| Diablo | |
|---|---|
 Original logo | |
| Genres | Action role-playing,hack and slash |
| Developers | |
| Publishers |
|
| Creator | David Brevik[1] |
| Platforms | Microsoft Windows,Classic Mac OS,macOS,PlayStation,PlayStation 3,PlayStation 4,Xbox 360,Xbox One,Nintendo Switch,PlayStation 5,Xbox Series X/S,Android,iOS |
| First release | Diablo December 31, 1996 |
| Latest release | Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred October 7, 2024 |
Diablo is anaction role-playingdungeon crawler video game series originally developed byBlizzard North and continued byBlizzard Entertainment after the original North studio shut down in 2005. The franchise is made up of the four main games:Diablo,Diablo II,Diablo III, andDiablo IV. Expansions include the third-party publishedHellfire, which follows the first game;Lord of Destruction, published by Blizzard and released after the second game;Reaper of Souls, which follows the third game; andVessel of Hatred, which follows the fourth game. Additional content is provided through story elements explored in other types of media forms.
The franchise is set in thedark fantasy world of Sanctuary, and its characters are primarily humans, angels, and various classes of demons and monsters. The first three games in the series take place in similar geographic areas, with several common areas including the town of Tristram and the region around Mount Arreat. Other notable settings include the High Heavens and the Burning Hells, two separate realms with ties to Sanctuary. The series primarily focuses on the ongoing conflict between the humans living in Sanctuary and the demon hordes who are led by Diablo, the series' overarching antagonist. The humans are occasionally aided by angels, notably the Archangel Tyrael.
The video game series' popularity and success has resulted in the publishing of several books relevant to theDiablo setting, covering a wide range of timelines of the universe.[2] There are also comics that explore various stories within the world of Sanctuary.
As of April 8, 2020, the series has sold nearly 100 million copies worldwide.[3]
The universe ofDiablo is divided into three realms: the High Heavens, the Burning Hells, and the human world of Sanctuary. Ever since their creation, the angels of the High Heavens and the demons of the Burning Hells have been at war with one another. Sanctuary was created by rebel angels and demons tired of the war, with their first children being dubbed Nephalem. The descendants of the Nephalem are humanity, and become a focal point for both angels and demons who wish to influence them for their own goals due to sharing angelic and demonic heritage.[4]
The series' title character and main antagonist is Diablo, the Lord of Terror. According to the backstory and lore provided by Blizzard Entertainment, Diablo functions as one of the seven Great Evils presiding over the Burning Hells. Diablo eventually becomes the Prime Evil after absorbing the six other Great Evils, including his two brothers: Baal, the Lord of Destruction, and Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred.[5] Two key characters who oppose Diablo in the series areDeckard Cain, an elderly scholar and the last descendant of the original Horadrim who serves as the core narrator of lore in the first threeDiablo games,[6][7] and Tyrael, a member of the High Heavens' ruling Angiris Council who is sympathetic to humanity.[4][8]
Due to the ending ofDiablo II and the events ofDiablo III, some humans begin awakening their Nephalem heritage.[4] This awakening allows them to challenge the final Evils and eventually Diablo himself, after he manipulates events to become the Prime Evil. Though initially imprisoned, Diablo escapes and the Nephalem are perceived as a threat due to felling both angels and demons.[9]
InDiablo IV, set 50 years afterDiablo III, Lilith returns to reshape Sanctuary and stop the eternal conflict, with the protagonist the Wanderer traveling to stop her.
| 1997 | Diablo |
|---|---|
| Diablo: Hellfire | |
| 1998–1999 | |
| 2000 | Diablo II |
| 2001 | Diablo II: Lord of Destruction |
| 2002–2011 | |
| 2012 | Diablo III |
| 2013 | |
| 2014 | Diablo III: Reaper of Souls |
| 2015–2016 | |
| 2017 | Diablo III: Rise of the Necromancer |
| 2018–2020 | |
| 2021 | Diablo II: Resurrected |
| 2022 | Diablo Immortal |
| 2023 | Diablo IV |
| 2024 | Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred |
The setting ofDiablo is the town of Tristram, thede facto capital of the Kingdom of Khanduras on the world of Sanctuary. The actual fighting takes place beneath the town in a maze of dungeons, catacombs, and caves that lead into the depths of Hell.
The plot ofDiablo centers around a player character undertaking a series of quests to free Tristram from Hell-spawned evil, descending through twelve levels of dungeons into Hell itself (the final four levels), where the player battles thetitle character, Diablo, Lord of Terror—one of the seven "Evils", demon lords who once ruled Hell.
