Torchlight II Ranking: A
Here’s another ARPG with a high rating from me. My main gripe with this series is that it’s very much a reskinned Diablo. You’ve got the first game taking place in a multi-level underground dungeon with 3 characters, a warrior/mage/ranged trio, one of whom gets corrupted by the Big Bad after defeating it and becomes an antagonist in the second game. This game even has an Act 2 in the desert and an Act 3 in the jungle. The finale takes place deep in a fiery dungeon. Despite this, the game’s lore and worldbuilding fall very much short. Bosses generally came out of nowhere and the main antagonists, the Nether, are never explained in any way. I know most people don’t play ARPGs for plot or lore, but I do.
That said, I had a blast playing Torchlight II. It’s a solid and fun game that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The pet feature is unique to this series and is a wonderful addition. I taught my pet cat some summoning spells and it would send its posse of zombies, a skeleton, and an imp into battle. How is that not awesome? You can also send your pet back to town to sell stuff, which is an amazing quality-of-life feature in a game like this. I’m also imagining the vendors in town reacting to a cat routinely strolling up to them with a pack full of armor and weapons to do business.
Here’s my character – a cannon-toting engineer – right after killing the last boss (NG+).
Here’s another ARPG with a high rating from me. My main gripe with this series is that it’s very much a reskinned Diablo. You’ve got the first game taking place in a multi-level underground dungeon with 3 characters, a warrior/mage/ranged trio, one of whom gets corrupted by the Big Bad after defeating it and becomes an antagonist in the second game. This game even has an Act 2 in the desert and an Act 3 in the jungle. The finale takes place deep in a fiery dungeon. Despite this, the game’s lore and worldbuilding fall very much short. Bosses generally came out of nowhere and the main antagonists, the Nether, are never explained in any way. I know most people don’t play ARPGs for plot or lore, but I do.
That said, I had a blast playing Torchlight II. It’s a solid and fun game that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The pet feature is unique to this series and is a wonderful addition. I taught my pet cat some summoning spells and it would send its posse of zombies, a skeleton, and an imp into battle. How is that not awesome? You can also send your pet back to town to sell stuff, which is an amazing quality-of-life feature in a game like this. I’m also imagining the vendors in town reacting to a cat routinely strolling up to them with a pack full of armor and weapons to do business.
Here’s my character – a cannon-toting engineer – right after killing the last boss (NG+).