It's often difficult to go back to older games, especially as technology and design philosophies advance so rapidly. After playing a modern installment in a series, revisiting earlier entries can feel disorienting, disappointing, or even challenging. However, there are still good reasons to embrace these classic titles, and one such game is currently available on Xbox Game Pass.
The influence of Diablo cannot be overstated. Released in January 1997, the isometric dungeon crawler quickly became a massive hit, selling over a million copies within the first year. Critics loved it, and the game regularly appears on "best of all-time" lists. The Diablo series has since become the benchmark for action RPGs, setting the standard for many games that followed.
However, returning to the original Diablo after playing a game like Diablo 4 can be quite a jarring experience. The series, which has evolved into a high-speed, chaos-filled spectacle of exploding demons, started much more slowly. While modern entries have streamlined the process, turning your character into a relentless force of destruction, the first Diablo feels more deliberate — and, in many ways, far scarier.
I can’t say how many hours I spent playing Diablo as a child, but it was certainly one of the games that held my attention, alongside Oddworld and the early Warcraft titles. What stands out most about Diablo isn’t any specific dungeon or monster (since the game’s dungeons were randomly generated), but rather the haunting town of Tristram. Despite its simple, low-fi design, the dark and foreboding atmosphere of this village left a lasting impression, setting it apart from other games of the era.
Diablo was also one of my first experiences with online play. Back when online multiplayer was still in its infancy, Diablo was a wild, almost lawless environment. Cheating was rampant, and encountering absurdly overpowered player characters was just part of the game. But it was also an opportunity to team up with more helpful players and battle the horrors lurking beneath the cathedral — and, in some cases, learn a few helpful item duplication tricks to level the playing field.
Today, Diablo feels different. The novelty of playing with strangers online is no longer unique, and the action RPG genre is now so saturated that much of what Diablo introduced seems familiar. The demon-infested dungeons no longer evoke the same fear, and the action is undoubtedly less intense than what you find in the many games that have followed in Diablo’s wake.
Yet, there’s still something magical about Diablo. With far less complexity than its modern successors, it offers a simpler experience, with a story that mostly takes a backseat to the core gameplay of demon-slaying. More than two decades later, Diablo’s gothic atmosphere remains unmatched. While Diablo 4 goes for in-your-face horror and relentless action, the original Diablo exudes a subtler, creeping dread that lingers throughout its doomed setting. Diablo may not have the same mind-blowing impact it had when it first released, but firing it up still brings back some of that sense of otherworldly terror that helped define it as a classic and launch one of gaming’s most iconic franchises.

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