BYTES REVIEW | Diablo II, a masterpiece mixing terror, hatred and destruction

At the beginning of the new millennium, an epic game hit PC screens and players’ hands. Successor to the classic Diablo of 1996, the sequel comes to transform the face of RPGs and show us a more dense story full of emotion and adventure just at the click of a mouse.

Bringing new classes, new worlds and even the addition of multiplayer mode to play and test your skills against other players, Diablo II came to show that in the electronic world, evil has no end and can be more terrible and dangerous than you can imagine.

Evil is everywhere

The long-awaited sequel begins with the story of Marius, a traveler incarcerated in a hospice who is visited by a mysterious figure. In his delirium, the poor man claims to be the mighty archangel of justice, Tyrael, who comes in search of him.

The angel wonders if Marius knows the whereabouts of Soulstone (a magic stone capable of holding the essence or soul of a demon) from one of Diablo’s brothers, Baal, the lord of Destruction. Completely disturbed and sorry, Marius decides to tell his whole story and what it was like to end up there, begging Tyrael’s divine forgiveness.

Some time ago, smoking in a tavern during a cold winter night, Marius saw a mysterious traveler enter the place. Before long, bizarre beings and demonic apparitions began to spring up around the strange individual and the flames quickly consumed the establishment.

Escaping the danger and not knowing why, Marius decides to follow the traveler who is nothing more than Prince Aidan, the brave warrior who defeated Diablo in the previous game and sacrificed himself to contain the evil of the demon in himself, nailing Soulstone of the devil on his own forehead.

Now known as “the dark traveler”, Aidan carries destruction and death wherever he goes, as his soul is almost completely corrupted by the power of Diablo. He convinces Marius to help him on his journey to find Diablo’s brothers and, who knows, find a way to purify his tormented spirit. Little did the poor man know that he was just becoming a puppet in the terrifying plan of the Lord of Terror.

Devastating cities and summoning demonic hordes along the way, the two travelers make their way through distant lands and, it is up to our main hero, just arrived in the outskirts of the old town of Tristam, to follow in the footsteps of the “dark travelers” and end the evil which once again plagues the lands of the Sanctuary.

And just at that point, Diablo II becomes a more complex game, vast and richer in details than its predecessor, having four acts that take place in different lands visited along the plot: the warriors’ close to Tristam, the sands Lut Golhein, the Kurast marshes and Hell itself. And, to face this dangerous adventure, this time the player can choose between five different classes of heroes:

Amazon: skilled warrior from a distant clan rivaling the members of the Sisters of the Sightless Eye clan, who bears much resemblance to the warrior of Diablo I. Mastering her skills with the bow and arrow and the spear, she is a fantastic fighter who can cause a lot of headaches to your enemies with their special abilities that can weaken and weaken your opponents while enhancing their weapons and attacks.

• Paladin: blessed knight who masters the power of his sharp sword. Through his weapon he is able to fire sacred and devastating attacks, while using his faith to create offensive and defensive auras around him to block attacks or even freeze opponents around him. A great choice for players who don’t want to be changing skills at all times in combat and prefer the most direct attack.
• Necromancer: versatile wizard who masters the powers of death. Able to summon the dead and summon other creatures to fight alongside you during combat he can still unleash terrible curses on his enemies. In addition, it has devastating attacks with the power of poison and the strength of sharp bones. Highly recommended for beginners for having powerful attacks and being able to summon monsters to fight in their place while the player can stay at a distance by launching some attacks or just admiring the battle.
• Barbarian: fierce and powerful warrior who has the fury at his side to give him strength during combat. With attacks capable of knocking out groups of demons and screams that can scare even Diablo, the Barbarian still manages to carry a deadly weapon, like an ax, in each hand to enhance his blows. It is recommended for players who enjoy good combat and want to destroy hordes of creatures with just one attack.
• Sorceress: more powerful than any witch you have ever seen, the Sorceress is able to control and master three natural elements to destroy her enemies: ice, fire and lightning. However, if the player chooses, it is recommended that they focus on only one or two of these elements to develop skills and spells, since the sorceress can become very vulnerable against other types of attacks. Also, be prepared to always have a large stock of mana in your inventory, as your special abilities expend a lot of spiritual energy.

