This game sure comes with some serious pedigree: Travis Baldree, designer of Fate, and Max Schaefer and Erich Schaefer, co-designers of Diablo I & II put their heads together and came up with an action hack&slash isometric RPG game that can appeal to all ages. The result is a good game that will keep us hacking and summoning - until the ...3rd coming that is.

In fact, the game developers made sure to often pay tribute to the DIABLO Series: from the background music while at the town-camp (you would recognize those Tristam guitar riffs anywhere!), to the draining health and mana fountains and to the voice announcing & warning, you cannot miss the timeless DIABLO influences. Having said that, I found TORCHLIGHT to be something between a DIABLO and a FATE game.

If you have experienced any of the FATE games you will be reminded of them often, although the heroes here are not children. The village NPCs will keep giving you straightforward quests (usually a go-and-fetch excuse to dwell deeper into the dungeon). Extra dungeons, however, can be accessed by accepting the extra quests of the male NPC in the south and by purchasing dungeon maps of various levels from the local merchants. Also, sometimes a spectral animal appears while in a dungeon: slaying it will open up a bonus dungeon where better equipment often becomes available. There is no traveling to/from town while in a bonus dungeon, so you better keep an empty inventory before entering it.
Yes, you do get a pet (a dog or a cat - but you can interchange them by purchasing and feeding them a special fish) and, yes, you can transform them by feeding them different types of fishes. Fishing is carried out in pretty much the same fashion: you wait for two concentric circles to merge and their color to change from pale blue to purple but it is less important than it was in FATE (so far I brought in nothing else but fish - no equipment or valuable items).

Now, when not playing an AD&D RPG (where I always choose to be a Paladin), I like to play other RPGs as a warlock, a fighting mage. The Alchemist class allows you to both cast powerful spells and exchange blows in the midst of the action (the other available classes is the Destroyer and the Vanquisher). The Destroyer is the up-close-and-personal tank warrior whereas the Vanquisher is the ranger.
When leveling up as an Alchemist, make sure to get both the (steampunk!) golems and the Ember Strike spell. Together with some good shielding spells, nothing can stand in your way.

Try not to go broke. At first I though, "finally, an RPG that is not stingy with its money". But that was only at first. Items are less expensive at the shops but (surprise!) they also sell for a pittance. The good news is that money drops like rain from slain foes. The money-hole is the enchanter: attempting to further enchant your equipment will deplete your funds faster than you would imagine! And you also run a considerable risk of having all of its enchantments removed. No post-dated checks are honored. No credit cards accepted. I tried.

You WILL get swarmed so be prepared. Place healing potions, defensive and knockback spells on quick-slots (1-0); equip your pet with self or group healing spells and a powerful summoning spell; and never forget to first stay alive and then keep pounding on your enemies. In the heat of the battle it is best to deactivate (Alt-key) the fallen-items labels (more on this later on) and to always keep an eye on your health and mana levels. Respawning is not free: it will cost you either time, money or experience.

The inventory seems small but, in fact, it is more than adequate. Potions and scrolls are stackable up to 20 and (more importantly) every item takes up only one inventory square (no, you do not have to carry your fishing pole, it is just there).
You can send your pet to town to sell off its inventory and the time it needs to return is much less that what it did in FATE.
And there are treasure rooms you can only access by finding and pulling levers (sometimes in specific sequence) to open doors or turn bridges.

Now, some negative points:
(1) the game is only a dungeon crawler, there are no outdoors locations.
(2) the graphics of the the spells are very impressive but they can become really confusing as well. Even at maximum settings, unless the fallen-items labels are deactivated you will not be able to actually see much of the battle. That means alternating between fighting and looting - but it also means missing some important interactive objects (levers or ballistas). Also, when electric, fire, ice and poison spells get mixed the result is not something one can discern friend from foe in. It makes no tactical difference (you cannot harm yourself or your company) but it sure would be more enjoyable if you could aim more than...80% of the time.
(3) the environments are beautifully designed but your path is often blocked by obstacles that visually you could easily bypass. Sometimes you find your hero running in place, stopped by a ...pebble.

Finally, some closing suggestions to the developers for a future patch: (a) add the possibility to order our pet to bring back potions and identification scrolls when sent into town, and (b) make it possible to change class in mid-game (keeping the level and redistributing the skill points).

All in all, TORCHLIGHT is a very enjoyable experience. It is easy to master, it is beautiful and it is fun for the whole family.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I've been playing this type of game since Wizardry came out on the Apple ][. And this is about the most entertaining dungeon crawl I've ever dove into!

