With the recent announcement of Titan Quest  coming to consoles, the decade old hack ‘n’ slash RPG by THQ Nordic, more gamers will get to share in the many hours of enjoyment that PC gamers have, up until now, kept to themselves. RPG enthusiasts; especially anyone who has a love affair with Blizzard’s Diablo  franchise, consider this to be the best  “clone” ever made. So much so in fact, there are numerous articles around the internet asking “where the hell is Titan Quest 2?”  So in this article, I want to highlight why both console gamers and fans of the series should be excited about this relic of the past.

What is Titan Quest?

Titan Quest  is a hack ‘n’ slash-style isometric-RPG that was released for the PC platform all the way back in June of 2006. The game featured a combat system relatively similar to the aforementioned Diablo;  a game where players mowed down hordes of enemies, acquired loot, went after more challenging enemies, and received additional, but better loot. And just like Diablo,  players also had a Health and Mana pool, as well as Skills which they can unlock as they gain levels.

What separates Titan Quest  from Diablo  boils down to 2 aspects: The Mythos of the game and its Skill Trees. Unlike Diablo’s  “angels and demons” premise, Titan Quest  uses the broad mythologies and legends of ancient history. Greek, Egyptian, Chinese and even Norse are all included; having you face many of the monsters that you’ve likely read about in your childhood. Equipment are also named and molded after each of the various region’s history, so when you acquire powerful artifacts and gear, they are appropriately themed; such as the Nordic, Ragnarok Blade and the classic Roman short-sword, the Gladius.

Second, the Skill Trees in the game offer unique character Building that has much more diversity than Diablo, especially when compared with Diablo III.  Players can choose from one of the 9 different Skill Trees after their first level, and when they hit level 8, they can select a second Skill Tree, allowing for a total of 72 possible combinations!

This allows for extreme replayability and flexibility, tempting players to try out other Builds and test other styles of play. And because loot in the game is shared between all of your characters, you can save that one amazing Weapon which dropped for your Templar, but is better suited for your Paladin.

Combined, these two things make Titan Quest  one of the most  played games in my video gaming career and I have made over 40 different characters. And, when you add in the multiplayer aspect, the game just gets even better. The graphics weren’t too shabby either, especially when the game first released 10 years ago.

A Console’s Edge

Anyone who has played Diablo,  or any one of these types of games, will tell you that the most annoying thing about them would be the need to constantly  click just to get your character moving. Now this isn’t the worst thing in the world, and isn’t game breaking by any means, but after many hours of playing, it can wear on you. So when Blizzard brought Diablo III  to consoles and assigned movement to analog sticks, it changed everything, which allowed for more fluid combat and gameplay. You certainly don’t get that precise aiming that you do on PC, but when done well, it’s a winning trade for easier control.

On top of this, console players new to the series will be playing with the “Immortal Throne” expansion from the get go. This add-on was very similar to something like Bloodborne’s  “The Old Hunters” DLC, in that it not only added new content, but it drastically enhanced the game. And just like The Old Hunters, it made veterans of the game wish it had been there from the start, so they could have had it as part of their first experience.

Another thing to mention is that the Online community will be hoppin at release. Thousands of people will be playing simultaneously, all of whom will be starting new characters, and it’ll be in many ways be similar to the Souls  franchise in that regard. You will want to play when everyone else is just starting out so that you don’t just get murdered by uber-twinks, or in the case of Titan Quest,  just being carried by some high level character that deal 100x more damage than you.

Lastly, THQ Nordic has stated that they have enhanced the game’s graphics. Now we don’t know exactly how it will look just yet, but as mentioned prior, it didn’t look too bad before. In fact it still holds up, even by modern video game standards, and you would honestly think it was made only a few years ago (when you compare it to games like Path of Exile  or Van Helsing ), if you didn’t know any better. Additionally, when the game first came out, I couldn’t run it with high visual settings on my “gaming” computer at the time. In short, this won’t be an issue for players.

Final Thoughts

It’s extremely interesting that the game recently got a new update just a month ago after over 10 years, and now just down the road, a console release. Players have been clamoring for a sequel for the game for years as stated above, but THQ did not want to make another PC only game at the time, and Iron Lore couldn’t get another backer because THQ owned the rights. This seems to now be rectified because the game is coming to consoles, and it is very likely that the fate of a sequel hangs on the success of failure of this endeavor.

It’s all very exciting to think about and having things to look forward to is something RPG enthusiasts desperately need in 2018. It’s not to say that there aren’t any quality games coming (Monster Hunter World, Kingdom Come: Deliverance,  etc), it’s just that there’s a shocking lack of titles lined up beyond that. I literally can’t think of a good RPG coming in Q3 or Q4 of next year! So for now, we’ll take what we can get. And we’ll probably still be playing Titan Quest  by then anyway…

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