DIABLO
style is the substance: the pitch black delving; the glimmer and pop of gold and loot; the thousand pound ui; the incredible score; how it briefly abates as you go thru your surfacing routine in dreamy melancholy. identify. sell. repair. heal. purchase. the cadence of pillaging's still several notches below hyperspeed so you're still in and under and surrounded by space rather than vibrating above it, allowing atmosphere to build in ways the sequels could never match. this was the start of a brief window where blizzard were some of the best stylists in the medium, and they really came thru where they needed to most
it was a big hit, even with folks who didn't know or care what Rogue was Like cos they were too busy kissing boys or doing wheelies. walls of ascii and impenetrable graph paper labyrinths weren't just translated into something anyone could accessibly enjoy, but something anyone could enjoy with relatively low effort while carving thru thousands of enemies in real-time. unsurprising then that it also earned a minor reputation for being the kind of slop that was killing computer roleplaying from the same people who'd later go clinically insane when exposed to baldur's gate's rtwp combat. some say they're still insane to this day -- and this is verifiably true if you know where to look
for the most part the streamlining was a success, but at times it feels less transformative than mid-transformation due to glaring cavities in some spots and strange vestiges in others. in a bid to be more propulsive the floors don't respawn offline, but this largely mitigates any sense of longterm exploratory danger or attrition; you unlock shortcuts every few floors, but they're less practical than spending 200 gold on a scroll of town portal; there's ostensibly cursed gear, but it doesn't become cursed until you identify it (very courteous!!) and you can unequip it on a whim. elsewhere, while the itemization's rock solid and there's some basic character building, we're not yet at the point where build complexity and fiddly maths can meaningfully counterbalance mechanical simplicity; this is all skeleton, all the time
as result it shines most as a dungeon crawler during the learning period where you're still feeling out all the squirmy details and how to use them to your advantage: figuring out stuff like which shrines obliterate your warrior's mana pool until he's permanently hobbled, which enemies steal health permanently, and what equipment to leave unidentified. finding the best doorways to stand in on each floor isn't bad either, but trying to "solve" diablo like a weird little puzzle's considerably more interesting than what happens once it's solved
my favourite bit, however, is that blizzard north had the foresight to know that gamerpigs would love rooting around for loot so much that they had the quest givers just toss all your rewards directly on the floor. true visionary shit. this is why they were the best in the business