Torchlight Review - a New Action RPG You've Been Playing for Years

Written by: Tony Coffee • Edited by: Lamar Stonecypher
Updated Nov 21, 2009 • Related Guides: RPG | Diablo 2 | Diablo

Welcome to an action RPG set in a quasi-Diablo world with all the same features of any action adventure, hack and slash, semi-RPG that you’ve seen before. With a surprising price tag of $20 and no retail boxed product, Torchlight is worth diving deep into to see if it’s worth your time.

About Runic Games

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Runic Games, formerly known as Flagship studios and also formerly known as “the creators of Diablo,” doesn’t quite seem to get the big picture. Gamers do not care who created Diablo. If the game sucks, nobody is going to play it. Diablo was a fantastic game for its time, but it simply doesn’t hold a candle to today’s selection. Runic Games seems to think that using the phrase “by the creators of Diablo” will move copies and motivate you to buy whatever they throw at you. While that may have been true back when Diablo was first released, gamers have gotten smarter and know better than to take someone’s word for it. We know what a good game should be no matter who makes it.

Runic Games used the same sales phrase in hopes of selling more copies of their previous title, “Hellgate: London.” For whatever reason, the Hellgate: London MMO tanked and the servers are offline. Those who purchased the $100 lifetime subscriptions were left with a sore feeling for the company. Maybe this won’t affect sales so bad for Torchlight?

Torchlight Gameplay - Torchlight In A Nutshell
Rating

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What do you get when you combine the level design techniques of Diablo, the loot system from Diablo 2, the monsters and creatures from World of Warcraft, the music from Diablo, and a few borrowed ideas from Diablo 3? Torchlight…it’s like the best of all the above but not nearly as fun or exciting.

You walk around, you kill stuff, you collect loot, you level up, you spend stat points and skill points to make your character stronger, and you do one epic storyline quest to complete the game. If you’re looking for more options, I’m sorry, you’re out of luck.

You’re going to be spending a lot of your time mindlessly clicking any random skill, hammering on random mobs, and browsing through which loot you want to wear. The mobs offer no real challenge and the entire game lacks in difficulty even with the added difficulty levels. Honestly though, I couldn’t tell you how much harder the game is on the harder difficulty levels. After you complete the game, your character does not even have the option to continue on in a harder difficulty setting. You’re stuck in the setting you choose with nothing to do but the endless, randomly generated dungeons. There is no point to continue the same character after you defeat the final boss. Had it not been for this, I would have undoubtedly taken my character into a harder difficulty. And after the first ten dungeons, you’ve seen what the entire game is all about.

Runic Games' logic behind character progression feels to be a bit backwards in Torchlight. They give you the option to retire your character after you have killed the final boss. Retiring a character will render it completely unplayable and is irreversible. You do, however, get to pass on one of your character's items as a heirloom. It’s supposed to improve the items stats and be useful in some way to the next character you create. The item level requirements stay the same, however, which means your character won’t even be able to wield it until they beat the game themselves. This makes the entire process useless. You are better off simply throwing all your gear in a shared chest before you retire. The benefits of retiring will only net your next character an extra level of fame and you start with an extra skill point. There is more benefit from avoiding the retirement system all together. A higher level character is better off hunting items to allow for ‘twinking’ rather than retiring it. While this action RPG doesn't lack in action, it lacks in every other aspect.

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Tatsu Sep 10, 2010 11:41 PM

Torchlight

I'm a hardcore game and I enjoyed this game. I admit it lacked in originality as it did bring back alot of diablo nostalgia but I'd rather play this new game that's a lil different than go back to diablo, a game I've played many times. Also everyone says that it's so shitty you can't buy this in stores and your pet is either a dog or cat. I bought this at my local gaming store...and I also get a ferret. I feel like I'm the only user that knows this! Did anyone else have a ferret?!

Daniel May 22, 2010 9:39 PM

Final Word

So.... D2 LOD 1.13 Patch wasn't HUGE. It sucked, and only included a couple bug fixes and in-game respec.

