Foreword

Todays review is a little unorthodox. Not one, but two games will be featured in this article, all of the ARPG genre. No RPGs have been featured on this site yet, so I figured in celebration of making it to ten reviews, and not abandoning the site after one, I'd kill two trashmobs with one runestone and review an established ARPG, and a one that is so new it hasn't even been released yet. This is a very exciting time for The Obsolete Exchange, given how all prior reviews have been on games that are quite old, and others have been on already well-known games. For the first time on this site, I'll be looking at a game before it has released, and give my two cents from what I've seen in the demo, as well providing some links to follow the development and discussions around the game. On top of that, I'll be reviewing Torchlight 2, as well as a blind review of Grim Dawn in the following weeks. With all that said, I hope you can take something from this article, and I also hope you stick around for the bright future this website is looking at, as there will be plenty more reviews, articles and more in the coming weeks.

Tower of Kalemonvo: it's Diablo in all its primitive glory.

Diablo 1 and 2 are often considered the gold standard of the ARPG genre - most ARPGs released in the past 20 years have been looking to take the Diablo Killer title, and whilst many come close, and some are actually better, very few of them manage to recreate the atmosphere and aesthetic of the original Diablo duo. With its dark, hellish backdrop and the detailed, clean sprite work with its gothic overtones, it makes for a memorable visual experience that no game has came close to emulating since, until now. Tower of Kalemonvo is under development and is due for release in late 2024, however there is a demo available which features the first six levels, giving you a brief taste of what the game is all about.

If it aint broke...

As you can see, the similarities to Diablo are quite apparent, in both style and substance. However, old is not always better. Visusally, the game looks great - the character models and isometric graphics are very charming and do a good job of emulating the style of Diablo. What little music I heard was also pretty good and captured that Diablo vibe perfectly. But just like Diablo, Tower of Kalemonvo is a slow paced game, with lesser emphasis on swarms and rushes. There is no natural health regeneration (so far) and no natural mana regenereation, so it is already more challenging than alot of ARPGS on the market. Health and mana potions are scarce, and potions do not stack, nor are there town scroll portals. In fact, the developer takes pride in the games challenge saying:

Thats not all, either. There are numerous abilities available in the demo, however they are not bound to the number keys - instead they are bound to the function keys, but pressing the corresponding key does not activate the ability, it only selects it. So if you are in a tight situation with monsters surrounding you, you have to select every ability, then right click. This doesn't seem too bad, but after playing Torchlight where every ability is activated the second you press the key, it's quite jarring. Of course this is keeping in tune with the original Diablo and it would be more appealing to more hardcore players as that is seemingly the games demographic. As for the rest of the gameplay, it's what you expect from an ARPG; kill stuff, build up your character, upgrade skills and items, kill bosses, rinse and repeat - it does what it says on the tin.

There is a notable thing that seperates this from Diablo however, that being there are no classes in this game. You simply select two starting weapons, choose between a sword, shield, wand or bow. Once you choose your starting kit, its completely up to you what weapons and armour you use, as nothing is restricted by class. Spells and abilities (or "combat arts") are useable by anyone with the stats and level required, which I think is a nice feature that is rather underused in the genre. That may sound casual, but the game is difficult and requires alot more thinking than a typical ARPG.

Difficulty

The game is right when it says it's not for the faint of heart. It is brutally challenging and it will not hold your hand at all. When you choose your starting kit, you are dropped into the world and left to your own devices; its up to you to figure out everything from the controls to the combat. If you're unfamilar with the genre, you probably won't like this game, and even if you are familar, it's still arguably hit or miss. After an hour, I beat the first boss and whilst it wasn't paticularly hard, it was a chore. You meet the boss after the 2nd or 3rd floor and it is a complete gamble because sometimes the loot drops are terrible, and no amount of skill will make up for crap gear. I was lucky to get some decent gear on my second playthrough, when I beat him, but even still I only won by the skin of my teeth. The boss fight was essentially me doing laps around the place, sometimes stopping to cast a fireball, or to shoot it with a bow. The boss is always right on your back, so you have to time your attacks pretty precisesly, and it is definitely worth investing points into dexterity to increase dodge chance. He also drains your mana and slows you down, making your magic attacks useless if you dont use them quick enough. It took about 10 minutes of runnning around, eventually resorting to default attack due to running out of mana potions, to kill the boss. Maybe I'm playing it completely wrong, but to me, that was pretty tedious.

