Titan Quest II snuck up out of nowhere and stunned us all. The sequel to the 2006 traditional could don’t have anything to do with the unique builders, nor even the unique publishers, however after spending a number of hours with the sport I’m left in little doubt that it understands the spirit of what it’s making an attempt to recreate. It’s simply that this Early Entry launch isn’t near optimized, and lacks some extremely apparent quality-of-life options.
The unique Titan Quest was launched halfway via the twelve-year hole between Diablo II and Diablo IIIand even three years earlier than the discharge of Torchlight. Whereas hardcore action-RPG gamers had simply been given 2005’s Destinythe market was so very open for a extra instantly approachable Diablo-like, and Iron Lore Leisure’s Greek (and Egyptian) mythology recreation completely match the invoice. It’s super-low-key strategy to the style meant you weren’t worrying about min-maxing your intricate construct, however have been way more more likely to simply be methodically click-click-clicking your manner via its luscious lands. Not fairly an idle recreation (these have been years from being a factor), Titan Quest allowed a nonchalance in its supply of fixed dopamine hits as you incessantly progressed, whether or not geographically or within the high quality of your tools. And this, from my admittedly temporary time thus far with Titan Quest IIappears to be fully understood. In loads of methods–and ways in which go away me optimistic regardless of my laundry checklist of complaints–it’s the sequel you’ll need.
Then, alternatively, the sport is inflicting my GPU to be reworked right into a thermo-nuclear bomb, forcing me to show it off lest I blow up my total city.
A scarcity of optimization is probably typical for an Early Entry recreation, however Titan Quest II‘s crappy framerates and makes an attempt at arson through my PC really feel a bit an excessive amount of. Extra irritating to me are the apparent quality-of-life options that you just simply anticipate any recreation on this style to have already got in place, like, I dunno, with the ability to rebind controller buttons, or not have to carry down a key to have the ability to evaluate stock gadgets. It’s additionally not nice that making an attempt to make use of a ladder can see you endlessly spinning on the spot with no alternative however to reload.
Titan Quest II begins precisely proper. The opening of the unique Titan Quest was so idyllic, such an ideal bucolic setting, that I didn’t need to go away it. This sequel 19 years on appears to have absolutely understood this, and gives one thing that evokes the exact same sense of serenity and security. You stand atop a cliff, looking over the attractive blue sea on the coast, a ruined constructing beneath, a shipwreck to your proper, nevertheless it’s all so peaceable and fairly. Nonetheless, you’re shortly urged on by one other character to rush and assist, as a gryphon is attacking the close by city, so off you go.
After this, there’s positively nothing that’ll particularly shock you when you’re accustomed to action-RPGs. You left click on to maneuver, proper click on to assault, and enemies and gadgets will drop you new tools. After some stock Tetrisyou evaluate what you’ve picked up with what you’ve already bought, swap it out, after which discover a service provider on whom to dump the remaining. And repeat. And that’s sufficient! That’s the enjoyment of this style, simply sufficient to maintain you distracted, ideally accompanied by a favourite podcast. Nonetheless, for min-maxxers, TQ2 does go the additional mile, with intricate details about your present construct, permitting way more in-depth improvement ought to that be your factor; for everybody else, you’ll be able to simply be certain that numbers go up, and if you achieve a brand new stage, add the talents that sound probably the most fascinating to you.
Like within the unique, there are numerous Masteries to select from, though at this level within the sequel’s Early Entry they quantity simply 4, all acquainted. There’s Earth, Lightning, Warfare, and Rogue, and alongside these there’s Core, which helps you to increase your foremost assault in numerous methods. Then there’s the same old stats to push upward as you go. Nonetheless, this outing it’s all way more sophisticated than it needs to be, with every Mastery crammed with a squillion totally different abilities, and every of these abilities then upgraded themselves with micro-skills, and given the result’s simply hitting one thing tougher, or making lightning zap the enemies, it doesn’t should be anyplace this muddled. The tutorials aren’t nice at explaining all of it at this level both, though I simply kind of guessed and issues appeared advantageous.
There are a few extra important modifications. Firstly, there’s now a splash, which makes for extra fascinating moments in fight if you’re being focused by an assault that’s targeted on a specific spot on the bottom. And maybe barely controversially, the sport has achieved away with correct potions, as an alternative having kind of magic ones that refill on account of your fight. Struggle extra, and you’ll heal extra. It’s odd. I believe I most popular simply with the ability to purchase 100 well being potions and never having to consider it. Together with these, there are little particulars that felt very optimistic; I used to be particularly happy with how arrows pierce enemies and can be utilized to take down teams charging in a line. Or the way in which a portal spawns close by the place you die, so that you don’t have the distress of trudging all the way in which again to the place you fell.
