Review is in progress. Access to Torchlight III was provided by the publisher.
After 9 hours and 15 levels, I am ready to get my thoughts out about Torchlight III. In short, my impressions are nothing short of positive. Developer Echtra Games have some work to do still – Torchlight III is not done by any stretch. But what is already available is worth your time and your $39.99 if you are a fan of action RPGs. What you will read here is from my perspective. Understand, I am a huge fan of ARPGs, going back to the original Diablo. I am also the guy who brought David Brevik and Daniel Dolui together to play Wolcen. I have not stopped seeking out an ARPG that I can spend hundreds of hours playing. Be it Grim Dawn, Path of Exile, or Torchlight II. I play these games to have fun, not to min-max my way through 10,000 hours and being the the guy in the forums with the highest rep. For me, “fun” is the goal.
The Foundation is Here
There are a four components I will focus on: classes, combat, character progression, and item differentiation. You may believe other characteristics of an ARPG are more important. More power to you! That’s why we created GWW….if you want to provide your input, find me on Discord and let’s get you writing!
Classes
There are four classes available at launch: Dusk Mage, The Forged, The Railmaster, and The Sharpshooter. Nintendo Life offers a detailed breakdown of these classes, which will help you determine which to start with. My Dusk Mage is level 15 and I chose it because the other classes did not appeal to me. Although The Sharpshooter was a close second.
Combat
Combat is tight, but imperfect. My experience is with the Dusk Mage and I have noticed one critical issue: commands do not enter the queue consistently. At times, pressing “Q” for a health potion or “W” for a skill (yes, I remap my keys), requires a second attempt. Aside from that, the sounds, animations, and damange ratios are all well done. Mowing down mobs of goblins and adorable zombies is a blast!
Character Progression
The skill tree is different and needs rework. I have one issue with it: it’s difficult to understand what the skills are and how they will improve as upgraded unless you try them. This is the core issue with character progression entirely. Leveling up, for example, does not clearly make you more powerful in any way. It does, do not get me wrong, but how that new power manifests into the game is difficult to notice.
Item Differentiation
The usual fare are here: shoulders, helmets, swords, guns, boots, etc. Each item has a class such as basic, rare, legendary, etc. What I appreciate about Torchlight III, at this point, is they are stingy with the legendary drops. Thus, whenever I got one, I was excited. Unlike Diablo 3 where legendaries were frequent and an expected result a couple of times per hour.
Review in Progress
Nine hours with an ARPG is not enough to formally review it. I will be spending more time this fall with Torchlight III this fall. I cannot say diffinitively that Echtra Games will path and improve Torchlight III right away. I have no direct access or insights into their process. But the man at the helm of the company is Max Schaefer. I would be shocked if he, and his team, did not invest further into Torchlight III to make it one of the best ARPGs ever. They have the foundation: a gorgeous world, adorable characters, a strong item system, and much more that I will cover in my final review.
Torchlight III is available for a reasonable price of $39.99 on Steam and other platforms. It will be available on Switch on October 22nd.