Titan Quest II

A Sequel with Potential-But Not Worthy Yet
I finished all available content in about 6 hours.
The fact that the game was handed over to the studio behind the SpellForce series kept my expectations relatively low and unsurprisingly, it delivered right around that bar. Think of this as a neutral review. The only reason I’m giving it a positive rating is because I believe the developers deserve a chance.
I’ve been with the series since the very beginning I first tried Titan Quest back in 2006 when the beta was released. I still remember the character holding a shield with a horseshoe-shaped emblem in the Defense class selection screen. That shield never made it into the final game :)
The original version had awful optimization, constant crashes, and serious balancing issues. Immortal Throne helped a lot by adding stash storage, champion mobs, and many important improvements. Over time, with the Anniversary Edition and those late DLCs, the game became much more polished but that entire process took nearly 15 years.
Regarding Titan Quest II...
In my opinion, the studio made a poor strategic choice: they rushed the development and simultaneously tried to push sales by playing the "buy it cheap now before the price goes up" card essentially using nostalgia as a marketing weapon. That was the impression I got.
Now, to be fair: the presentation is solid. Texture quality is good, and enabling tech like DLSS and frame generation even in early access is a great touch. But as someone who owns all three boxed versions of the first game, I feel justified in saying the direction this sequel is heading doesn’t look promising at least not yet. And yes, this can still change.
But let’s be honest: it’s 2025. We’re no longer in 2006. Even Marvel is borrowing from the Spider-Man PS4 game for their cinematic scripts. The bar for what a game means and what it can achieve is way higher now. So is the competition.
So, what’s missing and what needs to change?
First of all, the UI is a complete disaster. The original Titan Quest had a dynamic main menu, each mastery had its own theme color, sound effects, and distinct UI when selecting classes. The inventory screen had a unique identity not just some Diablo knock-off.

I vividly remember little immersive touches that made the first game special:
Dropping an item into water would cause a splash.
Killing skeletons would break them apart and leave bones behind.
Stone or mechanical enemies had their own death physics.

None of that is present here in the sequel.
Graveyard openings have cheap-looking animations. Chests feel generic. When a rare item drops, it feels just like any other ARPG flashy and overly gamified. The original Titan Quest didn’t even give you feedback when a rare item dropped and that was a good thing. It had a soulslike restraint to it.
And one major thing that truly set the original apart: when you killed a bandit, he dropped whatever he was visibly wearing sometimes even down to his torn pants. That detail is gone. Now, you kill a horde of enemies and get a few randomized loot pieces, while their corpses vanish instantly.
In the old game, if a Reptilian spawned holding Bloodthirst the Glutton, you’d see it in his hand. He’d even use its +35 Life Leech effect during combat. And when you killed him, the exact item would drop in sync with his death animation. That kind of detail is just gone.
So far, I’ve mostly focused on how Titan Quest II falls short of its predecessor. I haven’t even touched on its broader design flaws, which include:
Poor lighting in environments. Even though textures are high quality, caves and dungeons are overly bright and there’s no sense of mystery or atmosphere.
Weak mob placement. There’s no room to build momentum or tactical rhythm, enemies just swarm you in waves.
Boss fights are overly casual. The game practically tells you what to do at every moment. It’s like playing “Fireboy & Watergirl.”
The dash mechanic is nearly useless, due to sloppy animations.
And perhaps worst of all: the overall art and gameplay style feels incredibly generic. There's no distinctive identity.
Developer Feedback:
If the goal is to make the game more accessible or casual, that's fine ,but at the very least, please include a proper hard mode where boss patterns aren't overly telegraphed and players are forced to react and adapt. Make it less predictable and more rewarding.
Also, reduce the number of champion mobs so they feel rare and meaningful, not like common encounters. The same goes for loot: consider adding a mode or difficulty option where drops are less frequent, and even finding blue (rare) items feels like an achievement.
The NPC dialogue windows and UI in general need a visual overhaul .Currently they feel outdated and lifeless. The game would also benefit greatly from more in-game cinematics. Avoid slide-show style cutscenes if possible; they break immersion.
Loading times should be improved aim for seamless transitions to preserve the feeling of a real-time, uninterrupted experience.
Interior lighting needs to be significantly darker and moodier to support exploration and atmosphere. The main theme music is fantastic, but you need more ambient tracks for dungeons and side areas to enrich the experience.
Please bring back corpse physics and destruction effects like in the original. Skeletons exploding into bones, enemies falling apart based on their material type those small touches were iconic and added so much soul.
Each class should have its own movement/dash animation and unique style. The class selection screen currently lacks spirit in the original, choosing a mastery came with unique artwork and sound cues.
For example:
Selecting Nature could have ambient forest sounds and rustling leaves when allocating skill points.
Warfare might have war drums in the background and heavy weapon impact sounds while building the tree.
Also from my imagination:
Remember the dynamic character portrait in the top-left corner? The one that used to turn left and right in real time, where you could actually see your character’s helmet or headband like a mini GoPro view? Now it’s been replaced with a stiff, lifeless avatar. Instead of evolving further, this is where we’ve ended up. Forget just standing still ,with today’s tech, that area could even function as a real-time mirror if the studio actually wanted to make it happen.
Different class combinations could influence how a character holds and uses their weapon. Not just stat-wise, but visually and stylistically. This adds depth, immersion, and identity to each build. For example, when you choose the Hunt class, the character might thrust the spear downward in a wild, savage motion. But if you play as Hunt + Defense, it would be great to see the spear used in a more disciplined, straight-line style,more like the precise and controlled movements from the movie 300.
Those tiny details made the first game memorable and immersive.
Right now, Titan Quest II does not live up to the legacy of the original but it absolutely can, if the right choices are made. The first game is still being played nearly 15–16 years later. If TQ2 continues in its current direction, it risks becoming like Diablo IV a flashy, short-lived release that gets forgotten within months.
You still have time to turn this around.
Lastly, although I personally don’t have this issue, many players in my country don’t understand English well or find it difficult to follow both subtitles and audio simultaneously. Just like you have implemented local pricing, adding Turkish subtitles would really help you attract a lot of new players in Turkey who love this genre.

