If you knew of the dramatic back story of how Torchlight came life, you'd appreciate the game even more. 14 members of Flagship Studios Seattle wondered what they were going to do next after the dissolution of their company in 2008. They were already working on a new game, which never got to see the light of day. Through good fortune, they've joined with several other gaming visionaries at the new development studio Runic Games. Travis Baldree (creator of Fate), Max Schaefer and Erich Schaefer (co-founders of Blizzard North) were just a few of the noteworthy names on board. Together they finally created Torchlight, an action role-playing game that was released via digital distribution recently. If you know how Diablo plays, then you got a pretty good idea what Torchlight will be like. Defying all expectations of being a potentially generic, and repetitive dungeon crawler, the game has been winning all sorts of praise for being downright addictive.

Sometimes, you don't need a dramatically new idea to win over gamers. You simply need to build a game that is fun. Quickly evident is the pedigree that backs up this title. Other than being published by Perfect World Entertainment, known for their impressive lineup of MMORPGs in China, Torchlight brings veterans of the action RPG genre to the woodwork with the co-designers of Diablo and Diablo II (the Schaefer's). Just like Blizzard's hugely popular series, Torchlight is extremely accessible for all levels of gamers while having enough depth to please hardcore gamers. It's a fantastic achievement that this game was made so quickly, and although it feels simple inititally, Torchlight is in fact fresh and engaging for newcomers and veterans of the genre.

One Player. One Town. One Dungeon. Various ways to have fun

Torchlight focuses entirely on adventuring into dungeons, defeating enemies and earning crazy loot. There is simply one town and it serves as a hub where the player can periodically return to buy and sell items to NPC vendors, obtain quests, and even leave items in boxes for other characters on the same account to pick up. Torchlight only has one dungeon. And it is single-player only. You would think that with such a singular focus, that the game might feel stripped down. For the first hour or so, it almost felt like I was playing a souped up version of Gauntlet. However, by focusing on the core mechanics of a game concept that everyone is already familiar with, the developers have been able to fine tune the gameplay to perfection, adding in depth that gradually reveals itself the more you play. Even the menu system has been refined to be almost fully accessible by a left or right-click of the mouse from the get go. This includes the special abilities themselves, which are fully mappable to these buttons. The game does a great job of opening up more complicated actions and multiple menus the further you get into the game, so that by the time you're a fully seasoned adventurer, you're already juggling all sorts of actions at once.

With a 3D isometric, overhead view, Torchlight's gameplay is almost entirely in the dungeons. While some gamers may be concerned with the randomly generated dungeons, the game does a great job of creating level layouts that feel like they flow naturally. For example, the jungle area of Torchlight's dungeon will contain walking trees and plant monsters. In addition, scripted events and interactive objects make each dungeon interesting. You'll discover numerous drawbridges, switches and levers to open up new areas, but be prepared for boss enemies guarding these things. Despite only minor changes to dungeon level skins and atmosphere, the coolest part of the game is actually beefing up your character's skill trees.

The game has three character classes, a Destroyer (melee combat), an Alchemist (spellcaster) and a Vanquisher (ranger that also uses traps). With hundreds of weapons in the game, fighting the hordes of challenging enemies, mini-bosses and huge monster characters make for wildly entertaining skirmishes that will have you balancing attack vs defense and carefully planning your usage of mana draining skills. It's very different playing through all of this alone without the help of a guild or human characters alongside you, but it makes for a challenging quest that'll have you constantly switching out different weapons and skills to find effective strategies. Who would've thought that having an axe in one hand and a shotgun in the other would be a preference over projectile magic?

You are not alone

While the game is single player only, you can bring along a pet companion, which can be chosen as a wolf dog or a lynx during the game's initial character setup process.  This pet will help in battle and you must tend to him occasionally for health regeneration. However, the best advantage of having a pet is that Fido here has the special ability to carry your excess inventory up to the surface to be sold easily. It's a brilliantly simple concept that solves the whole issue of having to slog your way back up the surface once your inventory is full. And as most MMORPG fans should be familiar with, having a "tank" to absorb most of the damage while you sit back and attack from a distance is extremely advantageous when fighting large groups or enemies from all directions.

Blizzard fans will feel right at home

Torchlight has some surprisingly beautiful production values. It's clear that Runic Games knows its audience, especially considering all of the gamers that have been eagerly anticipating the release of Diablo 3. The game's mature but cartoony style will make Blizzard fans right at home. Fans of Diablo will also instantly recognize the musical score from its composer and sound designer Matt Uelmen. Some of the musical arrangements are truly atmospheric that change during the more dramatic events in the game.

Anybody itching to play a good action RPG on the PC should download Torchlight immediately, especially considering the game is only $20. It'll bring up great memories of Diablo I and II, and tide you over til Diablo III comes out, which seems like 2011 now. Runic Games is already well underway in building the next iteration in this series with a Torchlight MMO, with fully-explorable worlds and a large emphasis on community gameplay. While you could argue Torchlight is really just a sampler for this upcoming massive initiative, it's hard not to fall completely in love with this game. The game is polished, beautiful and addictive. And that is exactly what gamers want. 

The Kartel will have more on this title very soon, including exclusive interviews with the executive heads of Runic Games soon. Stay tuned!