Torchlight II Preview

Runic Games’ Torchlight sequel is the latest title to receive the preview treatment over at Hooked Gamers, though the article doesn’t appear to be based on any hands-on time with the game.

Quite some effort was put into making the world outside the dungeons broad and eventful. Whereas the surface areas were rather safe in the original game, Torchlight II’s will be riddled with beasties that attempt to lay waste to you. Some will simply be draped all over the map but others may spawn from a spell cast by a boss creature looking to whoop your ass for disturbing his peace. Venturing outside also means having to deal with everyone’s favorite subject: the weather. Outside areas now have day to night cycles as well as random weather effects.

You may get the impression that Torchlight II will be a completely different game. It is true that there will be many changes but everything that made the old game great will still be there in the sequel. Random dungeons, using your pet to sell off excess goodies, the ability to modify your game using fan made mods, the retirement system where you can heirloom one of your characters’ prized possessions to its successor, fishing and a tweaked user interface will all make their return. Achievements, an admittedly last-minute addition to the game, are conjured up for Torchlight II again but will be a far more streamlined experience this time around.