I will update this later, as there is a lot going on here.
TO THE DEVELOPERS: This game was amazing. You have something truly special here. I see that you are catering to a vocal portion of the playerbase complaining about itemization not being exciting. I think the number 1 reason that good games fall off, is catering to a vocal minority.
Please make the game in your own vision. I think the itemization was not only exciting, but also thought-provoking. I am not saying any intended changes are a step backwards, but I AM saying that making changes based on a vocal minority is not the way. Especially when you have something this incredible already cooking.
For example, the ice build that was nerfed likely isn't even close to the strongest performing build, and was simply popular due to a popular streamer showcasing it. Streamers and vocal minorities should not be allowed to influence your game this heavily (in my opinion). Again, I'm not saying this will always be a negative thing, but on average (in my experience) it ALMOST always ends up being negative.
Keep up the good work, and I will come back to write a full review later before full release.

Let's just get this out of the way first, this is a very small section of the game which only includes the first act, four classes and no real endgame systems other than respawning bosses for loot.
If this doesn't sound like enough content then this is not worth the price.
However, if you're anything like me and you're just happy to get another arpg to play then it's not a bad idea to jump in now, with the discounted price and just being able to play a new entry in the titan quest franchise was enough for me to start playing, and I'm happy I did, if this is just the early days then im so excited to see what this game ends up being when it gets fully released.
The setting is incredible and super unique, graphics are decent enough and build variety seems quite deep and engaging, this probably does sit just under last epoch in terms of complexity but the fun builds you can already make is going to be enough to keep me around for a long time.
With the devs saying no microtransactions and content drops planned every 3 months I think this game could be something special, it's definitely too early to say yet but it's left a very positive impression on me so far and I'm so excited to follow this games development.

From the very beginning, you can feel that Titan Quest II has kept the spirit of the original, which is very important for many fans — including me. The atmosphere is mythological, mysterious, and a bit nostalgic, now shown in a beautiful and fresh way. The game world is rich, full of details, and truly nice to look at. And the music... sometimes I just stop and listen.

A big plus is that the optimization is much better compared to the demo. The game runs more smoothly, feels more responsive, and is simply more fun to play. For an Early Access version, it already feels like a strong base for something bigger and more complete.

If this is just a small taste of what the full release will bring, then we are in for something special. Even now, the game brings a lot of joy and gives me high hopes. Big thumbs up from me.

1. Graphics - cool, epic. Optimization is on the way, I believe it. For now, too posh for my 3060Ti, so I set some of the setting the Medium to stay in the comfort 55-60 fps zone.
2. Locations, vibe and stylization - top notch, nothing that I can add there.
3. Bosses - nice, readable, challenging, overall quite satisfying.
4. Voice acting - very nice!
5. Sound effects - cool, music is fine, but I have some questions to the "in-game audio director" entity. Sometimes I caught myself thinking "unless my hero is dying in some hollywood movie this music does not fit there". The music itself is beautiful, but.. it does not.. fit? sometimes.
6. Abilities. Well, apart from POE2 and its extreme verbosity, the best skill customization system I know is in Last Epoch. There sub-skill modifiers do really change how skill works/looks/feels. Here - not as much. The path the game provides you with is kinda obvious; like, you have your favorite ice spell? Cool, take this bunch of supporting skills, one for ice damage, other for spell damage etc. And this path is narrow, it does not leave you with many customization options. I caught myself not knowing what to pick next, cuz the game is about "pick 1-3 from Active and support them with passives" with some overhead on points for you to think where to apply them next. And most probably you'll end up with 1, rarely two active abilities (excluding auras). Idk, it's just weird that you find your most used, most dear skill literally on your first mastery pick.
But I like how the game leaves you an opportunity of staying fluid, of re-building your builds on the go.
I really want to see what the devs have planned for us in the top part of the skill tree.
Overall: cool adventure, nice throwback to the childhood, careful work with beloved classics, thumbs up from me!

In an era of life-service arpgs that shower you with loot and play more like a spreadsheet Titan Quest 2 is a brave and bold message to the old-school ARPG formula fans.
Beautiful graphics, eerie soundtrack, combat that has weight to it and loot that matters,
Grab it. Now.

It's great !
It feels just like the old games, spirit is here, but even better !
They didn’t mess it up !
But... omg, my PC turns into a damn oven when I play it.
Still need some hard work on performances.