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With Diablo being part of Game Pass, you have an opportunity to play one of the neatest bite-sized ARPGs ever. Sometimes, it gets overshadowed by Diablo 2; I mean, the sequel got a remaster before the original, but it isn’t any less loved by those of us who’ve played it. Although the game is pushing 30, it still has some serious teeth in terms of gameplay and atmosphere. You’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t give it a try.
Gameplay Still Holds Up Today
Any time I see someone on social media ask whether they should give Diablo a try, there will inevitably be a comment like “It’s a bit outdated, but yes.” I can’t express how much I disagree with that statement. Diablo isn’t outdated—it’s limited.
Compared to Diablo 2, Diablo 1 has a very different feel to it. D2 feels like a true power fantasy, whereas Diablo often feels like it’s borderline survival. There aren’t as many classes, items, or builds, and combat and movement are as slow as a snail compared to Diablo 4.
The game is built around those limitations. What you equip is more about what will help you survive as opposed to building a character around a handful of abilities, like you would in Diablo 4. And more than anything, positioning is essential.
The Atmosphere is Tense and Sinister
To give you an idea of how good Diablo’s atmosphere is, it’s somewhere in my personal top 20 games with the best vibes. It’s certainly dark fantasy, but it oozes gothic horror, and it’s all in presentation.
Just give the soundtrack a listen, disconnected from the game. You get a sense of some evil force growing in power and this sinister vibe. The music is as much a character as the game itself, like Tristam’s moody theme and the nightmarish tune of hell itself.
Oh, and the sound design and ambiance! With your light radius being as small as it is, you have to rely on sound, too. Enemy callouts are so distinct that I know what’s coming just by their feral sounds before my light even reveals their hideous nature.
What really ties everything together, the sense of dread and the need to survive, is the gameplay, which is beautifully tied in with how the game feels to play.
Diablo is Short and Sweet
Look, I’m all for content updates; I love getting more out of a game I already paid for. But you know what? Most of the time, I want a game with a beginning, middle, and end. You can knock out Diablo in about 10 hours or so, and if you really want to, you can play the Hellfire expansion.
That’s not to say Diablo doesn’t have replay value—it totally does—but you’re not going to play it like you would Diablo 4 and its seasonal updates.
I recommend playing Diablo at least once, just to experience the atmosphere, the semi-survival ARPG gameplay, and the music. If you really need more after that, you can always install mods, like Hell 3. I promise you won’t be disappointed with Diablo. If you have Game Pass, what are you really losing?
