The World of Forgotten Diablo Clones

[@austineruption]

Download GameMaker for free and start today: opr.as/GM-AustinEruption What are some neat Diablo Clones I missed? IF YOU CAN'T TELL I tried my best to get as many as I could, but maybe even nearly 40 minutes isn't enough. We're working hard over here. I hope you enjoyed this video! Probably be 2ish weeks before the next one as I wanna get some Soul Hackers 2 time in but until then, PLEASE enjoy this! HUGE

[@guerillagrueplays6301]

I don't know how GOOD it'd be considered... but there's always Space Hack. It's one of those 3D clones that don't quite work, but hey, it's sci fi, so. Also? Realms of Ancient War (RAW.) It's got its charms, but generally (what I played of it) lacked the depth of Diablo games. Veering off the path a bit more, but having a gameplay feel that still falls right in with the Diablo games... Magicka. No levelling, rando spells, but the world exploration and fights with enemies have the right flare to them, and the story... well, the story.

[@guerillagrueplays6301]

Also... would Dungeon Siege count?

[@Gatesphere]

Siege of Avalon is a pretty interesting PC title from the post-D2 era.

[@Akuretaki_Nikolay]

Nox > diablo, learn it pssy

[@Maioly]

Well, I do have some weird recommendations in that regard: 1) Xanadu Next: from the same people behind trails in the sky and the Ys series; A very fun ARPG with a neat card system and a good story and setting (and some gorgeous art), just... dont get it confused with the sequel in name only 'Tokyo Xanadu' 2) Grim Dawn: An absolutely MASSIVE even more gothic horror ARPG that still seems to be getting expansions and stuff; Basically a spiritual sequel to Titan quest in how it feels and plays; Insanely fun and addicting, but also FUCKING MASSIVE; I have legitimately played this game for over 90 hours and I dont think I've even reached the halfway point yet... though to be fair I did get sidetracked making new builds (as, like with titan quest, you get to pick two different classes to form your final one). 3) Ending off with the more complicated one - The Dev Soldak Entertaiment mostly makes diablo clones with twists on it; Like Din's curse or its sequel, where you are basically someone trying to earn their redemption by serving the titular god. With the gimmick of it all being procedurally generated dungeons with timed objectives, reputations, people in the towns can die, etc... I really fail at explaining it properly but they can actually be really fun (if difficult); Specially since you can technically create your own class by mixing elements of others... again its complicated (and at times infuriating). They also made Zombasite; which is diablo zombie survival in a fantasy world, where you lead your own clan of survivors, having to deal with their needs, personalities, etc; As well as diplomacy and trade with other clans. And even before that, Depths of Peril, which is like the prototype for Zombasite, but with a more tribal clan focus. Oh, and (unrelated to diablo clones) they also made the two Drox Operative games, which are basically like: "What if you were playing a singular pilot/mercenary/unit inside a galaxy spanning grands strategy game." So basically you being a singular entity inside a game of stellaris or (on a smaller scale) sins of a solar empire... I was going to recommend the second and fourth entries of the Skautfold series here... but they fit more into metroidvania and souls/sekiro like respectively, in retrospect.

[@AlexTenThousand]

Coolest bit about Sacred 2: there's a whole sidequest about helping Blind Guardian retrieve their instruments for a concert, AND you get to watch the concert as a reward, with them playing Sacred Worlds.

[@vahlok1426]

Not to mention, you get their weaponized instruments as a quest reward. Nothing like chopping a dragon up with a guitar that is also a flaming battle axe.

[@CysmaWinheim]

I'm suddenly reminded of a shmup game called Jets N Guns 2, which had a level set during a Machinae Supremacy concert.

[@killingtimeonline]

I actually got a copy from my friend a while ago because the concert mentioned on the back. I just had to know

[@thatguymatt5816]

No the coolest bit is your meta bee avatar 💪🏽

[@That_one_guy_with_a_beard]

For this alone i want to play this game.

[@viktorepifanov7138]

Grim Dawn is one of my favorite diablo style games out there, it's insanely good

[@VViatro]

with expansions I agree and combinations of classes like necromancer with shaman can become ritualist or mixed with occultist can become cabalist is really cool

[@Aliens1337]

GD is good but the combat is too slow for my taste. If you are used to the speed of endgame PoE or D3, GD combat just feels sluggish.

