As you leave town, the swaying grass shines in the morning sun. Over the hill, you hear a cry for help. As you crest the hill, you see skeletons rising from the ground, knitting their bones together and charging at a group of civilians with rusty swords and bows. You hoist your shield on one arm, your spear with the other and charge into battle, the blessing of the gods crackling lightning on your heels.
Rejoice, action RPG fans! Titan Quest is back! And from the preview build I’ve played of Titan Quest 2, (launching soon on Early Access), the world looks better than ever.
It’s all Greek to me
If you’ve never played the original Titan Quest, it’s an Action RPG in the vein of Diablo or Path of Exile. But while those games focused on a dark medieval Europe, Titan Quest sets sail for the Aegean. You’ll make deals with gods of the Greek pantheon, fight alongside Spartans, and battle mythological creatures like Harpies, Gorgons and Minotaurs.
As I was exploring the starting island, the level of detail was spectacular. Every corner feels like it has little nods to the history and culture. Small shrines overlook sun-dappled pools, and dank caves hide trickling waterfalls and the requisite giant spider colonies. Consistently, the vistas in the background impressed me, and the scale of some of the temples and larger monuments really put the fear of the gods into you.
I loved the number of environmental puzzles scattered throughout the island. The early quests give you a vague marker, but you have a lot of scope to explore. When I did, I found puzzles where I had to light all of the hidden torches to open a secret doorway, or return a possessed urn to the proper altar. Of course, gold and weapons reward your curiosity.
No class (but that’s a good thing)
In Titan Quest 2, you don’t choose a class to begin with. You create a character and then choose a Mastery when you’re blessed by the gods. There are three masteries in this build, Earth, Air and Warfare. Within each of those you have active and passive abilities, and your character is always a combination of two Masteries.
I went for a heavy fighter, using Warfare and Earth. Think Leonidas from 300, but hurling fireballs and molten rock while stabbing with a spear.
There’s also a spectacular system where you apply perks to abilities to change how they function; your jump slam could add stun, or multiple jumps. Your lightning bolts can chain to enemies or add other effects. And the game is very happy to let you respec and try out new things.
This feels dodgy (which is also good)
A big change to the combat in Titan Quest 2 is that all attacks are fully modelled and telegraphed. What this means is that when your big barbarian character swings their great axe, it’ll hit multiple enemies that it passes through, not just the one you click on.
This is true for enemy attacks and abilities as well. Titan Quest 2 feels a lot more mobile than its predecessor, in no small part thanks to the addition of a dodge skill for all classes. When enemies are swinging attacks at you, you can easily dodge or sidestep to get around them.
This all feels like a natural level up to action RPG combat, which hasn’t changed all that much since the early days of PC RPGs.
Ready for battle
Playing through the first handful of hours in the Early Access build of Titan Quest 2 is a great onboarding for new and returning players.
You start by fighting small crabs on the beach, but quickly move to Cultists and Skeletons, which much more varied tactics. I saw pretty quickly how enemy AI has evolved, particularly since the original Titan Quest.
Enemies like the skeletons and cultists attack in small squads with groups of melee, ranged and casters. The casters stay back and pepper you with magic and area of effect spells, while the melee charge in and try to tie you down with their attacks.
This makes each fight feel a bit more tactical. You need to sum up your enemies and plan your attack, rather than just slamming your weapon against a blob of enemies every time.
Should I buy Titan Quest 2?
Titan Quest 2 is launching 2nd August AEDT on Steam Early Access, and is planned to come to Xbox and PlayStation 5 at launch later in 2025. If you’re keen to jump straight into the game as soon as possible, then the Early Access build is looking really good.
However, if you’d rather wait for the final, polished product, then the late-2025 planned release isn’t too far away.
But if you need me, I’ll be burying my toes in the sand of a Greek island and stabbing hordes of skeletons.
Early access to Titan Quest 2 was supplied to Quest Daily by the publisher.
