Are there any games like Diablo but not Diablo because Diablo?

yokonzo@lemmy.world to Games@lemmy.world – 233 points –
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It is a classic Roguelike

I get that Roguelike is basically a vaguely defined genre now, and though Torchlight 2 in a great game it's definitely not a "classic Roguelike".

Ok, is a Diablo-like a thing I can call it then? It's just such a specific type of game, the isometric top down view RPG with classes, customizable character leveling, randomly generated levels with area themes, randomized loot, a town hub and inventory etc. I've always heard those games called Rogue-likes but I never played Rogue.

It's an ARPG. Rogue-like has permadeath with random levels. Rogue-lite has permadeath with random levels but persistent unlocks and upgrades.

Also a roguelike is usually top down/isometric and tile based. Really not a ton of roguelikes these days, which is good as far as I'm concerned because roguelites are better.

Shattered Pixel Dungeon notwithstanding, of course.

Funnily enough, Diablo was originally a rogue-ish game inspired by the likes of NetHack. The engine was even (technically) turn based - there's a pretty cool anecdotes about how they made it real time over the course of a single weekend with some clever hacks.

I don't know if it was ever supposed to have permadeath outside of the hardcore difficulty setting though.