Torchlight III

If you are new to the Torchlight franchise then Torchlight III is an excellent jumping on point. At $30 it's a great binge game to play with friends while we all wait on the next-gen onslaught that's just around the corner. But, if you're a hardcore ARPG fan looking for something deeper then you may be better served elsewhere, namely by Torchlight II.

Torchlight III knows what it is, and embraces that identity. It’s not the biggest action/RPG on the market. It doesn’t have the most grim or mature setting, nor does it have the most complicated fictional backdrop. Instead, Echtra has crafted a buoyant adventure that joyfully hops players from one environment to the next, with barely a hitch of story or quest-tracking needed. The monsters are plentiful, the powers you wield are bombastic, and the unfolding battles fill the screen with colorful blasts and thunderous noise. The seamless nature of the action and leveling is just barely complex en...

Let me just get this out of the way first. Torchlight III is not the game we wanted it to be. It’s not a serious follow up to Torchlight II, and is behind its predecessor mechanically and design-wise in many ways. It began its life as a free-to-play spin-off called Torchlight: Frontiers, and it still retains a lot of that structure. Hardcore players looking for something to tide them over until Diablo IV and Path of Exile 2 are bound for disappointment. But in my opinion, there’s still a...

Torchlight III doesn't bring anything new to the looter dungeon crawler and that's okay. It's rather simplified and accessible, but most importantly fun and hard to stop playing. Hardcore fans of this style may be critical of the fact that it might be too simplistic and accessible, and that's understandable since I have fond memories of working out complex character builds in other games of this nature and feeling pride when they worked out well. Comparing Torchlight III to other dungeon crawlers may come up lacking in those areas, but it's an enjoyable game just taking it in as its own entity...

Overall, I have to say Torchlight III is in an ok-ish place right now. Torchlight III has the potential to be a great ARPG like Diablo III or Path of Exile, but right now it does need a bit more polish.

Diablo III is one of the most beloved multiplayer games of all time. You'll be questing through a huge variety of stages and levels, fighting against demonic offspring and smashing through their dungeons with your friends, whether you're sat on the sofa next to one another, or online. Diablo III even manages to deliver this high standard on Nintendo Switch, with four players on a single system running at 60FPS. But this isn't Diablo III. This is Torchlight III, a Diablo-like, with almost none of the redeeming qualities. Maybe it is acceptable to launch this game on PC and not have any semblanc...

Torchlight 3 is, by the very definition of the word, okay. It’s a perfectly serviceable ARPG that is just fine. It’s kind of fun, but gets repetitive rather quickly. And while Echtra's ARPG effort looks really pretty, it’s completely middle of the road stuff.

There isn’t much for me to love or hate here. Torchlight III is a slow burn, one that struggles to stand out like its predecessors did back when this genre wasn’t nearly as stacked with great competitors.

Torchlight III still suffers from many issues that have been present since its Early Access stage, including a middling endgame and bland core gameplay loop. Worse, its restrictions on character builds and relic usage lead to a lack of experimentation and customization.

Torchlight III is a game of simple pleasures and going for one more dungeon can be very addicting. With an easy-going tone and accessible to all, the game is best enjoyed in short bursts.

We want to emphasize that 5 will always be the “average” number, not 7. So by far, it’s 50% great and it’s also 50% bad.

Torchlight III is a disappointment. It has good production values and gives a good first impression, but it just lacks depth in so many areas. The loot and skill systems are boring, and there's not enough variety as you're pushed into crowds of enemies with shallow explanations for why you have to go through. There's very little really to recommend here when its biggest competitor is now so old and cheap.