Runic Games’ world design helps with this. It’s an expertly paced cycle of upgrading that never leaves room for rest, as more menacing challenges are never far away, and the promise of greater reward never fades. Playing is a constant tease, where each magic blast or arrow flurry might reward you with the ideal upgrade, which when equipped inspires confidence, a feeling of ever-growing personal power as you descend into the next dungeon and battle whatever unknown dangers await. Sometimes it’s a basic pistol you’ll never use, sometimes it’s a rare two-handed sword with high damage and the perfect statistical attachments to complement your play style. Like with Diablo, item drops from monster are randomized, so you’re never sure what will fall from the dead. When mixed with the quick taps of skill rotations in gameplay, with ceaseless target prioritization and potion quaffing and crowd control and bursts of critical hit damage totals, Torchlight II becomes a mesmerizing, laser-focused action-RPG experience, a blitz on all senses, a perpetual, interactive fireworks display. It gives Torchlight II a kind of sinister charm, where despite the brightness of the colors, there’s a sense of dread tugging at the corners. While Torchlight II doesn’t achieve much with its bare story presentation and flat characters, it still establishes a distinct mood by blending scenes of ruthless violence with colorful, almost storybook-like visuals and a haunting soundtrack featuring ominous strings, the rolling thunder of drums and guitar drowning in reverb. It may sound like a wearying grind of a dungeon crawl but it’s immensely rewarding. You do this for roughly 30 hours until the final boss falls over, then you start up new game plus and repeat the whole thing. You scoop it all up, scan stats to see if any discovered treasure can serve as an upgrade, then move on to the next monster pack and repeat. You burn and poison and slash at hostile beasts with sharp weapons until they die and spill gold and gear all over the ground. You’re shown this isn't a game about story: it’s about wholesale, gleeful slaughter. Within a few minutes of starting up you’re dropped into fields of compulsively killable monsters.
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