Torchlight is nothing short of Diablo run wild. It takes the best parts of the most celebrated action RPG ever made, makes everything easily accessible, and compiles it into a colorful world to make Torchlight one of the genuine surprises of 2009 and a game PC fans can't help but squeal with delight. Unfortunately for Torchlight this euphoria is fleeting since once the initial joy wears off there isn't much to keep people coming back unless they're totally in love with the mindless click and loot fest this genre has come to epitomize.
Something is amiss in the town of Torchlight, so picking one of three classes (Warrior, Thief, and Mage archetypes more or less) it is your job to venture into the dungeon below and stop the bad guys. What follows is a journey of glorious slaughter through mines, jungles, lost fortresses, and a startlingly wide variety of other environments that somehow all exist below this little town as you pursue the big bad guy at the bottom (Sound familiar yet?)
Torchlight at it's core is Diablo 2 all over again. Each class has three talent trees in which to specialize as well as five different attributes that are improved with each level up. Loot and gold is plentiful, forcing frequent trips back to town to clean out your packs before heading down for more slaughter. Torchlight does as little as possible to get between the player and the endless quest for more loot. There are no annoyances like ammunition or durability to worry about, inventory management is simple, and potions and town portal scrolls drop like candy to keep you moving forward at all times.
Torchlight has some nice innovations that improve on the traditional formula. Foremost is the addition of a pet, a direct carryover from Runic's previous game, Fate. The pet is a competent multi-tasker, doubling as both a pack mule and combat assistant who you can send back to town at will to sell off unwanted loot. The other big innovation is spell scrolls. Each character has four spell slots that can be filled with various scrolls found throughout the game, further supplementing attack and defense options through a wide range of options. Your pet also has two spell slots of their own, allowing your companion to assist in a much more meaningful manner than just auto attacking.
After the first few hours are over, however, Torchlight's hollow center starts to show itself more and more. There's only the linear dungeon to explore, creating a consistent push forward through the slaughter of incoming enemies. Every few levels offers a change in the environment and enemies, but most are just model swaps with similar abilities and attack patterns taken down by the same ability you've been spamming nonstop up to that point.
To thoroughly enjoy Torchlight you almost have to let yourself drift off into a stupor of mindless clicking and looting. Torchlight's addiction comes from the basic human desire to improve one's current situation, and it is this opportunity for improvement that provides the game's motivation since there's no other reason to keep trudging through level after level of the exact same thing.
In summation this is arguably the best Diablo clone ever, at least on par with Titan Quest. Torchlight is one of those games that you stumble upon and squeal with joy upon first glance because it reminds you so much of the things you loved all those years ago done slightly better, but after six or seven hours you begin to realize things haven't changed much while you were away.
