Torchlight 2 on Switch: Continues its war with Diablo 3

With torches 2 has a strange story.

The role-playing RPG, heavy as the goal, was released in 2012, the same year that Diablo 3. Riding against the king of the genre is a difficult course, but With torches 2 won a dedicated fan base, many of which had rebounded on the Blizzard game, which was suffering from many launch problems. With torches 2 was the Pepsi to Diablo 3New Coke.

With torches 2 has since disappeared in the dark as a game reserved for personal computers, while Diablo 3 has been updated, worn and supported throughout his life. But With torches 2 finally gets a console version on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, after a wait of seven years. Its main competitor? Believe it or not, Diablo 3.

That's why With torches 2The arrival on Switch is a blessing. The hybrid and portable console seems to be the ideal platform for long action games, but there are very few Diablo style games on the Nintendo console, let alone excellent ones. Real talk: I only found one big action-RPG game on Switch, and that's Diablo 3.

Runic Games / Perfect World

With torches 2 double that number.

The Torchlight franchise has always been on the verge of finding ways to improve the standards set by Diablo. L & # 39; original With torches immersed in these waters as a light, although sometimes thoughtless, action game while adding quality of life features such as pets that could get into town and sell unwanted booty. With torches 2 fleshed out this approach even further, adding online multiplayer and a deeper campaign. For people destabilized by the simplification of the skills system of Diablo 3, With torches 2 felt like a continuation of Diablo 2The most hardcore design principles.

The biggest difference between this console version of With torches 2 and the original version of PC are the commands, which had to be playable on a console controller instead of a mouse and a keyboard. No click is required here because With torches 2 allows you to move your character directly with the analog stick while assigning skills to various buttons and face triggers. Inventory management has also been redesigned, lifting the ingenious radial menus of Diablo 3 console ports. Digging in your piles of loot is a painless process.

With torches 2 is usually intact outside the controls, however. This may have been a disappointment for most games – it's a 7 year old game, after all – but With torches 2 has wonderfully aged. The colorful and stylized look of the characters does not seem out of date, especially when the camera is retracted for a broader view of the action.

Runic Games / Perfect World

The age of the game also seems to play in its favor in terms of performance, as With torches 2 works well even on Nintendo Switch. Panic Button, a seasoned carrier behind the Switch versions of Condemn and Warframe, managed to scramble all the details of the original game without having to decrease the resolution or the frequency of images in a perceptible way. This is another way that With torches 2Aesthetics continues to help him; the game seems a lot less muddy on Switch than Diablo 3 Is.

Of course, the classic question remains: is it With torches 2 better than Diablo 3? But I'm not sure that matters. They are both pinnacles of action that RPGs design and that they approach the genre in different ways. And having both on the road via the Switch, where a long ride can be stolen while crushing rock elementals with big hammers, is a gift for all of us.

With torches 2 was released on September 3rd on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game was analyzed using a final download code "Switch" provided by Perfect World Entertainment. You can find additional information on Polygon's ethics policy here.