Titan Quest 2 Preview - The Start of Your Own Odyssey

Greek mythology is endlessly fascinating and has incredible depth, so it was a given that I was going to play Titan Quest 2's Early Access release. A world where mythology is reality, and where gods walk among mortals, is a sure way to get me hooked. Titan Quest 2 has mythology in spades, but it's also shaping up to be a damn fine ARPG as well. 

As an ARPG in the same vein as Diablo and Path of Exile, there's a heavy focus on loot and taking out packs of monsters with your increasingly powerful character. This is the type of genre I lean on when I just want to turn my brain off, watch a video on the second monitor, or listen to a podcast. When it's all said and done, Titan Quest 2 is perfect for that purpose.

Titan Quest 2: An ARPG for Everyone

Here's the thing: ARPGs are simple in concept and don't require a lot of brainpower to play (unless you're Elon Musk, who can't complete even the most basic tasks in Path of Exile 2), but actually creating a build is where I find a lot of friction.

Titan Quest 2 eliminates said friction by creating a streamlined, easy-to-understand experience when it comes to actually building your character, and that is very refreshing to see. Rather than being bombarded with a million abilities or a sprawling tree of skills, you're able to choose two masteries.

So in Titan Quest 2, you don't start out with a class. You're given a blank slate, but very soon into the prologue, you'll be able to pick your mastery. These are powers granted by the divine, and so far, there are four to choose from: Earth, Rogue, Storm, and Warfare.

Be Who You Want to Be

Picking a mastery grants players a new set of skills to allocate points into. Whatever you pick, this will define your class for the rest of the game. I went with Rogue and Warfare on my first playthrough, creating a capable archer with an emphasis on weapon damage and critical hits.

Of course, you could pick Earth and Rogue, or Storm and Warfare -- really, whatever combination works. This flexibility is nice to see, even if I do suffer from a bit of choice paralysis. The only caveat is that you're supposed to pick these very early on, and thus far, I haven't seen a way to respec masteries.

You can, however, reallocate points into skills and attributes, so even if you mess up a build, there's a chance to remedy that mistake. The process is just easy, and you're not losing a bunch of progress if you change your mind of what skills you want to use.

In many ways, Diablo 4 and Path of Exile 2 feel punishing when you want to make changes, either costing a huge amount of gold to respec or even needing to farm new materials. Going from those games to Titan Quest 2 is a breath of fresh air.

The point I want to make is, Titan Quest 2 seems to focus on accessibility. There is some depth to builds if you want to optimize your damage, but it's not quite as deep as other ARPGs; at least, not in its current state. That's just fine with me, since I'm all in it to just enjoy slaying enemies and getting better gear.

Fighting All Things Fishy

And yes, there's plenty of fighting and loot in Titan Quest 2. So far, we're early on in its Early Access, so I'm not super impressed by the breadth of loot just yet. I haven't found anything super rare or something that alters the way I play, but I still get a little dopamine hit when I find a bow better than my last one.

Enemy variety could also be better, since you're mostly fighting crabs, Icthians (fish men, basically), and bandits. It's Early Access, so I'm sure we'll see more and more as time goes on. This first act mixes things up with several bosses with unique abilities, which can break up the monotony a bit.

For example, I fought a challenging Hippocampus -- and no, I'm not talking about that part of the brain. It's a horse with wings and a fish-like body, often depicted in Greek mythology. This hellion really gave me a run for my money, closing the gap between me and it with its kicks and water attacks. 

Titan Quest 2 Preview | Final Thoughts

The Hippocampus is just one of several bosses you can stumble across. Act 1's map is quite large, and there are a lot of different side areas. There are more than a few optional quests that had me captivated due to their heavy use of mythology, so I was sure to go over every corner of this beautiful landscape.

In one instance, I came across a group of goats by a stream. Walking further past these goats, I was transformed into one as well. Thankfully, I had a moly root, which could turn me back into my humanoid form. A naiad -- essentially a water spirit -- was the cause. I helped her with a request so the goats could be turned back into humans.

It's not a quest with a ton of story, but it reminds me of the time Odysseus and his crew were turned into pigs by Circe. I mean, humans turning into animals is plenty common in Greek mythology. It made me feel like I was on my own little odyssey, much like Odysseus, and if that feeling can continue throughout the rest of Titan Quest 2, I'm very excited to see what comes next.

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Titan Quest 2 was previewed on PC using a copy provided by the publisher over the course of 10 hours of gameplay - all screenshots were taken during the process of preview.