Game of the Decade Countdown: #5 – Diablo 2

I don't remember fighting any hooded skeletons ...

I don’t think it’ll be much of a spoiler to reveal that our number five game, Diablo II, is the oldest game to make our list – hell, its 2000 release date means it only just qualified for the list in the first place. But here we are, the better part of 10 years later, and we’re still rating this game.

The multiplayer side is undoubtedly what has kept the game going this long. Blizzard have continued to support the game since its release, even after World of Warcraft came along and there’s no sign that people are going to stop playing it any time soon. It’s been patched and updated many times and ladders and competitions still run years after its release.  And in the time since it’s release, just imagine how many hundreds of thousands of Baal runs power levellers have completed!

But nobody would have bothered with multiplayer if the basic single player game wasn’t fundamentally good to start with. And it is. Its action RPG style struck a great balance between the stat-building and item hunting that hardcore RPG players enjoy and the real-time combat system which means those who are bored by simulated dice rolls had nothing to fear.

It's the only skill you'll ever need!

The game looked pretty schmick for its day and even now it holds up pretty well. Same goes for the sound design. The story was a good one. And the randomised level design and item dropping pioneered in the first game meant there was fantastic replay value as well.

Possibly the greatest testament to Diablo II’s success is that to this day you can still walk into pretty much any video game store and find a copy on the shelves. I think the mighty Fallout is one of the only other games that can boast that so many years after its release.

It’s been a good few years since I’ve played Diablo II now. But writing this has me getting all nostalgic. I can feel a session of bone spearing* coming on over the holidays, if I can just find the discs…

So that’s number five!  Check back in tomorrow for number four, as we count down to our game of the decade on New Years Eve!

* actually not a euphemism – though I love you all for going there you sick, perverted people