Torchlight is more fun than D2 and every other hack-and-slash RPG. It will be infinitely better when it becomes an MMO. If there's any feature you think is missing in the game, you're more than likely to find it in a mod-- you can add dozens of mods to customize your gaming experience.

Torchlight has sold 500,000 copies at $20/pop. There's $10M for a basement game-- they just got bought up by a Chinese company to release the MMO they're working on. HUGE success.

It's nowhere close to as repetitive as D2. Play Torchlight HC in Very Hard difficulty before you bash the difficulty. It's almost impossible-- you have to retire characters and pass on FAME to build up lower characters so they can handle Very Hard, let alone HC. That's the reason for retiring-- it's not just for passing on one super-awesome item.

TomD Nov 28, 2009 12:51 PM

I played through the whole game and about every level from about 20 on seemed rushed!..Same creatures over and over......I admit I'm an older gamer.63 but to me the best Diablo clone is actually Diablo..

Got really boring and after finishing I won't be back...

Chris Nov 15, 2009 1:00 AM

Part 2

...Cont.

After playing thru, I think of it as two $10 DLC's for Diablo, which I have already played to death. You get a nice, sexy palette swap in a new setting, and one set of quest-lines in each section (the main story and then the random dungeon quests). You have the option to open up additional dungeons from scrolls if you want to take a break and head into a different area, something I did constantly.

Really, all it was missing for me was the ability to run through cooperatively, even just in a party of 2 or maybe 4. But all things considered, had someone approached me and said "Hey, buddy, you wanna buy two little single-player single-quest add-ons for Diablo? Ten bucks each." I would have said sure, why not.

If somebody is going to pick it up though, they should try the demo and keep what you've said in mind. I don't disagree with any of the failings you've pointed out above, and there isn't going to be a lot of depth beyond what you'll see in the first few maps.

Great read.

Chris Nov 15, 2009 12:59 AM

Very Good Review

I just played through the main storyline with my Destroyer. Speaking as someone who enjoyed the game, and thought it was well worth the $20 price tag, I'd like to say that this is a really, really good review.

All of the arguments are valid. There is little customization for character or pet. The game can be repetitive. Really, you're right to say that it is a Diablo remake with some skill points and better graphics, done in a more Warcraft art style. It think it did accomplish what it set out to do though, which was to make me crave a multiplayer version with some more features (the proposed MMO version that everyone is talking about, I guess).

Maybe it is because I'm sort of a pack-rat in games. I liked all of the features they added to Diablo 1 for this, which I still think at times was a better game than the sequel. I enjoyed the simplicity in the gameplay, customizing my warrior, bringing back gems to transmute and items to throw in the common stash for new characters. I have yet to see how enjoyable a second run through the game would be (though I intend to do the post-game questline with this character first).

The skill tree is simple, and crosses over between characters, but that was refreshing in a way. In truth I hardly explored any of it on this first character. I had all of my points in passive skills to upgrade my gear, the treasure hunter ability, and eventually some tanking skills.

As the game went on, I switched back and forth between dual weapons and shields, ranged back-up (wep.2) or a different sword/shield load-out. I was swapping spells constantly as I leveled, and trying new spells in my pet's slots. At one point I decided the minion mechanic was so neat I should start hoarding my +pet gear to eventually gift to an alchemist. My current dog has self-heal and.... summons some kind of amoeba to heal me. I think when I run through again I'll have a cat who summons zombies and skeletons (hilarious).

Cont...

LYZ Nov 14, 2009 10:51 AM

Hmmm

I'll just wait for Diablo 3.

Seriously it would take a heck of a time if Flagship intends to make this into a MMO and make it stand out and not just be a "Diablo Clone". It's not easy because there are many many stuff to balance (items,skills,mobs,Bosses etc etc) so that the game will attract players and not end up like another Hellgate London.

Not only that they need to add new elements into the game so that it isn't just a "Diablo 2" with better graphics and enhanced features. Blizzard will be releasing V1.13, rumored to be a HUGE patch soon, and even though the game's 8 years old, people still see it as the original and see Torchlight as an alternative.

