Torchlight was what you might call a “cult hit”. It had a small but dedicated group of followers who were “in the know”. The game was quietly developed by many former core team members from Blizzard’s massively popular Diablo 2. The game was released to limited fanfare and was dismissed as a knock-off due to its stylized artistic flavor and low price of $20 US. Word began to spread, and reviews began to crop up, touting it as the “real” sequel to Diablo 2. It’s popularity swelled even further when the actual Diablo 3 released, and was met with critical acclaim, but was lambasted by the fans.
With Torchlight 2 on the very near horizon, is it the salvation ARPG gamers are waiting for? Here are 6 reasons why it might be.
6. It’s HUGE!
Torchlight was big. With 100 character levels and an infinite dungeon after the story, it could keep you busy for a good long while. Torchlight 2 will likely give you the same number of character levels, but there is oh-so-much more to do. As you can see in the infographic above, there is, on average, about 200% more of… well, everything! Add to that a huge above ground world that was non-existent in the first iteration, and you have an absolute ton of content to consume.
5. Loot, Loot, Loot!
(Don’t be fooled by the above picture. Apparently nobody in beta thought to take screenshots of big piles of loot.)
Runic Games has an awesome infographic on their website that compares how much more of everything is in Torchlight 2. In itself, it is far too large for me to post here. There are 87% more unique items, and that is barring the extra layer of customization via enchanting. Weighing in at around 5773 total unique items, chances are, you will never see them all. You sure will want to try though. Like in the glory days of ARPG games, bosses and special monsters absolutely explode with loot when you down them. It’s a rush that takes a long, long time to get old.
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2 Comments
Very true about no restrictions, proper characters customization, etc.. But I still worry that we haven’t learned the most important lessons and what we are really searching for in the next big action rpg.
Great sequels don’t just get larger, they add a new layer of DEPTH to the experience.
I have come to this conclusion after I pondered the dismal Diablo 3 failure for a long, long time.
I am going to assume based on what I’ve seen that runic learned from blizzards mistakes and did not REDUCE depth in this sequel, the gods be praised.
However, if you simply create a huge pile of new content while the fundamental experience itself is not taken to some next level, the product will ultimately be summed up as “more of the same”.
Critics and fans will be gracious, it may take a solid month of play for many to get bored, and it will even be a major commercial success. However, the very important opportunity to keep the genere moving in a direction – and this part is critical – to maintain the investment and interest of an international fan base that is growing up, is connected to everything, and has already “seen it all”, will have been wasted yet again (blizzard..).
I won’t get into the more detailed concerns, they all regard the idea of Size in games reaching a critical mass after which the size (or quantity) becomes a hindrance to the experience.
Again, we must hope runic exercised extremely sound judgement. We the gamers look at all anticipated titles with nothing but rose colored glasses. The reality appears to unfortunately be that not all aspects that lead to true longevity in the product have been addressed.
Thanks for the insightful comment. I hope Torchlight 2 is everything we anticipate, but call me jaded, I’m not banking on it. I think conceptually it brings a lot to the table, and frankly offline LAN alone has me hooked because it’s a great experience most games no longer offer in favor of always-online DRM, but I’m not counting on a revolutionary ARPG experience that breaks the mold. I know it will be a good time, because Runic more than delivered on that promise with Torchlight 1, and for $20 it’s a no-brainer for me.