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| The player character fighting a group of skeletons in a dungeon. |
One day in the town of Torchlight, a gang of monsters appeared from the town’s Ember mine and killed a bunch of townspeople. The player to venture into the Ember mine and the catacombs beneath it and discover the source of the monsters.
The player can play as a Destroyer, an Alchemist, or a Vanquisher. This review was done with a Destroyer and shall be written as such, though apparently playing as a Vanquisher is like a Destroyer except she attacks at a distance, and the Alchemist is like a Destroyer except he relies on the many spells the game has instead of merely smashing the enemies.
Torchlight is a very simple game. The player goes from one end of the level to the other, killing every single monster along the way by clicking on them until they die, and picking up everything they drop, like weapons, armor, magic spells, and gold.
The player equips weapons and armor on their characters to better defend or attack. Most items usually have extra enchantments on them, like some might be more resistant to certain types of magic, or others might make the character stronger. The player has to figure what combination of armor and weapons are most suitable for their character, which is usually not very hard to figure out.
The player can go up to the town of Torchlight and sell all the loot he or she has collected but does not need for more gold, which can be used to buy stuff the player actually needs. The chances that the stores in Torchlight have something better than the equipment found in the mines is about even.
The player is given a pet at the beginning of the game, either a lynx or a wolf. The pet can attack monsters right alongside the player, and use spells as well. More importantly, it can be loaded up with loot found in the mine and sent up to Torchlight to sell so the player does not have to that themselves and can just continue along through the catacombs.
The graphics are pretty nice. Everything has a cartoonish look to them, but the varied color scheme and the detail makes everything stand out. The way all the characters twitch and fidget while they stand around or walk makes them look more alive. And there is nothing more satisfying than swiping at a bunch of enemies and watching them all fly away or fall over cliffs.
In addition to the main quest there are three side quests that the player can participate in: finding something, killing something, or going into an optional dungeon and finding something. Since completing them does not get in the way of completing the main game, completing them is a nice way to gain some extra experience, though the rewards are usually not that impressive and the quests themselves are not memorable.
Torchlight starts off fun in a non-challenging way. The game play does not require much thought, it is easy to click on everything without thinking about it at all. It is even easier with a Destroyer, who has a spell at the beginning of the game that takes out all the enemies surrounding him. Eventually the lack of challenge starts to get boring. The only really difficult areas are the last five levels, which do not make up for the preceding tedious levels.
The level design does not help either. There are thirty five levels, and every five levels is a different theme, starting with the mines, and then moving onto dungeons, then ruin, etc. The levels are randomly generated by the computer, but they are made up of components that the computer knows. It is like taking a bunch of blocks and arranging them in a different order every time. So, even though the levels are random, parts of them quickly feel familiar, making the whole thing more repetitive. There are about only four different kinds of enemies per five levels, which make the levels even less memorable.
Torchlight is an easy game that is fun at first, but eventually gets dull. This is only for people who need a lootfest but cannot play Diablo.
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