I don't want to spend time telling you what kind of game this is. You know that. I want to point out how REFINED this is. The developers know what you like and what's annoying. Stuff you like (loot!, violence!, MINIONS!!) is plentiful. Stuff you don't (long cutscenes, stupid storylines, micromanagement) is gone.

Bash Monsters in the style YOU like. Snipe from long range? You can do that. Tear them apart in axe-to-face combat? You can do that! Swarm them with legions of undead minions? YOU CAN DO THAT! Go all John Woo - blazing away with a pistol in each hand? YOU... CAN... DO... THAT!!! You can even switch between those styles (and many more) with the SAME CHARACTER. You develop the character the way YOU want - because it's more fun that way!

It runs well on older systems (even netbooks!) and beautifully on newer ones.

It's well supported. There is a vibrant user community supplying a plethora of mods. Steam has a long list of achievments you can shoot for (I don't know if you can hook into the achievements if you don't buy the game through Steam).

You got the idea. I gotta go. My alchemist has a bone to pick with some poison-spitting spiders. Actually, his ZOMBIES do - but you get the idea.

I am about 50+ hours into this game, and I must say that it is one of the best RPG's I have played in a long time. I purchased this game from STEAM a month ago when it was on sale, but just wanted to let potential buyers know how great this game is.

It is my understanding that many of the original developers from the Diablo 1 & 2 games (including the music person) have migrated over to Runic Games to make this fantastic RPG. Anyone familiar with the Diablo games will instantly recognize the music, the menus, and the gameplay ... but with many refinements and upgrades. The graphics are very nice, the music if fantastic, the gameplay is addictive, the quests are fun, and there is an abundance of loot to collect.

A nice plus that I like with Torchlight is that when you exit your game and return at another time your character is at the same location and your progress picks up at that point ... no starting from town everytime like in Diablo 2. If you leave a town portal open upon exiting, it will be there when you come back. Another revision with Torchlight is if your character dies, you now have a few options to chose from on how you want to respawn (from the exact spot where you died to back in town) ... no more repawning back in town regardless and having to slog your way back to where you died to get your stuff back like in Diablo 2 ...

A demo is available to try out before buying if interested ... just Google search for it.

I highly recommend this game ... It's a great value even at it's retail price.

This review is for the Steam version--I do not know if the retail requires activation. This review will be done in a different format than my other game reviews. Scores in each section are out of 5.0 stars. My apologies for the length; I can't seem to write short reviews.

Torchlight is a new entry into the Diablo-style hack'n'slash genre of games. While it may seem derivitave, it bears mentioning that some of the team behind this game also worked on the actual Diablo games, and one of them is the guy behind Fate.

Customization (3.5):

Not much here to start with--three class archetypes to choose from (melee, ranged, or mage). Each character has their own brief backstory. I played as the melee class; my wife is playing as the ranged class, which involves both bows and guns. More customization comes in upgrading your character--each one has three different skill tracks to upgrade. Personally, though, I would argue that this game's REAL customization potential is in the loot. This game is loot-heavy. Some items have slots that you can upgrade with runes. In town, there is an enchanter (which as another reviewer mentioned is the real money-sink in this game), and also an NPC who can combine duplicate runes into better ones. Some loot is in "sets" that provide bonuses the more pieces you have equipped, though I've found mish-mashing stuff I find to be the best way to go.

Graphics (3.5):

Colorful. Vivid. Confusing. The enemies will swarm you (load up on AoE skills!) and it can often be hard to tell exactly what's going on, but a few clicks of said AoE skill can usually clear them out fairly easily. For those playing on non-gaming netbooks, there is a "Netbook" option under settings that makes it much more playable (we tried this with the demo on my wife's computer before I bought it on mine, and it seems to work well).

Pet (3):

The pet is an interesting mechanic. The fish you can find throughout the game (via, well, an easy-to-grasp fishing mini-game) can be fed to your pet for temporary transformations or stat boosts. These will greatly increase your pets HP, and bestow temporary abilities depending upon the type of fish consumed. They generally last for 120 seconds, though there are variations. Perhaps the most useful aspect is the ability of the pet to run to town and sell stuff in its inventory, which is just as big as yours. Due to the decently high drop rate of potions, the only thing that really might make you go back to town in the middle of a dungeon is using up identify scrolls. You CAN learn an ID spell, though it takes up one of your 4 spell slots.