[@muhrichard8634]

Grim Dawn is imo the best Diablo game ever, hands down

[@emilymcpherson6564]

straight up the best ARPG out there imo. nothing compares

[@cthubol6824]

picked up the base game recently and i love it, got me what i was missing in d3 or was to convoluted in poe

[@NegValhalla]

Also worth noting: Sacred 2 had a cameo from my absolute favorite band of all time: Blind Guardian, complete with quest and in-game concert.

[@ghaleon1103]

War, it's now or never We must stand together One by one This world is sacred!

[@666magic]

Fucking loved it...

[@fieryfurnace2818]

adventure quest also had a Korn event too

[@Zen17h]

Darkstone was surprisingly deep for it's time due to also being based on mechanics from much older turn based dungeon crawlers - your character not only needed food but also aged and getting too old meant their stats would start dropping and they'd eventually die(there was a quest to find the fountain of youth and you only really needed to do it around once every 3 complete playthroughs). Each character had a unique skill like foraging for food for a fighter and repair items, wizards can cast identify and the sorceress could turn into a werewolf that switched your strength and magic stats(I never figured out how to make it good). I recall my Wizard character being a typical caster until finding a magic staff that launched magic missiles on hit - since he had the skill maxed out these missiles were extremely powerful and launch in every direction, guaranteeing at least 3-4 hits on the enemy and everyone around as well. Also played Sacred a ton but most of that just involved exploring the map and killing dragons for lots of good loot. Tried playing Sacred 2 but my PC at the time was under the requirements. I kept encountering a 'bug' where if there were too many enemies on screen, any damage I did to them would not register at all while any damage they do to me would always register

[@TiMSKiii]

"its like doom but for rpgs" lmaoooooooo so spot on idk why i never thought of it that way before

[@craigh5236]

Diablo 2 always will have a special place in my heart. Back in 2001 while playing in my guild I met my future wife. I moved across the ocean to be with her.

[@EzEcro]

That is very cool

[@TravisSmith-sg8rw]

In the game or real life?

[@ccxfrank109]

wow epic story yo! d2 for lifeeeeeeee

[@syafiqjabar]

Another cool thing about Nox is each of the classes having different paths through the game with several overlapping areas.

[@theaverageviewer6331]

Nox was an absolute treat to play. I still replay it every few years.

[@NostraDavid2]

Having different (though SOME overlapping) maps for each class was great because it gave you differing views of the game's world was GREAT! I also preferred the superior controls of Nox over other clones or even the original. I'm just sad the game isn't legally available and the rights are lost to limbo (AFAIK).

[@Imman1s]

Agree. He went too quickly over it and didn't explain some of the most unique game mechanics, like mana regeneration, magic casting and that you can only loot the equipment the enemies are using. Not to mention that as you level up you become stronger, but you never get to superhuman status and you need to keep in your toes the entire game or you get ** up fairly quickly. All in all, I consider Nox to be an original Diablo competitor, not a clone at all.

[@Blackvolttage]

Nox was really great. The movement is so fluid, holding up even to this day. I always found it funny how they make the dificulty of wizard so much higher than everything else. (Minor spoiler but...) as conjurer everyone helps you, as warrior you warrior friends help you but the wizards want to kill you. As a wizard the warriors want to kill you and when you go back to the wizard city... yeah, go straight to hell.

[@diobrando89]

Nox was really great

[@marcellosilva9286]

​@@NostraDavid2Nox is on GoG, what are you talking about

[@Soonjai]

Before watching this, I want to say that "Throne of Darkness" is by far my favorite Diablo Clone. It´s a PC game set in Feudal Japan where you control a group of characters with individual skills and you can swap everyone in and out at every point. Not the easiest game around, but tons of fun.

[@hephesto555666]

First game that came to mind and definitely one that complete went under the radar. The same goes for Harbinger, games that really added to the genre but just came and went without much attention.

[@dragoneye6229]

I actually bought Throne of Darkness as a teen and loved that game. You had seven samurai that you had to collect from the castle you started in but if you saved them you could swap to them. That game was lit. Loved the magic in it as well, one of the few diablo clones that doesn't have lackluster skill and spell effects.

[@jakestocker4854]

Nevermind I found it. Looks pretty interesting and on sale for $3.59 cents. To the backlog it goes.

