Requires a Mac with an Intel processor.

By Brad Cook

Who’s up for a good old-fashioned dungeon crawl? Come with us to the town of Torchlight, where a rich vein of Ember was found deep below the streets. Soon miners seeking a quick path to riches flooded the town, digging for the mystical ore that’s the source of magic.

Torchlight

They discovered, however, that they were not the first to tap that lode: deep below the surface they came across ruined civilizations full of corpses that bore evidence of unspeakable evil. Someone, or something, had corrupted the Ember, spelling certain doom for those who dared disturb the underworld, unless someone can find the source of that evil and defeat it.

That’s your cue. When you arrive in Torchlight and head toward the mine, you come across a pair of adventurers locked in a battle against several gruesome monsters. One of them, too injured to continue, sends you after her companion, who has plunged alone into the depths. Thus your first quest begins.

Questing

You enter the mine, your faithful pet (a wolf or a lynx) at your side. The Orden Mines are your first destination. You come across Rat People, slimy round Gels, and other simple monsters who don’t pose much difficulty. Don’t be fooled, however: they’re but a warm-up for the challenges to come.

Victory in combat gives you experience points as well as all kinds of loot, including gold, better armor and weapons, and a variety of magical items, such as rings. When necessary, return to Torchlight and sell unwanted stuff so you can buy better weapons, armor, and magical items. Earn enough experience points and your character gains another level, allowing him to increase his skills in various areas and enhance his abilities.

The citizens of Torchlight also offer quests that reward you with not only experience but fame points too. Each new level of fame brings with it a title appended to your character’s name — such as The Unremarkable or The Memorable — as well as extra skill points.

Skills are key because they allow your character to specialize in different areas, depending on the class chosen at the beginning of the game: the Alchemist is a spellcaster who can summon minions, such as imps, and unleash powerful pyrotechnic spells; the Destroyer is a fighter who can become adept with ranged weapons or elemental spells, in addition to traditional melee weapons; and the Vanquisher mixes melee and ranged weapon skills with the ability to set traps. All three can use magic to some degree.

Challenges Await

Each dungeon level is randomly generated and features secret rooms, moving bridges, traps, more powerful boss monsters, and other obstacles that will keep you on your toes. The Orden Mines were dug by the miners who came to Torchlight, but they soon give way to a labyrinthine crypt, a former prison overrun by goblins, the ruins of a Dwarven city, and more. Eventually you’ll discover the Black Palace, where the villain behind the Ember corruption lurks.

Along the way, you’ll have the opportunity to access small side dungeons by stepping through the phase portals left behind when you kill Phase Beasts. Those areas are a treasure trove of gold and special items, but the monsters you’ll encounter are of the much-tougher champion variety. However, you’ll score extra fame points if you survive those encounters. Other dungeons can be accessed by talking to Torchlight’s citizens, and when you complete the main story, an endless dungeon will open in the town graveyard.

Once your character has reached the heights of glory, you can have her retire and pass one item to a new character, enhancing its powers in the process. Now you can master a different character class or explore an area of the dungeon you missed last time. Or perhaps you’ll be ready to tackle the endless dungeon. After all, that’s where all of Torchlight’s discerning heroes spend their time.

Game Hardware
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Boss Battle. We won’t spoil anything, but let’s just say you meet this enemy very deep in the dungeon.

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System Requirements:

 
Man in armor with his pet cat.

Tips and Tricks

Cheat If You Must

Want to cheat? In the Finder, open your user folder and follow the path Library/Application Support/runic games/torchlight. Locate and open the settings.txt file. Look for CONSOLE: 0, change the number to 1, save the file, and close it. When you get back into the game, hold down the Control, Shift, and Tilde (~) keys at the same time. That will bring up a console where you can enter the following codes. We’ve included the most useful ones, but you can type “help” (without the quotes) for a complete list.

Be warned: using cheats adds the title “The Cheat” after your character’s name. It also disables that character’s ability to share items with your other characters through the stared stash chest.

The Codes

god — Turn on god mode and walk right through every level

fame/skill points/strength/dexterity/magic/defense # — Replace “#” with a number and gain that many fame, skill, strength, dexterity, magic, or defense points

money # — Replace “#” with a number to add that much gold to your coffers

ascend/descend # — Replace “#” with a number to ascend or descend that many levels (don’t forget that the Town Portal scroll lets you create a portal that takes you straight back to Torchlight)

setpetlevel # — Replace “#” with a number to take your pet to that level

levelup — Automatically gain the next level

killall — Automatically kill all monsters in the vicinity

speed — Give your character a speed boost

 
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