Torchlight Demo Impressions

It's been a long time since Diablo 2 came out and even though the game still holds up today and another is well on it's way the wait is proving tough.  Torchlight hopes to calm the wait and bring those of us in need of a good "loot" game satisfaction.  Though with such a big name to live up to how could something like Torchlight, what many may shrug off as a Diablo clone, possibly live up to the task at hand?  Well quite simple actually...

 

Torchlight is developed by Runic games, which just so happen to be run by the original Diablo guys.  Interest piqued yet?  Keep going.  Having THE Diablo guys behind the game is a pretty big deal obviously but what else does Torchlight have going for it?  Well the composer from the first game also happens to be on board.  As you can see where I'm going with this Runic Games is really looking to feed those hungry for Diablo III.  Now the question is...is Torchlight any good?

 

 

Upon starting up Torchlight for the first time you'll create your character.  Torchlight features three different classes for which you can choose.  The Destroyer (above), who specializes in melee attacks, the Vanquisher, who acts as your ranged character and the Alchemist, who relies on his magic to get him through combat.  Once you've chosen your class you'll choose a pet which will aid you in battle.  You can choose either a dog or a cat (pictured above).  You'll then name your character and your pet and select the difficulty.  Torchlight has your standard difficulty settings however they do have what's called "hardcore" mode which basically means you can die once....but once you die...that's it. 

 

Torchlight words off the Diablo formula and does it really well.  You have one town in the game "Torchlight" which holds numerous people willing to buy and sell with you as well as people who will give you quests.  Just as well there is only one dungeon.  You'll continue going down deeper and deeper, switching between mines to dungeons and etc, and fight swarms of enemies and collect loot.  If you've played Diablo you know how Torchlight plays.  You'll be clicking on enemies and treasure chests and loot till you can't click no more.  Finding that one piece of loot that just kicks everything elses butt is really quite rewarding.  However there are a few cool things added to the formula that make Torchlight more than just a copy cat.

 

 

 

Your pet fights with you in Torchlight as you can see in the screenshot above.  Your pet has quite a few features that honestly...are pretty freaking awesome.  First off if you're starting to run out of room in your own inventory you can simply drop it into your pet's inventory to clear up space.  You can put rings that you find on your pet to help boost it's stats a bit.  Not only that, and here's where it gets awesome, your pet can learn spells that you find.  As you play you'll stumble across spells that you can equip to either yourself or your pet.  So for instance say you find a spell that summons 4 skeleton archors to your side.  You can have your pet learn this spell and while you and your awesome pet are busy fighting he'll step back and summon some skeleton archors to help out.  But it doesn't end there.  You can put some of the useless items you've found into your pet's inventory and send it back to town to sell those items and it'll bring the money back to you in about half a minute depending on how much you're selling.  Pretty awesome huh?  I thought so.

 

Leveling up is pretty standard in Torchlight.  After each level up you gain 5 stat points that you can assign to certain stats and you get a skill point that you can use to spend on spells or abilities.  You can also upgrade certain abilities and spells to do much more damage.  I personally put some skill points into a special skill that allowed me to become stronger when dual weilding weapons.  Certain skills unlock at certain levels so due to the demo's level cap being 7 I was unable to test out some of the stronger abilities that there is in the game. 

 

 

There is however...a major downside to Torchlight.  Torchlight is strictly a single player game.  You will not be doing any kind of co-op in this game and, while the game is only $20, it is a bummer.  However there is currently a Torchlight Free to play MMO coming sometime next year but the specifics on that are still unclear.  Either way, no matter how you slice it, not being able to play with a friend is a bummer...at least the pet's AI is pretty good.

 

Torchlight also has modding tools open to the community and with randomly generating dungeons it's safe to say Torchlight is a game that will last you for a long time.  If you're hungry for loot and the wait for Diablo III is just too tough then I encourage you to check out Torchlight.  I've gotten over 4 hours of playtime with the demo alone and with a price point of $20 it's at a perfect price point for anyone hurting from the large amount of games coming out.  If you like Diablo you'll like Torchlight.  It's a great game with plenty to do and lots of loot to collect.  And with the ability to share your loot with all of your characters it's practically begging to be played through more than once ;)