After looking through the massive patchnotes and playing for a while, I can assure you that this is a great definitive edition. It's very stable and the gameplay, graphics and the sound still hold up till this date.


Titan Quest AE is an ARPG or Hack & Slay, much like the well-known Diablo franchise.
The key differences are the mythological setting and the way you develop your character.
You will play through Greece, Egypt, the Orient and finally visit the Hades.
Thusly the standard enemies, heroes and bosses are very varied in type, many at least look special for an ARPG and they are overall nicely designed.
Like many ARPGs, the long but enjoyable journey to max level, seeing your character concept become reality and grinding the best gear is your goal. There is no real possibility to exhaust your fully fleshed out Demigod, but I am sure that Mods will change this (again), like triplicating bosses.
This game works with different resistances: primary (like cold or posion) and secondary ones (like stun or bleeding). It's not awfully complicated, but it's not super easy (or dumbed down) as well.

The loot is split into different types with the rare, epic and legendary types being the more interesting ones. There are also monster infrequents (MI), enemy drops with specific properties. Some of them in rare with the desired affixes (you know, things like: Thundering XXX of the Storm) can beat legendary items. There are also relics to add to the items, combined they will give another random bonus. Finally you can craft lesser, greater and divine artifacts. You need the recipe and specific relics and or scrolls (a powerful use-once spell) to create them. For the later tier of artifacts you also need to have constructed one or more artifacts from a prior tier.

The major thing that made Titan Quest unique, besides its setting, was the mastery system. You can choose between 2 out of 9 masteries like hunting, warfare, spirit or nature. Thus there are 36 more or less different classes avaible to play. A lot of masteries have obvious synergy with other ones, so new players will not get overburdened. While some are more fitting to melee, ranged or mage styles of play, you can also create a battlemage, or play a petmaster.
While leveling up you can put points into the mastery itself (gaining life and/or energy and fitting stats along the way) or gaining/upgrading new abilities. You need a specific amount of points in the mastery itself to unluck new and often more powerful abilities or passive upgrades to existing ones. Your choice, you have to balance it out.
Secondly you also gain stat points you can distribute among Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence or you put them directly into Health or Energy.


This is no doubt a huge patch with quite some changes. Graphics (and sound) are more or less the same, but they fixed a lot of inconsistencies across the board and tackled the AI / behaviour of enemies and pets. You will most likely encounter more heroic enemies now, which is great.
The most notable things are the balance changes thoughout the different masteries and the alterations to a lot of items and sets. A personal highlight is that dodge chance, avoid projectiles and cooldown reduction are now capped at 80%, denying the strength of a lot of existing builds back then.
If you are a new player you don't have to bother with the patchnotes, the modifications are well thought-out. I doubt that the game is now perfectly balanced, it never will be, like any RPG, but overall the changes seem to be beneficial and healthy for the game.


If you already own the game(s), the Anniversary Edition may get you into the game again. You knew it was great, now it's slightly better. If you enjoyed Grim Dawn (or not that much because of the setting/theme), this one is a no-brainer.
This game is not a hidden gem, but it's also not that well-known like it should be. The mastery system is fantastic, the core gameplay is what you want from an ARPG. Overall nice skills, heroes, bosses and loot. The fighting lacks that oomph that Diablo 3 has, but it's alright. Endgame content for maxed out heroes is nowhere to be found, but it will surely arrive through mods. The game is highly recommended for Singleplayer and Multiplayer alike (esp. now that it works without hassle directly through steam). The special promotion price is a steal!

Score: ## 9/10 ##