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Diablo
Written by: Grant Hatchimonji
It may be a classic, but that doesn't make it a masterpiece.
There are certain old-school games that, for their time, were an absolute blast, but in retrospect really aren't that amazing. The 1996 PC RPG classic, “Diablo,”¯ is one of those games. It garnered a great deal of respect for what it did for the genre—it was one of the first of its kind—but if any gamer tried playing it today, they would find that its only draw is that it's a classic, as the game is actually quite narrow in scope.
The story of “Diablo” is engaging and one of the game's greatest strengths. You play as an adventurer living in the town of Tristram, which has come under attack by demons, so you must set out to rid the town of evil by slaying Diablo, the Lord of Terror. Throughout the game, you come across various tomes that recount the history of the war between Heaven and Hell and learn how Diablo has once again come to terrorize the world, despite previous attempts to seal away his powers in a mythical object known as a soulstone. The game's climax involves a final, epic battle with Diablo himself, and the ending features an incredible twist that I won't spoil. Rest assured, the story cuts no corners and ends with a perfect set-up for the sequel, “Diablo II,”¯ which came four years later.
For its time, the game's graphics are impressive, what with its smooth animations, surprisingly detailed character models, and high-quality cinematics. While some monsters take on the same appearance as others with only a color palette swap, there is still a decent variety of different models that you'll run into, including skeletons, imps, demons, hounds, and more. Spell effects look nice as well and cause no slowdown, even when casting some of the more intricate ones with a dozen enemies on screen.
The design of the game's environment, unfortunately, leads to a strong feeling of monotony. You start out in town where you can stock up on supplies before heading into the game's only dungeon that goes miles and miles beneath the earth's surface. You simply descend lower and lower into this same dungeon for the entire game until the end, with nowhere else to explore. There are a few side quests, which can be opened up by talking to some of the town's inhabitants, but even they don't open up more areas for you to discover; you'll find whatever you've been sent to fetch just by progressing through the game naturally. The aesthetics of the environment change every few levels, but the fact that there is no extraneous exploration to do or areas to roam through creates a linear feel. Basically, the game's environment is just a straight shot down through a single dungeon, literally until you reach the depths of hell and face Diablo. Blizzard should be commended, however, for conveniently opening up portals every few levels down, so you can teleport back to town to heal up, buy new equipment, and then immediately teleport right back to the floor of the dungeon that you were at last.
Likewise, the gameplay can get tiresome after a while, given the simplistic nature of the combat system. “Diablo”¯ epitomizes the term, “hack and slash¯.” To attack, you click on your enemy, and to move, you click on the location you wish to move to. That's about it, save for the occasional need to heal. Fighting off hordes of demons starts out as some mindless fun, but what the game ultimately comes down to is this: You enter a dungeon, click furiously on your enemies until they're all dead, and then descend to the next level and repeat said process. Given that the game is so old, it can only be faulted so much for this. In many senses, it was still very much ahead of its time and even exceeded expectations for the genre in some senses.
There is a litany of different weapons with which you can engage your enemies (which are equally varied) and they help keep things fresh in spite of the monotonous level design and simplistic combat system. These weapons, along with the other numerous items in the game, allow for a decent amount of customization in terms of what you can equip your character with. There are a slew of different magical weapons, armors, and various accessories (rings, robes, necklaces, etc.) that can be found on your enemies' corpses, in treasure chests, by completing quests, or by buying them from the town's blacksmith. These aren't just your average swords and shields, either. Many of them possess unique and powerful abilities, like the Deadly Hunter Bow, which deals 200 percent damage against demons, or the Gryphon's Claw Sword, which knocks your enemies back when you hit them. Some of the game's items are character-exclusive, as well, so only multiple playthroughs as each of the different classes will allow players to fully experience all of the items that the game has to offer.
Beyond the repeated clicking for physical attacks, there are also some spells and special abilities that can be used, but only three of them are character specific (one per class); the rest can be cast from either staves, scrolls, or books. These spells run the gamut from healing to surrounding the player with a wall of fire or even shooting bolts of electricity at your enemies. Beyond the various monsters, items and spells, the game's playability was also peerless; few games from the mid-'90s took 10-12 hours to complete.
The game is not without flaws. While there is a huge selection of items to equip your player with and even an assortment of spells to choose from, there is little to no character customization. There are only three pre-set character classes to choose from—warrior, rogue, or sorcerer—and each class only has one exclusive skill and you do not learn any more as you level up. While most of the RPGs that we have become accustomed to these days allow players to allot points or the like to various skills or abilities, the only thing leveling up allows you to do here is gain more health, mana, and the ability to use more powerful items.
Criticism of “Diablo”¯ almost seems unfair, given how old it is and how far RPGs have come since then. So I don't mean to sound blasphemous when I criticize a classic like this. I'm just trying to be frank about how fun the game is today, especially in light of what we, as gamers, have come to expect from the genre. At the time, “Diablo”¯ was revolutionary with its expansive set of items, choice of character class, and lengthy playtime. It set the standards for RPGs alongside other classics like “Baldur's Gate,”¯ but the fact of the matter is that if you sat down and played this game right now, you'd get bored pretty quickly. The real appeal to playing this game is the nostalgic factor—to play a classic that set the foundation for the genre—not to have an in-depth RPG experience.
Score: 7.0/10
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