Diablo offers three character classes and theHellfire expansion offers three more. Players can play as Warriors, Rogues (archers), or Sorcerers. Each class has its own place in the game's history, and all three classes make appearances asnon-player characters in the sequel. All three classes have the same general skills and access to the same spells. Each of them has a class-specific skill (Item Repair, Trap Disarm, and Staff Recharge, respectively) that has as many drawbacks as benefits, except for Trap Disarm.
Hellfire offers an additional character class: the Monk, in addition to two hidden character classes: the Barbarian and the Bard. The Monk fights best with staves or his bare hands and gains bonuses from wearing light or no armor. The Barbarian can wield two handed axes with only one hand but is entirely unable to cast spells throughout most of the game. The Bard is a character with relatively balanced statistics who can wield two single-handed weapons simultaneously. The Barbarian and the Bard can only be played using a file tweak, as they were unfinished. They utilize the art of the Warrior and Rogue, respectively, and have no lore. Additional quests and multiplayer capabilities (although not over Battle.net) are also unlockable through this simple tweak.
Hellfire added two new dungeon environments on top of the four in the originalDiablo: the Nest and the Crypt. Each of these environments contains various new monsters to fight, but they contain no random quests or bosses and the generated levels contain no shrines or libraries. The final boss of Hellfire, Na-Krul, is found in the last level of the Sacred Crypt.
Hellfire's development was done bySynergistic Software with help from Blizzard and published bySierra.
At the end of the first game, a warrior tried to contain Diablo's soul within himself. The warrior was unable to do so, and, by the beginning ofDiablo II, The Lord of Terror had taken control of the warrior's body and begun the process of freeing his two brothers, Mephisto and Baal. Players can choose from five distinct characters (seven when including the expansion) to control in their quest and explore the world of Sanctuary through four acts. At the end of each of the four acts, players face different devils, with Diablo at the end of the game.
The character classes in particular were received much better than the previous game's. Unlike its predecessor,Diablo II provides an explanation for each character class to pursue Diablo:
Characters from the previous game are also present inDiablo II. The Rogues (as NPCs) are the hostesses of the player during Act I, and Sorcerers are seen regularly in Acts II and III. Unlike the original, each character has three distinct sets of skills/spells that they can use in the game. Several of the characters can also conjure magical minions, such as a Valkyrie (Amazon) or Skeletons and Golems (Necromancer). All players also have the option to hire a Rogue (Act I), a Warrior (Act II), or an Iron Wolf (a type of melee Sorcerer, Act III) to accompany them and help slay monsters. These "hirelings" have a few of their own skills and can be a great benefit to the player.
Blizzard releasedDiablo II: Lord of Destruction on June 29, 2001. In the expansion, set after the events ofDiablo II, players seek to destroy Diablo's brother, Baal. The expansion includes a new act, new items, and two new character classes:
Barbarians can also be hired in the new Act. The summoned units of the expansion characters are called "minions". Hirelings can be resurrected in Lord of Destruction and can be equipped with armor and weapons.
Diablo II: Resurrected, aremaster ofDiablo II which also includes theLord of Destruction expansion, was released in 2021 for Windows,PlayStation 4,PlayStation 5,Xbox One,Xbox Series X and Series S, andNintendo Switch and will support cross-progression between the different platforms.[10] The remaster includes updated graphics and rerendering of the game's cutscenes, and does not change any of its item systems or game balance.[citation needed].
Diablo III was announced at theBlizzard Worldwide Invitational on June 28, 2008.Diablo III takes place 20 years afterDiablo II.[11]
Five character classes are present inDiablo III:
The combat system was redone as well. Instead of the previous skill selection system used inDiablo II there is an action bar at the bottom of the screen. This change replaces the area where the potion-belt used to be inDiablo II. For the first time in the series, players are able to choose the gender of their characters upon creation. The gender of the characters affects only visuals and voices.Diablo III's release date was announced on March 15, 2012, and the game was released worldwide on May 15, 2012.