Gameplay (3):

The real measure of a game. The gameplay here is not deep, thoughtful, or difficult. The enemies--even most bosses--are pretty easy to kill. This is not a criticism per se--I downloaded the demo before purchasing this game, so I knew exactly what to expect. When it comes to games, I'll play a certain game for weeks on end, tire of it for a while, then play something else in a different genre. This is a simple game, but the dungeons go on for a VERY long time. I played through and "beat" the story (which ends on about level 35-40, I can't recall exactly). I'm playing other things now, but I still bring this game up when I want some mindless loot-grinding. It's a good game to kill some time while waiting for my wife to get ready if we're going out (she feels the same away about when I'm getting ready!). Even though the main quest is completed, there are still NPCs outside of a secondary, more difficult dungeon (the Shadow Vault) that are giving me quests.

Bug, Glitches, Issues:

A relatively common one I've found is enemies and the loot they drop getting stuck in walls or behind objects that appear transversable but are not. To my knowledge, no patch has been released addressing this, though if I am mistaken, please let me know. Occasionally your pet will get stuck and trail behind you, though this is easily fixed by doubling back and running in a little circle usually (though it is rather annoying). The save mechanic uses (in the Steam version, and when connected) the Steam Cloud. HOWEVER: The game does NOT require an internet conenction to play, or save. I've found the best thing to do when done a session is open a town portal, and go into town. The game saves, will reload you into town the next time you open it, and your portal back into the dungeon will remain there. I've had several game-killing crashes (which on reloading means I start at the beginning of a dungeon floor), though this is not prevalent enough to make the game unplayable.

All in all, for a game that had a development-to-market cycle of 11 months, with an engine built from the ground up in this time, Torchlight is still surprsingly well-done. The cost--$20 (I got mine for $10...a week later it was $5 in the holiday sale! Oh well)--seems reasonable (if not, wait for another sale, it's sure to come!). This game can definitely cause the "just one more turn!" (or dungeon level, or boss, in this case) mentality, but it is also easy to pick up and play for an hour without having to invest much thought or effort in it. If you liked Diablo, Fate, or just the dungeon crawling, loot-grinding genre in general, this game is a can't-miss.

3.5 / 5 Stars Total (I wish Amazon allowed 1/2-stars).

This game is a 3D fantasy RPG. You adventure through different dungeons collecting equipment and items. You also get a pet a dog or a cat. IF you played Blizzard North's old game DIABLO you will know what to expect. The box art is cool and the installation is fast and easy. The game looks great. One old cliche of clicking on gold is gone. You now just run over the gold to pick it up. There are three classes with skill trees but any class can use any weapon if your stats are right.

The game runs fine on a laptop and has a Netbook Mode. The music is by once again the Diablo II composer. The voice overs are appropriate and the story moves along fine. The game has a good length and future replayability.

The sound effects are good and pack a punch. The monster variety is decent. The spells are alright, but I like the EXP and Magic Find skills the best but you'll definitely need a main attack upgrade and possibly a damage aura. The main pet can also wear an amulet and two rings. You can get more allies such as magical swords, zombies, and skeletons through spells.

Supposedly the game content will take you to LVL 30 or 35 and then you can run the different environments again. The classes are Rogue, Caster, and Warrior.

The storyline centers on the precious resource Ember. You'll find pieces of ember to put in the sockets of your equipment as you play. Torchlight, the game's namesake is the town you can town portal in and out of. There is an extra waypoint to keep your progress. The town's denizens include a gambler, an enchanter, and shopkeepers. The stash is back to put extra items in. You can also transfer items between your locally stored characters.

The game originally came out as a digital download in October 2009. This is for the boxed copy. I would recommend this for people who want to have the box to display in their collection or want to bypass Steam, etc. Either way goto Runic Games for the digital download if you just want to get it from the cloud.

The only cons I can think of are 1 Dragging and dropping items can be a little sluggish 2 You'll find times your inventory is full but you're in a portal within the dungeon and can't TP out, forcing you to drop something 3 The differences in the magical properties on items isn't that dramatic meaning you can run for a while with the same gear on. 4 The prices of the potions are a little high.

There are some cool things though, your pet gets an inventory too and you can send them to sell in the middle of the dungeon. There are shopkeepers in the middle of the bigger dungeons.

There aren't any glitches that I've seen in contrast there are sharp advances like being able to see your character's silhouette through obstructions in the environment. You can teach your pet spells. I have to say teaching the dog Firebolt II and Retribution aura and seeing it cast it at random is amusing.

Anyway this game makes you feel powerful as you crush and shatter enemies. The WoW convention of item color coding is in effect. You can choose to see the item drops name boxes all the time or not.

