Looking at it from a purely objective standpoint, Torchlight II seems like a game that would grow stale within a matter of minutes. You kill, you loot, you level up, and then you do it all over again with slightly bigger numbers all around. Rinse and repeat for a few dozen hours, and that’s more or less Torchlight II in a nutshell. It’s a repetitive and seemingly dull gameplay loop that scarcely sounds like a fun way to spend an afternoon, and yet time has a way of simply melting away once you sit down to play.
“Just fifteen minutes” suddenly turns into an hour or two, maybe more, and you’re left wondering how such a thing is possible. Suffice to say, it’s nearly impossible to put down Torchlight II once it gets its hooks in you because, at its core, it’s simply a fun game. Intoxicating, even. Couple that with excellent handheld performance and a surprisingly cheap price point, and Torchlight II becomes one of the closest things to a must-have purchase that you can get for the Switch.
The story picks up a few years after the first Torchlight, opening up with a scene in which the Alchemist – one of the playable classes in the first game – has become corrupted by an evil energy from the Heart of Ordrak, destroyed the town of Torchlight, and embarked on a path of destruction across the world. As a new hero, it’s your responsibility to get to the bottom of what caused the Alchemist to turn and to ultimately put a stop to the villain’s nefarious ways, while also doing what you can to help the people that have been affected.
As far as RPG stories go, the plot of Torchlight II is about as basic as it gets, mostly just there to provide context for the adventures you’ll soon find yourself participating in, but this isn’t necessarily a negative. A heightened focus on narrative would only serve as a distraction to pull you out of the gameplay loop, and Runic Games has done an excellent job of finding that perfect balance in which you’re given just enough information for the next mission to feel purposeful, before the plot steps out of the way and lets you get back to the monster mashing. Plus, at the occasional important story beat, cutscenes animated by none other than Klei Entertainment (the studio behind Don’t Starve and Mark of the Ninja) will make an appearance, providing a nice break in the action as you're provided with a short, well-directed sequence.
There are four different classes to pick from at the outset of a playthrough, each with their own distinct playstyles and skill trees, and you can pick a pet companion to assist in battle and perform ‘grocery runs’ for you (more on that in a bit). It may seem like four classes is a little light on gameplay variety, but the enhanced depth offered via the skill trees is where the real diversity in multiple runs comes out. You’re given a skill point to invest in one of three separate paths every time you level up, and how you choose to mix and match the skills as you progress will lead to some rapidly divergent gameplay opportunities.
For example, the Embermage class can choose between fire, ice, and lightning magic, each of which contain myriad spells with plenty of utility. You’ll never have enough skill points to fill all the trees, so you have to make some hard choices. Do you commit to a lightning build that utilizes the full spell set, or do you handicap some of your options in favour of adding a few crowd-controlling ice spells to your repertoire? Questions like these will be frequently asked early on, especially given how a sense of permanence is rapidly introduced because you’re only allowed to refund the last three skill points you invested. If you’re indecisive in how you want your character to turn out, that indecision could prove to handicap you later in the endgame when some precious skill points are permanently tied up in skills you no longer use.
Indeed, this feels a little unfair given that new players are being effectively punished for experimenting with different skills, but Torchlight II is the sort of game which is designed to be played through multiple times with new characters in each run, in an almost roguelike fashion. Lessons learned in early runs can be carried forward into future ones, and you’ll be having so much fun with the core gameplay loop that any missed opportunities in min/maxing are easily swept under the rug.
Breaking away from the rather straightforward, single dungeon approach of its predecessor, Torchlight II presents you with a vast and partially-randomized open world that all but begs you to search every corner in pursuit of treasure chests and secret dungeons. The world is divided up into a series of large segmented maps, each of which is packed full of loot, baddies, and quest-giving NPCs. Part of what makes this all so compelling is the sheer unexpectedness of it all.
Perhaps you’ll be making your way towards the next quest objective and stumble upon a slaving troupe, and after a heated battle with the goblin slave drivers, the gratefully released prisoners will offer you a rare piece of loot. Or maybe you’ll stumble across an NPC who lost an item in a ‘nearby cave’ unlocking a multi-floor dungeon filled with traps and treasure. You never really know what’s coming next in Torchlight II, but what’s next is never just ‘nothing’; there’s always another carrot being dangled in front of you, beckoning you ever further into the world as you grow your character and become more comfortable with their distinct strengths and weaknesses. There’s always another piece of loot to bump up your stats, always another side-dungeon to explore; you’ll seldom be at a loss for something interesting to do.