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls is anexpansion pack forDiablo III. It was revealed atGamescom 2013.[17] It was developed for the PC and Mac versions ofDiablo III and released on March 25, 2014, for those platforms.Reaper of Souls has been ported to the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One consoles. TheDiablo III expansion includes a new character class, the Crusader, similar in style to the Paladin fromDiablo II.[18]
Diablo III: Rise of the Necromancer is a second expansion forDiablo III. It was announced atBlizzCon 2016.[19] It was released for the PC, Mac, and console versions ofDiablo III on June 27, 2017.[20] It introduces the Necromancer class, which prefers to strike from a distance, unleashing destruction from afar. The skeletal undead under their command overwhelm enemies before they have a chance to strike, and the horrific curses the necromancers employ cripple even the most resistant of demons. Necromancers can use their throngs of undead to create diversions, or to simply open a path for their master to escape to safety.[21]
Diablo Immortal is the fourth installment in theDiablo franchise, released as anMMOARPG foriOS andAndroid by Blizzard Entertainment andNetEase. It was announced duringBlizzCon 2018 and released on June 2, 2022. It takes place in between the events ofDiablo II: Lord of Destruction andDiablo III.[22]Diablo Immortal was met with a negative reception from fans upon announcement for its creation as a mobile game,[23][24][25] and upon its release for the use of microtransactions.[26][27][28][29]
A fourth title in the series was announced at BlizzCon 2019 and was released on June 5, 2023.[30]Diablo IV's first expansion pack,Vessel of Hatred, was released on October 7, 2024.[31]
Diablo Junior was the working title for a cancelled single-player-only prequel to the original game. It started development after the release ofDiablo II and was intended to be released onGame Boy Color and/orGame Boy Advance. The project was later moved to the originalGame Boy due to the system's higher install base.[32] It was planned to be released in three different cartridges in the style of thePokémon games, each featuring a different class from originalDiablo (warrior, rogue or sorcerer). The project was eventually scrapped due to high production costs.[33]
After the release ofReaper of Souls, a development team led by Josh Mosqueira began work on a game that would be similar toDark Souls, code-named Hades. The project was developed from 2014 to 2016 and featured an increase in difficulty and an over-the-shoulder, third-person perspective, rather than the isometric style of previousDiablo titles. The cancellation of Hades coincided with Mosqueira leaving Blizzard.[34]
The origin of the firstDiablo came fromDavid Brevik while at Condor Games around 1994. Brevik was heavily inspired by theroguelike genre with turn-based combat, but with simplified role-playing game elements and a more expansive loot system.[35][36] The nameDiablo was based onMount Diablo, which was where Brevik lived when he conceived the game idea.[36] Condor was working alongsideBlizzard Entertainment at the time on a separate title. Blizzard offered to help develop Brevik's idea as it shared concepts with their recentWarcraft: Orcs & Humans, but they strongly urged that Condor convert the game from turn-based to real-time combat, include multiplayer using Blizzard'sBattle.net platform, and removepermadeath.[37] Over the course of development, Blizzard acquired Condor Games, with Condor, located inSan Mateo, California, becomingBlizzard North while Blizzard's main offices inIrvine, California becameBlizzard South.Diablo was released in January 1997.[36]
Diablo was a top selling game in 1997 with over a million copies sold that year,[38] leading Blizzard to announce its sequel,Diablo II. The sequel, while retaining much of the same gameplay as the original title, used very little of the original code, and had no formal design approach.[39] Released in June 2000,Diablo II sold over 2 million copies within a month and a half of release,[40] and reached four million a year later.[41]
Work onDiablo III started in 2001 at Blizzard North, but around 2003, several key figures from Blizzard North, include Brevik and the studio's founders, Max and Erich Schaefer, left the company over a dispute withVivendi Games, the parent of Blizzard Entertainment.[42] While the remaining staff of Blizzard North continued to work on their version ofDiablo III, Blizzard closed down the studio in August 2005 and scrapped most of the work on the existingDiablo III title and restarted its development within its own teams. Even after restarting development,Diablo III had a protracted development, but eventually was released in May 2012. Its initial launch was met with some criticism for changes from the priorDiablo formula, as well as requiring players to be connected to the Internet to play, but over ongoing patches and updates, Blizzard has been said to have improved the game from this initial take.[43]
Maps for the in-game world are randomly generated in eachDiablo game, which increases thereplayability. Maps became larger and larger while the series evolved. Due to its procedurally generated maps andhack and slash nature,Diablo shares some similar mechanics as earlyroguelike games, though with real-time gameplay, graphics, and sound. It was in fact originally conceived and pitched to Blizzard as what amounted to a graphical roguelike.[44] The adventurer being based in a town above the dungeon and being able to use "scrolls of town portal" is a specific influence fromMoria.[44] The gameplay loop forDiablo games relies on a constant search for better weapons and armor, known as loot. Items are randomly generated and usually have many attributes assigned to them. As a video game series which developed aroundpoint and click gameplay mechanics, the mouse is traditionally used for moving and using abilities in PC versions ofDiablo video games.
