#TORCHLIGHT 3 NINTENDO SWITCH SERIES#

For example, the Bane relic focuses on poison damage and summoning minions to fight at your side. Each relic offers different elemental-based abilities and are structured around a core concept. Relics are a new addition in Torchlight 3 that grant your character an additional skill tree ontop of their two class skill trees that can be levelled up with experience points acquired whenever you gain a level. In the character creation phase, after you’ve picked your class and customised the look of your hero (from a disappointingly shallow pool of customisation options), you’ll be given the option to choose one of five relics.

#TORCHLIGHT 3 NINTENDO SWITCH SERIES#

Their skill trees are also impressively malleable so you can really shape your character build to suit your preferred play style in a way the series hasn’t seen before. The new set of classes are my favourite from any Torchlight game, as they are all fun to play and feel distinguished enough from one another in their abilities and combat roles. The Sharpshooter is perhaps the most singular DPS class and they utilise an ammo resource that depletes with ability use and replenishes over time. Railmaster is a hybrid tanking/DPS character whose main ability is to summon a track-mounted railgun that follows the player around on a train track that is laid down as they move. Forge is a robotic character mostly designed for DPS and tanking, with abilities that require management of an overheating system that can be used to decimate enemies.

Duskmage is the caster class that utilises light and dark abilities, where the player is encouraged to utilise both disciplines to maximise damage. There are four classes to choose from in Torchlight 3 that are loosely designed around the typical RPG class archetypes, but are all versatile enough to be played in almost any role. Let’s start by looking at the new classes and relic system, because the two are closely intertwined. So what’s new in Torchlight 3? Aside from a few minor gameplay tweaks, the main differentiator between Torchlight 3 and its predecessors is the new classes, the new Relic system and the introduction of forts. The campaign is lengthy and uninteresting from a storytelling perspective, but it does the job of constantly providing you with new quests and reasons to explore more caves and fight monsters. The details of the story are wholly forgettable, but the overarching plot is that an ancient evil has awakened and corrupted a team of heroes, and you must put a stop to it. Yes, there is a globe-trotting campaign narrative that is more sizeable than the previous games, but 90% of the time you’ll have no idea why you’re in this cave or fighting this boss, and you won’t care either.

This description remains true to Torchlight 3 for the most part as well. What differentiates Torchlight from these other ARPG juggernauts is that Torchlight traditionally was a smaller, more focused game that was very light on story, but heavy on looting. But to briefly summarise Torchlight for those that are unaware of the series, Torchlight is an ARPG similar to Diablo, Path of Exile or Grim Dawn. I’ve touched on the legacy of the Torchlight series back when I reviewed Torchlight 2 for the Switch, so if you’re interested in the history of the franchise I suggest you check out that review. Despite its bumpy development history, the final release of Torchlight 3 is arguably the best entry in the series, depending on what you’ve come to expect from a Torchlight game. Then the release date came and went with such little fanfare, you’d be forgiven for not realising the final version is now available. As an Early Access product, the game has undergone significant fundamental changes that have divided the fanbase every step of the way. Torchlight 3’s release journey has been tumultuous to say the least.

Torchlight 3 nintendo switch