It was 2008 when Diablo 3 was first announced. That game was widely criticized for its "cartoonish" graphics. Torchlight was made to look similar to those Diablo 3 screenshots and was released in 2009. Until Diablo 3 came out in 2012, we only had Torchlight.
This game is not a Diablo 3, Diablo 4, Grim Dawn, Titan Quest, or Dungeon Siege. We do not travel to different geographies on a large map. Rather, it looks a lot like Diablo 1. There is a dungeon consisting of 35 floors, and we are progressing on these floors.
If you like Diablo 1, this will offer a very familiar taste. Offering 15-20 hours of gameplay for one character is an enjoyable experience. They have created an adventure that can be played and finished in no time.
However, instead of continue developing the game for a long time, they chose to release Torchlight 2 in 2012. That's why playing this for repetitive content may seem meaningless today.
Don't have high expectations and you will get some fun.

6: Average - Some may love and talk about it, but nothing more.

Torchlight 1 - Man, what a great game that made Diablo look like a first of last gen game. Took what Diablo did and made it better in my opinion.

I believe it was even made by some of the developers that moved away from Blizzard somehow during or after Diablo's development, but I feel this game is the real deal when it comes to ARPG games.

I really can't recommend this game enough, it adds a new mechanic called Fame which basically increases as you fight legendary monsters throughout the game (mostly side-quest related) and gives you an even bigger powerup. Higher difficulties becomes really challenging very fast, so while it's dangerous to go alone, take a friend with you!

I found this painfully dull, in terms of story, gear, and skill trees, especially compared to stuff like Grim Dawn or Van Helsing. Spent some time clicking my way through the game, but it broke my willingness to progress when I realized that I have literally played idle games that felt more engaging to me than this.

Areas feel very repetitive as well. Was somewhat annoyed when I entered an area just to realize it had the exact same layout as a prior area, down to what items were placed where.

I don't recommend this.

Edit: Also, another big pet peeve is the limited inventory slots. Limiting my inventory slots doesn't really make the game harder at all; what it does do is force me to constantly stop and open my inventory, killing the pacing and introducing what is generally one of the worst mechanics in any RPG: inventory management.