Most of the mobs you come across in your journeys are dispatched in a matter of seconds, while the real threats come from getting horded by dozens at a time or having a few unusually powerful ‘Champion’ variants of enemies wreck you. At its heart, combat requires very little from you in terms of raw skill and is instead more a test of resource management and strategic thinking. You can have up to eight different spells, items, or attacks bound to all the main buttons, and each of these combat options is governed in some way by meters or cooldowns, so a typical engagement is more about knowing when to activate different abilities and how to balance the various recovery times.
This sort of knowledge is something that just comes with time, but it can be immeasurably rewarding once you get dialled into a certain playstyle and can watch your character roast dozens of enemies at a time in splendorous displays of fighting prowess. Those of you that prefer a more action-heavy combat system may be a little disappointed by the more numbers-driven style of play here, but those who take the time to learn and invest in it will find that it’s exceedingly satisfying.
Torchlight II is about loot first and foremost, and the game seems to understand this as it positively showers you in it at every twist and turn. Breaking environmental objects, killing foes, and completing quests will all yield you some random new thing you can wear or fight with, and it’s your job to figure out which of these things can best serve the playstyle you’re going for. To be honest, probably eighty to ninety percent of the stuff you get is trash that won’t serve you at all, but any excess can be handed to your pet at any time, which will dutifully carry it back to town and sell it if you so desire.
The funds from these sales can then be reinvested into either buying better loot or improving the stuff you already have. An enchanter can be paid to add random stat modifiers and buffs to gear for a not-so-cheap fee and various gems you find on your travels can be equipped into slots to provide similar boons. It may all sound a bit complicated, but what’s nice about the Torchlight II system is how it keeps things relatively straightforward when it comes to equipment. The hard part doesn’t come from having to figure out complex stats and calculations, but from the agonizing decisions you must constantly make when equipping similarly beneficial pieces of gear.
As far as replayability is concerned, Torchlight II will probably take you anywhere from twenty to thirty hours to beat, depending on how thorough you are with each game area. Once you reach the end, you can then choose to either run it again in a harder new game plus mode (which can loop up to five times) or you can choose to take part in the Mapworks, which lets you rerun old areas and dungeons with interesting new modifiers and traps to make the run harder. And, of course, all of this can be experienced with friends locally or online if you don’t want to go it alone.
To be honest, Torchlight II is a bit disappointing in regards to its endgame – particularly when you compare it to the ‘endlessness’ of a run in Diablo III – but there’s also a certain kind of value to be found in having a definable end to a character. Once you hit the level cap, that basically marks the end of any notable progression you can make for that character, but there’s nothing stopping you from diving back in as another class or using another build to see how it changes your experience. It’s certainly feasible that you could derive a couple of hundred hours from Torchlight II before feeling bored due to the pitch-perfect nature of the loot distribution and progression, but just be aware that the endgame feels a bit lacking.
As far as presentation is concerned, Torchlight II manages to nail quite a distinctive look in how its art style is chunky and colourful, yet carries a certain kind of darkness and intensity. The disproportionate models and exaggerated look of the environments give off a strong cartoonish vibe, which can sometimes prove to seem oddly lighthearted as you fight off some Lovecraftian horror that you found in a pit.
Panic Button – which handled the port to Switch – has done yet another impressive job here; loading screens are kept short and performance in either docked or handheld sticks to a solid 60FPS with nary a dropped frame in sight. However, some minor glitches here and there prove to be an irritation. For example, when deciding how to distribute stat points after levelling up, the descriptions of the stats don’t match up with the actual stats you’re pouring the points into.
Or, in another example, you can’t pick up loot if an enemy is nearby because tapping ‘A’ will cause your character to attack, even if they’re standing right by the piece of loot and a prompt indicates they can pick it up. We also had the game completely crash on us a couple of times, and though the erasure was mitigated by autosaves, it was nonetheless an unwelcome setback. Given Panic Button’s track record, we’d anticipate that most of these issues will be dealt with in relatively short order, but all the same, bear in mind that the glitches are a small but noticeable blemish on an otherwise excellent release.
