THQ Nordic has been very quiet about Titan Quest 2 since its reveal last year. That was probably wise—after almost 20 years' wait since the first game, there's a lot of pressure on new developer Grimlore Games to get this right. But we have now been treated to a new look at the game in action, and it's looking… well, pretty good, but also a lot like Diablo 4.
As in the first game, it's a classic action-RPG with a couple of major twists. The first is there's no class system—instead, you build your hero by choosing two "masteries" (sets of themed abilities), making every character a hybrid. For the sequel, that idea has been expanded on with unique synergies for each possible pair of masteries, more firmly cementing that sense of creating your own class.
The second is the setting—a world inspired by ancient mythology rather than traditional fantasy. Most of what can be seen in the new footage looks to have an Ancient Greek or Roman flavour, but I'd suspect Titan Quest 2 will follow in the footsteps of its predecessor, which ventured into other lands and mythologies, such as Egypt and China, as it went along.
But… well, a lot of Ancient Greece here looks striking similar to the dark fantasy world of Diablo 4. The original's sunny, colourful look has been grimied up a bit, and especially in wilderness areas and dark caves the similarity is striking. One shot in the trailer showing a close-up of a character looks almost identical to Diablo 4's character view screen, and even the warrior's bone-festooned armour, despite being in a classical style, would fit right in in Sanctuary.
There certainly seems to be some mechanical inspiration, too. For example, abilities can now be customised with various modifiers that add new effects, such as a heavier slam on a leap attack, much like the enhancements and upgrades from Diablo 4—though there does seem to be a greater level of control here, with multiple different modifiers stacking at once.
Perhaps it's a bit unfair to harp on the comparison, but with even the moment-to-moment action seeming to follow the same rhythm and pace as Blizzard's latest, it's hard right now to see what will make Titan Quest 2 stand out. The return of the mastery system is certainly welcome, and I'm interested to see more of how the new pairing synergies work there, but beyond that I hope this long-awaited sequel has a few more tricks still up its sleeve to set it apart from the elephant in the room.
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