Torchlight: Infinite

Part of what makes Torchlight 1 (and 2) feel good are the moments of challenge and friction where your build is struggling to overcome tougher enemies or certain mechanics, right up until you get a special loot drop, level up, or other progression that helps you blow right through it and keep pushing onwards.

Torchlight Infinite simply doesn’t have that. I went from dealing damage numbers less than 100 to over a hundred thousand per hit in almost no time. Virtually every enemy (and lots of bosses) vaporize themselves upon contact with any button you accidentally press while walking towards the indicated objective. Add onto that a pet-gacha system powered by microtransactions that left a sour taste in my mouth, and I was done with this entry in the franchise. The narrative did nothing for me, and while that has never been particularly strong in the series it was probably the last hope for me to say much of anything positive about my experience.