Torchlight II Previews

We have rounded up two new additional previews for Runic’s Torchlight sequel, based on the playable beta of the hack’n’slash title.

For the Love of Gaming:

From this point onward the loot-grinding, monster-slaying, spelunking adventure begins. The opening cinematic introduces you to your purpose; to quell the ensuing evil forces, brought upon you by the insistent antagonist from the previous game, Ordrak. My first thoughts as I entered the world were how great an improvement this new, colorful land was over the endless caverns of the original. The environments are very open, visually striking, and inviting. Unless you count the hordes of enemies that litter the landscape. The enemies I found were very detailed and they contrast well against the picturesque surroundings they are invading. One bothersome issue I had with the enemies was the inability to differentiate between the basic enemies and their elite counterparts, other than their slightly different name plates.

MMGN:

One thing that Torchlight II has that missed the cut from Blizzard’s behemoth is the ability to level up stats individually. When levelling up players will receive stat points which they can distribute amongst a multitude of attributes, allowing them to truly craft a character of their own.

While the gameplay and environments of Torchlight II were invigorating, one element that I was sorely disappointed with was my pet. Skylar the Ferret was good for one thing, and one thing only – to carry a bunch of loot so I didn’t have to run back to a hub area every three minutes. Pets have a full inventory for items which is neat, but otherwise they seem fairly pointless. While Skylar did attack enemies, and even kill a few, I didn’t really have much control over his actions, and I actually felt a little cheated as he took away that final skeleton I was trying to kill. It’s not a broken system, but it does feel a little pointless.