Diablo (series)


Diablo is an action role-playing dungeon crawler video game series originally developed by Blizzard North and continued by Blizzard Entertainment after the original North studio shut down in 2005. The franchise is made up of the four main games: Diablo, Diablo II, Diablo III, and Diablo IV. Expansions include the third-party published Hellfire, which follows the first game; Lord of Destruction, published by Blizzard and released after the second game; Reaper of Souls, which follows the third game; and Vessel of Hatred and Lord of Hatred, which follow the fourth game. Additional content is provided through story elements explored in other types of media forms.

Background

The franchise is set in the dark fantasy world of Sanctuary, and its characters are primarily humans, angels, and various classes of demons and monsters. The first three games in the series take place in similar geographic areas, with several common areas including the town of Tristram and the region around Mount Arreat. Other notable settings include the High Heavens and the Burning Hells, two separate realms with ties to Sanctuary. The series primarily focuses on the ongoing conflict between the humans living in Sanctuary and the demon hordes who are led by Diablo, the series' overarching antagonist. The humans are occasionally aided by angels, notably the Archangel Tyrael.
The video game series' popularity and success has resulted in the publishing of several books relevant to the Diablo setting, covering a wide range of timelines of the universe. There are also comics that explore various stories within the world of Sanctuary.
As of April 8, 2020, the series has sold nearly 100 million copies worldwide.

Premise

The universe of Diablo is divided into three realms: the High Heavens, the Burning Hells, and the human world of Sanctuary. Ever since their creation, the angels of the High Heavens and the demons of the Burning Hells have been at war with one another. Sanctuary was created by rebel angels and demons tired of the war, with their first children being dubbed Nephalem. The descendants of the Nephalem are humanity, and become a focal point for both angels and demons who wish to influence them for their own goals due to sharing angelic and demonic heritage.
The series' title character and main antagonist is Diablo, the Lord of Terror. According to the backstory and lore provided by Blizzard Entertainment, Diablo functions as one of the seven Great Evils presiding over the Burning Hells. Diablo eventually becomes the Prime Evil after absorbing the six other Great Evils, including his two brothers: Baal, the Lord of Destruction, and Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred. Two key characters who oppose Diablo in the series are Deckard Cain, an elderly scholar and the last descendant of the original Horadrim who serves as the core narrator of lore in the first three Diablo games, and Tyrael, a member of the High Heavens' ruling Angiris Council who is sympathetic to humanity.
Due to the ending of Diablo II and the events of Diablo III, some humans begin awakening their Nephalem heritage. This awakening allows them to challenge the final Evils and eventually Diablo himself, after he manipulates events to become the Prime Evil. Though initially imprisoned, Diablo escapes and the Nephalem are perceived as a threat due to felling both angels and demons.
In Diablo IV, set 50 years after Diablo III, Lilith returns to reshape Sanctuary and stop the eternal conflict, with the protagonist the Wanderer traveling to stop her.

Games

''Diablo''

The setting of Diablo is the town of Tristram, the de facto capital of the Kingdom of Khanduras on the world of Sanctuary. The actual fighting takes place beneath the town in a maze of dungeons, catacombs, and caves that lead into the depths of Hell.
The plot of Diablo centers around a player character undertaking a series of quests to free Tristram from Hell-spawned evil, descending through twelve levels of dungeons into Hell itself, where the player battles the title character, Diablo, Lord of Terror—one of the seven "Evils", demon lords who once ruled Hell.
Diablo offers three character classes and the Hellfire expansion offers three more. Players can play as Warriors, Rogues, or Sorcerers. Each class has its own place in the game's history, and all three classes make appearances as non-player characters in the sequel. All three classes have the same general skills and access to the same spells. Each of them has a class-specific skill that has as many drawbacks as benefits, except for Trap Disarm.

''Hellfire''

Hellfire offers an additional character class: the Monk, in addition to two hidden character classes: the Barbarian and the Bard. The Monk fights best with staves or his bare hands and gains bonuses from wearing light or no armor. The Barbarian can wield two handed axes with only one hand but is entirely unable to cast spells throughout most of the game. The Bard is a character with relatively balanced statistics who can wield two single-handed weapons simultaneously. The Barbarian and the Bard can only be played using a file tweak, as they were unfinished. They utilize the art of the Warrior and Rogue, respectively, and have no lore. Additional quests and multiplayer capabilities are also unlockable through this simple tweak.
Hellfire added two new dungeon environments on top of the four in the original Diablo: the Nest and the Crypt. Each of these environments contains various new monsters to fight, but they contain no random quests or bosses and the generated levels contain no shrines or libraries. The final boss of Hellfire, Na-Krul, is found in the last level of the Sacred Crypt.
Hellfires development was done by Synergistic Software with help from Blizzard and published by Sierra.