[@Oroo420]

Haven't tried Harbingee mentioned in the replies but yeah bud, I loved Throne of Darkness. Very underrated and expanded on a lot of the ideas Diablo put out there. I don't remember anything about the game in a negative light.

[@Idhart]

Made by Sierra, and still unplayable on all of my current PC’s to date. Love that game forever. Lol

[@BenOlsberg1995]

Man, I sunk countless hours into Fate growing up. I was obsessed with those games to the point where I even started drawing comics based on experiences I had while playing as my own characters. The Fate games, derivative as they may be, were a great time and I genuinely loved them.

[@Uberphish]

My older sister and I played the HELL out of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, and to a lesser extent the second one, but when we discovered Champion of Norrath, we literally tracked down a store selling a multitap, spent even longer finding the sequel, and dragged our two other sisters in to play a full squad. Just an INCREDIBLE pair of games... We've got a lot of memories of spending hours in front of a TV with one of those huge, bear-shaped tubs of animal crackers to split between us, and there are a few family running jokes from those times that survive to this day.

[@wallpaper4237]

Still looking for a game that can scratch my Champions of Norrath itch.

[@user-bk3cp7kk1c]

​@@wallpaper4237 been searching for years

[@njnjco]

I loved Divine Divinity. I made a fort out of boxes, rocks, and whatever else I could pick up. My own kingdom of trash. If it wasn't nailed down, it went to the fort. I kept one of my teleport pyramid things there so I could go back at any time. There are a surprising amount of things you could pick up and take with you. I had tons of storage and even a functioning bed. You name it, I probably had 10 o em in the fort.

[@ichbinfranke5152]

all the little easter eggs and mini cinematics were a treat. Plus the size of the map was pure bliss... Loved loved loved that game.

[@douglashague2355]

I just picked up all the old divinity games on the steam sale for like 2bucks, now im excited to try it out.

[@chrisgee8441]

Gotta brag about this whenever I can. My dad was the project lead for xmen legends. He lived at Raven during crunch time, but all that work clearly payed off. Started such a cool domino effect. I'd love to see Raven get back to making their own games. Here's hoping the Heretic universe comes back!!!

[@johannesstephanusroos4969]

paid*

[@therealdoc]

@@johannesstephanusroos4969 L + ratio

[@lucrative6477]

@@therealdoc cringe

[@Houdm]

Please stop lying

[@SweetMeatTM]

@@Houdm the wiki says the director is robert gee, also weird thing to lie about so i’m gonna believe him 😂 great game btw, so nostalgic

[@jamesgoddard8375]

One of my favourite Diablo clones back in the day was Dungeon siege, I'm surprised you didn't mention it given how popular it was

[@dominicmarucci7642]

I was going to reply with this too. I had tons of fun with 1 and 2. I had tried playing them a couple of years ago though, but they haven't aged so well.

[@josejohn9478]

Yeah I found it at a Dollar General for like 5$ on PC and it was actually really good and still ran great on my old computer. I was super surprised a Dollar Store pick up actually turned out to be a great game.

[@robjones8733]

Oh yeah, wife and I had a blast playing LAN and going through the chicken dungeon. Fun stuff!

[@BethesdaModder]

I liked Dungeon Siege 3 on Xbox, the fire elemental was an interesting class

[@midgetsparkle]

Dude. Dungeon siege 2 was my jam... Even loved the psp outing... God damn, I would play to collect all those items sets... I miss that Gas Powered Games logo so much....

[@TheSunnyOne]

The Van Helsing games on Steam are absolutely worth checking out. And thankyou for showing off Champions of Norrath! I played the demo years ago, but never got to play it and then forgot the name! I've now noted it down so I don't forget again 💝

[@chrisbfreelance]

I played VH 3 I think and it was atrocious, the other games though are great fun.

[@chillhour6155]

First one's the best, but yeah overall it's an underrated series

[@morkgin2459]

What about the DMC one?

[@SpecShadow]

@@chrisbfreelance which makes the Final Cut (combines all 3 games into one) worse than playing VH1 and VH2 separately. They're also rather short games too...

[@raycearcher5794]

I remember having a lot of fun with the Dungeon Siege franchise. Inquisitor: Martyr is a hoot if you like 40k, but it suffers from EXTREME padding. Ascent is a good D-Clone with really solid cover-shooting mechanics, but it doesn't have random items or classes so once you've finished it once, there's little incentive to go back.

