Early Access is often a troubling proposition. Is the game ready for the public, or are the public just glorified beta testers? That’s where we come in. Welcome to the Early Access Report, where Player 2’s writers tackle an early access title to determine if it is worth your time now, or if it’s something you should keep an eye on in the future.
The Early Access Report - Titan Quest II
Key Information
The Game: Titan Quest II
The Pitch: A sequel to the almighty Titan Quest, a once rival to Diablo itself.
Nemesis, Goddess of Retribution, is out of control. She is corrupting the Threads of Fate and punishing all those who oppose her. Take up your weapon, fight alongside gods, and change fate itself in Titan Quest II, an action RPG inspired by Greek mythology.
The Developer: Grimlore Games
It has been a long time since the original Titan Quest landed on our PCs, but for those who don’t remember, it was a legitimate alternative to Diablo 2 that really captured quite a crowd of eager fans. Well, 19 years later, we have finally arrived at the early access release of Titan Quest 2, and while it is far from finished, things are looking really good for fans, both new and old.
I previously played a press demo of Titan Quest II and found it to be shaping up quite nicely. Those feelings have only been solidified now that I have completed all the content available in the current early access build. I will start out by saying this is not what many will think of as a modern ARPG, ala Diablo 4 or Path of Exile. This is a slower, more deliberate style of experience that harkens back to the original game and Diablo 2. I found that Titan Quest II places a stronger emphasis on player skill, especially positioning, than more modern titles. This is due to a few gameplay elements that serve to make this feel both old school and refreshing at the same time.
The first part of this is the way health potions work. There are no health pickups or timer-based systems based around health pickups. Players get two potion uses, and those uses are refilled by causing enemy damage. This creates a wonderfully interesting dynamic where players have to push forward to heal instead of retreating and finding breathing space. This simple change really alters the dynamics and, in boss battles especially, forces on-the-fly tactical changes and some nimble work on the keyboard or controller.
The boss battles I encountered only reinforced this change in play style. These are some classically styled encounters, with patterns to remember and timings to perfect. Spamming attacks may get you a long way in Diablo 4 (especially on the default difficulty), but here it will cost you your life. Making the right move at the right time is often the difference between sweet success and even sweeter loot or the shame of being defeated by a cranky gryphon. I found these encounters to be wonderfully satisfying, and they offered a real sense of accomplishment when I took these bigger beasties down. I will also say that the game, despite its higher-than-average difficulty, has a really neat checkpointing system. If you die, you are sent back to your home village, but you can instantly teleport back to the location of your death if you so choose. This is great if you only just failed to beat the boss, but at the same time, if you feel like some grinding is in order before you try again, you have that option. It is a smart way to go about things in this genre.
The early access release contains what is essentially the first chapter of the game. I managed to finish just about everything in about 9 hours. It is a nice slice of time with the game, and the map is quite dense with plenty of nooks, crannies and even secret bosses to encounter. In that time, I managed to get my character to level 21, which gave me a good look at some of the more advanced abilities, and I have to say, I had a blast with some of the options available. The skill tree feels like it is going to be super flexible, really allowing players to specialise as they see fit. Lower-tier spells can be just as effective as higher ones and can be altered and adjusted with different effects as you level them up. I also really appreciated how there are passive abilities and active abilities, and players will get points to level up both categories every time they reach that next level.
As for early access kinks, there are a few, but no more than would be expected. There are some graphical glitches in regards to loot (especially with shields for some reason), and sometimes picking up all the goodies can be a bit fiddly and problematic. I also had a couple of instances where enemy health wouldn’t go down for a short period. Minor things, really and hardly a worry, especially as this is just the very first version available in the EA period. I will also mention that despite seeming like a perfect fit, Titan Quest II will need some more optimisation to make it run well on handhelds. It struggled on my ROG Ally X, even with all the settings on low. I expect that to change as the game goes through development because, from my (admittedly untrained) eye, the game should be able to run well on these systems.
Titan Quest II is shaping up nicely, I have to say. Its old-school feel is refreshing in this day and age of live service ARPG titles, putting the player firmly in control of their own destiny and not simply waiting for seasonal events or special activities. Things like endgame and multiplayer will obviously have a huge impact on how the final game turns out, but for the moment, I am happy to say that things are looking pretty darn good. It is also worth noting that the EA price is significantly cheaper than what the full version will sell for, so even if you wait for a few updates, it might still be wise to jump in during the development period, if only to help your wallet.
Titan Quest II Early Access is available now on Steam.
We played the EA version of Titan Quest II through Steam with code kindly supplied by the publisher.