For $20 there is a lot to appreciate here. If you're addicted to the dungeon crawl genre and don't mind single player for now it's a memorable experience. For the future there is a Torchlight MMO in the works with multiplayer bells and whistles. Looking forward to that. GL

I am a sucker for a good (or bad) Action RPG. I have played.. just about every single one to be released in the last 10 years probably, including but not limited to: Diablo, Diablo II, Titan Quest, Sacred, Sacred II, Torchlight, Fate, etc. The good ones, I play to death.. unless something shiny distra... Oooh shiny!

What was I talking about, oh yes, Torchlight.
Torchlight is pretty much Fate 2, like Fate, Torchlight is a mediocre action RPG. There is absolutely nothing new or special about it. For a modern ARPG it has too few classes, the classes are generic archtypes which are just the staple of the RPG genre (Fighter, Mage and Rogue, by any other name it's still the same classes). 15 years ago, this game would have been awesome.. Wait, this game was released almost 15 years ago, it was called Diablo. That's right, Torchlight is pretty much just and updated version of the original Diablo.

However, they don't try to be, or claim to be, anything more than that. Torchlight is a simple game for good clean hack and slash entertainment, without any concerns about plots, or quests or anything else really. And it does that quite well.

Any veteran ARPG player will pick it up and be able to play it without even thinking about it. Most of them will have a lot of fun with it, until something shiny distracts them.

If you're not a fan of the Action RPG genre, pass on Torchlight.
If you're interested in the genre, ... got some of the classics first (Diablo II, Titan Quest and Sacred are my top 3)
If you're a long-time fan of the action RPG genre, and looking for something to tide you over until 'ooh, shiny!', go ahead and give Torchlight a try. Just don't expect it to be a groundbreaking exciting new entry in the genre.

Outstanding game, I am waiting for Torchlight 2, if there is going yo be one

I would never recommend this product to anybody because of its lack of challange, but it serves its purpose as a time killer in the evenings when I'm too exhausted for anything else. The plot is pretty simple... hack and slash your way through the dungeon. In theory, there are other quests to perform, but they all seem to happen while you are hacking your way through that same dungeon. In part because of the extremely simple plot, the game is also very predictable. There is only way to go in any dungeon - all branches die out within one room, so there is no point to exploration. The monsters do the same things in the beginning that they do in the end, only varying in the amount of damage they do. But, it is a pleasant enough game to hack through when I don't want to do anything else.

Cliff Notes: Hardcore gamers who want loads of strategy will not like it but people who just want to have fun with a well designed game will love it.

Torchlight's similarities to the hack and slash genre are obvious considering many of the designers also worked on Diablo. Unlike Diablo, Torchlight is much more friendly to those new to the genre. It even improves on Diablo in some ways. I'm still amazed I can leave this game at any point and return exactly where I left off. The graphics are beautiful and each dungeon looks different from the last. At it's heart it's a dungeon crawl, meaning you wander through a maze of passageways slashing baddies that attack you while searching for items to advance the game. You have a choice of three characters, your basic warrior, mage, and archer class and each has their own set of skills that can be boosted for maximum effectiveness when battling the baddies in the dungeon. What this means is there is little replayability as far as the different dungeons is concerned, yet as long as you enjoy the experience of the dungeon crawl you'll find your experience much different while playing as a mage versus a warrior and so on. The choices of different spells and specialized talents are numerous, not to mention the many secret areas in the dungeons, making it unlikely you will play the same game twice.

You have four difficulty levels to choose from and even if you're new to the genre, I recommend you don't play on easy mode unless you want no challenge whatsoever. Even on the moderate levels, being killed results in little penalty; maybe a loss of some gold or being forced to start at the beginning of the level. You also have the choice of an animal companion (dog or cat) that assists you both in battles and in carrying the items you pick up along the way. A nice bonus is the ability to see your character progress as he or she is outfitted with increasingly powerful items as you move through the game. It's fun to see your character develop.

Having not yet completed my first run completely I can already say this game is money well spent; especially at the discounted price compared to other titles. I recently purchased a new computer system so I immediately bought some high-performance titles to show off the graphics card. Still, it is Torchlight I keep coming back to regularly. An addicting, but more importantly, fun adventure and highly recommended.

There's nothing inherently wrong with Torchlight. It graphics are entertaining and easy on almost any PC, the music is good, the abundant loot is fun. I did love hack-and-slash games like Diablo, Divine Divinity and Sacred for years, but after playing open world RPGs like Oblivion and Fallout 3 since 2006 I find myself bored quickly with a simple game like Torchlight. Its a very well made little game, but make sure you haven't outgrown this genre.