There have been plenty of contenders for Diablo’s throne as king of the action-RPG, but Torchlight is a favorite of mine. Made by Runic Games, headed up by a bunch of ex-Diablo developers, it’s a cheerful singleplayer throwback with some of the best pets in videogames. Torchlight had dogs and cats that would not only carry your excess gear, but travel back to town and sell it to save you the trip. The image of my dog returning to the shop with a mouth full of monster swords, head tilted to one side, was a delight.
And so was the ability to feed him fish that transform him into various combat-ready shapes, including a giant spider.
Torchlight is free on the Epic Games Store right now, and will be until July 18. Their next free indie giveaway after that will be Limbo, Playdead’s 2010 platformer from the era when it seemed like every second indie game was about a sad child traveling from the left of the screen to the right.
If you’d like to reminisce about the making of Torchlight, we’ve got a feature about that you can read over here.