Torchlight: A Review

One of my fondest early memories of PC gaming is the original Diablo. The game seemed to install instantly, and I spent many an hour happily clicking away at the hordes of Hell to find the next cool item. Diablo 2 only improved on the clicking, and I am certain that my social life suffered at the hands of the demon Diablo and his brothers.

What Is It?

But Diablo and its sequel are, by gaming standards, positively ancient; the expansion to the sequel, Lord of Destruction, is the latest instalment and it is coming up on its tenth year. Understandably, people, myself included, want something new to slake our thirst for a clickfest before the highly anticipated Diablo 3 comes out... eventually. Luckily for us, many former members of the Blizzard team who brought Diablo 2 to the shelves have filled the gap with a charming new title: Torchlight.

The Basics

You enter the mining town of Ember as one of three distinct classes: the brutal Destroyer, who charges headlong into the throngs of baddies to cleave away with his melee weapons, the mage-like Alchemist who can choose to fry his foes with elemental magic or send in his own hordes of minions, and the ranged Vanquisher, ready to loose a hail of bullets or bolts, depending on whether you want to be a steampunk.

Torchlight is also fairly story-lite. You are charged with saving the town from an ancient evil that has been awakened by digging too deeply into the mines. However, the decidedly cartoonish style of the graphics lends the game a whimsical tone which makes up for this lack of plot. But plot is not something gamers look for in this sort of game. They want cool items and they want to mow through entire legions of monsters. This is where Torchlight excels, and gamers will not be left wanting.

What's It Like?

The game operates on a level-based system where the player, upon levelling, may distribute attribute and skill points. It is a familiar system, and anyone who has spent time with other Action RPGs will adapt instantly. It even features the randomized dungeons which added so much more replayability to its ancestors. While the game generally sticks to the formula laid down by the Diablo games it does offer one or two changes to the mix. One such addition is that the player gets a pet which follows them around on their dungeon romp. This pet attacks enemies and, perhaps more usefully, has an inventory of its own which may be filled and, with the click of a button, the pet will return to town to sell these goods. Another touch is fishing; spread around the dungeons are fishing holes which the player may use to take a break from slaying his or her enemies. The fish caught may be used to transform the pet into different beasts with a variety of strengths and weaknesses. 

Torchlight is basically a budget-priced Diablo clone with a fair number of bells and whistles.

This reviewer gives Torchlight a solid 8/10.