Since Steam, or 2K, or Gearbox have decided that announced release dates for Borderlands don't really matter, I've been forced to take my looting elsewhere. What better place than Torchlight, the new Diablo clone made by some of the same guys who worked on Diablo and who now call themselves Runic.
 
At first, I was a bit sceptical about the game, I usually don't enjoy clones. But Diablo is the game that got me back into gaming those many years ago...it made me buy my first PC, for crying out loud ! Also, this kind of game is becoming a genre in itself, so...yes, I love clicking and watching animations unfold.
I played for a couple of hours and if it wasn't for my need to get some sleep, I could be up all night still playing. On some level, this kind of gameplay is less complex than, say, Peggle, and yet it has the same addictive quality. And, of course, looting, wich is what the game is all about. And there is a lot of it. Two hours in and I'm already filling my stash with stuff that I won't use but...I just wan't to keep a little longer. One of the nice things they did was to create a secondary shared stash, wich I can fill with sutff for other characters I will create. It's already filled with interesting staffs for my future mage.
 
Another detail I loved was the music, composed by Matt Uelmen, who wrote the original material for Diablo, wich is my favourite soundtrack of all time. It's all there, heavy percussion and wicked guitars. Love it. Also, if you're a big fan of the soundtrack, you can get all the tracks from the installation folder of the game, pretty simple to find and copy. Should be pretty easy to mod your own music into the game, I guess...
 
I won't get into gameplay much because if you ever played Diablo, you know all there is to know. Get quests, kill beasts, collect loot, level up, learn new skills, repeat.
 
I admit that at first I wasn't much into the artstyle but it grew on me and I don't mind it anymore. Despite being cartoony in a Warcraft 3 kind of way, it looks pretty good and has some steampunky influences that actually make it more unique than your traditional fantasy setting.I'm carrying pistols and rifles !
You can pause the game at anytime and it makes the camera rotate around your character, nice to see all the stuff you're getting in the dungeons.
I also appreciate that fact that this style of art allows them to keep game assets smooth on your PC and that means you can play this game on pretty much ANY computer you have lying around. That's a wise decision on Runic's part.
 
There are only 3 character classes to choose from and nothing really bold there, you got your fighter, your ranged class and your mage. Pretty clichéd, but it also matches the philosophy of keeping it simple.
 
One of the things I miss is having some open areas, as far as I know, it's all dungeons in this one. Would be nice to have some of those desert- or jungle-styled levels. Maybe in the future expansion packs ?
 
Well, here's how I see it: for 20 bucks, if you're into this kind of game, please go buy it. Give the guys at Runic a chance to expand this project, because they made a pretty good game, for a fair price, that will run on any machine and keep you entertained. It looks good, it plays very well and sounds excellent.
I respect their vision for the game and would like to see them succeed.
 And you know, you'll probably play Diablo III with your grandchildren when it comes out, so...get some good looting now. Life's too short.

Since Steam, or 2K, or Gearbox have decided that announced release dates for Borderlands don't really matter, I've been forced to take my looting elsewhere. What better place than Torchlight, the new Diablo clone made by some of the same guys who worked on Diablo and who now call themselves Runic.
 
At first, I was a bit sceptical about the game, I usually don't enjoy clones. But Diablo is the game that got me back into gaming those many years ago...it made me buy my first PC, for crying out loud ! Also, this kind of game is becoming a genre in itself, so...yes, I love clicking and watching animations unfold.
I played for a couple of hours and if it wasn't for my need to get some sleep, I could be up all night still playing. On some level, this kind of gameplay is less complex than, say, Peggle, and yet it has the same addictive quality. And, of course, looting, wich is what the game is all about. And there is a lot of it. Two hours in and I'm already filling my stash with stuff that I won't use but...I just wan't to keep a little longer. One of the nice things they did was to create a secondary shared stash, wich I can fill with sutff for other characters I will create. It's already filled with interesting staffs for my future mage.
 
Another detail I loved was the music, composed by Matt Uelmen, who wrote the original material for Diablo, wich is my favourite soundtrack of all time. It's all there, heavy percussion and wicked guitars. Love it. Also, if you're a big fan of the soundtrack, you can get all the tracks from the installation folder of the game, pretty simple to find and copy. Should be pretty easy to mod your own music into the game, I guess...
 
