Review: Torchlight (PC).

Coming seemingly out of nowhere, Torchlight is an action based RPG much in the same vein as the classic Diablo. This shouldn’t perhaps be too much of a surprise mind you as the designers (Runic Games) staff includes two co-designers of Blizzard’s original Diablo games.

Originally released as a digital only title in October, Torchlight’s popularity has since seen it also acquire a boxed release this month and a Mac version is also in the works and scheduled for release later this year.

The game centres around the mining town of Torchlight, which has been built over a large deposit of Ember. Ember is a mysterious type of ore which can empower items and users with a diverse range of magical properties.

As the player progresses however, he discovers that this power comes at a cost and that the Ember ultimately corrupts its users and has been responsible for the destruction of many previous civilisations.

The first thing you will do is pick your character class, albeit from rather limited selection.

Will you be the Destroyer, a typically generic warrior class? Or the Alchemist, your, erm, typically generic wizard class? Or perhaps you prefer the Vanquisher, a hunter type class who specializes in the use of traps and ranged weapons (Elf shot the food!).

As you may expect, your choice will reflect the effectiveness of your use of various weapons and spells and your basic character skills. Skills are upgraded as you acquire EXP and are various skills are required to use a variety of specialized spells and weaponry.

It’s a shame you cannot customize your character a bit more, particularly in the beginning of the game but that said, the customization on offer is just about sufficient to hold your interest.

The town of Torchlight itself acts as the hub for the player; somewhere to acquire quests and buy and sell your spoils from the mines. As you explore deeper into the mines, you can use a potion to create a portal to instantly transport you back to the town and then back again to the mine; very handy for when you need to sell items mid quest or acquire new items to help you progress.

Combat is a straight forward affair and basically involves equipping your desired weapon and spell loadout and then clicking on the various enemies with your cursor. Much like the entire game, it’s simplistic and repetitive but also compellingly addictive at the same time.

Torchlight isn’t a complicated game by any means, the entire premise is basically search dungeon, kill enemies, return to town and sell loot. The plot is somewhat forgettable and if you are anything like me you will probably forget about its specifics after a short space of time. It’s a lot of mouse clicking but addictive mouse clicking at that, a ‘crack click fest’ if you like.

Graphically the game is very good and the visuals give the mines a great sense of atmosphere. There is nothing here that should tax the average gaming PC, but it’s colourful and well drawn and certainly one of the games positive points.

Indeed much of Torchlight’s appeal is through the charm it portrays both graphically and through the use of some neat ideas.

From the very beginning your character comes complete with a pet; initially you can choose between a Wolf or a Lynx (although I still can’t stop myself thinking of them as a household Dog and Cat) but these creatures can be transformed later in the game through the use of fish which are caught from various fishing locations scattered through the game.

Your pet can be equipped with spells as well as a couple of ember empowered rings and will fight alongside you as well as be able to take your loot back to sell whilst you carry on exploring the mines.

It’s a neat touch and has cost me dearly a few times as I’ve died whilst being transfixed on the actions of my pet, whom I swear seems to teleport around the map due to something I’ve empowered him with.

The creators have also freely released TorchED, a fully fledged game editor so users can create their own levels. The editor has been made simple to use and allows for heavy customization making it suitable for both novice and advanced users.

It’s a nice finishing touch by Runic and the kind of support which will earn them the respect of PC gamers fed up with the dumbing down of their software (and yes Infinity Ward we are looking squarely at you).

All in all Torchlight isn’t exactly an original game and it is ultimately a homage of sorts to Diablo, but that doesn’t mean its some cheap knock off either. Torchlight offers well structured and proven game play mechanics, wrapped in wonderfully executed presentation and served up with a superb software editor.

Whilst the game play is simplistic, it is addictive and I suspect many players will find themselves gaming long into the night before they realize exactly how much time has passed them buy.

Since the game is priced at only £14.99 and considering it offers near full price playability, it’s arguably a steal, especially if you can see yourself playing around with the games editor as well.

RPG’s are rarely my preferred gaming flavour, even those that are action orientated, but Torchlight has kept me amused for many hours and will continue to do so for some time. It’s not innovative but it is worthy of your time, so be sure to give it a go.

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