Torchlight II

I don't now if i can reccomend this game or not. Well, I will take it like this:
If I take it as a normal ARPG game: Then yes, the game is quite good, combat is well animated and flashy, skills are.. well quite weird. There is skill tree and relic tree without any synergy or something and it feels out of place. But all in all if the game is on the sale, then it is worth the try.
If I take it as the successor of the famous TL2: Then hell no. The second game was better at everything and if you expect it to give you the same vibe as TL2 then you will be very disappointed.

Should you buy it? only when its on sale.
And here's why:
Play time: -Short-
-Finished the game twice in 26 hours, and I wasn't rushing. Replayability is only in the different classes, and the maps don't offer much to explore, which I'll get into. Time can be spent on your fort, but that depends if that's something you really like, I personally spent an hour or two on fort decor.
Maps: -Average-
Are they good? well, a bit of both. First, I love when these games make the maps vibrant and colourful. Which it does, but then also doesn't. Personally hate when everything is mostly a shade of brown, green, red, or blue. It just visually dull.
BUT, the maps do lose several points because they do feel a bit empty. There are barely or no side quests or even hidden locations. So it doesn't encourage exploring every corner of the map.
Classes: -Great!-
I think the classes is the biggest thing that ups the points for this game. From the two and a half I played, they have all rather unique playstyles that I REALLY appreciate and what helps playing the game a second, or third time.
Skill tree: -Depends on personal taste-
Now this will depend from person to person. Personally, I don't mind the smaller skill tree.
But, for some reason they decided to make the hotkey number lesser- y'know- the 123- to 0. You lose 8-9 and 0. SO, You end up losing or having to sacrifice the option to use the more defensive long cooldown skills.
Bosses: Average.
So, what do I mean by average? Well, the big 3 bosses weren't as fun as the main bosses that led to the big 3. Honestly don't know how else to put it without spoiling to much.
Enemy types: -Great, but also not so great-
This is a weird one, or hard to explain. Designs and movement for some are great, especially with every area having their unique baddie. I loved the design and movement for some, I mean, you got your regs-skels-zombies- and spiders, which is fine.
BUT then you got your goblins, Spanning into almost all the maps, with very little variety(same with spiders but at least its more then a color swap- which most of the goblins are. You got your green, off green, red and purple goblins that just end up all looking almost the same with very little design and/or combat difference that you don't spot. Basically you got bad guys that could look different, but don't really.
The fort:
No problems here, lol. Really a matter of preference.
Now, these are things that stuck out to me the most, I could probably share more, but this is starting to get a little long so I'll stop right here.
Overall I wish the fanbase gave the devs some more time, as they were putting out updates and patches and new character classes. But the fans were too hard and the game was dropped. Hope it gets picked up, because I can really see the potential. At the end of playing Torchlight 3, just found myself feeling a bit sad and disappointed.

It's not bad, Torchlight 3 is just not Torchlight 2 or 1.
Think of it as this (if you've played any of these)
Diablo 3: Had to live up to Diablo 2 + Lord of Destruction, doesn't mean it's bad.
Gothic 3: Had to live up to Gothic 2, doesn't mean it's bad.
Borderlands 3: Had to live up to Borderlands 2, doesn't mean it's bad.
Age of Empires 3: Had to live up to Age of Empires 2, doesn't mean it's bad
Dungeon Siege 3: Had to live up to Dungeon Siege 2, doesn't mean it's bad.
Sacred 3: Had to live up to Sacred 2, doesn't mean it's ba-Hmm, I think I take that back.
Anyways, the purpose of that was not to just say that 3 is a cursed number, but that none (for the most part) of these are bad games, they just have big shoes to fill.
It's not bad, Just not as good as TL2.
Fun, Just not as fun as TL2.

