Released in 2009, Torchlight was a nice surprise for fans waiting for Diablo III. Not only did it wake up a slightly dormant genre from lethargy, but it also did it in a solid way - we got a devil-like, modern chopper with pleasant graphics, light storyline and a few distinctive solutions, such as petting and fishing grounds. The game was not free from flaws, and probably most often it was accused of lack of multiplayer mode.
The heads of Runic Games, Schaefer brothers, co-founders of Blizzard North, decided to realize the idea they had in mind while working on Diablo III - they wanted to create an MMO game with Torchlight, but they had to abandon these plans in favour of a typical sequel. There is no telling what kind of game Torchlight MMO would be. It is known, however, that Torchlight II turned out to be an almost outstanding production, showing how to make decent sequels.
The locations themselves are designed differently than in Blizzard's cited work - in one act, instead of a dozen smaller areas, we have two or three huge ones, for which we have a lot of side tasks. These tasks are another significant element distinguishing the game. They play the role of the dungeons/subquests known from Diablo II, and are usually limited to a two-, three-level location with a mini-boss at the end. Although the locations are huge, you can feel the algorithms responsible for their randomness - although the areas do not generate again with each restart of the game (for this it is required to start the adventure from the beginning, or in the new game + mode), and once killed monsters are not reborn (so the farm boils down to passing the game "from a to z"), but does not interfere with the final reception - just, an attempt to depart from the schemes known from the flagship work of the genre. The same is true of the difficulty level; we are not doomed to go through the game three times only to be able to play comfortably in the proverbial "hell". (all right, we know, there's no such proverb). In the Torchlight series we choose the right level from the very beginning, which translates into more difficult battles with bosses (they have increased life and inflicted damage), but not necessarily a better quality loot - it is the same, except for gold, which spills a little more.
Monsters and their hierarchy are shaped differently. There is no division into ordinary moby, elite moby and champion - the life belt of the more powerful ones is marked in purple (they wander in a purple beam of light, so they are easily noticeable), bosses, in turn, have a golden jacket around their "health-bar". But perhaps the most important thing about monsters in Torchlight II is that almost all of them, whether inferior or elite, have affixes - this eliminates from the game (at least in its initial phase) the wholesale elimination of enemies at the touch of a single skill. Fighting the clouds of ordinary monsters sucking mana is not an easy task, and we are talking only about serial enemies! The purple "elites" are often endowed with four Affixes and the bosses have unique skills, mostly based on summoning minions. Such a monster "system" sends a signal to the player at the beginning: "Yes, it will be difficult, prepare a solid weapon and do not spoil the buildup".
The mechanics of the game is painfully classic. The creators of Runic Games drew the best from Diablo II, but poured the whole thing over with a freshly scented sauce. And while Diablo III mechanics are considered revolutionary and, as we know, not every revolution succeeds, the Torchlight II system deserves to be called "evolutionary". "Evolutionary", but with a fresh fragrance. So what about this sauce? First of all, the accents of the base attributes (features): strength, dexterity, power and vitality were distributed in a different way. Still, when you advance to a higher level, you get a point for active and passive skills, and five points for attributes. However, in Torchlight II it is much more difficult to underestimate one of the traits and give absolute priority to another. Developing strength increases damage from weapons and critical hits, investing in dexterity improves the statistics of the chance of a critical hit, evasion, and the so-called "clumsiness correction", i.e. the penalty points of damage received in case of a failed attack (the more dexterity points, the less damage from clumsiness), power, in addition to increasing mana, improves damage from elements, magical attacks (in practice all skills), and the chance of execution, i.e., the more points of agility, the less damage from clumsiness. Simultaneous attack with two types of similar weapons (it is a kind of bonus for fans of 2x1H schemes, often being on a lost position against two-handed weapons or a combination of shield + weapon), and finally vitality, increasing health, armor and block shield. Naturally, by choosing one of the four classes available in the game (Berserk, Grimmer, Engineer, Hunter), with varying intensity we will develop particular features, but the complete omission of one of them will be an extremely risky move.