I won't get into gameplay much because if you ever played Diablo, you know all there is to know. Get quests, kill beasts, collect loot, level up, learn new skills, repeat.
 
I admit that at first I wasn't much into the artstyle but it grew on me and I don't mind it anymore. Despite being cartoony in a Warcraft 3 kind of way, it looks pretty good and has some steampunky influences that actually make it more unique than your traditional fantasy setting.I'm carrying pistols and rifles !
You can pause the game at anytime and it makes the camera rotate around your character, nice to see all the stuff you're getting in the dungeons.
I also appreciate that fact that this style of art allows them to keep game assets smooth on your PC and that means you can play this game on pretty much ANY computer you have lying around. That's a wise decision on Runic's part.
 
There are only 3 character classes to choose from and nothing really bold there, you got your fighter, your ranged class and your mage. Pretty clichéd, but it also matches the philosophy of keeping it simple.
 
One of the things I miss is having some open areas, as far as I know, it's all dungeons in this one. Would be nice to have some of those desert- or jungle-styled levels. Maybe in the future expansion packs ?
 
Well, here's how I see it: for 20 bucks, if you're into this kind of game, please go buy it. Give the guys at Runic a chance to expand this project, because they made a pretty good game, for a fair price, that will run on any machine and keep you entertained. It looks good, it plays very well and sounds excellent.
I respect their vision for the game and would like to see them succeed.
 And you know, you'll probably play Diablo III with your grandchildren when it comes out, so...get some good looting now. Life's too short.

I pretty much totally agree with this blog, but I wouldn't call it simplified or a 'clone' as such. I would call it a superbly crafted genre piece. Everything in this game is there for a reason, because it adds to the enjoyment of playing the game. Nothing is there for its own sake. That is called brilliant design.
 
Peggle also came to mind for me as well when trying to describe the addictive qualities of the game.

Thanks for the early impression, you're proving what I already thought about it. I'll start playing it today!

Yeah, you make a good point calling it "genre piece". I guess certain mechanics get used often, they evolve, adapt and actually become a new genre. One could say this is the case here with Torchlight. Thanks for your comments.

Could you elaborate a bit more on the classes? Does the warrior straight up hit dudes with no frills, or is there 'skills' or whatever the game wants to call them?

I've been playing the Alchemist for little over an hour now, and I totally love this game. For 15,99 (euros) it's a steal. The only nitpick I have is that I can't find a good camera distance to both see the detail on the characters and monsters nicely, and have a good oversight of the area; kinda makes me wish there were other camera options to choose from. But like I said, I'm nitpicking. Everything else about that game is awesome, and I am definitely going to play this a lot till Dragon Age comes out.

 "Give the guys at Runic a chance to expand this project, because they made a pretty good game, for a fair price, that will run on any machine and keep you entertained. It looks good, it plays very well and sounds excellent. I respect their vision for the game and would like to see them succeed. "  
 
Me too. I just bought it... I'm just getting prepared to get it on!!!! ~:D   

I do like how simple it is, at least to start off. It's Diablo wrapped in an exaggerated Warcraft visual style, all summed up with decent polish on basic mechanics of both games and some smaller additions that are very welcome (pet selling loot, hell yea!). 
 
This game has succeeded in making my finger hurt though, so I've been taking a break for a bit :) 
 
EDIT: Also not to purposfully take things out of topic, I'm wondering what you mean by this: " Since Steam, or 2K, or Gearbox have decided that announced release dates for Borderlands don't really matter"  
 
Are you referring to the game being released during the day?

ah well, I don't think it's a developer centered issue with games not being released 'on time' with other places if you live anywhere other then the US, even places like the UK have delays and other lame things for the region. I think that where I am, Canada, can sometimes get lame too. For the most part we get things at the same speed as the US but on occasion we 'miss' things, and it never seems to be widely announced due to everyone assuming we 'are' the states etc. It's also frustrating when you know something was released only 1 hours drive from you... :S