It’s never been this cheap either, because this week Torchlight is 50% off in Steam’s Weekend Deal. Personally, Torchlight is one of my top games of 2009. It’s a fantastic example of how simple yet addictive a game can be. I’m not sure if Runic Games falls under the category of and independant development team, but the amount of support they are giving the game is standard of indie principles.

So why is this game so good? Essentially, the game takes the form of a traditional RPG in the same vein of Diablo (to be expected) where the only objective is to battle hordes of enemies in various environments, gaining in power with the end goal of defeating the mega-boss at the end. As I said before, the premise is stupidly simple, but for some reason this simplicity is what makes the game so great. Because you are cleaving through group after group of goblins, kobolds, drakes, wierd cat like creatures, and so on, your brain enters a sort of automatic mode where you can simply focus on the beautiful graphics and maybe listen to music or a podcast in the background

As with all RPGs, one of the most addictive elements is how you ultimately build your character. There are three classes to chose from, falling into the massive stereotypes for the genre, a warrior class, a mage class, and a rogue/ranger class. Each character has three skill trees, must like talents in World Of Warcraft, but you can chose skills from any tree once your level permits. Torchlight also posesses the mandatory enchanting and trading systems so akin to all modern RPGs and MMOs.

To me, Torchlight feels more like a singleplayer MMO than an RPG, which is probably a good thing because Runic Games have plans turn it into just that for free to all existing owners, an exciting prospect to say the least. There is also a demo available on Steam, so you have no reason to check it out before you make your mind up.