Torchlight II Preview

Runic Games’ ambitious Torchlight sequel has received the preview treatment over at G4, and other than throwing around the “streamlining” term, there really isn’t any reason to think it won’t be an excellent follow-up.

One unique aspect of the the characters is that you can “retire” them once they get to a certain level and gift all of your nifty gear to a new character. Not a bad mechanic if you decide to reroll. Your pet is also upgraded as well, and you can choose a dog, cat or a ferret, which was previously only available as a bonus if you bought the “Encore” boxed copy of the game. More pet types will be coming, and they now have an expanded inventory and added functionality.

The game also supports online play via a lobby server, and through LAN, that includes multiplayer, as well, which is brand-new to the series. You can choose to work together, or go your own way. You’ll see icons representing where your fellow adventurers are on the map, and it certainly doesn’t hurt to team up for some of the bigger dungeon boss battles. Thankfully, you can completely ignore them if you want. If you do choose to game together, loot that drops for you will only be seen by your player, meaning no more battles over who gets the rare axe that just dropped.

The menu bar has evolved with mana and health shifting to the outside and increased functionality coming to the action items in the middle. “We want people to be able to play this game with one hand tied behind their back,” said the developer who served as our guide. They’re looking at making it easier to identify items as well, so you don’t have to carry around a sheaf of Identify spells. This is just one example of how they’re trying to streamline the game, and you can also mod the game as much as you want, complete with Runic’s blessing, and via TorchEd, the Torchlight editor.