The game preserves all the characteristics of its predecessor, having several improvements in items, skills and challenges. The gameplay continues with its good old “point’n’click” and, to continue the story, the character needs to complete a series of missions in each act (some mandatory and others optional).

At the end of each act, the hero finds himself facing a very powerful demon, brother of Diablo, in a fierce battle in which it is necessary to fight carefully and strategically, using his best weapons and skills. With the addition of a powerful, yet simple, “skill tree” the player now has many options for distributing his skill points, choosing by hand which spells he wants to learn or improve.

In addition, to be able to move faster in this wide open world, the player can use waypoints that are activated in certain locations in each act, being able to teleport through them. Even so, the old Portals to the City scrolls are still there to help the hero in the time of suffocation.

For the more hard-hitting players, after ending Diablo’s race once again, in the depths of hell, new difficulty modes were unlocked. In the Nightmare, Hell and Hell levels, in addition to more powerful and resistant monsters, the player was penalized with loss of experience when he died in combat.

At least, the hard fights paid off, as at the higher levels, the dead monsters yielded unique rewards and rare items! A curiosity was that, once the game was over, if the player transmuted the poor boy Writ’s wooden leg with a Tome of Portal to the City with the Horadric Cube, a portal would open, taking the player to the secret level of the cow, or as it is known, Moo Moo Farm. In this place, full of valuable items and much more, the player had to face ferocious giant cows that attacked with scythes and spears! It was the most bizarre extra of Diablo II, but without a doubt the most fun.

The eternal battle between good and evil

Making what was good even better, in 2002 Blizzard released an expansion pack for the game, titled Lord of Destruction. The expansion concluded the story of Diablo II, with Baal’s final pursuit of the hero to the land of the barbarians, Harrogath, where the lord of destruction planned to invade Mount Arreat, a sacred site that held a vital item for balance between the worlds. of the Sanctuary, the heavens and hell: the Worldstone.

With the plan to corrupt the stone, Baal sends his demonic army to surround the city of the barbarians and prevent any enemy from interfering with his plans. It is up to our hero to cross the front line of the infernal army and cross icy caves to end Baal and save the world of men before it is too late.

In addition to completing the fantastic story started in Diablo II, the expansion brought several new features. The main one was the addition of two new classes of heroes: the assassin and the druid. The expansion also made it possible to switch weapons during the battle with the secondary equipment the character could carry.

Magic runes were added with the same functionality as jewels, which can be inserted into weapons and items, providing extra skills to the equipment. brief presentation of the two new hero classes.

• Assassin: skilled, agile and deadly warrior who masters the arts of the shadows and is able to plant the most ingenious traps to injure or neutralize her enemies. A great choice for players who enjoy strategy more at the time of combat and who also like to play Street Fighter on their enemies with the deadly martial arts blows that this warrior can deliver on her opponents.
• Druid: a powerful wizard who controls the elements and forces of nature and is able to transmute his body into bestial forms. The druid is one of the characters who has the widest range of spell and skill options to choose from. Very similar to the Necromancer, it is a good choice for novice players who want to enjoy a good experience and not die too much as he is able to summon vines that eat bodies, spirits and even wolves to fight by his side, while throwing a fireball or freezes your enemies.

Diablo II was such a successful game that, despite its fantastic sequel, Diablo III, being released last year, it still preserves its popularity among PC gamers. Blizzard continues to provide update and modification patches for the game, being version 1.13 the most recent of them.

Whether for the story, the surrounding climate, or simply the thrill of seeing your character evolve and become powerful while crushing endless hordes of demons, Diablo II is an RPG epic that, like the hatred of the Lord of Terror, will certainly never die.