Torchlight: Infinite review of Diablo Immortal’s rival mobile action RPG

There was once Torchlight: Travis Baldree and the Schaefer brothers’ dream of creating a rival to the mammoth Diablo was touched upon in the first two episodes, but the series was strangely lost later on, perhaps in search of a formula. rescue him from the clumsy shadow of the Blizzard title, never finding his definitive identity. As we see in this Torchlight review: InfiniteEven an attempt to turn it into a strongly mobile-based, free-to-play action RPG has failed completely, and with Torchlight, and especially Torchlight 2 in particular, in this wandering between fruitless video game structures and forms.

On the other hand, this path is also a reflection of the complex transformation the series has undergone in terms of development: after the first chapters of Runic Games’ fine craftsmanship, the transition under Perfect World Entertainment could only mean a clear shift. Moving on to the MMO passions that later emerged in part with Torchlight 3, the departure of the great original writers left room for some pretty dubious drifts. Torchlight: Infinite, in this sense, has almost nothing of the original spirit, as it has been entrusted to the Chinese team collectively. XD Games It created a certain revolution in structure while admirably retaining some of the features of the original chapters that began with its distinctive world structure and cartoonish graphic style.

The world is still characterized by the special blend of fantasy elements and steampunk grafts we loved before, with these bright colors and various settings that contrast with the typical style of the first Diablo. Ember is still mentioned as a fundamental energy for Civilization and as a major threat looming to hurl warriors supported by pets, but the humorous and ironic spirit that characterized the first two episodes has somewhat faded, being replaced by a History pretty anonymous, absolutely awful dialogues and compelling characters annoyed. In short, the heroes and environments are well designed, but while it’s never a core element in games like this, the narrative isn’t really a strong point.

Gameplay and combat system

However, two elements are important in this type of hack and slash action RPG: combat and the character’s advancement through experience and, above all, loot. From a structural standpoint, both pillars are pretty believable, but are plagued by the classic negative drags of mobile games, as the latter is the area the developers clearly want to target, despite Torchlight: Infinite. . Characterized by classic “isometric” shooting, the gameplay allows us to explore various regions of the Leptis world after different missions that mainly involve clearing areas, from enemies to clashes with locals, even if it’s maybe a little too close. Manager. this battle system This is typical of this type of action RPG, which basically requires constant use of attacks and special abilities depending on the build chosen, short or long range, in this case it’s almost insane (and truth be told very much) with extremely low cooldowns that greatly increase speed. less strategic).

The difficulty level isn’t exactly prohibitive, at least in the early hours of the game, but there’s good progress towards higher levels with more challenging moments, especially in correspondence with bosses. Basically, it all comes down to choosing the right skills to place on the keys in the interface. Control, because changing them is essential to win, as well as improving the standard attack through modifiers. Much less important in this sense is the character’s positioning and ability to escape, since it is above all a matter of attacking constantly and with the greatest possible force and recharging one’s energy with the right timing. Nearly canceled cooldowns make the mechanics a sort of button-masher that doesn’t require much judgment, but there’s a satisfying sense of physicality in attacks and hit styles, knocking out hordes of enemies.

Character progression and management

Torchlight: Infinite has exceptional numbers regarding the amount of possible combinations in the builds: we’re talking about 24 different skill trees for a total of 230 unlockable skills, although the flashy numbers don’t reflect the real differences in terms of mechanics in the game. . However, they work very well to catch us in the classical mechanism. progress constant, which is always the strong point of this type of action RPG. The first choice is between 6 characters, each characterized by their own fighting style and specific weapons, although oddly enough there is a certain overlap between some skills that makes the boundary between one type of fighter a bit blurry and the other. The amount of skills and features available in the game.

The progression system is so layered and complex that it becomes rather cumbersome and complex: in addition to the standard experience level, keep an eye on it. talent tree Character traits with the development of each node, which determines variations in the strength of active and passive skills.

The system sits right in the middle of Path of Exile and Diablo, but is a bit more difficult to understand at first, also due to an interface designed to work best on mobile platforms, but causes an indefinite chaos of information. this can easily lead to error. . There’s something to be lost between abilities, sub-skills, modifiers, nodes to activate and upgrade, and obviously the maintenance of equipment, armor, and weapons, but that’s not necessarily always good unless you’re a big level-up and loot fetishist. thing.

Frankly, micro transactionsand here the most critical elements come into play: the developers had promised a fair system and no mandatory battle pass during the beta, the intentions were clearly canceled at launch. Torchlight: Infinite has a variety of features that are only available behind paywalls as well as classic free or paid battle passes that include unlocking various rewards. These include the Pactspirit system, which are pets in this episode that are realized as passive abilities, with some class-specific features and mainly evolving through a somewhat expensive gacha system. In addition, there are several options in the field. Life quality Fees are paid, such as automated auto loot systems, new inventory and auction house slots, and other items. It’s hard to say “pay to win” since there aren’t any multiplayer elements in the game (for now at least), but it seems to have typical predatory monetization features.

Graphics and performance

The technical aspect is perhaps Torchlight’s most successful element: Infinite, graphic it’s really excellent and scales optimally across a large number of different devices, it’s also backed by cartoon characterization that hides potential loss of detail well. The design of the characters and their skins is very fascinating, it is not of secondary importance in this type of game, but also the settings are refined and pleasant, which pushes us to explore different environments. It should be reported as a secondary detail that different armor and accessories do not change the appearance of the character, only with different weapons that actually appear during the game, unless of course the skin of the fighters is completely changed. Might be important to some enthusiasts. Performances sometimes show the side of the underperforming hardware, but they never really stand in the way of coming to fruition, so in this respect the XD Games team has worked particularly well and packaged a game that can present itself at its best, both on smartphones. . and on PC, with total cross-play capability from one platform to the next.

In this excellent technical framework, oddly enough, multiplayer: the developers are planning to include the feature in the near future, but it is currently an action RPG that is missing an element that has become essential for many players.

From a certain point of view, the absence of PvP might be positive to avoid facing the problem of paying to win, but in this type of game at least a co-op mode is desirable and more lacking. It is possible to see other players connected online in the main hub area, but we can only try to chat with them without any further possibility of interaction.

especially with regard to mobile version, or in the specially reviewed one, there are some critical elements specifically linked to it. The first is given by the huge size of the software that requires several and downloads that can significantly weigh the archive of any device, while the second is the classic problem of the touchscreen interface: virtual sticks and keys work fine, but the ideal solution is always to use an external controller.