Stuck in the Dark
Who enjoyed Diablo?
Why do I ask this question? Well, it will be something that, as a player, will strongly influence how you view Torchlight.
Released in 2009, this was a title that I hadn’t even heard of until a friend pointed me in its direction. I’m a fan of the RPG genre, and am always willing to play something new; having worked my way a fair bit into the game, I can tell you that I’m both pleased and disappointed with Torchlight in equal measure.
Too young to remember Diablo, this might also be the game for you
The storyline, though well written, won’t come as anything new to an avid fan of the RPG genre: you play an adventurer who has come to the town of Torchlight. The town(as in many of these games), is situated on ever-descending levels of dungeon filled with nasty monsters. The towns folk mine, use and sell a mineral called Ember, and it’s this substance that also seems to have caused most of the mayhem that is ensuing. I won’t tell you any more as the storyline figures heavily around this plot device and I don’t want to ruin it for you.
The reason why I asked whether you were a fan of Diablo is that the game seems to be heavily based on the Blizzard classic. The engine is near enough a perfect clone of the old game with spruced up graphics and a few minor additions.
As with the first Diablo title, you get your three generic classes. These classes are fighter, rogue and your ever present spellcaster, (or alchemist as he is known in the game). Each of these class types has three skill trees, which will give you a choice from an assortment of powers and abilities with which you can annihilate your unsuspecting foes. Not seeing anything new here? No, I suspected as much, but there are a few nice little additions that make the game somewhat more refreshing.
Firstly, you get a pet. This, unlike in many games of this style isn’t just an ornament that follows you around and looks nice. It provides an intricate part of the game. Not only can you feed it fish which turn it into a number of different monsters (making it a very handy ally), but you can also send it back to town to sell off your unwanted items. You find that your inventory will fill up really quickly, and having a dog (or cat if this is your preference) that can hump the stuff around for you is very useful. This also means that you aren’t running through town portal scrolls (yes, you get those too) at a rate of knots. Another point to add here is that you can teach your pet spells, and if you choose the right ones you can provide yourself with some much needed back up in some of the stickier parts of the dungeon.
Another improvement that has been made to a gaming style that seems to have been beaten to death comes with your skills. You aren’t limited to the sort of items you can use as long as you have the skills to back it up. If you want your Alchemist using a bow that’s fine as long as you’ve purchased the requisite skill. This adds another dimension to your character and a new level of choice for you as a player that you don’t always see in the RPG genre.
Lastly the game isn’t entirely linear, something that I found refreshing for a title in this style. You can buy map scrolls from the vendors in town which open portals to other levels. The scrolls also give you an idea of what level you should be before attempting them. This is a big help as it stops gung-ho players wandering into areas too hard for them and getting themselves killed. The plus point to this is that you can get your character levels up outside the story centered dungeon. This will make it easier for you when you reach the game’s later stages. Transversely, there is also the down side of you making yourself too tough and, therefore, making the game a bit easy, therefore, it makes sense to balance the amount of extra dungeon delving you decide to do.
I’ve done my best not to mention too much about the bits of the game players will be familiar with. The items work very much the same in this as they do in many other games. They come in levels of rarity and have different properties. Equally there are a number of character based quests involved that can be completed at will. In fact other than what I’ve mentioned there is probably very little that sets this apart from other games on the market.
One last important note is that although it plays on older PCs Torchlight runs very slowly. You might find yourself waiting for ten minutes for a dungeon to load or the game may slow down mid-battle. If you can’t heal yourself quickly enough and your surrounded by monsters you’ll find yourself getting very annoyed very quickly.
The graphics on this title are really nice, but then they should be considering that this is still a very new game. The sound is something that has it’s highs an lows. There isn’t much music on some of the levels but the sound effects allow for a haunting atmosphere that fits the game well. The control system is easy to pick up and largely mouse orientated though your skills link to hot keys to save you messing about with menus.
If you are looking for something new and flashy, definitely don’t bother with Torchlight, you will be very disappointed. If like me you just love the genre and aren’t massively bothered about playing the next level in RPG entertainment, I really think that this is a little gem that you might enjoy. Some of the effects in this game are a bit gory for kids but if you are just that bit too young to remember Diablo this might also be the game for you.
The Bad: Nothing new,; Fairly repetitive,; Laggy on older machines,
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