After beating the boss, I carried on playing with what little health and mana I had left, and inevitably died. Death is permanent, though you can reload an older save, but after that there was little point, because after losing most of my mana and health during the boss fight, there was no way I could find health potions before taking more damage. Even Diablo wasn't this punishing - at least you could retrieve all your dropped gear. Now to me, that is a deal breaker because at the end of the day, I want to have fun and make progress, but replaying the same part over and over again because a minor amount of damage can gimp your entire playthrough, is not my idea of fun. That does not mean the game is bad, it's just alot harder than a typical ARPG, and you need alot of patience before you start seeing some clear progress.

Notes

Other than the artistic style and unique classless system, there was nothing else paticularly notable that wasn't a bug. I didn't encounter any bugs, but I did encounter some frame drops, sometimes the game would drop to 1 FPS for a moment, usually when there is alot of monsters on screen. Those kinds of issues are to be expected from a demo, though it did surprise me given how simple the graphics are.

Summary

Because of how short the demo is, there is little subject matter to discuss. From what we can see, it is a love-letter to the early ARPGs and it faithfully emulates the look, feel and difficulty those games are so cherished for. But for a lot of people, the old-school difficulty can get very taxing and ultimately ruin the game for them. Personally, I like the challenge if I'm in the right mood, and will definetely be buying this game if the price is right, however I cannot recommend it to those who aren't acquainted with older ARPGs. Alot of the standard features in a modern ARPG are missing and if you can't tolerate the seemingly barebones nature of earlier games, you will hate this. If you're a seasoned ARPG fan who has the fortitude to deal with the games unforgiving nature, you'll probably like this. Once it is out, I will most likely complete a full review on the finished product, and see how it has evolved from the demo.

Torchlight II

Here is a game that is very well known in ARPG circles for all the right reasons. Released in 2012 as a sucessor to the previous 2009 title, Torchlight II is a vastly different game to Tower of Kalemonvo. Torchlight II is faster, brighter and much more accessible, but with just the right amount of complexity that keeps people playing 12 years later. It is up there with the greats, and is considered by many to be the cream of the crop - but with competition like Grim Dawn and Path of Exile, does Torchlight II still deserve its spot on the throne?

Yes, absouletely.

Torchlight II is popular for a multitude of reasons. It could be the plethora of abilities and spells, it could be the intuitiveness of using said abilities and spells, it could be the end game content, or it could even be the story! Only one of those statements is false - no one plays these games for the story, and Torchlight realises this so there are very few cutscenes in the game, and all dialog is skippable. What Torchlight excels at is its perfect balance of accessability and complexity. Years ago, Torchlight was one of my first proper ARPGs, and within a few minutes I knew what to do and how to do it, but at the same time, my intelligence wasn't insulted by overly hand-holding tutorials and hints. Like all ARPGs, the premise is simple, but what makes these games is the grind, and if the grinding is boring, it's not a good ARPG.

Classes

Four classes are available from the getgo, all of which play quite differently. You can choose from:

• Outlander (ranged weapons and magic)

• Berserker (melee)

• Embermage (mage)

• Engineer (melee and summoner)

I can't comment much for the other classes as I have spent most time as an Outlander, but from what footage I've seen, they genuiunely do play differently to eachother and they clearly require different playstyles, which is great. The Outlander alone has 18 active abilities, and a further 9 passive abilities, all of which are usable with just a keystroke unlike Tower of Kalemonvo, which really makes the combat fast and fun. Whilst there is some class restricted gear, alot of it is also useable and workable by other classes. For example, alot of Outlander players will pump points into strenghth and dexterity, however the Outlander can use wands and has a lot of offensive and defensive abilities, meaning it is equally viable to focus more on investing points into Focus (mana stat). In fact, in my most recent playthrough, I have mainly ignored guns and bows, and use almost exclusively duel wield wands, only switching to duel wield guns when certain abilities are called for. Whether that is the most efficent and optimal playstyle is debatable, but what isn't debatable is how much fun I'm having using that setup.

