1997 - Diablo
I remember playing this on the basement computer at a young age and being mesmerized. In retrospect, this probably has a lot to do with my obsession with rogue-like/lites. I really love that shit. In fact leaves post
returns to post I stepped away from this to play a bit of Rogue Legacy 2 because that mood struck me as I was writing the post, which goes to show you how much that genre can just grab me by the neck. But, what's funny about me, a child, loving Diablo is the design intention. As a kid, I read the little guidebooks that came with games with zeal (we need to bring that shit back, unironically) and aside from information that's useful to playing the game, there was sometimes extra information. For example: Cloud in the original FFVII was 21 and Aerith was 22. That information was conveyed in the booklet that came with the game.
Diablo included a different sort of guidebook which also discussed the development and one thing that they talked about in this book was how the game was developed with the ideal audience of what we'd call a salaryman now; someone who works all day, is very tired when they come home and just wants to kind of cool off without expending too much effort or brainpower. Enter, Diablo. Running around and semi-mindlessly killing demons, skeletons, etc. is an exceptionally satisfying loop when you're tired and stuck at a dead-end job. So, what's funny to me in retrospect is this game really just clicking with my little brain at less than 14. What world could I be weary of that I just wanted to escape into killing monsters wantonly?
With the power of the internet, this game is even better because you can run around, kill demons, skeletons, etc. with your homies. Barquq and I played Torchwood a few times (an unabashed Diablo clone with a cartoony art style) and it slapped. We had a great time. I would absolutely do that shit again. It's much the same as Monster Hunter in that it's a lot of fun with friends, with the caveat that the loot drop is about a million times more satisfying, if somewhat troublesome, because there is so much loot to be collected.