Torchlight 2 For Nintendo Switch Review

A few days ago, I received a copy of Torchlight 2 for Nintendo Switch by Runic Games. This is my first time playing the praised RPG, and I wish I had played it way earlier. Torchlight II is an action role-playing dungeon crawler in the same sense as the Diablo series & Grim Dawn.

The award-winning action, isometric RPG is back, bigger and better than ever! Torchlight II originally released on PC in 2012 is filled to the brim with randomized levels, enemies and loot. Capturing all the flavor and excitement of the original, Torchlight II expands the world and adds features players want most, including online and LAN multiplayer. Is this game as engaging as the Diablo games and other similar RPGs? Let’s find out!

The Return To Vilderan

This game is a sequel to the original Torchlight (Which I haven’t played). The story takes place years after the end of the original Torchlight. The Alchemist becomes corrupted by the Ember Blight coming from the Heart of Ordrak and begins to attack the lands of Vilderan. You take on the quest to stop this villain, who is using Ordrak’s power to disturb the balance between the world’s six elements.

While the story does seem simplistic at first, the further you progress, the more interesting the narrative gets. If the main story doesn’t interest you, then the side missions most likely will. There are many missions to fulfill such as clearing out catacombs, exploring a pirates cove and more. However, while the story of the game suffice, an RPG is nothing without its gameplay

A Wizard Is Never Late…

So at the very start of the game, you get to create your own character with many options such as class, clothing, hair, pet, and more. In my playthrough, I created an Embermage which is a highly trained spell-casting class with elemental attacks with a pet hawk. From what I’ve seen, the pet is pretty much a second party member that helps chip damage to enemies, and you can find new species as pets. At first, I was apprehensive about the combat aspect due to the basic attacks.

However, once I leveled up and obtained my first ability, I began to have a great time. The skill trees options I had were Inferno, Frost & Storm. Generally, in RPGs, I love to balance out them out with each skill point to have variety. I had so much fun using the abilities as they made me feel like a powerful wizard annihilating the hordes of evil. While the loot system isn’t as diverse or exciting as Diablo or Borderlands. I still get very hyped when I find rare or powerful loot that makes my character look badass.

I had so much fun using the abilities as they made me feel like a powerful wizard annihilating the hordes of evil.

What’s A Good Fantasy Without A Good World

At first glance, I thought the world would just be a generic fantasy world. Especially in this day and age where other games try to capture to fantasy spirit of games like Fable 2 and World Of Warcraft. However, it doesn’t do anything new or innovative in the fantasy genre or games in general. It does create a fun traditional fantasy world to explore with many varieties, such as enchanted forests, local towns, and demon catacombs. What’s better is that the game has a distinct art style, like a cell-shaded sort of art style. This helps the game stick out from all the other RPG games.

With the appealing art style, the game is complemented by lovely graphical details. Such as enemies exploding in blood from a critical hit or small environmental details like fireflies and little critters crawling around. The music and sound effects are also great, which greatly suit whatever scene or environment you are in whether it’s quiet, damp caves or burning village invasions. The only thing I wish this game had is more mob enemies. They get a bit repetitive.

Final Verdict

So after playing for serval hours and reaching up to level 20, I can proudly say that I had a blast playing Torchlight 2. The world is rich with lore, and exciting stories, the gameplay and the progression system is addictive, and it still looks great from its original 2012 release date. The only big flaw I noticed was that the UI and menu systems could sometimes be a bit overwhelming and hard to understand. But either from that or some more minor flaws, I plan to go back to the game and stop The Alchemist.

You can buy the game for $19.99 on Steam, PlayStation 4, Xbox One & Nintendo Switch right now.

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