The Secret of Mana and Star Ocean to Dark Souls and Borderlands, of which I think we

can all agree are very different games. Although the phrase is used to express many titles,

there are a few that impact the gaming world to such a degree that they become a subset

genre unto themself - Diablo is such a game. This tale of bile and brimstone doesn't originate

from an era when Diablo's minions walked the Earth. It comes from a time when they roamed

one dungeon, beneath one cursed cathedral in the unfortunate town of Tristram, a town

with a dreadful tale to tell. The narrative of Diablo loosely plays with theology and

Catholicism – there are demons, angels, and influences plucked straight from biblical

depictions – but overall, this is a fantasy world with a fictional credences. Fictions

such as strange and demonic occurrences that have been emerging from the treacherous depths

of Tristram’s underbelly and the story follows suit, but, from one playthrough to the next,

those happenings can vary. For instance, in one playthrough you may face off against the

carnage-lusted demon, the Butcher, but in another playthrough you may never encounter

the fiend. Instead, you may be attempting to cure Tristram of a tainted water supply.

These quests and narrative is displayed through tomes and the different characters found in

the bowels of the dungeon or from the topside town’s people of Tristram. Every encounter

is fully voiced with a meaningful delivery to bring life to the dreariness of the melancholic

atmosphere. It’s a pleasure to place yourself in the

lore of Diablo, but before you start the journey to uncover the plight between heaven, hell,

and mankind; you’re going to need to create a hero. There are three traditional pre-set

classes in Diablo: the rogue, the warrior and the sorcerer. Each class is individualized

by attribute points, equipment, and a unique ability. For unique abilities, the Warrior

can repair their equipment, the rogue can disarms traps, and the sorcerer can recharge

magical staves. Beyond the unique ability and the initial stat differences, the classes

are pretty much the same. Meaning, any class can learn any spell in the game or equip any

piece of gear as long as they have the required attribute points. Most will look at this in

one of two ways: the ability to cast any spell or don any piece of gear will most likely

leave you feeling like you’re very unrestricting or to a certain degree it will make you feel

as though it falls into a formula wherein all the created characters are relatively

similar to one another. Either way, it didn't stop me from making several different classes

to put the combat to the test. The combat in Diablo is very simple, it’s

comprised of weapon strikes and casting spells. Really, that’s it – it’s brilliant in

a minimalistic way, but a wide range of enemies do bring a certain level of complexity to

the experience. And that experience continuously rewards you for hacking up the Hell spawn

to send them plummeting back to the fires of perdition from once they came. The time

spent exploring the randomly generated maps and dispatching demons is when the character

progression will be achieved through leveling up, allocating stat points and equipping new

gear. The allure of becoming an increasingly more powerful demon slayer creates an almost

narcotic-inducing compulsion to rid the realm of Sanctuary from the unrelenting forces of

the Lord of Terror. Diablo still holds endearing relevance to

gaming even though it comes from a different time – a time when it was more of a dungeon

crawler, less of a loot hunt, but definitively an unquestionable dark medieval fantasy experience

with atmosphere and music to match. Diablo’s ensemble – from presentation, lore and atmosphere

to progression, combat and addictive gameplay – makes this one of the greatest games of

all time. An aspect made indelible by the fact that Diablo is a game not defined by

genre; instead, it’s a game that created one.