremy: Great points. It’s the nostalgia of the older game (Diablo) that’s actually a plus and drawing you to the game. With regards to cloning a game though like Aion (or even the newer game Alganon), you have to innovate in such a way that the experience feels different throughout the entire game. If it is doesn’t and only effects a small portion of it, then you’ll encounter exactly what you did with Aion. Lots of great polish in cloning the great aspects of WoW but not enough innovation to make it worthwhile.
This actually reminds me of Warhammer. They had a lot of great ideas for innovating and takings things a step beyond, yet the problem was the lack of polish in that innovation. In effect, the devils in the details.
[…] There are only three classes. And it ends too quickly. But it is an incredible experience, offers smooth gameplay and feeds on the far-reaching and widespread Diablo nostalgia that the gaming media has […]