Official Site: http://www.torchlight2game.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/200710/
Source: Youtube Channel runicgames
Developer: Runic Games
Publisher: Runic Games
Platforms: PC
Release Date: Sep 20, 2012
Genre: Action-RPG
Pros:
+ Faster-paced gameplay with a steady progression
+ Visceral combat with great visuals, audio, and effect feedback
+ Bright, colorful and vibrant environments
+ A challenging, but gratifying experience
+ More open-world than ever before
+ Lots of skills and build customization
+ Tons of end-game content (New game+ and lots of bonus dungeons)
+ Mod tools provide an infinite amount of possibilities
+ Capable of 6 Player cooperative play Local or via Internet
Cons:
- Internet play has problems connecting to other players sometimes
- Game occasionally has trouble starting up
- Incidents of the game crashing has occurred (save often!)
- Some class skills can be incredibly useless
Recommended: Absolutely! Point-n-Click Action-RPG fans are sure to love this game for its vast amount of content, multiplayer, and mod capabilities.
Torchlight 2 was quite a surprise for me. I was originally reluctant to purchase the game when it had released "after" Diablo 3, but I really enjoyed the first one and decided to give the game a chance. The first one was fun, but dragged on and became tedious and boring near the end. The 2nd game was delayed for nearly a year and the wait had initially lost my interest as I was suspecting that it'd be similar to the first one. Torchlight 2 took everything that was great about the first one and multiplied it several times over. The developers found everything that was wrong about the first one and noted them in the 2nd game as its solution. The transition to only dungeons in the first one to an open world is similar to the transition Diablo 1 had in Diablo 2. Traversing the world and combat started to feel slow after a while in Torchlight 2, so everything in Torchlight 2 is slightly faster. A lot of the skills in Torchlight 1 felt similar and boring, and so skills in Torchlight 2 are more diverse, unique, and dynamic (though some are still useless). Just everything about Torchlight 2 is so much better than the first one and made for a really enjoyable experience. Combat is satisfying, looting is addictive, exploration made me want to play more, and boss battles are really creative. If you're asking for a comparison to Diablo 3, I'd have to say that they're different experiences and that it's still worth playing one if you've played the other.
Aesthetics
Art-Style: 3D Cel-Shaded, Cartoon-ish style
+ Vibrant environments
+ Lots of different enemies with unique models/look
+ All weapons and equipment are reflected upon the character
+ Skill effects are flashy and beautiful
+ User-Interface is clean
+ Atmospheric and easy-listening music
- Can be difficult to see certain enemies sometimes
- Can be confusing when player, items, or enemies are behind a wall
Aesthetics: 9/10
Buttons
Controller: Keyboard/Mouse
+ Hotkeys are customizable to any layout comfortable for the player
+ Quick and tight responses to key presses
+ Menu system allows quick access to attributes, items, and skill while in combat
+ Mini-map can be place in a corner or sides with a press of the button
+ Quick and simple pause menu to access options, save, and quit the game
- There can still be more skills than hotkey bars leaving some skills unused
Buttons: 9/10
Concept & Content
Core Concept: Explore, Kill, Loot, Equip, and level-up
+ Big open world maps is a great change from constant dungeon crawling
+ Combat is a lot more engaging and dynamic with new classes and skills
+ Lots of new items, enemies, and content
+ Boss battles are varied, creative, challenging, and satisfying when beat
+ The pet system favors my desire to loot everything
+ Each class has numerous ways to build them, making lots of unique characters
+ Bonus maps at the end of the game provides more to play past the last boss
+ New Game+ is provided rather than inheritance system from the first game
+ Mod capabilities open an infinite amount of possibilities
- Connecting to friend's games have been problematic or futile
- There are still skills and even entire paths that are useless for a character
- Equipment upgrades can be rare (used some gear for over 10 levels)
- Story was forgettable and rather anti-climatic at the end
Concept and Content: 10/10
Duration
+ A full playthrough is pretty lengthy (by my standards) which is good
+ The flow of the game progressed steadily and always stayed challenging
+ Bonus maps provides a good amount of end-game content
+ New Game+, multiplayer, and other classes provide lots of replay-value
+ Modding opens up all sorts of possibilities
Durations: 10/10
Fun
+ I really liked the multi-tiered boss battles, they were difficult, but fun
+ Playing with friends was a lot of fun, but I also didn't mind playing solo
+ I liked the varied possibilities of equipment usage for my outlander
+ Each class is really unique and provides a different experience (I made all 4)
+ I was so happy to be able to pick up absolutely everything to sell with my pet
+ I think I want to try making my own class using the mod tools, sounds fun
+ The bonus maps will probably bring me back to play the game some more
- I was disappointed with the story, it could've been just as good as the gameplay
- Internet play had a lot of problems and finally deterred my friends from playing
- Some skills were useless; not enough hotkey bar space to fit all the skills
Fun: 9/10
Overall
Torchlight 2 was a pleasant surprise for me and I'm really glad I got it. It left a really good impression on me well after completing the game. I had so much fun with it that I stopped caring about my disappointment with the story. There always seemed more to explore, more to loot, more to level, and more to experience within the game. I would definitely recommend this to any point-n-click Action-RPG fans. Overall: 9.4/10
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