Secondly, the skills tree was shaped differently. Still in the beta version there was a typical pattern: "Develop this skill to unlock this", which involved sacrificing the cult "point of access". But then Diablo III came out and the creators, it seems, said: "Gee, this Activision system has something interesting in it", and they completely removed all combinations of skills, etc. In other words, they cut down the tree, scattering fruit around the trunk. What's more, the chosen hero has three different "trees", and each of them ennobles a different way of fighting, but nothing stands in the way of "combining" the skills from these trees - having a choice of seven active skills and three passive ones on one tree, we can completely ignore the passive ones available there in favour of those available on a different "path" of development. Not all skills are available immediately, some are unlocked after reaching a certain level, but sometimes it turns out that patiently developed initial skill turns out to be stronger at the end than the one just unlocked - for each skill we can spend maximum 15 points, and every fifth point spent unlocks some skill-related additions - and this increases its range or duration, or reduces the cost, etc., etc., etc. The whole system is quite clearly limited - for promotion to a higher level (there are 100 of them), completion of some missions, and fame points (the rewarding coefficient for exploring the game, appeared in the first Torchlight) we receive a total of points to fully develop from 6 to 8 skills (depending on the accepted building structure). What's worse, the allocated points cannot be reset completely - only three "last" points are restored, which makes it easy to "spoil" the character, and before starting the game you need to properly study the skills and plan the style of our game; unfortunately, not all skills are worth our hard-earned points - the lack of balance is noticeable, and the developers have not implemented a system of synergy or other, somewhat repairing the "worse" in the operation of the skills.
Thirdly, a small element in the form of a golden bar at the bottom of the screen has been pushed into the game - along with killing enemies, charges (fury) accumulate in it, in order to activate a few seconds buff after full loading. It seems to be a simple solution, but it gives a lot of joy and a chance to show off for strategists fighting at the highest level of difficulty with the bosses of the game - sometimes skillfully filling the bar and, finally, activating the "booster" is the only chance to painlessly defeat the creature packed with life points. Why painless? For every death is connected with a dilemma in character: "to pay x gold/experience/fame to return to the battlefield, or to save precious gold/experience/fame, to rebirth in the city and start fighting from scratch?". Although the experience bar does not go back with every death, but only at the highest level of difficulty, the desire to kill the monster quickly makes our purse extremely light - and the gold in this game is really included in the price. Why? Let's move on to the story of objects.
Let's start with the colors, actually some kind of turbulence with them. The convention has accustomed us to the fact that the quality of objects is determined, in turn, by the following colors: white, blue, yellow, and then "legendary" - gold, bronze, etc. Set sets, in turn, are accompanied by green. Such a division appears not only in the canonical Diablo, but also in other games of the genre, such as The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing. Torchlight II uses these colors, but in a different order. Ordinary items remain white and do not impress with anything special, items are enchanted... green, rare are marked with blue color, unique - gold, legendary are red - yes, there are as many as five types of quality weapons - within them can happen to us an uncharted set item, as well as a purple feature item. The team from Runic Games has balanced the strength of individual items, which makes it possible to "feel" the difference between a green and a blue item. A better quality item means not only higher statistics, but also a greater number of features.
It's time to deal with strictly technical elements. For the first time - graphics. Well.... Playing beta, and then for many hours of gameplay already released game I had the overwhelming impression that the animations of heroes and some monsters are not as "full" as in the first part of Torchlight. And although both games are based on the same engine, the difference in the feel of the game is clear - from the possibility of a greater distance between the camera and the interface, it is in practice two different products. What's more, they don't have the style in common. Naturally, we are still dealing with a fairy tale convention for teenagers, but the predecessor seemed to be more dark, although less "smooth" with different graphic filters. However, should this be seen as a drawback of continuation? Certainly not. First of all, in Torchlight II we "go out" from the underground and visit a part of the world, which in a way forces us to adopt a slightly different, more universal convention - in general it is clearer, less claustrophobic, more ergonomic; there are more details worth hanging an eye over. The locations are diverse, one could even say something: their wealth is overwhelming: forests, deserts, meadows, dry lands of Nether, dungeons, prisons, snow-covered peaks, caves, even a pirate ship! All this is passed through a perfectly working map generator, through which you will not encounter two identical caves. Only "cities" are free of it, just like Diablo III.
Speaking about the vitality of the game, one cannot only consider the end-game model, or multiplayer modes; one should also pay attention to the element that many modern developers forget about. We're talking about mods and more, about the mod scene. Fortunately, Runic Games remembered the enthusiasts, allowing for full modification of the game, interfering with the steam workshop, and also allowing the game to be played using mods in multiplayer mode. The only restriction is the fact that the hero created in the basic version of the game is not playable in the modified version. Switching on and off mods is very convenient, so we don't even have to worry about the consistency of the game files or the risk of reinstallation.
Summary? But of course! Torchlight II is undoubtedly one of the best hack&slashes ever created. A kind of league of this game genre, a title that we can put on a par with such productions as Diablo III or Path of Exile. The king of the genre is not and probably will not be (while Diablo II LoD was such a king, it's hard to say which game is ahead of the game), but it provides hundreds of hours of fun, high level of replayability, continuous access to the multiplayer mode and years of gameplay provided by interesting and extensive, fan-made modifications. And it costs relatively little. A must-have item not only for fans of the genre.