Torchlight II

I was (and still am) a huge fan of the original Diablo, the game from which the Torchlight series can draw a direct line of descent. I played the hell out of Diablo II, but felt it was missing some of the pacing and dread that existed in D1. The Torchlight series unfortunately (for me) continues that trend. Dungeons are more of battlefields to mow down masses of enemies, and treasure drops so frequently that it become more of a burden than an excitement. Character progression and itemization are still done excellently, but I'm just wistful for the slower more measured pace the genre began with. TLDR; if you loved Diablo 2, you'll love this. If you loved Diablo 1, you'll probably like and maybe love this.

I first discovered GOG when I was looking to purchase this game. It's a perfect blend of cute, flashy graphics and a dark plot line. Exploring diverse surreal environments and clearing monster infested areas while collecting loot pretty much sums up the experience. I loved everything about this game except that it ended too soon. After that you have the option of restarting the story line at your current level or playing randomized dungeons to level up further, which feels repetitive and uninteresting. There are issues with multiplayer gaming, which did not impact my experience as I mostly play solo.

Absolutely one of the best games I have ever played. The character classes are so different and can be built in such unique custom ways based on what you want to do it's awesome. I'll leave you with my favorite example of one of the builds you can do with this game: my outlander summons demons by killing enemies with a shotgun. If that doesn't excite you for this game I fear your soul is dead inside, but it now!

+ Runs great even on my old potato of a laptop on decent settings. (I turned off a few things like bloom since I neither like it nor does it feel worth the extra resource) + Your AI companion is not just functional but actually really useful (I called my hawk Pancakes) + Modding tools inclusive and decently easy to comprehend. + Way more stuff to work with. (Life steal shotguns are the best thing since health potions) + You can HIDE THE HELM! - Movement controls in combat can be a bit clunky as a ranged fighter. (if you don't quite hold shift you might run face first into pain...) - I do miss the combining gems feature. - There is never enough inventory and general storage space for all your cool stuff.

I'm a huge fan of Torchlight 1! I've been re-playing it for years and years. I try new dungeon crawlers, but I keep coming back to Torchlight. I'm glad that I found Torchlight 2 here on GOG. I wish that I could find it on DVD or CD ROM, but this is the next best thing. Torchlight 2 is faithful to the first game (always a plus with me when a sequel is still recognizable as being part of the series). It has the same sort of art style, sound effects, music etc. as I enjoy in the first one. It takes place in the same world, but vastly expands it. I love dungeon-only games as much as the next grognard, but it is nice now and then to be able to come to the surface and do more than just shop in the nearby village. That's the biggest difference here: the game feels much more non-linear and open, but not in a 'lost in the sandbox' sort of way. You can still find your way back home easily enough, or even use a portal scroll to take a magical shortcut. There are also quite a few refinements. It's as if Runic Games read the feedback about the first game and took it to heart. Your pet can now buy essential items in town as well as sell your unwanted stuff (which improves upon the best idea ever in a loot-centric game like these are). You can choose from more character classes (the strenghts and weaknesses of the classes seem to be a bit more different now making your choice mean more) and can have more kinds of pets too. I'm trying the engineer and finding him to be an interesting variant on a fighter. He can do stuff that you've never been able to do in the game before. I almost always had the weasle before, but I'm liking my badger in this game now. I will definately play it again to try having a hawk as a pet next time. You can even tell your pet whether to be agressive, defensive or passive now rather than having it constantly surging ahead to attack all the time. The enemies are vaired and numerous, even around the village. It's certainly a good old game!