Tony Coffee Nov 5, 2009 9:26 PM

Thank you for your reply. I assure you that this review is well thought out, more than most actually. I have also played the game all the way to the end and took my time as well. For whatever reason you posted two comments so I just randomly picked one as to not appear as a double post but I tried to answer all of your retorts.

Firstly, you have taken almost everything I have said out of context and you have assumed things that I haven't said. With that out of the way, I stand firmly beside my review.

As far as the pet going into town to sell loot, I admit that is a neat idea. However, when I said that it gets old fast I was referring to being in a dungeon and killing mobs. You say "isn't it better to continue questing and fighting?" My answer to that would be yes, IF there were more than 3 quests in the entire game. But as it stands, that’s all there is to Torchlight as far as gameplay unless you're dabbling with transmuting.

And about Runic Games not shipping a retail box version, I never said they weren’t going to. Also, I never once implied that the Runic Games was in danger of going out of business, I merely stated that if they spent the money shipping a boxed retail product, they might end up spending more than earning and ultimately lead to them going belly up. I drew this conclusion based on a game made by them that was actually good, Hellgate:London. This is why I mentioned that. So the opinion here holds some water at least.

As far as pet customization, you do realize that the fish that transforms your pet has a time limit? It isn't a permanent effect so it can't even be considered customization. I am talking more about letting us choose a height, muscle build or even skin tone would have been nice. All we got however was a choice between wolf or cat and our own name.

Continued...

Ordrak, the final boss, is not a challenge at all. He uses the same gimmicks that other main quest boss's do with a few new abilities. Increasing the hitpoints, resistances, armor and agro radius on mobs does not, in my opinion, add to difficulty. And I know this because I DID do research. It's just flat out annoying, especially when you can easily twink your characters. So why play a harder difficulty when I already didn't enjoy the game? How many times have you said, "I don't like this game, I'll put it on a harder difficulty and maybe it will get better"...? I played through on Hard so I am well aware of the different difficulty settings. Try playing a game like Dungeon Siege 2 if you want to experience real AI....at least better than the AI in Torchlight.

Your argument about the MMO is irrelevant. This is a review about Torchlight so the MMO is of no concern. Possibly a review for a later time, however. And as far as hardcore gamers playing, I am sure they are all waiting for TorchED to make the game a real challenge.

I reviewed the game for what it actually is, not for what is was built upon. If you consider the gameplay to be fun, I just don't see it. You can't do anything useful with your character after you beat the game, level design is lacking in innovation (sure it looks great but after the 10th ambush, it just got old) and feels slapped together in haste, two classes have nearly the exact same skills and character customization is non-existent. I mean, would you have played Diablo 2 if there were only 3 quests and one act?

jamesL Nov 5, 2009 2:03 AM

I'm confused.

I can't tell whether you played the game or not.

You say the level requirements of a retired item remains the same.
That is incorrect.

You say "your character won’t even be able to wield it until they beat the game themselves
That is incorrect.

In regards to the pet you say "You get a whopping choice of either a dog or a cat- character customization at its worst."
This alone makes me think you didn't play the game or barely paid attention if you did. Did you not notice that you can feed fish to your pet and transform it into various monsters each with their own abilities? That allows for much customization.

You say "The mobs offer no real challenge and the entire game lacks in difficulty even with the added difficulty levels"

Ridiculous. The final boss battle alone is surprisingly difficult even on normal difficulty. And you can always try the game on Very Hard difficulty with the hardcore option.

And I am confused by your statement.

First you say the game lacks challenge even with the added difficulty levels.

Then you immediately say "...I couldn’t tell you how much harder the game is on the harder difficulty levels."

So which is it ? You admit you you don't know how much harder the game is on the harder difficulty levels. Yet you say the game offers no challenge even with the added difficulty levels.
Difficulty levels you admitted you know nothing about.

Do you not see how much of a contradiction that is ?

"Hardcore gamers will be completely turned off inside of 10 minutes."
Ridiculous

There are many hardcore gamers who are enjoying the game.

Torchlight Review - a New Action RPG You've Been Playing for Years

About Runic Games

Torchlight Gameplay - Torchlight In A NutshellRating

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Torchlight Gameplay - Torchlight In A Nutshell
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