Torchlight II Previews
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GameInformer kicks things off:
You've seen Runic talk about the new races and random level creation capabilities in the sequel, and both come through immediately when you pop into the game. Torchlight II threw three dramatically different environments at me within five minutes of sitting down at the computer: a snowy wasteland filled with corrupted priests and swarming goblins, a cavern infested with minotaurs, and an airy hub town that calls to mind the fanciful cities of Arabian mythology. Simply wandering the overworld brought me to dangerous dungeons, several minibosses, and secret loot rooms. Torchlight II's world is rich with content.
Most weapons in Torchlight II have a small area-effect component to their basic attacks. The claws my berserker was equipped with have a narrow cone of effect, while two-handed hammers for example will have a wider impact zone. The difference from the genre's traditional single-target attacks is subtle, but it's one of the many little touches that make playing Torchlight II feel like an awesome carnival of destruction with occasional loot showers rather than a slogging grind through boring random levels.
And then Ripten goes hands-on, as well:
We approached a skeleton by a gate, who gave us a quest to explore the dungeon locked behind closed doors. Moving down the level a bit we came across a sarcophagus which we promptly opened. and which then proceeded to pour out skeletons. Random terrain pieces like this will react different and produce different results. Some might contain gold, others enemies. It's a risk and reward system that always leaves you wanting more.
A ghost came from the stone and then proceeded to open the gate, allowing us access to one of the random dungeons. Now when I say random I don't just mean (Hey, pick a number!), I mean everything within the level is one hundred percent unique. You will never play the same level twice in Torchlight II, and that's great because the level cap is aiming to be around 100.
