Torchlight 1 vs Torchlight 2 - An Overview & Comparison

As a huge fan of Diablo I also have a lot of respect for the Torchlight series which offers very similar experiences to that of Diablo.

Writing off this game as a simple Diablo clone wouldn't be doing this game franchise justice as it takes everything about the action role playing genre and adds it's own spin on it. It's a franchise of spent hundreds of hours in and I know I'm not alone with plenty of people on Xfire and Steam racking up similar large scale numbers.

I love the casual sort of gameplay that Torchlight popularised as it doesn't require as much time as the more hardcore Diablo series to make progress. It's the kind of game I feel comfortable jumping in for 30 minutes at a time while longer sessions are best reserved for other games.

On this page I'll be providing a brief overview and comparison of the two games that should serve as a helpful reference for Torchlight and non-Torchlight players alike.

Images on this page are used for review purposes and are provided by game media departments for the purpose of review and critique.

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Torchlight [Download]

Torchlight is an exciting new action role playing game, where players explore randomly generated dungeon levels, battle a variety of monsters, and pursue endless fame and fortune.

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Torchlight 2 Black edition PC game

The Black Edition contains the game Torchlight II , not only the complete soundtrack in MP3 format, but also the powerful editor GUTS, which makes it possible to create entirely...

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5 Things That The Torchlight Series Offers

Every franchise has their features that are staples of the experience, Torchlight offers:

Randomised loot and dungeons.
Several unique archetypes for classes.
Colourful and simplified cartoon graphics.
A pet system that lets you keep fighting while you're pet returns to town.
Fishing which lets you transform your pet and stats with magical fish.

Torchlight 1

The First Torchlight Experience

The first game in the series was a single player only adventure and very simplistic in the whole approach. It was extremely fun and quite a long game for the price tag and it quickly gathered a large following for it's simplified approach to the ARPG genre.

In terms of the story players will find themselves becoming the new hero of the town Torchlight. This mining town is built on the powerful essence of Ember which attracts many adventurers from far and wide. This Ember has a corrupting power and influence though which also means that evil isn't far behind. In order to free the town you'll have to venture deep into the ruined civilizations below and defeat the evil that lies down there.

The tackle this adventure you've got three classes in Torchlight 1 with options for all tastes. You've got the warrior (Destroyer), ranged weapon specialist (Vanquisher) and the spell caster (Alchemist). While they are fairly standard titles they do feel quite unique and not just borrowing from games of the past. You'll be joined by a friendly pet companion as well to run between town and keep you fighting in the depths for longer. This was my first exposure to this sort of system and I really liked it (although the popular Fate series was the first to use it).

I loved the first Torchlight and it's only let down was the lack of multiplayer but this was fixed in the second instalment.

Torchlight 2

More Torchlight Action

The second game improved on the original in two key ways. Firstly, multiplayer was now available allowing you to easily kill monsters with friends and secondly was the improved support for mods which opened up a whole new element the game.

The game was a great success due in part to its release date of several months before the popular game Diablo 3 was released. Enticing many gamers (like myself) to get their ARPG fix from Torchlight 2 while waiting for the release of the next Diablo instalment, a number of Torchlight clones also popped up around this time.

Torchlight 2 is set many years after the original and has you tracking down the Alchemist from the first game who is now the one corrupted by the power of the Ember. The most notable change on the setting is also the inclusion of several acts so players won't just be exploring the town below Torchlight this time and instead get to explore three very unique locations with a variety of environments.

All the randomised fun of the original returns but this time you've got the option to enjoy it as one of four characters. This time around you'll have the Engineer, Outlander, Berserker and Embermage to enjoy.

The second game in this series is definitely much better and filled with additional content that the first game was lacking. For me it's a much more complete offering where the first game was almost a game that was just testing the waters. I'm not saying you shouldn't play the first game but if time and money are short then the second game will give you a better return on your investment (especially because of the multiplayer).