Torchlight 3 opens up by forcing players into a conflict they can’t fully understand, simply being told to immediately fight, kill, and run errands that ultimately don’t make much sense. This shock eventually wears down, opening players’ eyes to a beautiful game world, some unique class designs, and a solid dungeon crawler, but it must be said that the shock never fully goes away. This is mostly due to Torchlight 3‘s attempts to reconcile a lot of moving parts that, while delivering a mostly fun and workable experience, can feel like excess.
There are 4 classes in Torchlight 3, each with their own unique qualities and playstyles. There are hints of the standard warrior-rogue-mage structure, but each class has its own flamboyant personality. The Sharpshooter is all about precision and controlling swarms of enemies. The Dusk Mage has access to light and dark spells that rely upon and build upon the other, while the Railmaster delivers massive melee damage backed up by a literal train. The Forged is a robot not unlike a Dungeons and Dragons Fighter that can dish out serious damage.
Each of these classes have two skill trees and a third unlocks depending on what relic players choose. This means that no two classes will play the same, as one Sharpshooter may unleash poisonous attacks and summon spiders, while another slows and freezes enemies with ice. One Torchlight 3‘s Forged class may be healing itself while dishing out damage, and another could be doubling down on its already heat-oriented abilities with the “Flaming Destroyer” relic. Couple the various pairings here with one of Torchlight 3‘s pets that have a variety of buffs, and it’s easy to get lost in building the perfect class.
This mostly translates well to Torchlight 3‘s gameplay, which sees players click their way through a couple of basic attacks with several skills at the ready. There’s just enough variety where it’s fun, yet not so much that players will feel overwhelmed. The standard controls do feel a bit clunky at times, but for the most part, this can be overlooked.
It wouldn’t be a good isometric dungeon-crawler without interesting dungeons, and Torchlight 3 also delivers on this front. The game’s natural graphics are quite beautiful, and the artsy design of its dungeons strikes a nice balance. Whether it’s a literal dungeon or the bigger map areas in Torchlight 3, the more inviting design helps the game stand out from its darker contemporaries.
However, it’s worth noting that the basic components of Torchlight 3 shine the most. Its classes are interesting, its gameplay is solid, its dungeons do their job, and the graphics stand apart from Diablo 3, Wolcen, and the like. Beyond that, though, Torchlight 3 has a variety of features that conflict with the very nature of the game. It’s worth noting that, before releasing in this state, Torchlight 3 was actually a free-to-play MMO called Torchlight Frontiers.
While the developer reportedly cut out of a lot of those earlier elements, the game still feels like an MMO. It’s considerably better on multiplayer, but there’s a strange divide between having characters who can do multiplayer and characters who can only do single player. In-game, there’s a vendor that allows Torchlight 3 players to spend in-game currency to roll for random weapons and loot, despite the loot in the game being plentiful on its own.
Similarly, solo players can spend in-game currency to avoid death and respawn right where they were slain. Because players can always buy their way out of a mistake the act of dying gives off a gacha-style mobile game feeling. There is no premium currency in Torchlight 3, but the respawn mechanic feels designed as if there were.
There are also the game’s “contracts” that give players one of three options: the Adventurer’s, the Craftman’s, or the Homesteader’s. Each faction offers rewards when leveled, which is done so through the accumulation of “fame.” This is earned through defeating rare or legendary bosses throughout the game world, but it is noticeably similar to a battle pass like Modern Warfare or Apex Legends. The UI of any contract is almost indistinguishable from a battle pass, and while it is advanced through fame, it feels like this was designed with microtransactions in mind as well.
Furthermore, there’s hardly any story to speak of, but it feels noticeably more absent than most games of the genre. The player arrives amid a conflict that is stereotypical, and the overarching story, the various big bads that the player faces, and even the support cast of Torchlight 3 characters hardly make an impact. Of course, there is the caveat that loot-based dungeon crawlers aren’t typically known for their stories, but there is usually some narrative thrust to the proceedings.
At its best, Torchlight 3 is a fun and colorful (if mindless) romp through mobs of enemies in the search of loot. At its worse, it’s a premium game that feels like an empty, free-to-play MMO, and it becomes clear that the game has an identity crisis. That doesn’t mean it’s not fun, it just means that “Frontiers” feels like an invisible subtitle to Torchlight 3.
Torchlight 3 is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Switch version in development. Game Rant was provided a Steam code for the purposes of this review.
![\"IT電腦補習](\"http://itteacheritfreelance.hk/test/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/logo2-2.png\"){kind=logo}
www.itsec.hk
www.itsec.vip
www.itseceu.uk
Leave a Reply