I’ll keep this short. If you’re anything like me, you probably poured an embarrassing amount of hours into the original Diablo and it’s sequel, Diablo II. You’re probably also waiting impatiently for Diablo III. Well, Torchlight is here to fill that void.
Word of Ember blazed across the land, and the town of Torchlight flared to life.
Ember is the essence of magic and the keystone of alchemy; it lures the restless with promises of power and riches. Miners burrowed deep beneath the dirt streets of Torchlight, discovering veins of the ore richer than any found in living memory- but they were not the first to covet these mines. The miners broke through into the buried past, a dangerous labyrinth of caverns and ruined civilizations, twisted creatures and the bones of those who came before. Evil bubbles up from the depths and threatens to overrun this town as it has so many others. The heart of a villain has infused the Ember, and his darkness seeps through the veins. To survive, the townspeople must break the cycle of destruction; they need a champion who can destroy the evil at its root. Removing the source of the rot may purify the Ember, but it is a long and perilous journey. The champion must battle through rock and fire, through lost cities and ancient tombs, into the palace of the villain himself.
The adventure is set in the mining settlement of Torchlight, a boomtown founded on the discovery of rich veins of Ember – a rare and mysterious ore with the power to enchant or corrupt all that it contacts. This corruptive power may have dire consequences however, and players set out into the nearby mountains and depths below to discover the full extent of Ember’s influence on the civilizations that have come before.
Made by Runic Games a company formed by many of the people behind the Diablo games, Torchlight hits all the same notes. Loot, baddies, cartoony World of Warcraftish graphics, loot, fantastic music, great locations, loot, and more loot. And, hey, it runs smooth as butter even on my three-year-old Macbook, so it’ll certainly run on nearly anything. The guys over at Giant Bomb have a great video preview.
If that isn’t enought to convince you, the game’s only twenty bucks. Still not convniced? There’s a demo, which allows you to carry over your character when you buy the full game. Seriously, though, I’ve been playing it almost non-stop for the last few days and it’s grabbed with that same addictive embrach that Blizzard’s classic dungeon-crawlers did back in high school. If you like the genre, check it out. It’s awesome. I promise.
Torchlight is available for purchase through its Official Website and through Steam.
