Games to Play While Waiting for Diablo III

Ok fine, so Blizzard recently implied that Diablo III won’t see a 2010 release. But it’s not the end of the world for us Diablo fanatics, as there are games out now that provide similar gameplay. None of the following are Diablo III, but from my experience, I think they’ll do a good job of keeping you busy, dungeon-hack-wise, until Blizzard finally completes the Diablo trilogy.

The Original Diablo

I’m not kidding. In some ways, the first Diablo provided a more compelling gameplay experience than Diablo II and its expansion, Lord of Destruction. There were limits: you couldn’t run, magic item generation depended only on the item’s prefix and suffix, and the sole setting were the abandoned catacombs underneath a church. But these limitations actually create a very weighty atmosphere, something that Diablo II honestly failed to retain.

Download the original demo here, and buy the complete game from Amazon here.

Sacred

Released way after Diablo II, Sacred was rightfully named a Diablo clone. Right down to the color-coding of items, Sacred also copied the Red is health and Blue is Mana archetype. But the game was still a blast to play, and the publisher was kind enough to make 2 more regions, along with new monsters, items, and quests available for free (Sacred Plus).

Buy Sacred here, then download Sacred Plus here.

Torchlight

Made by former Diablo level designers at Blizzard, Torchlight pretty much updates the Diablo template, relying on a mix of some tweaks and improved graphics to keep the gameplay relatively fresh. To be honest, I’ve yet to play Torchlight, but eager recommendations from gaming friends have piqued my interest, and $20 on Steam seems pretty reasonable. In any case, a demo is available here.

If you’re wondering why you should spend money while waiting for Diablo III, keep in mind that a year is a very long time! And if you’re like me, you’re tired of Diablo II’s sprawling yet seemingly unfocused settings, seemingly selfish item drops, and mindless left-clicking. To be honest that’s most likely because after playing a game for 8 years, you definitely want something different, yet strangely familiar.