Author: Anthony Amato

Torchlight II builds off of Torchlight‘s rock solid foundations to create a game that fully delivers on developer Runic Games’ goal to “give [the players] what they’re asking for.” Oddly, even though the game was in development long before Diablo III‘s release, what the players wanted seems to be all the things Diablo III got wrong.

Blizzard’s Diablo III is certainly the 800-pound gorilla in the room, and some might try to write a review of Torchlight II without mentioning its major league rival, but I’m not going to bother. Anyone who is a fan of the click n’ loot fest likely has played the Diablo games at some point, and that series pretty much defines all the core elements, so I see little reason in avoiding the comparison. Considering Torchlight’s developers include Max and Erich Schaefer, the co-founders of Blizzard North and co-creators of the Diablo series, it’s interesting to see how much Diablo has diverged while Torchlight II has remained true to its origins. (more…)