D2's older sister is strange to go back to as a fan of the sequel, as its goals are jarringly different. Diablo is mechanically barebones to the point where the player rarely has to care much about what to level or what equipment to use. Equipment upgrades require very little thinking about pros and cons, you can usually easily tell if a new piece of armor or weapon is better than what you have. The drop rate is so low and the varieties of equipment and enemies is so limited that someone familiar with diablolikes at large will find themselves unchallenged and never asked to think all that much. Similarly, there's none of the involved questing or sometimes-cryptic hints that define the second. It's dreadfully simple: clear a level, go down the stairs, and repeat until you're in hell.

That sounds simplistic and dry, but the huge void left by the mechanical side of things is filled by the gorgeous gothic environments and the soundtrack which are every bit as haunting and unique as D2's. As was always the case with this era of Blizzard, passion and polish ooze from every inch of this thing. Atmosphere makes this game, but that's not to say that it's "more atmospheric" than its successor. It's very possible to play Diablo 2 in a way that brings out these same feelings just as well, there's just so much other shit going on that many will never slow down and enjoy it all. In this one, though, there's no other choice, no distractions. It's all about tone, and when you step into hell and see the cold, genuinely disturbing gore that leaves just enough to the imagination to really cut deep, you GET Diablo.

I'm glad I went back and played this. I never really got into it as a kid and would quickly go back to the sequel, but there's certainly a lot to appreciate here and it deserves its place in history.

I never played this game as a youth; I was to terrified of anything even remotely hellish because I was a dumb coward child. I've beaten it multiple times since on both PC and PS1. III may be more replayable and fun and II may be more challenging and vast but no game has come close to matching the tone of this. Its just you (and some friends if you play online, I have not), a dying village of weirdos and 16 floors of nightmares and hell. The character creation and equipment being entirely up to your choices reminds me of Dark Souls in a sense. Very possibly my favorite in the series, its a shame the name is tainted by way of Activision Blizzard's horrendous workplace abuses to the point that its impossible to recommend.

A fun game for its time and the future releases were definitely better from things as character appearance when equipping certain gear and the ability to run instead of walking.

Enjoyment: 3/4
Gameplay: 1.5/2
Replayability: 1.5/2
Graphics: 1/1
Sound: 1/1
Total: 8/10

It might be very short, with some brutal floors where you will die over and over again, but it's fun.

It's simplicity is the biggest strength the game has. Three classes, a handful of weapons, a dozen enemies and one town. You can quickly grasp the game and use all of the tools it gives you to defeat the boss and advance to the next floor.

Combined with it's (back then) dead simple controls and mechanics makes Diablo infinitely more accessible to play and enjoy today than any other PC RPG from 1996.

I've never played this before but had a great time playing it all the way to the end together with friends in online multiplayer, which still works after all those years.

A versão de PS possui uma série de desvantagens em relação a do PC, tanto em gráfico, como em controle. A única vantagem mesmo é um multiplayer coop local, que seria bem melhor se cada personagem não comesse quase o memory card inteiro.

No PC, Diablo foi um marco em matéria da evolução e popularização dos "roguelikes". Sem se apegar aos elementos que muitos consideram essenciais ao gênero puro, talvez Diablo tenha sido o primeiro "roguelite", tendo na verdade enveredado por algo mais próximo de um Action-RPG.

O fato é que sua fórmula deu origem a todo um novo subgênero, apelidado de diablolike, seguindo elementos tantos de design quanto visuais. Alguns de seus elementos foram dar o origem aos looters shooters, inclusive, e sua influência é inegável em diversos jogos.

Em seus méritos, Diablo até hoje oferece um jogo desafiador, com um sistema de classes um pouco rudimentar ao que ele mesmo se tornaria em seu segundo jogo, com pouca diferenciação entre as 3 disponívels, determinando basicamente stats, uma das skills únicas e o kit inicial de equipamento.

Seu level design, segredos, e trilha sonora estão também inscritos na história dos jogos em alta estima.

Great fun in that classic PC game way, but man does it become nonsense near the end. Amounts of ranged enemies that feel like a joke. I fired infinite health on for the last quarter to stop me abandoning it. Lovely hammy high fantasy is gradually finding it's way into my heart.

It's a strange thing to say, but all I can think of when I look at Diablo is The Legend of Mir. That was the first time I ever saw a game that looked this way. It used to get shown all the time on a Sky channel we had in the UK called GameNetwork. An Italian channel but all presented in English. They ran LoM footage constantly. I mind the presenter was always in her bare feet, but I'm sure that awakened nothing in young me.

At night the channel became Babestation.