With the passage of time, I find Diablo something of an oddity: It was a huge hit in it's day but now no one seems to talk about it a lot. Okay so maybe the game has, in the years since, been surpassed by many RPGs, and Blizzard have made other games, but I still believe this is more to this franchise than it's most recent iteration.
I first played Diablo in 2002 - where I got my copy of a friend. I was to reluctant to play it at first (largely because I knew of the big twist that happens at the end of the game) but within time, I played Diablo all the way to the end (with both the Rogue and the Warrior) and it was quite enjoyable. As an action RPG it was a lot of fun but in the terms of atmosphere and art direction, the game was unbeatable. It was indeed engaging to have this mood of dread creeping throughout the game - the type that no other game has done since (with the possible exception of Eversion).
In fact maybe that's what I got the most out of the first Diablo: It does Dark Fantasy really well. These days Dark Fantasy seems to be a tag used to describe fantasy set in less-than glorious settings (ie Dragon Age and Game of Thrones). But I however subscribe to the traditional description of Dark Fantasy in that it's the combination between the genres of fantasy and horror. And it's that niche that Diablo fills nicely. It's not just slaughtering demonic enemies and slowly descending into Hell: It is, again, the atmosphere. It is the increasing discomfort that resonates the further progression is made. It is, again, that feeling of dread that drips throughout the game itself.
But really, the strengths of Diablo as a Dark Fantasy is best viewed through the intro:
Original video located here. Accessed 11th December 2015
To me this is Dark Fantasy done right: The ruined buildings, the use of shadows, the foreboding music, the monsters all accumulating to the scream at the end. Indeed, one can't not deny just how being constantly returned to that sword in the ground suddenly comes across as unsettling. Amazing how this intro is still compelling nearly twenty years later.
In fact i can just point tot that intro and say: "That's Dark Fantasy".
Which in turn makes me wonder why no one has ever done anything to match it. Sure anyone can use Dark Fantasy to describe certain fantasy settings but Diablo truly feels like a game that walks the walk. Perhaps no one has bothered to try an match it: because the first Diablo game it so well.
So have I bothered with the other Diablo games? No I haven't. I will admit that the afore-mentioned twist at the end of Diablo left me feeling cheated of victory that it was enough to put me off further explorations in the series. It may sound petty but I don't know: I spent all this time with this character so having them befall the fate that was handed to them does indeed feel like a rip off. But then again, maybe that is part and parcel of a Dark Fantasy.
I will admit that it would've been a cool idea to have the stats of the PC in Diablo being imported over into Diablo 2 (like in Mass Effect) but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Still, you can't say that the trailer to Diablo 2 broke from the Dark Fantasy template:
Original video located here. Accessed 11th December 2015
"....There's something dark within me now..."
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