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Nov. 3rd, 2009 08:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pebblerockerThere's been a bit of excitement among my gaming friends around the new game Torchlight. I've downloaded the playable demo and this game is fun. It's very similar in concept and mechanics to the original Diablo and in fact was made by many of the original Diablo/Diablo 2 team, including the guy who did the music :D
Here's the trailer:
There are three character classes, the good old warrior/rogue/mage lineup. You get a pet (dog or cat -- but more heroic than that brings to mind, more like wolf and bobcat) who fights by your side and will also make trips to town for you to sell off junk gear that drops. You run around in dungeons and crypts, hacking and slashing and blowing things up, fighting lurching zombies and giant spiders and evil spectres -- and trapped chests that chase after you snapping their lids! I'm playing an Alchemist to start off; it's unusual for me to go for the mage type instead of plunging into melee, but his steampunk goggles were just too cute to resist.
Oh yeah. I never agreed at all with people who said D2 would be much more awesome with guns. I was very happy with swords and longbows; bringing guns into the Diablo universe would have taken away from the atmosphere. But Torchlight has guns and it fits in beautifully with the more industrial setting... and my partner's character is running around with a great big blunderbuss with a frickin' skull on it. AWESOME.
The game is just gorgeous. The graphics are a bit cartoony and fun; some of the monsters are almost too cute to kill. The environments are great with plenty of atmosphere and detail -- lots of different areas and I'm only a short way in. And it was specifically designed not to need high-end systems to run. With most of the options turned down a bit it runs fine on my six-year-old machine and still looks good.
Torchlight is single-player only, which suits me because that's how I usually play anyway. The makers intend to produce an MMO in a year or two, using the SP version of the game to generate a bit of buzz first. Torchlight is selling for US $20 -- very much in my price range, far cheaper than the (yet to be released) Diablo 3, and probably more fun as well. I'll be getting myself the full version pretty soon and my huggable little alchemist will be able to carry on the progress he made in the demo.
Here's the trailer:
There are three character classes, the good old warrior/rogue/mage lineup. You get a pet (dog or cat -- but more heroic than that brings to mind, more like wolf and bobcat) who fights by your side and will also make trips to town for you to sell off junk gear that drops. You run around in dungeons and crypts, hacking and slashing and blowing things up, fighting lurching zombies and giant spiders and evil spectres -- and trapped chests that chase after you snapping their lids! I'm playing an Alchemist to start off; it's unusual for me to go for the mage type instead of plunging into melee, but his steampunk goggles were just too cute to resist.
Oh yeah. I never agreed at all with people who said D2 would be much more awesome with guns. I was very happy with swords and longbows; bringing guns into the Diablo universe would have taken away from the atmosphere. But Torchlight has guns and it fits in beautifully with the more industrial setting... and my partner's character is running around with a great big blunderbuss with a frickin' skull on it. AWESOME.
The game is just gorgeous. The graphics are a bit cartoony and fun; some of the monsters are almost too cute to kill. The environments are great with plenty of atmosphere and detail -- lots of different areas and I'm only a short way in. And it was specifically designed not to need high-end systems to run. With most of the options turned down a bit it runs fine on my six-year-old machine and still looks good.
Torchlight is single-player only, which suits me because that's how I usually play anyway. The makers intend to produce an MMO in a year or two, using the SP version of the game to generate a bit of buzz first. Torchlight is selling for US $20 -- very much in my price range, far cheaper than the (yet to be released) Diablo 3, and probably more fun as well. I'll be getting myself the full version pretty soon and my huggable little alchemist will be able to carry on the progress he made in the demo.
