Torchlight II is a computer role-playing game developed by Runic Games and released in September 2012. The global publishers are Perfect World and Runic Games, and Torchlight II is also available through Steam. The publisher in Russia is "1C-SoftClub."
The first part of Torchlight, released in 2009, was appreciated by players primarily for its resemblance to the Diablo series, which is not surprising, as the creators of Runic Games included developers who previously contributed to the creation of Diablo II. Torchlight gained its share of well-deserved popularity, though it did not reach the status of a genius project. A few years later, Diablo III was set to be released, which raised the main hopes of a whole army of gamers, fans of the series and the genre as a whole. Meanwhile, Torchlight was played, praised, and soon after, everyone happily forgot about it. However, within the walls of Runic Games, the development of Torchlight II was already in full swing, taking into account the opinions and wishes expressed by players who had tried the first part.
In spring 2012, Diablo III was launched, but it cannot be said that the product of Blizzard's creativity fired on all cylinders. There were complaints, misunderstandings, and outright grievances against the well-known developer. After so many years of development, they still could not account for all the risk factors. In turn, Torchlight II was not particularly awaited, and the project's release passed without much pomp. Yes, graphically the game turned out to be worse, it lacked a global store, and the battles were not as impressive, but despite all this, many began to place Torchlight II on par with Diablo III, and even above it. The thing is that Torchlight II is much more player-friendly compared to the third part of Diablo. This is felt even in the little things. For example, it is not at all necessary to play online, as Torchlight II has a single-player mode, as well as a nearly defunct LAN mode. Additionally, the player can choose the difficulty level that is optimal for them.
Plot-wise, Torchlight II certainly falls short of Diablo III, but in terms of gameplay, everything is going very, very well. First and foremost, the gamer must choose which class they will play (at the initial stage there were four: engineer, mage, berserker, and wanderer). It is worth noting that the classes are developed comprehensively; for example, the berserker is not just a mindless barbarian focused on cold weapon use, but he is also quite proficient in using magical spells. Then, one can choose gender, change appearance, and define a pet – from a bulldog and cat to some lizard-like creature. Pets are an important gaming element in Torchlight II. They attack enemies, manage their own inventory, and can level up, but their most important function is to deliver unnecessary "loot" for sale in the city. One only needs to give the appropriate command to the dog, cat, or wolf and wait for the little brothers to come back.
In Torchlight II, one can find a rather extensive game world divided into zones. The maps are generated randomly, so the player will not have to travel in the same spots repeatedly. They are all filled with monsters and bosses who guard the way to treasures or serve as obstacles to completing set tasks. The gameplay primarily consists of leveling up, developing skills, and learning new abilities. And, of course, exploring newly opened locations.