To be honest, Torchlight hadn’t originally made it into our fall reviewing schedule, being a budget-priced game in a season filled with blockbuster PC and console titles. Our readers were adamant, however, and after an outpouring of support via our tips email, we decided to give this unapologetic Diablo clone a good hard look.

Set in the mining town of Torchlight, which serves as the player’s base of operations, the game sends the player into a twisted underground dungeon network in order to root out a source of corruption that could endanger the entire world. With our trusty pet at our side, we delve into the dark depths of Torchlight.

Loved
Diabloriffic Gameplay: If you are looking for a quick and dirty Diablo alternative, this is it right here. Torchlight is your basic click-to-move isometric dungeon crawler, with fast action, randomly generated dungeons, experience points, red healing and blue mana potions, random named boss monsters, and enough equipment dropping to have you clicking on your Town Portal scroll every 10 minutes or so just to unload and restock on Identify Scrolls. It’s so unabashedly a Diablo clone that I’d laugh — if the gameplay weren’t so enjoyable.

Customisation: Torchlight features a wealth of character customisation options, from talent points granted when your character gains an experience or reputation level, to socketed gems that add stats and elements to weapons and armour, to the random enchanter, who can power up your equipment beyond belief or strip it of your favourite features. Each of the three classes has multiple talent skill trees to delve into, meaning going back through the game with the same class could yield you a relatively unique experience. If you’re as big a fan of tweaking little details as I am, then there’s plenty here to sidetrack you from the main event.

Man’s Best Friend: Each character in Torchlight starts off with either a dog or a cat companion, a feature lifted directly from the Fate series of dungeon crawlers. Your pet follows you on your adventure, gaining power as you do, fighting by your side. By pausing in your adventure to do a little fishing, you can catch magical fish that transform your pet into another creature entirely, making an entirely new set of abilities available until the magic wears off. Torchlight may lack multiplayer options, but you’re never quite alone with your trusty kitty by your side.

And a Side of Questing: Torchlight allows you to take a break from the main story line to do a little questing on the side. Certain NPCs grant you side quests, which either involve finding objects in the main story dungeons or journeying into levels created specifically for the quest. You can also purchase dungeon maps from certain vendors, which will give you even more new areas to explore.

The Look, The Sound, of DiabloCraft: The presentation of Torchlight is definitely Diablo meets Warcraft, resulting in a world that’s definitely lighter than the dark realm of the former, with elements that seem lifted almost directly from the latter — the first time you run into a goblin riding a steampunk mech, you’ll feel as if you just ported in from Warcraft’s world of Azeroth. Aiding the similarities is a musical score by Diablo composer and sound designer Matt Uelmen, whose string arrangements bring you right back to the unfortunate town of Tristam.

The Random Item Vendor: I love the Random Item Vendor. He presents you with a list of statless weapons and armour, and only after you pay an exorbitant amount for them will you find out what you just bought. In one instance I walked away with an epic bow for my Vanquisher character (think rogue / ranger), which had me slaughtering smaller trash mobs with a single shot. It’s a gamble, but when it pays off it is definitely worth it.

Hated
Something Vaguely Evil This Way Comes: An evil force is corrupting the magical ember beneath the mining town of Torchlight, and it’s up to you to ignore any story points and go back to mindlessly slaughtering anything in your way. The story is simply a thin excuse to keep the player moving, and not much more than that.

The Random Item Vendor: I hate the Random Item Vendor. He presents you with a list of statless weapons and armour, and only after you pay an exorbitant amount for them will you find out what you just bought. In one instance I walked away with a set of armour that I could never hope to have my character wear without completely forgoing her main attribute to focus on one she had little need for. It’s a gamble, and when it doesn’t pay off it really bites.

To really enjoy Torchlight you have to accept it for what it is. It’s a Diablo clone with bits of Warcraft and Fate thrown in, sure, but when the development team consists of people directly responsible for those titles you pretty much have to give them a pass. Once you overcome the initial shock of seeing just how much familiar material the team has pulled from previous projects, you can begin to appreciate the high level of polish they’ve given that material, and the proficiency that comes with their experience.

While it would have benefited greatly from a deeper story and a multiplayer component, Torchlight is one of the best Diablo-style games you’re likely to find without the Blizzard logo displayed prominently on the front of it.

