A few months ago, I wrote a First Impressions article on Torchlight 3. As I said in that article, the Torchlight series has long been one of my absolute favorites. This newest entry into the series has not changed those feelings at all. Now I’d like to talk to you about the endgame content Torchlight 3 has to offer. I realized in my tweets and talking with friends that many don’t know there is endgame. In fact, all of the Torchlight games have had some kind of endgame.

With the first, there was an endless dungeon with much better rewards, shrines everywhere, and the like. In the second game the developers kicked this up a notch. Here, there was the Mapworks system for endgame as well as New Game Plus. Mapworks allowed you to purchase and run dungeon maps with random modifiers attached to them and try to get some legendary loot. Now, Torchlight 3 has continued to improve upon this theme. You can play a new class at a higher difficulty, customize your fort, try some enchanting, go after achievements, or see what Fazeer's Dun’djinn has to offer you.

Start Over!

One of the obvious options after you complete all three acts is to start over. Try playing as a different class and kick the difficulty up a notch. Or several notches. If you want a real challenge- go ahead and try your hand at the “Ridiculous” difficulty! Torchlight 3 has randomly generated maps which helps keep it feeling fresh, despite the story being unchanged. You may even notice things you didn’t see the first time around, and possibly enemies you didn’t face.

Forts… Your Home Away From Home

Have you really taken the time yet to customize your fort? The fort is a new component to the Torchlight series and gives you the potential for a lot of self-expression. Throughout the game you may have noticed yourself unlocking decorations, structures, and more. These are for use in your fort! Several of these are rewards for completing contracts and can add a lot of variety to your fort. New contracts will be available for seasonal events, further increasing the ability to create your own unique space. When playing in multiplayer mode you have the possibility of running across another random player’s fort while adventuring. This is fun, not only experience other fort designs, but also in allowing you to show off your own.

Positively Enchanting

Did you know the enchanting table is only unlocked after you have completed all three acts of the game? It is! Enchanting is an endgame mechanic and recipes will drop after you have hit level 47. Each recipe you get will have different necessary resources which you obtain by breaking down other items at the enchanting table. Once you have all the ingredients, you can attempt to enchant a piece of gear. Be warned however, the enchanted effects can be random. However, if you are not happy with what you got, it is easy to simply disenchant the item and try again.

Achievement Hunting

I am an achievement hunter in games. Whether it’s fishing in World of Warcraft or trying to get 100% completion on any game on Steam. So, naturally, I try to get all the achievements in Torchlight 3 as well. These can be fun goals when you want something a little different to do. Some of the achievements include defeating 800 Automatons using Shotgonne Blast as the finishing blow or finding an equipping the legendary Cosmic set of clothing. Thankfully, Torchlight 3 does not have the achievement that forever eluded me in Torchlight 2 of having 50 friends.

Fazeer’s Dun’djinn

The biggest of all endgame content… the content that I was most excited for at least: Fazeer’s Dun’djinn.

After completing the main campaign once, you can follow a simple quest to unlock Fazeer Dun’djinn in your fort. This special genie then gives you some unique and intriguing dungeons to complete for big rewards.

The Challenges

Fazeer’s Dun’djinn provides you a series of challenges with checkpoints. For each level he gives you a choice of 3 random cards which with unique qualifiers for that dungeon. It could be that the entire level you have to play zoomed all the way in so you don’t have much visibility. Or, perhaps every enemy can periodically go invisible.  However, you also get bonuses such as increased gold or your potion cooldown is reduced. Every few levels you will have a boss fight level. If you successfully defeat that boss, then you have reached a checkpoint. If you die in any level prior to reaching that checkpoint, you will lose your progress and return to either the beginning or the last checkpoint you reached. For example, levels 8-11 are one group with a checkpoint after completing level 7 and the next checkpoint after completing 11. If your character dies in level 10, for example, you will lose progress made on levels 8, 9, and 10. You will go back to the beginning of that set and need to replay level 8 and so forth.

Conclusion?

The story in the main campaign of Torchlight 3 is a lot of fun. However, I know that a lot of people feel that this repetitive dungeon crawling type of endgame play can become a bit boring. If so, that is perfectly fine. There are lots of games out there for you to enjoy and just playing the main campaign in Torchlight 3 is worth the money you invested in the game. For people like myself, however, this is enjoyable and entertaining. It is an escape from the world as I can slaughter crazy purple enemies and hunt for that legendary loot. I can find some friends to play multiplayer with and show off our forts. Or I can turn on a podcast (such as Geek to Geek!) and just zone out. Yes, Torchlight is still, and always will be, one of my absolute favorite games.