[@AntiTrollable]

Dungeon siege 1 was the best, I loved the leveling of skills based on whether you use them and the squad mechanic. I'm surprised this hasn't been developed more as a mechanic especially with improvements in a.i.

[@majorgear1021]

I’d trade my firstborn to play Dungeon Siege 1 MP again.

[@ethanwasme4307]

Dungeon siege or morrowind was my first video game, fond memories

[@ethanwasme4307]

I loved the biomes and setting, DS2 felt too fantasy

[@LORDOFDORKNESS42]

Jay, Nox! So dang underrated. The line-of-sight system alone is still so fresh & unique.

[@Akuretaki_Nikolay]

yes nox is life, best game and im best player.

[@JoeticJustice]

Hey someone said it before me!

[@MadaraUchiha-bt4hg]

Now was the first game I completed

[@_kyuzi]

nox is such a gem

[@rorschach775]

I remember I went to the store to buy diablo 2 but I wasn't old enough so the guy recommended Nox to me and it is to this day one of my favorite games. Way better than Diablo if you ask me. I feel like the combat hasn't been improved on until Hades and the PvP is still way ahead of any MOBA. Plus the magic aesthetic, that steam punk but replace steam with gears and sparkles is absolutely beautiful. It has the whimsy of Harry Potter but feels more logical and grounded in reality. Such a perfect game. Been hoping someone picks up that franchise for years.

[@oscarpinillacastro5893]

VICTOR VRAN is worth every body's time. A hidden gem for the ages.

[@br000ly]

The english version of sacred still had the german goblins. They say stuff like: Reißt ihm den Kopf ab ich brauch einen neuen Aschenbescher! Basically means rip his head off i need a new ashtray. The german voice cast for the playable characters where voice actors who voiced famous US actors, like the gladiator was voiced by the german voice of Brucr Willis, he even references the yippee ki yay sometimes when he kills an enemy.

[@SuperMunchkin43]

The voicelines of the Sacred-Goblins are classic. Whenever boots come up in any conversation with my brother, either of us will quote the "Stiefel!" line.

[@br000ly]

@@SuperMunchkin43 i can totally relate! I still quote that with friends of mine as well to this day! Hehe

[@catherine_404]

Diablo was made in 1996. I remember it as one of the first games I played. Like, among the second dozen. I absolutely loved it. The main difference as I see it, there is no farming. You clean a level, and it's empty forever. Your items perish. You resources are finite. So if you fail your planning during the game, you are less and less likely to succeed later. Compared to that Diablo II was a walk in the park.

[@dylangladysz]

How funny is it that I've played Fate, Sacred, Dark Stone, Dark Alliance 1 & 2, Champions of Norrath and Return to Arms, X-Men Legends and Ultimate Alliance, and even Snack World... and I've never played a single Diablo game? It's wild! Anyway, glad to see the most defining games of my childhood this side of Sonic getting some love, especially the Dark Alliance and Champions series.

[@DrakeSteele]

Two of my favorites are Torchlight & Torchlight II... both are very reminiscent of D2 and moddable like CRAZY. If you haven't played those, I recommend them highly.

[@mechagoblin8768]

The Lodoss war game for the Dreamcast is definitely my favourite when it comes to Diablo clones.

[@Josuh]

shoutouts to the record of lodoss war for getting a pretty solid metroidvania last year

[@ShadoWB4MV]

I just downloaded it recently by chance and i'm amazed, the game is awesome, better than diablo in some instances

[@nikodem123asdf]

I really recommend checking out shining force neo and exa they are basically sequels to record of lodoss war dreamcast

[@kamilpotato3764]

Was going to write same thing. How can he omit Records of the Lodoss War.

[@KingGameReview]

Nox was one of my favorite Diablo clones from back in the day. The competitive multiplayer modes were exceptionally good and my friends and I played that game online all the time.