Torchlight was developed by Runic Games and published by Perfect World Entertainment, Inc. on October 27 for the PC. Retails for $US19.99 on Steam, with a retail version coming early next year. A copy of the game was acquired via Steam press pass for reviewing purposes. Played through the entire story as a Vanquisher, dabbling briefly with the Destroyer and Alchemist classes.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Witness our hero Geralt fighting a giant, blurry Kraken in the latest leaked footage of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, which CD Projekt has decided to talk about openly.

This marks the second time leaked footage from CD Projekt’s sequel to the hit PC RPG The Witcher has surfaced on the internet, and the second time that the developer has decided to leave the leak be and open up discussions with fans. Speaking to Eurogamer after actually pointing them to the leaked video, CD Projekt’s PR boss Pawel Majak explains that the company wants to make a bad thing better. “Let’s turn the damage into something good and make [the game] even better.”

The video depicts Geralt wandering about a village before fighting what both Eurogamer and I are thinking is a Kraken. It’s either that, or a giant cliff octopus. It’s definitely an epic encounter, either way.

I sure hope CD Projekt can get a handle on all of these leaks.

New leaked Witcher 2 footage appears [Eurogamer]

Mark November 18 on your calendar, and then set the rest of the week busy. That’s the date that Square Enix and Popcap bring the blend of puzzle game and RPG pioneered by Puzzle Quest to the next level, adding collectible monsters to the mix. Gyromancer has you summoning monsters to fight other monsters in Bejeweled Twist-flavoured puzzle battles. As if that weren’t bad enough, your monsters also gain levels as you fight with them, much like they do in Pokémon, and they come on pretty little cards that you’ll want to collect until you pass out dead on your couch or in your computer chair.

Maybe it’s just me, shaking with anticipation here. If I disappear after November 18, call the police. Better yet, call Dominos and have them deliver some pizza.

Mytheon is an online PC game that combines action RPG gameplay with an element of collectable strategy games. Players take on mythical gods using collectable Power Stones, which transform into creatures, buildings, and spells. Think of it as a collectable card strategy game with the cards replaced with stones, and you get the picture.

Browse the gallery below for background information on some of the game’s scenic locales.

The island features a diverse geography from craggy, impassable cliffs to rolling meadows and gardens. While Amphitrite resides in the peaceful Nereid’s Garden where the sparkling ponds and fountains reflect the tranquillity of the sea, Triton presides over his namesake cove amidst the foam and crashing surf. Within the Temple of Poseidon, the vengeful sea god prepares his minions for the coming battle with mankind.

The Dominion of Hades is the epicentre of Hades’ power in the Underworld. From this dark, luxurious palace, Hades and his queen, Persephone, rule the Underworld without mercy.

Remnants of a city lie just beyond the field’s borders, long abandoned by its inhabitants and now overrun with diabolical beasts. What was once a thriving marketplace, surrounded by the homes of the townspeople, now lies uninhabited.

Gloomy corridors and cavernous halls exude an eerie sense of foreboding to those who would risk entry within. Divided into three great regions — the Hall of the Dead, the Garden of the Furies and the Court of Hades — Stonecasters must embark deep into this fiery stronghold and face perilous legions of undead monsters in order to confront Hades himself, his power enhanced within his own domain.

The Shattered Isle is home to Poseidon, the supreme ruler of oceans and earthquakes. The isle is also home to Amphitrite, Poseidon’s beloved wife, and their son, Triton. Together, the family forms a triad symbolic of the ocean’s tranquillity, treachery and unrelenting dominion. These qualities are reflected in the domains over which they preside.

Since their victory over the dragon, the sacred grove has become infiltrated with fierce warriors of Ares, the god of war. The dusty furrows of the Fallow Field are dotted with the skeletal remains of dead trees; now home to carrion creatures that prey upon the unwary.

The Dominion of Hades is a monument to death and destruction. Home to the immortal god of earthly wealth — Hades, lord of the dead, rules his realm with an iron fist.

The skeletal remains of past invaders lie half-buried in the sands surrounding crumbling columns and scarred boulders. Waterfalls cascade down stone ledges, casting a fine spray that coats the rocky surfaces and foliage.

Players will travel to the distant land of Colchis, once home to the famed Golden Fleece, now protecting Argos. Two distinct regions form the land of Colchis — the cast Fallow Field and the Grove of Ares. Jason and his Argonauts braved many dangers there to claim their prize, including an epic battle against the Colchian Dragon who guarded the fleece.