I used to be completely happy! I discovered ranged assaults way more viable right here than they have been within the unique, which is gorgeous, and I used to be fortunately switching between bow and membership relying upon the circumstances, walloping all the things and scooping up loot. However, the extra I performed, the extra one thing felt off. And it’s not simply the shitty framerates. However additionally it is the shitty framerates.
Let’s get the tech stuff out of the way in which, as this side is more likely to be mounted probably the most shortly. The sport ran for me at round 40FPS, even after I’d lowered the settings from its suggestions, and even working it in a too-small window. Worse, that fluctuated, generally 55, generally 35, and all that jarring change made it really feel clumsy. And keep in mind, this can be a fixed-camera isometric RPG. It’s additionally fairly astonishing {that a} PC recreation from a big-name writer launched in 2025 wouldn’t have wise graphics settings, however TQ2‘s are a large number. I’ve an ultra-wide monitor, and was solely in a position to decide on between 3440×1440 in fullscreen (which I wouldn’t anticipate to be optimized for simply but) or the deeply obscure 2048×1152 in a window, which is tiny on this display screen. There was no possibility for a bog-standard 2560×1440, which is fairly dreadful, particularly because it clearly can run in these greater resolutions. This feels fairly amateurish.
That leaden feeling to motion, possible brought on by framerate points, is I believe probably the most off-putting side in the intervening time. However there’s extra insidious stuff, just like the bizarre manner loot drops from all of the unsuitable locations. An actual pleasure of Titan Quest is that enemies dropped what that they had. When you killed a boar, one of the best you’d get is a boar disguise. But when your enemy was outfitted with a defend and axe, there was a powerful likelihood of discovering these on the ground after it was useless. However right here, I watched the extreme silliness of a large eagle dropping a pair of footwear because it died. I additionally noticed snakes flinging out gloves as they flopped to the bottom. I’m not a completely certified herpetologist, however I’m fairly certain they’ve little use for gloves. No, it doesn’t matternevertheless it’s form of crap.
Then there’s simply inexplicable selections, like needing to carry down Alt to match gadgets in your stock with these which can be outfitted. There’s no circumstance ever the place you don’t need the comparability to pop up, which is why all video games like this do it by default (or provide a toggle for the mad folks). Right here, if you’re making an attempt to kind via your junk to promote to a service provider, it’s a must to tie your fingers in knots holding down Alt to match, the Shift to promote, and it’s all way more of a fiddle than might presumably be wanted. Why no toggle? Who lives like that? Then there’s the lack to rebind controller inputs, and the astonishingly exhausting boss fights, and perhaps most of all, the shortage of a way of place.
It says it’s set in historical Greece, but when that’s true, why are there ruins in every single place? The builders know they didn’t begin out that manner, proper? There’s a beautiful intro video which explains how Nemesis is uncontrolled, and the threads of Destiny have been corrupted, and somebody has to cease her, however then completely no sense of how that hyperlinks to who you might be and why you’re there. Everybody else appears to know who you might be, however you don’t! You simply begin off with somebody shouting a couple of gryphon and also you simply get on with it, however with no grounding. Not less than in Titan Questthis clean slate begin was understood by your having simply arrived on a ship, with NPCs frantically getting you updated.
I dunno. I believe I’m maybe being overly fussy, and can possible recover from all of this as quickly as I can run the sport at a gradual framerate and a wise scale with out personally accelerating international local weather change. I truly actually like so much about this, and assume that with a number of patches, it’ll be an Early Entry recreation price investing in. Certain, extra Masteries can be good, however they’ve put in the most well-liked right here, so that you’ve loads to get on with.
It’s additionally price noting that Titan Quest isn’t Diabloand was by no means making an attempt to be. This isn’t about dashing via the precise recreation in an effort to attain end-game sicko content material–it’s about having fun with the journey. And it’s extremely refreshing to select up an ARPG that isn’t bloated with live-service faff of the type that makes video games like Path of Exile 2 really feel so extremely inaccessible to me. I really feel like Titan Quest 2 is perhaps precisely the sport I’ve been wanting ever because the final time Torchlight was any good, and it simply wants a bit of bit of labor earlier than it might ship it.
For now, chances are you’ll need to maintain off a few weeks whereas it will get its shit collectively. That it’s solely $24 actually does make a large distinction, it needs to be stated, and as soon as that sluggish really feel is gone, I’ll possible be mainlining the sport.