[@walnutray443]

As one of the ten that popped off at the "big reveal," Deathspank was forgotten so fast and it's such a shame. It really needs to be brought back, such a good game

[@Dobster77]

Sacred 1 and 2 are by far my favourites in the genre. I played both in online HC modes for thousands and thousands of hours and was lucky enough to be involved in the betas and be a moderator on the Ascaron forums. I don't think any game will ever recreate the close community that sacred once had. I've made life long friends from those games and still game with them today. I was there when they closed the servers for both games and it was a very sad day. We had a HC party and took our high level characters to go fight the toughest bosses in the game. Many of us died but it was a fitting farewell to two amazing games that played a huge part of my life. I still have dreams about Sacred to this day and can walk around the map from memory and remember the side quest locations. Just awesome games and if you've never tried them, it's well worth playing them on Steam. RIP Ascaron and Sacred :(

[@kaliek5281]

Ya forgot the ONE THING that makes Torchlight the ultimate Diablo clone: They literally stole Matt Uelmen from Blizzard to do the music for the series. It's why if ya play TL2 and close your eyes, youd think you were hearing Diablo 2s music, because it's the same guy.

[@Ceriff88]

Not to mention all of the mods and enhancements!

[@AshenTechDotCom]

torchlight as far as i know, was founded by what was blizzard north when activation shut them down, why many view torchlight 1 and 2 as the true successors to diablo, and find that mobile abortion of a game revolting.... still, everybody i knew who tried darkstone, loved the game.. so much time spent listening to the song in town for a coin.. when i told a buddy he could just extract the song...he was confused then found a guide how to do it.. heh...

[@Groaznic]

Matt Uelmen is just from another planet. Also remember his Starcraft 1 music.

[@kaliek5281]

@@Groaznic mmhmm. And I THINK he did some for WoW as well. Look up the music for the Mana Tombs dungeon. It sounds VERY Diablo2-y and out of place with other WoW music. There's actually like 4 instances there that all use that same music. Edit: I looked it up, and sure enough...yep he worked on WoW during Burning Crusade, and thats where those Dungeons are from. Their music is VERY MUCH like what you'd hear in D2 Act 1 Cave type levels.

[@deanmayberry9713]

Torchlight and Grim Dawn are those games to play instead of Diablo 3 (which totally sucks). Grim Dawn having the dual class options really adds a lot more depth.

[@OldmavericWoW]

The biggest Diablo clone was “Diablo” Immortal🤣

[@rept7]

Dark Stone on PC looks so different from the PS1 version I played as a kid. I'm just happy to see a game I remembered existing here to assure me it was real.

[@GungraveFreak]

Same, I had Dark Stone on PS1 as a kid because it was in the bargain bin, and I thought it was pretty fun (had no idea what dungeon crawlers where)

[@SeraidenAF]

IKR? I'd played the PS1 ver when I was a kid and didn't remember until all of a sudden ti came rushing back with this video.

[@Tom_Van_Zandt]

For me Diablo 1 is the best Diablo game atmospheric-wise, and it still has the best soundtrack. I also like the fact that it is a 100% pure dungeon crawler with the 1 village being a "safe haven".

[@BigBadBalrog]

Whoa, hidden memory unlocked! I had totally forgotten that Darkstone existed, but after seeing this footage I distinctly remember being a kid and casting Magic Missile while my character begged, "I am dying of hunger!"

[@TheCreepypro]

as a person who has been playing video games pretty much his whole life but somehow missed diablo and all its clones this video is utterly fascinating great job austin

[@Tom_Van_Zandt]

I was immediately sold on Diablo when I 1st saw the trailer for D1 on a game disc (I think maybe Warcraft 2?), and I played the hell out of it for about a year. Then somehow I didn't play Diablo 2 until 5 or 6 years after its release. Diablo 3 was fun for a little while, but I don't see myself ever going back to it like I do with D1 and D2. I have high hopes for D4...we'll see.

[@TheChcam]

I missed all pc games besides Flash gsmes, so i never played a game like Diablo until minecraft dingons. Went and got diablo 2 and 3 after and have lots of time in 4, but like minecraft, 4 feels empty in the end game. After hitting level 70 im burnt tf out hopefully season 1 has goodies

[@jordangoodeye2604]

The fact that someone mentioned the LoTR GBA games gives me life. Thank you Austin.

[@jish55]

You missed a major aspect of Nox, which is that each of the classes has their own unique storyline that changes where you start as well as difficulty and the types of enemies you'll encounter. Apart of the major story was that wizards and warriors hated each other, where if you were a wizard and you went to the warrior city, you'd be attacked on sight and vice versa. Also, each class had a unique ending, so there was a legit reason to play the game 3 times.

