And yes, I know, ARPGS are inherently repetitive by nature, but it’s the lack of real on-screen, tangible growth throughout that means the gameplay very rarely changes. That’s before we even talk about the endgame, too, which like its forebear is incredibly repetitive. After 10-hours or so, I found myself just going through the motions, not for love of the game, but rather, as if I was in a trance. You never get that moment when there are hordes of enemies on screen and you’re just chunking through them, perhaps because at the best of times the frame-rate can’t really cope, but it does mean that the game can get a bit repetitive. Torchlight 3 doesn’t do that, quite often you’ll just rely on a few powers, ones you're able to make slightly more powerful as you level up. Players accustomed to Path of Exile will know the satisfaction of creating a build – an unstoppable force that can just tank through levels without a care in the world. Torchlight 3’s issues, one could argue, lie in the scope of the character classes and their abilities. With Legendary items being incredibly rare – like they should be – the wait for really cool loot is perhaps a tad too lengthy. I did, however, find it odd that there are only four loot levels (grey, green, blue and orange) in the game, meaning it doesn’t quite nail the loot drop loop. With loads of loot, a good drop rate, and plenty of customisation for your character (visual and stat-based), what we’ve got here is a game with a solid foundation.
If an ARPG can nail that, they it's on the right track, and thankfully, Torchlight III does successfully do that. Use powers, smash lots of enemies, collect loads of loot rinse and repeat. Let’s be honest, though – the real reason people (well, me, anyway) plays a good ARPG is down to the gameplay loops. To put the latter into context, when Torchlight 2 came out, its big addition was online co-op. And then on the other hand, you can play with your friends. Not because I wasn’t paying attention – I mean I was trying – but more down to the fact that it just isn’t all that interesting. In fact, if you asked me to sum it up, I’d struggle. Okay, that might be slightly harsh, but the reason you soldier on through the game’s campaign is not to see the climax of the story, that’s for sure. On the one hand, there’s your traditional single-player experience, fresh with a story that's about as gripping as watching paint dry. Like any good ARPG worth its weight, Torchlight 3 has a bit of everything for everyone. But after an eight-year hiatus, the question is, can Torchlight compete? Heck, even Minecraft entered the arena with the great Minecraft Dungeons. Not only is Diablo’s heart still beating, but Path of Exile has risen to the top of the tree, Warhammer 40K has dabbled in the genre with Inquisitor, and so did Darksiders with dungeon-crawling spin-off, Genesis. Today, though, the ARPG landscape is a different beast. So Torchlight coming along was a breath of fresh air. You had Diablo, and if we’re being completely brutal, that was it really. When the original Torchlight launched back in 2009, there wasn’t really a lot of competition in the ARPG world.