Conclusion
Torchlight II proves to be a wonderfully well-polished ARPG that’s sure to provide dozens of hours of fun, all at an incredibly low price point when you consider what’s all being offered. Rewarding, loot-heavy gameplay, an expressive art style, and oodles of replayability come together to make for an impressively charming and addictive experience, even if it’s let down by the occasional technical hiccup or glitch. We’d give Torchlight II a strong recommendation to anybody who’s interested in seeing what the ARPG genre is about, as this proves to be an accessible adventure that sacrifices none of the unique qualities that set the genre apart. Genre veterans may want to pause and think before buying, as there isn’t a whole lot here you haven’t seen before, but it’s tough to argue that you won’t enjoy the time you spend with this one.
Comments 43
I briefly played the first one and wanted to get this in PC but never did. Will add this to my wish list for when I get my head out of Diablo.
I used to play this a lot years ago. It's a lot of fun but the price is high. It's on sale all the time on Steam for under a fiver
I may grab this. I have it on PC but I've only put maybe 2-3 hours into it.
If I were Nintendo I would throw panic button a pizza party.
And free time has left the building.
I thought this game was pretty neat... way back before Diablo 3 released. That's the problem with this game, it was a placeholder for a much better game.
Fun game, but old game. Guess I'm a little bitter we aren't playing Torchlight 3 by now.
@Galenmereth You can still reset your points
I'm surprised to see that since the original release there were no new classes added. That's actually pretty sad for a hack'n'slash.
HOW can you give Grandia Remaster a 5/10 (Grandia is RPG at its best and i played through the first game with a few little bugs like music cracking in a few songs and had an absolute blast -widescreen enabled, nice to look at textures, no FF8/9 cheap mobile game look)
AND this completely broken port a freaking 8/10 ?!?
1. right from the very start you move wobbly because i guess mouse clicking is emulated or something
2. if you go to the character tab to distribute stats, the descriptions are a mess showing wrong text (5 descriptions for 4 stats, try yourself)
3. after creating a second character my first ones look got reset to face,hair etc option no1
4. in local coop while trading we get all items duped (the items i give her she gets twice as so do i get hers double)
5. lighting in the pirate cave is broken if you pan the camera resulting in a split in half image
6. you can't talk to the smith in town easily, you always hit the air even if the game shows you you are able to talk to him
those are just the bugs i remember right now...
to be fair it looks nice and is basically fun but i don't get how you can rate those games like this, since both companies vowed to patch the bugs. is it because its from panic button ?
@Galenmereth If you can in this version, I couldn't find it. The PC version definitely had that option though, the modding community added a significant amount of content and tweaks over the years, some of them even being unofficial 'expansions'
@FXK It's hardly "completely broken" at all. A couple minor glitches like the stats descriptions but the devs already said they're working to fix that and it's not like it breaks the essential parts of the game. I've yet to come across the other two bugs you mentioned.
Maybe this just isn't for you while Grandia is.
@Reignmaker There is an MMO torchlight coming out, 3 won't be coming for a while because of it sadly.
@bozz as i said: i like the game, it seems like a very good alternative after blizz ruined D3 little by little to a game where just legendarys matter for 2 days because thats how long it takes to reach paragon 500 ... i think its time for diablo3 classic
and the bugs i listed are not minor to me, i would say its the most broken game i played on my switch by far i hope they fix those since i believe in panic button/perfect world.
@Swindla The price is high?! This was a $40 game when it first came out on PC, they're giving it away at half that now on Switch. Forget the fact that you can get it on sale for 5 bucks on PC, of course they run sales on games that have been out for a long time on a platform. Not sure how low you were expecting this to sell for, but they can't give it away for 5 bucks on Switch considering the development work that goes into porting it over. They don't just magically flip a switch in the code and say "Okay, it works on Nintendo Switch now." Honestly, the price is totally fair and justified for how much gameplay there is to be had here.
Another very solid port by Panic Button.
@FXK So were you unable to continue playing because of these bugs?
Sounds like fun to me. And the price is solid for what you get.
@Galenmereth That's what I mentioned in the review, you're only allowed to refund the last three skill points. Anything prior to that is locked in.
Off topic
But I thought the SNES VC was on today. Where is it?
I'd suggest to not play it alone, if you have someone to play this with probably will be pretty fun. Great game to play with a friend.
