There is no denying Torchlight’s lineage, developed by member of Diablo’s original team, Torchlight takes the classic gameplay of Diablo and doesn’t mess with it. It is a small utterly addicting game and one of the best values of the year.

The narrative begins simply enough, the mining town of Torchlight has come under the sway of dark forces; the magic ember uncovered deep in the earth has tainted the mines, unleashing untold evil. A single enormously deep, randomly generated dungeon and a single hub town; this is the extent of Torchlights world.

The main quest has you delving deeper and deeper searching for the source of the taint. Besides a few small side quests; hunting down sides bosses or uncovering more potent ember for a local mage, there is not much to do other than persistently descending deeper into the abyss.
Torchlight does not share Diablo’s dark demonic style, instead presenting a much brighter more colorful art style. It is very nice looking, characters and enemies have a rich vibrant almost cartoon flair. Animations are expressive and with the large number of diverse foes and environments the wealth of visual range is very appealing. I do miss the dark, grim, at times depressing atmosphere of Diablo. But Torchlight’s more expressive animation and energetic designs look great.

The labyrinth changes constantly, becoming more visually striking the further down I journeyed, from the mines I progressed through dank caves and underground fortresses. Passing subterranean jungles and castles built on lava flows. The surroundings are very nicely styled keeping a light fantasy vibe throughout. A very cool almost illustrated approach, with ladders and stairs giving a bit of verticality to the backdrops.

A tremendous number of unique foes populate the depths, giant rats litter the mines, midget tribesmen and lizard people threated my path in the caves. Each new location brought entirely new opponents, each looking and animating very attractively and fluidly.

As I reached the pits of the dungeon the pure numbers of enemies became very impressive. Literal hordes of monsters of every sort filled my screen almost becoming a visual overload. With masses of Trolls, Spiders and all manner of mythical monstrosities charging me, casting bright spirals of magic, it was very graphically attractive.

There are three classes to choose from: The Destroyer, The Vanquisher and finally the Alchemist. Each performs there own clichéd role, the Destroyer obviously being the barbarian warrior class, focusing on melee combat and brute strength. The Vanquisher takes the role of distance fighter, using a wide range of bows, crossbows and gunpowder weaponry, as well as the use of traps. The Alchemist would be your standard magic character, wielding the elements to his will, summoning mechanical bodyguards to his defense.

Each class sports three unique talent trees, providing further specialization. This with the discovery of magic scrolls in the caves adding a great amount of varied ability’s to each class. Controls stay simple and effective, left click attacks, right click can be bound to any number of skills. Potions, scrolls, and additional talents are mapped to both the number keys and the f keys. The interface is very clean, looking substantially like Diablo’s action bar.

This quest is not take alone, for each adventurer is accompanied by his faithful pet, be it either Dog or Lynx. The addition of a pet mechanic helps a great deal with easing the dungeon crawler into the 21st century. The pet provides a bit of additional damage output, but there real value lies in the ability to return to town alone. Load there invisible packs with all manner of goods and send them on there way, returning with piles of gold a few minutes later. This ability to continue to fight, without forcing a trip to town, unloading vender trash, helps to keep the action moving at a good pace, the endless loot grind is uninhibited.

Not stopping there, pets are also granted the same ability to use magic scrolls as the player. Your pet can spring fireballs from his paws, heal your wounds, or in my case summon forth an army of skeletal archers to fight by my side.

It became almost rhythmic, kill creatures, collect loot, identify said loot, send pet to town, there is almost nothing to distract from the mechanical loot grind. An obvious touch of repetitiveness presents itself, and there may be a slight over abundance of loot, weapons and items drop with such regularity they all seemed to blend together.

It lacks the great atmosphere of Diablo, or a more deeply involving story, but Torchlight is a great game none the less. It’s simple and effective at what it is, a classic dungeon crawl. Were the story to be more fleshed out and the quests expanded, the grind could have held more emotional pull. The lack of any multiplayer is a crying shame, Torchlight absolutely screams for a co-op mode. The forthcoming Torchlight MMO will give World of Warcraft a run for my MMO money.

A remarkable deal at only 20 bucks, Torchlight is a tribute to the ability of downloadable games to provide small, effective experiences, at a great price. Diablo fans take note; Torchlight is not to be missed.