It’s been a century since the events of Torchlight II, and the Ember Empire is in decline. Novastraia is again under threat of invasion against the Netherim and its allies. To defeat the Netherim threat, adventurers must choose to party up with three fellow adventurers via online cooperative multiplayer or venture alone to fight their way to find fame, glory and new adventures through a vibrant world filled with hordes of dangerous creatures waiting at every turn.
Torchlight III features four diverse hero classes with unique abilities and powers:
The Dusk Mage is an enchanter who harnesses the power of light and dark energy to conjure devastating attacks.
The Forged is a powerful robot who relies on an arsenal of weaponry to build up heat and unleash explosive assaults.
The Railmaster is a locomotive savvy powerhouse who steams into combat with a massive hammer and heavily armed battle train.
The Sharpshooter is a powerful and nimble ranged character who uses incredible skill with ranged weapons and magical trinkets to take on enemies from afar.
Originally released on Steam Early Access June 13th and with a further end game update (Fazeer Shah’s Dun-Djinn) on the 23rd, the game has been the subject of mixed user reviews since it's launch.
I've been playing quite a bit over the last week and have also played the previous Torchlight games on PC, Switch and Console many times. ARPG's are one of my personal favourite genres, so does Torchlight 3 live up to the expectations benchmarked by its prequels? Or does it fall short?
Quite honestly I've really enjoyed my time with this game so far, its without a doubt a Torchlight game.
The graphics are beautiful and vibrant with wonderful ability effects. The new characters are all uniquely different and equally fun to play. The tongue in cheek quests and setting mask a well balanced and mechanically sound ARPG framework; working tirelessly in the background to provide a slick gaming experience.
A lot of the criticism levelled at the game is that it has become over-simplified in this latest iteration, "Torchlite" if you will.
However that wasn't really my finding at all. While a competent and respected entry into the ARPG genre, Torchlight has never really taken itself too seriously, its always been about fun and accessibility. That theme continues with Torchlight III, it's instantly familiar to anyone who has played the previous games, or indeed, any ARPG.
The Skill trees are different this time around, but the two distinct character trees coupled with the new relic tree and various loot sets and attributes make for plentiful customization and character builds. At no point did I feel restricted or forced into a meta build and experimentation was always fun and often rewarding. As a gameplay comparison it felt I had more flexibility to create a build than say, in a game like Destiny 2.
A lot of the issues that plagued the PC early access release have been rectified, I have had zero disconnections and the game is fully playable in Multiplayer or solo mode.
However one criticism I have to level is that a toon you create in solo can't be taken into multiplayer and vice versa. I found this a little frustrating as sometimes I want to chill out and explore solo and sometimes party up for loot, I shouldn't have to do this on separate characters.
The initial stages are a little grindy, while I understand this may be to acclimatize players new to the genre, it was all a little linear, repetitive and too easy. This doesn't last for too long (maybe 2-3 hours) then the game picks up. Its also worth noting you can change the difficulty level, which also automatically matches you with other players on the same difficulty setting.
Combat can feel a little sluggish or clunky due to the fact that most of the abilities leave you stationary, only able to rotate and not to move and activate simultaneously like a twin stick.
While this feels quite natural for a more tanky character like the forged, it feels a little anomalous for the more agile classes.
In summary, I would definitely recommend Torchlight III to any ARPG fans or to anyone who enjoyed the previous outings. It's extremely accessible and fun to play. It's also a perfect game to dip in and out of to enjoy during a short break, without the need to set aside time for a lengthy gaming session.
The Switch version only serves to highlight and accentuate this feature, making it a perfect play on the go.
It doesn't really do anything to push the genre or reinvent itself, but it's a successful formula so why should it? Currently the game takes around 20-30 hours and endgame gives further replayability.
Check out the game via eShop.
At the time of writing there is a Halloween Event with exclusive loot running until December, check out all the details here.
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