Stand up for Novastraia against hordes of monsters - alone or with friends! Defeat Netherim and her henchmen - clearing the land of filth!
Liked:
+ Nice graphics
+ Achievements
+ Support for Steam Remote
+ Cartoon heroes and opponents
+ Plot
+ Pumping heroes
+ Many types of weapons and armor
+ A variety of pets with unique abilities
+ Boss Battles
+ Ability to become a necromancer
+ Multiple heroes and classes
+ Character customization
+ Play solo or with friends
+ Ability to play with players online
+ Multiple difficulty levels
+ Great soundtrack
+ Ability to customize your own castle to your liking
Did not like:
- Over price
- Monotonous locations
- Poor camera view in some places
- Static, still camera
- Weak class balance
- Local mode has no difference from network mode
- Partial localization
- No subtitles
- No ability to heal allies
- The game is not balanced for co-op / online play
- There is no possibility to raise a comrade after death
- There is no possibility to transfer an item/equipment
- Increasing the difficulty of the game - is to increase the health bar and strength of opponents
- Bugs
- Steam counts the statistics of the last used hero
- There are errors when linking an account Arch
- Lack of purchased games in the Arch launcher
- Tutorial windows appear at the wrong time, interfering with the battle
- Lack of notifications about "completed" tasks for the processing of materials at the base
- Items and enemies are often behind/under the map
- After leaving the inventory there is a chance to "break" the game camera
- Problem with inverted sound channels in the main menu
- Freezing mouse control when shooting/attacking
- No active pause - even in local solo mode
- The mechanoid is not able to deal damage with the built-in cannon - if the weapon is not equipped in the hands
- Empty shops of merchants
- Disappearing pet problem
- Some teleports are located directly on chests with loot
- If you just leave the hero standing in the castle - your pet may die
- Temporary glitches with sound
- No intro at the beginning of the third act
- Stupid Allied AI
- Prices for loot when selling are the same regardless of the degree of value of the item
- No "bonus" for killing opponents above the player's level (2-5 levels)
- One plot for all heroes and classes
Conclusion:
A controversial game that many dislike - and for good reason.
The game continues the plot of the second part, has a thoughtful - but superficial overall plot for the characters. It's sad that the player won't find any difference when playing as a Railsmatser from playing as a Dead Cursed Captain - as our heroes don't have a single line in the whole game. And they don't even appear in cut scenes. What can we say about the fact that the game will be completely identical - with repeated passage, from tasks - to the location of opponents / chests!
Therefore, playing the game again is terribly boring!
However, you can try to play the game a second time with a friend (or a random player, which is VERY rare in the game hub) - although this does not affect the gameplay in any way - it will still be a little more fun.
The game has five heroes who have several classes. By combining improvements which the player can create his own unique build. But there is a small bug - in which after the restart you (suddenly) open all the talents and you can safely use them even at the initial levels. True, the bug disappears after gaining a level or upgrading a talent.
Also, so that you are not bored - the developer offers you pets. These are quite funny animals - having one or more abilities that help you in battles. But sometimes a pet can simply disappear when moving from location to location and... It cannot be returned! The only option is to change pets in the Fort.
The game has an awful lot of various bugs. In fact - dead online. Ruined plot and overpriced for a product like this. And I would like to put a finger down - but I won't.
Yes, this little freak looks lousy - but nevertheless, I had fun spending 40 hours in it in an attempt to get a character level 60.
Will I return to the game to finish it a second time? - God no!
But do I recommend it for passing - Definitely yes!

The game is fun and well made, polished. The game differs from TL and TL2, it is more casual but still have many options for different builds. The gameplay is fun and feels rewarding. What i like are:
- the new pets system.
- different, interesting classes.
- graphics, sound and gameplay.
There are systems that i dissliked coming from tl2, such as
- the instance resets after you leave it.
- the portal is one way only, if you return with it, the area is reseted.
- no mod support.
The overall flow of the game feels different than the others TL games, it is instance with dungeons and mission + portal, then the next zone is your fort(base), then again instance, base, instance and so on. The immersion of the world feels worse than TL2 thats for sure, but then again i got what i wanted. Different game that provides me with fun times. There are some annoyingness with the UI overall but well worth the money.
I recommend the game for anyone that enjoys that type of games.

I really like from what I've played so far and will keep at it. Several hours & counting.
Short review:
Coming from TL 1 & 2, the art style fits, the gameplay is fun & familiar. I can't say the same for the newer Torchlight Infinite.
I think this one got a bad wrap from the beginning. Devs were first doing FTP MMO style game. Shifted gears, later sold to Perfect World so that angered people. I get it.
But from my perspective here's what I see. Got the game for 10 bucks. New summoner comes with it (cool). I can play the game and there's some endless dungeon thing (really 250 levels) of end game. Works for me. Game is no longer being developed but so long as I have fun for the time I play a game, that's fine with me. I don't need a dev to spend the rest of their life continuing to work on a game forever.
Glad I picked this one up.
I also really like the controller support and the quality of life ability to disable mouse click move and tie my movement to WASD which makes kiting & playing ranged characters so much more enjoyable. Nice touch.
____
Further notes after playing this game currently at 14 hours & counting.
I like this game and think it's a worth successor to TL2. There are several fun, wacky characters to play with and I like the relic choose system to mix & match characters to relics for different build possibilities.
The game isn't perfect. I can be buggy. By fart the bug I run into the most is an annoying one for about 10 seconds but not game breaking. When you warp into new levels, sometimes my character will start running in one direction and I can't control them. They're kinda stuck. Now this doesn't happen every time. Just sometimes. Thankfully. through moving & clicking, it seems to stop after about 10 seconds and i can continue to play the game. Annoying? You bet. Game breaking? Not in the least. Past that, the game has largely ran fine for me.
All in all the enjoyment I'm getting out of this $10 game has far exceeded my expectations.

Honestly a much better game than most reviews can let you believe.
It was a bit rough at launch but the devteam managed to turn it around and make it a solid torchlight game in the end.
I think the biggest problem the game has is that it's misunderstood when it comes to character customisation. There's is actually very interesting layers to customize your build and make a really fun character to play as. The interaction between skills, relic, legendary items and pet skills can make two characters from the same class extremely different and that's really cool.
It's probably the most innovative system I've seen in a RPG in a while. I didn't like the systems in place at launch but the current iteration of relics works really well but unfortunately the game doesn't explain to you how important your relic choice is.
Basically consider your relic as a secondary class and don't hesitate to create a new character if you feel you haven't chosen one that matches your playstyle.
Also the game has a really nice list of quality of life very underrated such as the fact that loot is always usable by your character and pretty much no stat is ever a dead stat, the UI works pretty well for a console/PC hybrid and likewise the controls are excellent with both control schemes.
Unfortunately the constant negativity of the players sort of killed the project even before release and it will probably never blossom into anything else.
But objectively I'd argue that TL3 is the best of the series as of today (if you compare to vanilla TL2).