Blue Dragon: Awaked Shadow is set two years after the original Blue Dragon and a year after the previous DS installment, Blue Dragon Plus. Instead of controlling Shu, the player creates their own character in this game, selecting the look and gender of your avatar before setting off on an adventure to rid the world of a newly-awakened enemy and restore balance.

A customisable character means the player can also change shadows to fit the situation, adding an element of strategy to the game that wasn’t there before.

I have to admit, the original Blue Dragon is one of my least favourite RPG games of this console generation, and the first DS follow-up didn’t impress me much. However, Awakened Shadow is developed by tri-Crescendo so there might still be hope.

While I love the cut scene graphics, I’m not too sure about the actual in-game shots. They look a little sloppy to me, but it could just be the capturing of frantic action in still form that gives me that impression. The videos on the Japanese website I linked to in my earlier post sure looked fine, so that’s probably the case.

Arc Rise Fantasia is a rather lovely little Japanese RPG which tells the story of L’Arc, a mercenary setting out to save the Meridian Empire from monster invasion. The characters in your party share an AP meter, allowing you to strategically queue up your attacks to suit every encounter. You can check out the Japanese website for videos and such to help fill in the blanks there.

“In Arc Rise Fantasia we’ve implemented a fun and quick paced battle system to give gamers an enjoyable RPG experience,” said Hiroyuki Kanemaru of Image Epoch. “Ignition Entertainment has a great track record with bringing established Japanese experiences to new western audiences and we’re delighted to be able to team up with them to publish Arc Rise Fantasia.”

Last I had heard, XSeed was publishing the game in North America early next year. Ignition previously picked up Muramasa: The Demon Blade for the Wii after XSeed dropped the title from it’s lineup. Not sure what happened to shake things up, but I’m pleased it will still arrive eventually.

The epic space RPG continues on January 26th in North America, with Europe joining the fray three days later on the 29th. Along with the release date announcement, EA has revealed preorder bonus equipment available via download code once the game hits store shelves.

Most retail outlets will receive codes for Inferno armour (seen above), which increases your Commander Shepard’s negotiation skills, run speed and combat damage. Those opting to preorder from GameStop will receive the Terminus Assault armour (seen below), which includes an armour suit that augments run speed, damage, shields and adds an additional magazine of reserve ammo, and the M-90 Blackstorm Heavy Weapon, which generates a localised gravity well, which sounds painful.

“Our fans are in for a genuine thrill in the New Year with Mass Effect 2 — the second instalment in the trilogy will be of amazingly high quality,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder, BioWare and Group General Manager of the RPG/MMO Group of EA. “BioWare’s fans worldwide have been eagerly awaiting this epic sequel, and we couldn’t be more excited to reward them for pre-ordering by delivering some awesome bonus content!”

I, for one, am relieved that a release date has finally been nailed down. Now I know which week to request off. Don’t tell Crecente.

Steam is unlocking Dragon Age: Origins on November 3, and it’s got two different flavours of the game to choose from. Both versions come with the preorder exclusive Memory Band experience ring, The Stone Prisoner DLC and the Mass Effect 2 crossover Blood Dragon armour, as well as a Steam exclusive ring called The Wicked Oath, which adds 10 per cent to critical strike damage, improves your armour penetration and helps you regenerate stamina faster in combat.

So what do you get for an extra $US15 in the Digital Deluxe Edition?

First off, there’s even more new content in the form of Warden’s Keep, featuring quests that explore the Grey Wardens’ original expulsion from Ferelden, new items and spells, and a base of operations where your character can store his or her stuff. The deluxe edition also comes with a special helmet, a magic staff and a grimoire that increases your attributes. All that, plus a selection of desktop wallpapers and a collection of music from the soundtrack for only $US15 above the normal price. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

Both editions are now available for pre-purchase via Steam.

MagnaCarta 2 is in US stores today (the official Australian release date isn’t ’til October 22), and this video takes a look at the unique way the game handles special abilities and magic — the Kan system.

I’ve had the game for several days now, thanks to a local store that wasn’t aware of any street date, and so far I’m struggling to enjoy it. When your main protagonist’s first words involve amnesia, you know you’re not going to be breaking any new ground story-wise. The gameplay, however, is rather unique. Just take a look at the magic and ability-fuelling Kan system in this video to see what I mean.