Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Highly addictive"

This is more of a first impression than a full review. Torchlight to Torchlight 2 falls right in line with the progression from Diablo to Diablo 2. The inclusion of an overworld makes the game feel much more fulfilling, and I like how non-linear the dungeon layout is on the randomly generated maps. Loot drops seem to be of just the right proportion of cool stuff and useless trash. The animations are smooth and hitting things feels slightly better than in Torchlight 1. Voice acting and cinematics are not the focus of this game, but are decent and fit the mood. Skills seem more thought out and in general it seems more polished than its predecessor.

On the cons side of things, the graphics could have been upped a bit more with a little more grit. I know that isn't the style of torchlight, but for the increase in system requirements from the first one I would have expected a little more texture detail. Also, I am finding that the dungeons are far more 3d than in the first one which puts me behind walls a little too often. When being attacked by large hordes of monsters it can be a little confusing when all you see is a mass of blue figures moving around. While I am enjoying the skills, I would have liked to see some synergy between skills as they did in later Diablo 2 patches. Hopefully at some point runic will have the resources to handle some pvp element...though I'm not holding my breath for that.

All in all, Torchlight 2 is a triumph for Blizzard North...er...I mean Runic Games. May their particular brand of addiction continue on for years and years to come!