[@Maioly]

9:50 and yes, Larian still references that first entry to this day the Divine one (aka, Jesus/god's mortal form in the divinity universe) is canonically the barbarian/fighter character from the first game; And a lot of its elements get referenced over and over again in the series lore.

[@duhotatoday3277]

That game is amazing. What a great mix between RPG and Diablo. Also was extremely fun to abuse the hell out of its systems.

[@stevethepocket]

"This was originally gonna be something to be played with a controller, and the use of combos to use spells. Like, fighting-game-style. But obviously that's a ridiculous concept to try and make something normal people have to do..." _Magicka_ says hi.

[@Aldenfenris]

Actually, seems the ability to cast spells manually is actually in the game code of the final version, just disabled. There is an open source port of the game (opennox) and you can enable it!, they warn it is... challenging.

[@Abedeuss]

My favorite Diablo "clone" was Nox. Released few months BEFORE Diablo 2, so technically still a clone of the first one, had way more quests, dialogues and 3 separate routes for each character (with different mechanics, like one would be primarily physical brawler, a summoner with spell traps and a more typical mage/wizard). It also had plenty of enemies to murder on your way through the game... though it wasn't randomly generated, enemies didn't respawn like in Diablo and you mostly just progressed through the plot rather than grinded for hours to get stronger and tackle stronger and stronger enemies. Also it had a fun multiplayer mode than I unfortunately didn't get to experience a lot as a kid.

[@Akuretaki_Nikolay]

nox is not a clone , nox is the best game of all time, nox is king of everything

[@primisimperator2189]

Same guys who made Red Alert 2, Westwood before EA closed them down.

[@Aldenfenris]

Good news, game is on gog, fans made an open source port that works better with modern PCs as well, and has the bonus of working multiplayer! Search for opennox

[@Akuretaki_Nikolay]

@@Aldenfenris yeah true its on gog, but singleplayer is just as good

[@ExampleOfPlay]

Great video!! One of my favorites was Dungeon Siege. Which let you have the Diablo experience with a party of EIGHT characters and a mule to haul your stuff. Each individual character didn’t have much depth, but it was a blast to equip so many characters with their own sets of gear.

[@Aevilbeast]

I was kinda surprised he didn't mention it even once...It was a pretty big series and one of the more popular Diablo clones! I was expecting he'd mention at some point but didn't even the tiniest of acknowledments, esepcially since he mentioned a ton of smaller lesser known series. Another one he didn't mention but I thought he'd would, (but it did show up in the video, in the background) was the Fallout brotherhood of steel game. I only thought he'd talk about it because it was the black sheep of a pretty big series and honestly not that many people really know about it...Probably for the better, as it wasn't really good, especially not compared to the rest of the games in the series. IMO It was worse than Fallout: Tactics.

[@majorgear1021]

Best game ever. Well…it was pretty darn good, at least.

[@ThatGuySizzleMac]

Dungeon Siege was a good one. The sequels were kind of meh, but the first Dungeon Siege was probably one of my favorite games when I was younger. Plus the modding scene for it was pretty good as well. The only issue is that it's one of those games that hate anything that's Windows 7 or higher, but there are some workarounds to get it to play.

[@michaelb2westgaedu]

Came here to see this, yes.

[@thelongerrun]

I kept waiting for Dungeon Siege to get a call out. Can't get much more diablo cloney than that.

[@kevintrjohnson]

I played the hell out of the PSP entry. I personally preferred it to the Untold Legends games.

[@Archangel92884]

Space siege was also really good!

[@TheRealDanEman]

Was about to say the same thing, when I played Diablo II, I never expected to so quickly find a new game that I liked even better, Dungeon Siege just hit all the right spots for me, it's still my favorite ARPG

[@angeluzerrare8170]

To this day I'm searching for a PS2 copy of Champions of Norrath. Thanks for this trip on memory lane!

[@lucasbaker4556]

Fate was my favorite video game series growing up. When I clicked on this video I was just hoping and praying you would bring it up! I jumped and yelled when it popped up on screen! Every year I try to play through The Traitor Soul and it is always a treat. Thank you for bringing it up! Fate deserves so much more attention!

[@TempoLOOKING]

Most never played it.... because of Vista.

