Diablo 3

Much like Diablo and Diablo II, Diablo III is an action role-playing game with fast-paced real-time combat and an isometric graphics engine. The game utilizes classic dark fantasy elements and players assume the role of a heroic character charged with saving the world of Sanctuary from the forces of Hell. Many role-playing elements are present, such as choosing a character class, gaining experience and leveling up, and acquiring more powerful equipment.

The quality and attributes of equipment are randomized. In addition to base stats (such as damage and attack speed for weapons or armor points on armor) higher-quality items have additional properties such as extra damage, attribute bonuses, bonuses to critical hit chance, or sockets, which allow items to be upgraded with a gem. Magic-quality items have up to three random properties, rare-quality items have up to six, and legendary-quality items typically have up to eight with varying degrees of randomness. Set items are a subtype of legendary items which provide additional, cumulative bonuses if multiple items from the same set are equipped at once. Higher level monsters tend to drop higher level items, which tend to have higher base stats and bonuses.

The game takes place in Sanctuary, the dark fantasy world of the Diablo series, twenty years after the events of Diablo II. Deckard Cain and his ward Leah are in Tristram Cathedral (the same cathedral that was the setting of Diablo) investigating ancient texts regarding an ominous prophecy. A mysterious star falling from the sky strikes the cathedral, creating a deep crater into which Deckard Cain disappears.

Act I

Development on Diablo III began in 2001 when Blizzard North was still in operation, and the game was announced on June 28, 2008, at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris, France. The original artistic design differed from that shown at Blizzard Worldwide Invitational 2008 demonstration, and had undergone three revisions before reaching the standards felt necessary by the team behind Diablo III. It was announced that the game would be simultaneously released on both Windows and macOS platforms, and would require a constant internet connection to play, even for single-player mode.

The proprietary engine incorporates Blizzard's custom in-house physics, a change from the original usage of Havok's physics engine, and features destructible environments with an in-game damage effect.

Diablo III received "generally positive reviews" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.

GamesRadar+ was positive about the game's opening act and its nods to past Diablo games saying "we liked what we saw". IGN was positive about the new skill system stating "Instead of gameplay like Diablo II, where I often regretted how I allotted my ability points, Diablo III encourages experimentation and finding out exactly what works for your play-style. It's a vastly superior way to handle character abilities", and praised the overall gameplay, stating "the new systems really do make it a lot easier to enjoy Diablo III". IGN further praised the game's new gameplay design, in particular the rune and loot systems, the randomly generated levels and the game's enjoyable unpredictability. It stated the game's feel is quite intuitive and also praised the game's sound and voicing.