Torchlight II picks up where the first game's story ended and then blows the doors off. The Alchemist, one of the heroes who saved the town of Torchlight, has been corrupted by the Ember he carried out of the mines, and his rampage across the continent of Vilderan is yours to stop. Runic Games took the loot-driven core of the original and gave it what players asked for: a proper overworld, four new classes, online and LAN co-op at no extra cost, and a Steam Workshop mod scene that is still thriving.
A hero built your way
Every class in Torchlight II carries three skill trees and a charge bar that rewards its own rhythm of play, so two Engineers can feel as different from each other as an Engineer does from an Embermage. Male or female, with cosmetic options and a pet at your heel, your hero is yours from the first click.
- Engineer
- The heavy hitter. Builds charge with every swing, then spends it on empowered hammer blows, deployable healing bots and cannon shots. Equally at home behind a shield or wielding a two-handed weapon the size of a door.
- Outlander
- A ranged drifter mixing pistols, shotgonnes and a bit of shadow magic. Glaive Throw ricochets between packs, Shadowling summons turn kills into allies, and the charge bar keeps you moving when things get crowded.
- Berserker
- Fast, feral and always in the middle of the fight. Claws, wolf spirits and a charge bar that, once full, guarantees critical hits for a short window. Nothing else in the game clears a room quite as quickly.
- Embermage
- The classic elemental caster, splitting fire, ice and lightning across three trees. Prismatic Bolt fills the screen, Frost Wave freezes a charging horde, and a full charge bar makes casting free for a few glorious seconds.
The continent of Vilderan
Where the original stayed underground, Torchlight II opens up. You cross the Estherian Steppes, the Mana Wastes and the forests of Grunnheim on the trail of the Alchemist, passing through hub towns, side dungeons and weather that shifts from rain to snow to night as you travel. Layouts, paths, enemy placement and loot are randomized each time you play, so the second run through a zone is never a re-tread of the first.
The loot itself is the engine of the whole thing. Uniques, sets, sockets and enchanting keep gear interesting long after the level cap is in sight, and your pet still runs back to town to sell the junk while you keep exploring. Fishing returns too: catch the right fish and your companion transforms into something a lot toothier for a while.
Co-op without the hassle
- Online play is free and runs through Runic's matchmaking, so you can find a group anywhere in the world or lock a game to friends only. There is no subscription and no separate account to manage.
- LAN play is fully supported, which still makes this one of the easiest action RPGs to set up for an evening in the same room. Drop in, drop out, and carry your character between solo and group games freely.
- Loot is rolled per player, so nobody races for the drop, and cross-platform multiplayer means the group is not split by which operating system each person happens to run.
Workshop, GUTS and New Game Plus
Torchlight II ships with GUTS, the same editor Runic Games used to build it. That is why the Steam Workshop catalogue runs past a thousand mods, from new classes and pets to full-scale overhauls, all subscribing and syncing automatically. Whether you want a purist run or a heavily modified one, the game bends to it.
Finish the campaign and New Game Plus lets you start again with the same character, keeping every skill point, gold piece and piece of gear, against enemies scaled to match. The game is over when you decide it is.
Diablo lineage, Runic's polish
Runic Games was founded by Max and Erich Schaefer, co-founders of Blizzard North and lead figures on Diablo and Diablo II, and it shows in every inch of Torchlight II. The pacing, the feel of a weapon connecting and the sheer density of loot all come from people who helped define the genre. The studio closed in 2017, but the game it left behind is complete, stable and as playable today as it was at launch.
The Alchemist is already loose in Vilderan and the Ember is spreading. Pick your class, whistle for your pet and go after him.