[@verticalisland]

Before Diablo, there was Fairy Tale Adventures

[@Hatsworthful]

The GBA version of dark alliance is surprisingly decent, considering the platform. Although it has a game breaking bug (which i forgot how exactly happened) where the story wouldn't progress if you did something before the first boss, so i never got past act 1. If you want a really good diablo-esque hack and slash experience on the gba, shining soul and shining soul 2 are the absolute way to go, those games are really good. Combat and classes are fairly simple (though 2 adds even more classes and makes them more varied), but it all flows well, the controls are comfortable and the sprite art is really nice too.

[@Spoonsire]

Did either of the Shining soul games have that "multi-player with only one cart feature" that random gba games seemed to have? The name seems familiar but I know I never actually had a copy of the game

[@DarkIceKrabby]

@@Spoonsire According to what I've found on Google, Shining Soul 2 did have multiplayer.

[@TheRealPDizzle]

I wouldn't consider Grim Dawn "forgotten" considering it's one of the favorite contemporary ARPGs amongst ARPG enthusiasts.

[@ingonyama70]

Dark Alliance 2 just recently popped up on GOG, and my god the nostalgia is strong. I'm a MASSIVE X-Men nerd, so the X-Men and Marvel Ultimate Alliance games were probably my first and definitely my favorite Diablo clones out there, and I think that you hit on my big problem with MUA3 - it isn't ENOUGH of a Diablo clone. Speaking of, I only got into Diablo III and the series as a whole around the time of the Reaper of Souls expansion, and so the game I experienced was not the same as the one everyone seems to hate. If I weren't currently in the middle of a boycott of all things Ubisoft and Acti-Blizz, I'd likely still be playing it.

[@chillhour6155]

X-Men Legends was the shizzle

[@matternicuss]

While it may look like one, Divine Divinity isn't a Diablo clone. If anything, it's an Ultima clone. Unlike Diablo, Divine Divinity is open world, hand crafted, and has environmental interaction and puzzles similar to the late period Ultima games. It's only superficially similar to Diablo because of the action based combat (which can be paused), though it was originally going to be turn based.

[@sirmrguitardude]

Indeed, it looks like Baldurs Gate 1 but plays like ultima 7 lite with diablo combat. It's a great combination of genres.

[@odmcclintic]

I absolutely adored Nox, I’m glad it game up on your list 🙌🏻

[@volodymyrbilyk555]

Nox was so cool and the way they implemented storyline variations for different classes is really good

[@mrruniccross1226]

My mom and I used to play Diablo 3 together and eventually we play Dungeon Siege 3 to scratch a similar itch. Great co-op fun

[@taruxy]

Grim dawn... that is the true diablo 3 even today. One of the best ARPGS made in my opinion

[@Elratauru]

I think the most interesting one, and most similar is still Webzen's Mu Online. It grabbed Diablo formula, made it 3D and switched it to be an MMO, way before Path of Exile ever was thought of, while implementing a pretty cool story (The Lost Continent of Mu) and adding some cool armor / classes while improving some of the item mechanics (having +1, +2, something armors for example up to +10). The maps were super varied and you had stuff like Underwater locations and deep dungeons. There have been a million Mu Online servers too, with different exp. rates and all, but in the original it was pretty Diablo like too.

[@Dolf260z]

A friend and I were hardcore Diablo 1 and 2 players back then, and his mum actually got us into Mu online. I don't even know how she discovered it. His parents had a computer/study room and had 4 computers in a LAN network down there, so every time we used to play diablo, we would see her playing Mu online. She was super high level too, so it was funny when we would need help after getting PK'd, and asking her to come and annihilate everyone on the map for us then go back to what she was doing. I remember going on a PK rampage in the noob area, then someone i killed threatened they were going to hack me. I log off, the next day, yep I had been hacked and lost everything. Kinda gave up after that.

[@quinnandvalor9657]

Diablo is a series that's just exceptionally close to my heart bc it's my mom's favourite series. There's a photo of her playing Diablo 2 while pregnant with me and I got Diablo 3 on launch, it being my first (and only) speedrunning world record I've ever held.

[@brandonbedard916]

Proof or dident happen where’s the record dude man

[@krimsonkatt]

I remember there was this one Diablo clone flash game on the Cartoon Network website called "Master of All Universes." It was based on a crappy live action show called "Level Up" which only got 10 episodes, but the game to my memory was a suprisingly solid experience. Probably the most bizzare and obscure diablo clone to my knowledge.