''Diablo II''

At the end of the first game, a warrior tried to contain Diablo's soul within himself. The warrior was unable to do so, and, by the beginning of Diablo II, The Lord of Terror had taken control of the warrior's body and begun the process of freeing his two brothers, Mephisto and Baal. Players can choose from five distinct characters to control in their quest and explore the world of Sanctuary through four acts. At the end of each of the four acts, players face different devils, with Diablo at the end of the game.
The character classes in particular were received much better than the previous game's. Unlike its predecessor, Diablo II provides an explanation for each character class to pursue Diablo:
  • The oracles of the Amazons foretold that the final battle when mankind would at last be free of angelic and demonic manipulation was at hand.
  • The Barbarians also expect a "final battle", in which they would be key players in deciding the fate of the world.
  • The Necromancers determine that the Evils have grown too powerful and thus ally themselves with the forces of Light to restore balance to the world.
  • The Paladins, wracked with guilt over their actions during the Inquisition, seek justice upon Mephisto, the true cause of the bloody crusade.
  • The Sorceresses join the battle with their mighty spells to stop the corruption of magic by the Evils.
Characters from the previous game are also present in Diablo II. The Rogues are the hostesses of the player during Act I, and Sorcerers are seen regularly in Acts II and III. Unlike the original, each character has three distinct sets of skills/spells that they can use in the game. Several of the characters can also conjure magical minions, such as a Valkyrie or Skeletons and Golems. All players also have the option to hire a Rogue, a Warrior, or an Iron Wolf to accompany them and help slay monsters. These "hirelings" have a few of their own skills and can be a great benefit to the player.

''Lord of Destruction''

Blizzard released Diablo II: Lord of Destruction on June 29, 2001. In the expansion, set after the events of Diablo II, players seek to destroy Diablo's brother, Baal. The expansion includes a new act, new items, and two new character classes:
  • The Druids are descended from the Barbarians and have come out of hiding in preparation for the final battle between mankind and the Evils.
  • The Assassins have policed the mage-clans for centuries. Now, with news that Terror and Destruction roam free, the Assassins unleash their fury on Hell itself.
Barbarians can also be hired in the new Act. The summoned units of the expansion characters are called "minions". Hirelings can be resurrected in Lord of Destruction and can be equipped with armor and weapons.

''Diablo II: Resurrected''

Diablo II: Resurrected, a remaster of Diablo II which also includes the Lord of Destruction expansion, was released in 2021 for Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Nintendo Switch and will support cross-progression between the different platforms. The remaster includes updated graphics and rerendering of the game's cutscenes, and does not change any of its item systems or game balance..

''Diablo III''

Diablo III was announced at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational on June 28, 2008. Diablo III takes place 20 years after Diablo II.
Five character classes are present in Diablo III:
  • Barbarian: The only directly returning class is the Barbarian. The Barbarians have a variety of revamped skills at their disposal based on the use of their incredible physical prowess. The Barbarian is able to Whirlwind through crowds, cleave through swarms, leap across crags, and crush opponents upon landing.
  • Witch Doctor : The Witch Doctor is a new character reminiscent of the Diablo II Necromancer, but with skills more traditionally associated with voodoo culture. The Witch Doctor has the ability to summon monsters, cast curses, harvest souls, and hurl poisons and explosives at enemies.
  • Wizard: The Wizard is a version of the Sorceress from Diablo II or the Sorcerer from Diablo, though it is much more than a mere elementalist. The Wizard's abilities range from shooting lightning, fire, and ice at their enemies to slowing time and teleporting around enemies and through walls.
  • Monk: The Monk is a melee attacker, using martial arts to cripple foes, resist damage, deflect projectiles, attack with blinding speed, and land explosive killing blows.
  • Demon Hunter: The Demon Hunter is a ranged rogue class. It was the last class to be introduced, and specializes in ranged attacks, setting traps for enemies, and evasion skills.
The combat system was redone as well. Instead of the previous skill selection system used in Diablo II there is an action bar at the bottom of the screen. This change replaces the area where the potion-belt used to be in Diablo II. For the first time in the series, players are able to choose the gender of their characters upon creation. The gender of the characters affects only visuals and voices. Diablo IIIs release date was announced on March 15, 2012, and the game was released worldwide on May 15, 2012.