With Path of Exile 2’s beta now well underway and the next Diablo 4 season a little way off, another ARPG that’s well worth your time has just unveiled its densely packed new update. Torchlight Infinite Season 7 is the Season of Arcana, and it brings an absolute flood of new content, items, and mechanical updates to the free Steam game. After the success of last season, The Frozen Canvas, which included some more dramatic and transformative changes, developer XD is continuing to build on its strong core.
If you love games like Diablo but don’t have the time to invest in the likes of Path of Exile 2, Torchlight Infinite is a game you can have a lot of fun blasting through and getting your fill without needing to invest hundreds of hours. It’s an approachable and more laid-back take on the format, yet there’s still plenty of depth if you’re looking for it, and as a free Steam game there’s no harm in giving it a try. Community manager ‘Andre’ takes us over everything we can expect from the update, and there’s a lot.
As you explore the world during the new season, you’ll come across Arcana cards that you’ll have to reveal to collect their rewards. Doing so will present you with a challenge based on the card uncovered, with each one deploying a signature effect on the battlefield. Complete enough trials and you’ll be able to explore the Tarot Path, a grid that you’ll traverse using your collected notes of Arcana. You can stack up multiple effects to boost your potential rewards as you fill out the grid – but you’ll have to overcome all the associated challenges they bring in one climactic battle to claim your prize.
Next is the Destiny mechanic. This can be used to replace nodes on your Pactspirit tree, and is designed to make the progression trees feel more dynamic and flavorful, giving them new ways to complement your builds. They’re split into two types: Fates, which provide basic stat boosts, and Kismets, which include more unique and powerful effects. You can even unlock special Dual Kismets that combine multiple boons into a single node.
New check-in events during the season will give players a chance to unlock Legendary Battle Pactspirits, but Andre notes that, even if you’re using lower-tier Pactspirits, the new Destiny nodes aren’t restricted by rarity. You can also now equip three Battle Pactspirits and three Drop Pactspirits, meaning you’ll no longer need to swap between them on the fly to gain the benefits from both types.
Iris gets a new hero trait, Vigilant Breeze, which allows her to merge with and directly control her Spirit Magi. Along with the likes of Frost and Fire Magi, she can summon two new options. The Rock Magus is capable of unleashing incredible area damage with its whirlwind attacks while generating armor. The Erosion Magus deals potent counter-attacks as it takes hits, withering and decaying enemies. Iris can either sacrifice the health of her spirits for more power, or protect and heal them for more sustained output.
Following last season’s trend, all of the past heroes will be available to everyone for free. This includes previous newcomer Selena from the Frozen Canvas, meaning that you can try her out if you decided against buying her for real money last season. She’s an incredibly fun option with the ability to blitz through packs of enemies at incredible speed, so I’d definitely recommend giving her a look.
City Defense is a new wave-based co-op mode where you must hold out against increasingly challenging floods of enemies. You’ll have a limited number of team revives to make it through a total of fifteen waves. There are seven difficulty tiers, and securing victory at each level nets you a set of rewards along with access to the next tier – beat them all and you’ll even earn yourself a Legendary Battle Pactspirit.
Last season’s Frozen Canvas mechanic was so popular that it’s now been integrated into the core progression, although it’s been simplified slightly given that it won’t be the core focus of seasons moving forward. It does have its own associated tree, however, allowing you to boost your potential payouts much like Path of Exile’s Atlas passive tree – Andre says this will ensure the mode feels “much more enjoyable and profitable” than before.
The Season of Arcana also features new items, as well as some rebalanced ones – perhaps most notable is the popular Lone Walker’s Boots getting a special upgrade to Legendary tier. Its effects now apply to nearby allies, meaning you can use them to boost your summons. A total of 13 active skills have been changed, and numerous hero traits have also been tweaked, meaning there are plenty of reasons to check older characters out. Anger Rehan can now apply his attack and cast speed to his cooldown recovery for more frequent explosions, while Moto gets buffs to his minion-focused builds.
The way damage is calculated has been reworked across the game, which should allow builds focused on dealing single, high-damage hits to reach bigger values than previously implemented damage caps allowed. Steep Strike, the effect that triggers bonus attacks, has been adjusted to make it easier to understand. With the new calculations, reaching 100% Steep Strike chance will guarantee that it always triggers.
Trauma builds have long been underperforming, so their related gear has been given a boost. Multistrike effects have likewise been bolstered, while survival mechanics such as evasion, deflection, and energy shields now encourage synergies between the various different types. XD has also made tells and effects on enemy attacks more visible, while removing certain moves that felt unfair, in order to ensure that you are less likely to get caught out by unexpected damage.
Torchlight Infinite Season 7, the Season of Arcana, launches Thursday January 9 at 6pm PST / 9pm EST (Friday January 10 at 2am GMT / 3am CET). You can play the game for free on Steam. If you want to get used to everything before the new season starts, you can download it now. There are plenty more quality-of-life changes and balance tweaks to look out for, so you can look out for the full patch notes when the season lands for all the fine details.
Be sure to grab the latest Torchlight Infinite codes ahead of the new season start, and take a look through more of the best co-op games you and your friends can enjoy together.
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