The Diablo Series: The Blueprint for Hack-and-Slash Action RPGs
From the 1997 original to Diablo IV: the origins of Blizzard's Diablo series, how it plays, why it's a classic, and how to play the series today.
Diablo is an action role-playing game series in which you battle demons in the dark fantasy world of Sanctuary. The first game was developed by Blizzard North and published by Blizzard Entertainment, and after Blizzard North closed its doors in 2005, Blizzard Entertainment has carried the series forward.
Defeating monsters with mouse clicks and growing your character by picking the best gear out of a shower of loot is a formula this series popularized. In this post, we look at how the series began, what makes it fun, how each game differs, and which game is a good place to start today.
At a Glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Release | January 1997 (first game; some stores began selling it in late December 1996) |
| Developer | Blizzard North (Diablo and Diablo II), Blizzard Entertainment (Diablo III onward) |
| Platforms | Windows, Mac, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, mobile, and more (varies by game) |
| Genre | Action role-playing, dungeon crawler |
| Main games | Diablo, Diablo II, Diablo III, Diablo IV |
According to Blizzard, the series had sold about 100 million copies in total as of April 2020.
Origins
The series began with David Brevik. In 1993, he founded Condor Games with brothers Erich and Max Schaefer, whom he had worked with at a clip art company. At first they mainly did contract work porting other companies' games to consoles, but from the start Brevik had in mind a game that blended Dungeons & Dragons with the roguelike genre, especially Angband. The name "Diablo" came from his family home near Mount Diablo, outside San Francisco.
Brevik wanted players to get into the game much faster than in a typical RPG. Instead of complex character creation, you would simply pick one set class and start right away, and he greatly expanded the variety of items dropped by slain monsters.
At a 1994 trade show, he pitched the concept to several companies, but most turned it down on the grounds that RPGs were dead. The person he met there was Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham, and the relationship between the two companies grew until Condor became Blizzard North. Blizzard aimed for a late-1996 release but missed the schedule; the game began reaching stores in late December 1996 and was widely available by early January 1997.
How It Plays
The series' basic framework was almost fully formed in the first game.
- Town and dungeon: The first game is set in the town of Tristram. Starting in the cathedral beneath the town, the player descends through 16 randomly generated dungeon levels, ultimately facing Diablo, the Lord of Terror, in Hell.
- Random generation: Dungeon layouts and some quests change with every playthrough, so even playing the same game many times gives you a different experience each time.
- Item collection: Normal items are white, magic items are blue, and unique items are gold. Hunting for gear with better affixes is the core of the fun.
- Simple controls: Movement and attacks are mostly done with mouse clicks, while spells are cast with the keyboard.
- Co-op play: Up to four players could play together, and you could play with others over the internet through Battle.net, Blizzard's online service.
The first game had three classes: Warrior, Rogue (an archer), and Sorcerer. Later games gave each class its own skills and gear, and introduced skill trees that let players customize characters in finer detail.
Why It's a Classic
Diablo is highly regarded because it packed deep RPG elements into short, fast-paced action. A few clicks after entering a dungeon, combat begins, and every monster you defeat drops new items. The hope that "just a little more and better gear might drop" keeps pulling you into the next run.
Its sales back this up. The first game debuted at No. 1 on PC Data's US monthly sales chart in January 1997, and by around November of that year it had sold more than 1 million copies worldwide.
Diablo II, released in 2000, took the series a step further. It replaced the single vertically descending dungeon with a structure that let you roam widely across regions like deserts, jungles, Hell, and snowy mountains, and introduced skill trees influenced by Civilization-style games. It sold 184,000 copies on its first day and 1 million in two weeks, earning a Guinness World Record at the time as the "fastest-selling computer game." Of its 2000 sales, 33% came from outside the US, and the largest of those overseas markets was South Korea.
The Series and Its Influence
The main games in the series are as follows.
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Diablo | Dungeon beneath Tristram, three classes |
| 1997 | Diablo: Hellfire | Expansion by an outside developer, adds the Monk |
| 2000 | Diablo II | Four acts, class-specific skill trees |
| 2001 | Diablo II: Lord of Destruction | Expansion adding Act V |
| 2012 | Diablo III | Skill rune system, always-online requirement |
| 2014 | Diablo III: Reaper of Souls | Expansion adding the Crusader |
| 2021 | Diablo II: Resurrected | Remaster combining Diablo II and its expansion |
| 2022 | Diablo Immortal | Mobile-focused title made with NetEase |
| 2023 | Diablo IV | Open world, showdown with Lilith |
Diablo III sold more than 3.5 million copies in its first 24 hours, but its requirement to be online even when playing solo drew criticism. The "real-money auction house," where items were bought and sold for actual money, also closed in March 2014 after much controversy. Notably, the Korean version omitted the real-money auction house from the start due to gambling-related laws.
Diablo IV launched on June 5, 2023, and became the fastest-selling game in Blizzard's history. Its first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, came out in October 2024.
The series' influence can be seen across the whole genre known as "hack and slash." Its structure of randomly generated dungeons, color-coded item rarity, and characters that grow stronger the more you replay became the basic formula referenced by countless later action RPGs and "looter" games.
How to Play Today
Choose your entry point based on the experience you want.
- Modern graphics and ongoing updates: Diablo IV is the safest pick. It's available on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, and each season adds new rules and rewards.
- A taste of the classic: Diablo II: Resurrected keeps the original's item system and balance intact while refreshing only the graphics and cinematics. It's available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.
- Casually sampling different classes: Diablo III is easy to pick up, available not only on PC and Mac but also on multiple consoles and Nintendo Switch.
- On your phone: Diablo Immortal is available for iOS and Android.
- The original as it was: The first game went back on sale as a digital edition on GOG.com in 2019.
Whichever game you choose, a good way to experience what makes the series fun is to first follow the story and take one class all the way through, then try another class or a higher difficulty.