Tiny Bookshop offers a cozy fantasy to my real, stress-filled bookselling experience

As I wait for the new big Path of Exile 2 update -- hoping it's better than Dawn of the Hunt -- and Diablo 4's Season 10 to come, the early access release of Titan Quest 2 comes as good news. A lack of fresh content in my current pool of action RPGs made this the perfect time to jump into something new. But while the early access release gives the new ARPG room to grow, what I've played of Titan Quest 2 is enough to tell me that the ARPG isn't going to give me the hectic action I look for in the genre, at least not yet.

Developed by Grimlore Games and published by THQ Nordic, Titan Quest 2 is an action RPG that knows and respects the genre's history. A sequel to 2006's Titan Quest, the second game has everything you expect from an ARPG -- isometric gameplay, skill trees, and multiple pieces of gear popping from dead enemies -- while making all of this work in a setting based on Greek mythology. Be ready to run from the goddess Nemesis, to fight Pan, and check all the affixes of your new dagger.

Unlike other action RPGs that force you to make mindbending calculations to create hybrid classes, Grimlore makes exploring how one class can complement the other one of Titan Quest 2's tenets. You always pick two masteries and play around them to create a unique build. You can have a character running the Rogue and Storm masteries to use poison bombs and ice magic just because it's fun.

The freshness this class system brings is undermined by the combat, which doesn't escalate in a satisfying manner, staying too slow and light on thrills for too long for an action RPG. Thoughtful consideration is required, as you always need to pay attention to what enemies are doing and plan your dashes carefully. At the same time, Grimlore Games balanced encounters well enough to always respect the limits of your character. While some groups of enemies feel too small, they are never too big either. Once you learn to manage your dashes or improve your build, the fights never feel unfair.

I can see what Grimlore is going for here. Titan Quest 2 gives you room to get familiar with your skills and classes. Many ARPGs don't feel approachable for new players, because they need to manage the "action" aspect of it while still learning what their character does. By playing around fewer skill options and enemies with simple attack rotations, you won't feel overwhelmed. But after 10 hours of simple, slow-paced combat, I couldn't find balance in the action's progression curve.

While I had some fun fighting a lot of the fish enemies and crabs early on, Titan Quest 2 combat never felt fulfilling. I was never close to fear being trapped in a corridor with too many enemies in an early dungeon. Improving my build rarely offered the grandiose spectacle of clearing a room filled with zombies by using only a few skills. Instead, the best I could do in Titan Quest 2 was summon a cyclone and make a few enemies get hit by a lightning bolt. Of course, being an accessible game is great. Nevertheless, the lack of intense fights and the economy of attention that live service games operate make it difficult for Titan Quest 2 to compete in the current ARPG scene.

After playing around 15 hours of Titan Quest 2 - exploring as much as I could the Flooded Farmlands, farming 90 Embers of Night, and playing around with a couple of masteries - I have a good sense of what the sequel is aiming to do. I also know that what it's doing will please a very specific group of action RPG enthusiasts who enjoy following an engaging narrative more than they like to burst super-strong bosses with their broken builds. Titan Quest 2's strengths will make it a perfect fit for some players, but it's not the ARPG for me right now.