Yay, I've been pretty sure it runs at 60fps, but thanks for spelling it out/mentioning it specifically. I've heard how great this game is, but never tried it. It's perfect that I'll get to play it for the first time on my Switch, and at a perfect 60fps! I'm a happy frame rate junky right now : )
@bozz yeah, now ill just wait for them to fix the game while im playing astral chain and some snes until the switch lite + DQ11 are released! its a good time to be a nintendo-fan (a nintendo fan waiting to play gears5 on gamepass ;D)!
@SwitchVogel not sure if “expertedly” is a word, but I’m no expert.
@Racthet916 I'm pretty sure I didn't pay more than 20 bucks when it first came out.
@60frames-please If you like this, I'd definitely recommend trying Diablo III. I like them both, but Diablo is easily my preferred game.
This game is 5 years old on PC. Still a great game for Diablo fans.
@Preposterous Yeah, it was $20 when it first came out too.
Game is fantastic. A couple bugs, but nothing game breaking. Absolutely fantastic arpg, that stands easily next to D3 and Vran, on Switch. Highly recommend.
I've got this and the prequel on PC through GoG. This game is simply stunning as is the prequel.
The designers of the game were ex-Blizzard employees, many that were the key players in the design of the earlier Diablo games (not 3) so it has that same general style and play mechanics of the great Diablo 2. Think of it in a way as the true spiritual sequel to Diablo 2 since there is a pretty good pile (I don't quite get it) of haters of D3 online.
@jly1987 I'll happily 'waste' money on this 7 year old game as I've never played it before. Just as I happily wasted money on 25 year old Doom and Doom 2. I'll never understand comments like yours.
@jly1987 Torchlight 2 has never been released on ANY console until now and the Switch version arrived on the same day as the PS4 and Xbox One versions which are also priced at $20. So if the game making its console debut is 'because of people like me' then it seems I'm doing something right. I look forward to playing this very well reviewed 'garbage port' between sessions of brand new experiences like Astral Chain and Daemon X Machina.
@Preposterous Well I stand corrected on that front then, but I maintain that it’s still worth every dollar they’re asking. Lots of fun to be had for only a Jackson, and they’re not being dicks and “Switch-taxing” us like so many other devs.
Bought it day 1 but don't have time to start playing yet due to too much backlogs.
@JayJ - but then Diablo 3 came out and we all realized how great Titan Quest, Torchlight 2, Sacred 2, Diablo 2, and Grim Dawn really are or were all along...
@jly1987 - Dude...don't buy it then.
There are a ton of actual garbage ports and the 9 millionth remaster of this or that...
This is the sort of game that people who like this genre like - it's like that band that has total cred and a loyal fanbase for decades, but might not hit mainstream success. You don't have to buy a ticket, they'll sell out decent sized venues to the real fans.
@Fake-E-Lee Read, commented, and subscribed. Didn't have time to leave a decent comment, but I'll get there. Looking forward to more Sidenote: The new Tool is pretty dang good. Wasnt a fan of the last album. What's with everyone making comebacks? The new Slipknot is also good, and I dont even listen to heavy anymore!
@SwitchVogel Oh yeah, I've got Diablo 3 on Switch. It's one of the best Switch releases in my opinion.
Loved this on PC back when it first came out.
Definitely going to give this a whirl on the Switch.
The biggest problem I have with this game is that I am completely unable to play as anything other than the Engineer class. It’s my class, it’s aaalmost like playing as a Land Surveyor in a game...makes me wish I had access to hulking steam automatons and a colossal wrench when I’m out in the field IRL.
I’m also dangerously addicted to Diablo 3 whenever there’s a new Season on.
I’m afraid, well thankful really, that Torchlight II doesn’t hold the same replayability spell over me.
@Fake-E-Lee Same. That's why I'm loving the new album!
@Fake-E-Lee No. It hasnt gotten better since then. But this is the best since Iowa. Really speaks to me, where I'm at in life atm too. Good stuff. No Tool tho.
I bought the game today at the same time with a friend to play co-op from the start. It really runs very well! The only downside we encountered was a very long loading screen for me (while my friend already got through in about 10 secs) when we entered a challenge area
The review failed to mwntion the game's excellent soundtrack, which was composed by Matt Uelmen aka the composer for Diablo 1 and 2, and some of the tracks in the World of Warcraft expansions. Some of the tracks give off a strong Diablo 2 vibe which is something that I would describe as being a huge positive.
Otherwise, the review is boss.
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