Almost ten years after the initial release of Titan Quest in 2006, Grimlore Games and THQ Nordic are finally giving us the sequel we’ve been waiting for. Does Titan Quest 2 live up to the name?
Titan Quest 2 is an isometric action RPG inspired by Greek mythology. Though our story begins shrouded in mystery, we know this much: Nemesis, the goddess of Retribution, is hunting us. She is corrupting the Threads of Fate and wreaking havoc on all who oppose her. We must become the hero and change fate itself.
As a long time fan of Titan Quest, launching Titan Quest 2 hit me with a wave of nostalgia almost instantly. It felt very reminiscent of the first game, and other games I loved in the same genre from the early 2000s, like Diablo and Sacred. I was looking forward to stepping back into the world and seeing what it had to offer me after all these years. Titan Quest 2 has launched into Early Access instead of a full release, so it’s important to keep that in mind as things change over time.
The world of Titan Quest 2 is aesthetically gorgeous. With a semi-realistic art style, similar to that of the first game but with a high-quality polish, the world feels alive. While traversing through a village in the daytime, the colours are vibrant and the sun feels hot in the sky with the deep shadows cast by objects in the world with the warm dynamic lighting. Dark crypts feel cold and the light of a fire bounces off the stone wall pleasingly. Creatures are great as well, with visually interesting designs that fit cohesively in their environments.
The audio is excellent, with a soundtrack mixing traditional Greek music with modern orchestral elements to create a rich atmosphere that swells in the heat of battle. The NPCs are all fully and competently voice-acted acted too, as are the painterly story cutscenes. My only issue, though these are few and far between, is that there are no subtitles for these portions of the game for those who may need them.
While combat is challenging, it doesn’t feel unfair. It’s definitely the style of fighting you need to take slow and methodically to avoid simply watching your health drain, and it’s important to use all the skills at your disposal, even on a regular difficulty setting. You get to pick from a selection of Masteries, which are skill sets you can upgrade as you level up. These include Warfare which focuses on physical combat and the use of weapons, a few different elemental magic Masteries like fire and storm magic, and your core skills such as your dodge and main weapon attack. You can pick two of these masteries to merge together, allowing for a variety of different play styles.
Certain enemies feature attacks that increase the challenge of combat, requiring players to dodge and dash in and out. There are AOE attacks, requiring a dodge out of a highlighted area to avoid becoming ensnared or frozen in place, even unable to use any skills or attacks. There are some set wave battles where you must ‘prove your worth’ to obtain points to upgrade your passive and active skills. It’s possible to get overwhelmed with these fights, but as long as you’re fully kitted out and patient, they’re more than survivable.
After death, you’ll respawn at a nearby waypoint, but you’re able to travel straight back to the place you died. This allows you to sell off any loot, arm yourself up better if need be, or simply get back into the fight straight away. Though the portal back to your death spot is one-time use, it’s nice not to have to trek back to the spot you died in case you were far, or having to fight through a bunch of respawned creatures.
“The world of Titan Quest 2 is aesthetically gorgeous. With a semi-realistic art style, similar to that of the first game but with a high-quality polish, the world feels alive.”
There is some unusual traversal, with certain places only being accessible by jumping across a ledge or climbing a rock. Now, you don’t actually have access to a jump ability; these are set points you interact with for the player character to climb down. This set traversal makes level design so players aren’t able to get themselves stuck.
A few things are missing in the Early Access state of Titan Quest 2 that you might expect a game like this to have. Currently, character creation is limited to a pre-set selection of characters. A full character creation menu is planned for one of the first major updates of Early Access. Despite one of our main companions being a spirit horse, there is no mount system in the game. It was decided against by the devs, who state it would significantly impact pacing, traversal, and other game mechanics.
Also coming in future updates are things like transmog (visually changing the look of an item while retaining its stats) and crafting systems. There may also be more Masteries to come, with the number being unconfirmed at this stage. It will be exciting to see what updates come in the future and what community feedback the team focus on to include in the game.
We’ve been told: “When playing through the early access experience, I wouldn’t recommend trying multiplayer yet – it’s still an experimental version… a ‘try at your own risk’ situation.” Which is fine because I don’t have any friends anyway. Uh, I mean.. I enjoy playing my ARPGs solo! But I imagine getting to traverse the land with friends and each person implementing a different play style could make for fun and unique battles.
Overall, the Early Access release of Titan Quest 2 already felt very fleshed out. With over 20 hours of content already, a vibrant world and engaging combat, I think it lives up to the legacy of the first game. I’ll be keeping an eye out for future updates to content and looking forward to the first major update, which is said to be coming out in October this year.
Titan Quest 2 is available in Early Access through Steam and the Epic Store, with a full release date aiming for the end of 2026 alongside a console release for both Xbox and PlayStation. There will be major updates planned roughly every three months for the game to grow and change with player feedback.
About the Author
Hayley Louise
they/them
Hayley spends most of their time gaming, but when they're not doing that you can find them doing all kinds of nerd-adjacent things like playing board games, building Lego, reading books and talking nerdy to everyone who will listen.
