A full 23 years after the release of the RPG classics Diablo 2 and Baldur’s Gate 2, two offshoots of the popular series appear again in the same year. While both titles are technically role-playing games, they exemplify two completely different sub-forms of the genre. Where Baldur’s Gate ranks alongside Planescape Torment, Icewind Dale, and The Temple of Elemental Evil as classic RPGs that attempt to bring the gameplay of a pen and paper campaign to PC as elegantly as possible, Diablo is a different beast altogether. Diablo is about as much an RPG as Lethal Weapon is a story of a male friendship. While elements such as classes, levels, loot, abilities and a story are present, they are primarily at the service of the addictive action.
Nothing has changed to this day. If anything, isometric action RPGs and CRPGs have drifted apart rather than merging. The new Baldur’s Gate touts a massive story, multiple quest walkthroughs, and complex character development as the Diablo series has evolved towards an MMO. Lots of loot, prestige levels, multiplayer focus and live service model should provide the audience with new endgame stuff for months and years. The story is just the beginning, for many fans the actual game begins after that. Genre colleagues like Lost Ark or Path of Exile also have this claim.
In search of the hack and slash RPG
Of course, that’s all fine too. Both series have developed in a certain direction and cater to different target groups. I’ve always been more “Team Diablo” myself when it comes to gameplay because I like action-packed combat, but on many CRPGs I agonize through combat and character development and enjoy creating and defining my in-game personality and its role in the story.
But with the best will in the world I can’t explain why there is still no isometric action RPG that meaningfully connects these two worlds. Of course there were early attempts to tailor a CRPG to Diablo, such as in the case of Larian Studios’ Divine Divinity. And Dungeon Siege can also be seen as a hybrid attempt, but only with various gameplay elements such as the loot and combat system. Again, there are no choices for the main character.
For the first time in Diablo 4, we can customize our character visually.
Source: PC games
In the field of indie games, the Iso-RPG Death Trash is strongly based on the first two Fallout titles, but uses the combat mechanics of two stick shooters with a pinch of dark souls rolling around. The isometric stealth RPG Weird West also goes in a similar direction. But this only has something to do with Diablo in the remotest sense.
Also interesting: Buyer’s Guide: You Must Play These 10 Action RPGs!
The closest thing I can imagine is probably the forgotten fantasy ARPG Siege of Avalon, which released in July 2000 right between Baldur’s Gate 2 and Diablo 2, but went into a complete financial bath.
Until Diablo 4 (buy now €79.99 ) Beta I had already given up hope that at some point a jolt would go through the genre and someone would come up with the idea of the simple and satisfying Combine Diablo’s combat system with a meaningful story, the course of which we can ideally shape ourselves. At least Diablo 4 has a character editor and even cutscenes and dialogues set to music with our own character. The open world also makes the game feel a little less like a collection of arenas and more like an actual place to visit.
Of course, hope doesn’t mean that I think Blizzard will suddenly shift the franchise’s focus to storytelling and major decisions in the future. The train has long since left and arrived at the MMO station. But at least there is an attempt in Diablo 4 to give the story a little more weight. Maybe that inspires one or the other studio to start their own attempt at a hack-and-slash RPG. Its success does not have to be measured by how many years later players are still investing money in cosmetic items and expansion packs. There are already plenty of action RPGs with compelling stories, far-reaching decisions, lots of loot and deep character relationships. Only with hack-and-slays is development always carried out according to the same tried-and-tested scheme.
Continue on page 2.