Other classes have even more abilities, so it's safe to say there is plenty of choice. On top of abilities, you can also use spells, which work across all classes. Spells are a bit different, because you can only have 4 on your character and 4 on your pet (more on pets later), and if you want to replace any, you must permanently unlearn the one you're replacing. Spells only get better as the game progresses, so you will be regularly replacing old spells for new ones, or upgrading current ones by using the new level of it. Once you decide which spells and abilities you are most comfortable with, you will be sticking with them for most of your playthrough, so pick ones you enjoy using, but are also powerful enough to deal with the ever rising challenges that Torchlight throws at you.

World

Like most ARPGs, the world is randomly generated and changes with every playthrough, and Torchlight II has a similar system to Diablo II, in that both are 3 act stories with each act taking you to different places. Act 1 is a wooded area, act 2 is a desert area, and act 3 is an underground area. Both Diablo II and Torchlight II do this, with minor differences in the underground areas (Diablo II act 3 is set in hell, Torchlight II act 3 is set in a mine). That is not to say the world is bad - far from it. The art style is very easy on the eye, and very easy on your videocard. The whole world has a magical aura and it feels alot bigger than it actually is thanks to the detailed 3D backgrounds and height variation. In each area there are sub areas, which feature different weather types and even complete biome changes, so the world never feels overly repetitive. It also has a day and night cycle, which is a nice touch.

Whilst the art style is quite cartoony, some of the dungeons had a decently spooky atmosphere to them, amplified by the Diablo-esque soundtrack. Though I would've prefered a total gothic, Diablo theme, the actual theme is not at all bad, and I really enjoy the monster models. There are the traditional RPG monsters like skeletons, as well as some unique variations of them, like giant skeleton golems that throw magic bones at you and can take lots of damage. As for elite monsters, they vary wildly in terms of attack patterns, damage types and debuffs, much like the bosses.

In terms of lore and story, I didn't really care enough to follow but again, it is the same as Diablo 2. Basically, The Alchemist, a playable character in the first game, has now turned into a bad guy and you must stop him from destroying the world. Pretty unimaginitive, but there is some lore out there if you care enough. Despite the poor story, I did still feel immersed in the world and I actively enjoyed exploring it. Exploration is strongly encouraged and is basically mandatory if you want to make the most of your character. Even skipping just one room would greatly decrease your chances of finding good loot. Many times I have almost left a dungeon, but realised there was one more room, and after clearing that room, I actually got better loot than I did from the quest giver. Secret rooms can also be found in some dungeons, which hold vast amounts of gold and gear, or sometimes an elite monster. In short, you should explore every nook and cranny and stray off the beaten path whenever you can, because in NG+(New Game +, more on this later), quest rewards are pretty bad if you are a higher level than the quest requires.

Pets

Pets are pretty unique to the Torchlight series, and unlike in most games, they're actually useful. Pets can be used as an extra inventory space, or you can send your pet to town and it will empty its inventory and come back with money. This is incredibly useful as it saves you from having to visit town every time your inventory is full. Not only can they sell your unwanted junk, they can also buy essentials like potions and identify scrolls, at the same time as selling. It is an incredibly useful feature and is probably my favourite thing about Torchlight. Not only do pets work inventory mules, they can also help you in battle. They are great meatshields for distracting tougher enemies, and with the right spells equiped, they can be excellent fighters too. Not only can spells be equipped, tags and collars can be too, and they provide some very helpful buffs and abilities, like lifesteal to master.

The Grind

The grind in Torchlight II is very real, and very fun. The aim of the game is to loot gear, upgrade stats and upgrade abilities, like any other. However, gear has sockets, and socketable items will greatly enhance your gear allowing you to take on tougher monsters, bosses and explore dangerous areas. Like Diablo II, you spend alot of time farming dungeons and quests to get elemental "embers" which can then either be socketed in your gear, giving a stat bonus to to whatever element the ember is (eg. flame ember in armour will provide x flame protection, or x flame damage if socketed into a weapon), or you can craft them into more powerful unique embers, like blood embers which provide health, healing or lifesteal, and void embers, which provide mana regeneration, mana steal or more total mana. There are other socketables too - some are exclusive quest reward and others are occasionally dropped by bosses and elites (eyes and skulls). The grinding in this game is revolved around collecting socketables and better gear; in earlier stages of the game, you will constantly be swapping gear and recovering gems, however that changes during the endgame, as you will mostly be swapping gems and selling gear. It is quite rare to find better gear via drops in the end game, so its alot more wiser to max-out your current gear.