Tales of Sanctuary by Phil Amara, Dave Land, and Francisco Ruiz Velasco is a comic book released on November 9, 2001, byDark Horse Comics. It features three stories:
In November 2011,DC Comics started producing a five-issue miniseries(Diablo III: Sword of Justice) byAaron Williams with art and covers by Joseph LaCroix.[45][46]
An animated series based onDiablo was in development after Netflix optioned the property from Blizzard in 2020,[47] but fell through after Blizzard sued Netflix over the "poaching" of Blizzard'schief financial officer, Spencer Neumann.[48][49]
Action figures for the Barbarian character class, the Unraveller monster, and the Diablo character were sold inBlizzard's online store and at retailers to complement the release ofDiablo II.[50]
An 18-inch collectible statue ofDiablo III's Barbarian class has been produced for sale bySideshow Collectibles.[51]
In 2015, Blizzard releasedHeroes of the Storm, acrossovermultiplayer online battle arena video game, in which players can control over 15 characters from theDiablo universe as playable heroes. All character classes fromDiablo III, popular classes fromDiablo II,[52] as well as notable characters from the franchise, including Deckard Cain, Diablo, Malthael, Mephisto, and Tyrael are represented within the game.[53]Heroes of the Storm features twoDiablo-themed battlegrounds, Battlefield of Eternity and Infernal Shrines.[54][55] Various soundtracks fromDiablo franchise, such asJungle (Act III) andAncients fromDiablo II, andReaper of Souls fromDiablo III, are present as background music in the game.[56]
Characters from the series have also appeared inWorld of Warcraft, amassively multiplayer online role-playing game created and developed by Blizzard set in theWarcraft universe, usually asEaster egg references or in-game "pet" companions. Examples include miniature versions of Diablo and Tyrael, a flying mount usable by the player character called Tyrael's Charger,[57] and acomposite character named Murkablo.[58]
| Game | GameRankings | Metacritic |
|---|---|---|
| Diablo | PC: 89%[59] PS: 80%[60] | PC: 94[61] |
| Diablo II | PC: 89%[62] | PC: 88[63] |
| Diablo III | PC: 88%[64] | PC: 88/100[65] PS3: 86/100[66] X360: 87/100[67] PS4: 90/100[68] XONE: 86/100[69] NS: 88/100[70] |
| Diablo II: Resurrected | NS: 78/100[71] PC: 80/100[72] PS5: 81/100[73] XSXS: 80/100[74] | |
| Diablo Immortal | iOS: 69/100[75] PC: 60/100[76] | |
| Diablo IV | PC: 87/100[77] PS5: 88/100[78] XSXS: 92/100[79] |
The games in theDiablo series on all release platforms have received generally favorable reviews from critics. BothDiablo andDiablo II areconsidered to be among the best video games of all time, and each entry in the series has been successful financially.Diablo II sold 4 million copies in the year it was released.Diablo III sold 3.5 million copies in the first day and 6.3 million copies in the first week.[80] Another 1.2 million copies were given to subscribers to Blizzard's Annual Pass service. TheDiablo III release was the fastest-selling PC game of all time.[81]
The title character of the franchise has been well received as its overarching antagonist.Time magazine namedDiablo the second most influential video game character of all time, calling the character "gaming's archetypal foozle, an illimitable damage sponge into which players pour a game's worth of tactical preparation, informed by scrupulous looting, savvy inventory juggling and ability streamlining".[82] Diablo placed #44 on a list of top 50 video game villains featured byGuinness World Records in 2013.[83]GamePro ranked Diablo #14 on its list of the most diabolical video game villains of all time, noting that he "corrupts the soul of the hero ofDiablo I in order to reincarnate inDiablo II ".[84]IGN ranked Diablo 74th in their list of "Top 100 Video Game Villains",[85] as well as their pick for the third best Blizzard character in a list published in 2017.[86]Complex staff ranked Diablo 7th in their list of the 50 coolest video game villains of all time, describing the character as the "epitome of all evil comes in the form of a giant red behemoth that resembles the classic image of Satan as portrayed in most Judeo-Christian imagery, and he's one bad muh."[87]
Other recurring characters in the series, such as Deckard Cain and Tyrael, have also been positively received. In 2016,Glixel staff ranked Tyrael the 39th most iconic video game character of the 21st century, and his unwavering opposition against the Prime Evils after they have been unwittingly released to be the character's most "iconic moment".[88]
In May 2021, Blizzard Entertainment commenced legal proceedings against Fox Media in a dispute over the trademark rights for the name "Diablo". Fox sought to register the name "Diablo" with theU.S. Patent and Trademark Office in an apparent effort to market merchandise relating to a character of the same name from the adult animated sitcomHouseBroken, which premiered on May 31, 2021. Blizzard's legal representatives sought to rebut Fox's application and argued in their filing that Fox's use of the term "Diablo" for theHouseBroken character is “likely to cause confusion or mistake or to deceive”.[89]
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