After finishing the main questline, you have two options. You can either start a New Game +, which resets the world and quests and starts at level 50, or you can visit the Mapworks, which allows you to play any random dungeon, at any level of your choosing. Of course, higher level areas give higher level loot, but are also quite dangerous. You can do both New Game + and Mapworks if you so desire, and by getting better loot in Mapworks, you can speed through the main questline in NG+. Thats what makes Torchlight great, the freedom and practically endless content provided by Mapworks.

Combat

A grind is only as fun as the combat allows, and Torchlight does not fail to deliver in that regard. The combat is fast, smooth and intuitive, whilst also being challenging and relatively complex. For example, in my current Outlander build, I usually use 3 abilities in an average trashmob battle. In a serious battle with elites and bosses, I could end up using all 10 abilities on the hotbar. Combat gets incredible frantic at times, and its pure reflexes that decide the outcome. In the above screenshot, you will notice my health is almost drained, however it was not drained before I took it. I lost focus for a second to find the F12, and that one minor diversion cost me almost all my health. That just goes to show how easy it is to die if you're not 100% zoned in. The bosses and elites are fantastic and they really keep you on your toes. After beating a paticularly hard boss, you geniunely feel a sense of relief that you survived the complete chaos that ensued moments earlier, and that sense is made all the more intense when you rummage through the dropped loot and open the boss chest. There is really nothing quite like it.

Skills

From what I've seen playing as an Outlander, the skillsets seem pretty good. For me, there was always an ability for every situation and I never feel that I'm at a significant disadvantage. It is encouraged to use different weapons as some abilities only work with paticular weapons. One such case is the acid rain ability for the Outlander, which is an incredibly powerful AOE skill which deals high DPS, but the drawback (for me) was having to switch to pistols to use it, as it is not compatible with wands. Whilst it is initially annoying, it does change the routine up a little bit, which in a game like this, is always nice. Besides the active skills, there is a lot of passive skills too, which are greatly benefical. There are three skillsets for each class, with about 9 skills in each, 3 of which are passive skills. Passive skills are highly important because they permantely give your character extra buffs, so not investing points into any of them would be unwise. Passive skills can range from extra elemental armour, longer minion lifespans, ranged weapon range, damage and many more variables. Suffice to say, don't neglect passives.

Mod Support

Amazingly, this game has an active and healthy modding community 12 years after its release. This is thanks to its Steam Workshop intergration, which has done wonders keeping old games alive. There are hundreds of mods, none of which I have used yet, but they are all bound to fit your needs. Synergies is the most popular mod; it is a total conversion mod which adds more classes, more areas, more loot, more everything basically. It's like an unofficial expansion. There are UI mods available too, like the Evil UI mod, which gives the game a dark makeover. Other mods can include more sockets, more inventory and other useful things. Take a look for yourself, the selection is near endless.

Flaws

During the many hours I spent playing this, I found little to complain about. My only real grievance was not being able to respec skill points past the last 3, which for beginner players, could permanently gimp a character if poor skill choices are made. Loot drops are also very hit or miss, especially in end game. I get that it is supposed to be like that in this genre, but I think Torchlight II over-did it just a little too much. You could be grinding Mapworks for several hours and have little to show for it. Whilst that is disheartening, the fun combat more than makes up for the otherwise fruitless grinding. It should be said though, that this kind of fruitless grinding isn't incredibly apparent until the late endgame, which by then, alot of players are done with the game or that paticular character.

Summary

Torchlight II will forever maintain its place in the ARPG throne due to the fact it completely outshined Diablo III, at a time when ARPG fans couldn't be more hungry for a new Diablo. 2012 was a strange year for ARPGs. The father of them all, Diablo, was recieved terribly by both Diablo and ARPG fans for its simplistic combat, pitiful skill selection and new cartoon-like tone. Meanwhile, Torchlight II steals the show barely a few months later and becomes the new crowned king of ARPGs seemingly overnight. Whether or not it is still the best is heavily debatable, given its age and competition, and failure of the sequels. One thing is for certain however, is that it is a fantastic ARPG that is both entry level and complex enough for veterans. Despite some of its flaws and cut-paste story, it is still worth playing and finishing at least once, and it also goes to show that a game does not need a good story or cinematics to be good. Torchlight is proof that gameplay rules above all.