[@vincehill4224]

Victor Vran was amazing hope Austin tried it especially the Motörhead expansion

[@Alteracious]

I also really enjoyed Victor Vran, great game

[@erickavery1]

Man I loved marvel heroes. I have around 3000 hours on the steam version. The day it shut down I was devastated. The devs actually worked with the community to update heroes. I personally had a hand it shaping Taskmasters new ult after his 52 update.

[@TheGamingBeehive]

Ah, what a missed opportunity to talk about Dungeon Siege. The game made some advancements in the genre when it came out - one continues world; extremely short loading times; world that feels natural, not trust square levels; controlling 6 characters, etc.

[@MarkRoessler]

Your use of the word "tetralogy" was legendary.

[@geraldhand5047]

Titan quest was a fantastic game, it was one of the first games I actually pre-ordered and anticipated

[@Misteuraix]

I prefered it to Diablo. I also love grim dawn, by the same team of developers

[@robjones8733]

I still fire TQ up now and then. It and Grim Dawn wore out my clickers though.

[@Graemie123]

I was just literally playing Dark Alliance when this came up! A recommendation would be a bards tale on PlayStation. It had a remaster a while back and is hilarious with an awesome voice cast

[@kenkubard]

I remember Victor Vran and The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing were both very competent games.

[@ddawgproductionsXXL]

I honestly chuckled when you mentioned the Death Spank Trilogy. I remember seeing them on the PS Store as a kid and I had them as demo's on my PlayStation, but my dad played the games first and told me to delete them off my console because they were not appropriate for my age. I still really want to play them.

[@txcforever]

Anyone remember the Revenant? It was a fun arpg on PC that tried having combos and special moves. Pretty decent until the final areas which were basically mazes with different color palettes.

[@antshield]

I've been loving your content lately and I feel like there's a new 40 minute video every other day. Kudos on some stellar work.

[@leowyld]

Nice video! (Saw it on the suggestions homepage). Of these, Marvel Heroes was definitely my favorite! It was huge part of my life from its Closed PC Beta until its unfortunate sunset. It remains my most played game on Steam, five years after shutdown, by a comfortable margin (4.6 k hours on Steam alone, doesn't count my time with the standalone client or the console version). It was an MMOARPG when that was a brand new concept and truly something magical in many other ways - it is a pity you didn't get to play it more. That said, it was a nice shout out and it did make me smile when you said you had played Rocket Raccoon. 94 percent of my time on MH was Rocket, I was the big resident Rocket fan aka Raccoonatic Commander, I inspired one of his unique items and campaigned big time for that Office Attire costume (28:48). Heh. I've lost many, many games in my life to shutdown or loss, but that one - yeah, it really still hurts the most to think about. Here's hoping for fun times with my druid on (my hopeful replacement MMOARPG) Diablo 4!

[@keeko7820]

Love the mention of NoX. That game rules! also I love the Dark Cloud music in the background at one of the parts :)

[@arekusu.]

I noticed that. He had a .hack//G.U. track sprinkled in as well. Good game OSTs are always welcome.

[@gebs123]

Out of all of the ones you mentioned, the one that stood out to me the most was Darkstone. As soon as you said the name, my mind remember the "Save your soul Or the Darkstone will shine" song. Since you asked for other Diablo clones. Here are the three that I played the most of, all of which are now on Steam. 1. Siege of Avalon: A chapter-based game. It has a more gritty fantasy setting, and, in opposition to Diablo, it feels less focused on the gameplay and more on the story. It has some pretty good ambient music that I still listen to. 2. Prince of Qin: The gameplay is pretty standard for a Diablo clone, but it takes place in a somewhat mythical-ized China around 200 BC. It has a few memorable characters, a really expansive world, and a not great translation. It also had an equipment crafting system in 2002. 3. Soulbringer: You briefly showed a clip of it at 8:59 , the only thing notable is the weapon combo system. I also spent 15-20 hours in the first section figure things out and then did something to soft-lock myself near the beginning of the second area.

[@heonthehedgehog]

holly crab what timing!

[@vincesims8839]

Champions of Norrath was definitely my top vote! Would love a remake or continuance to this title!❤❤❤

[@oscarpinillacastro5893]

Yeah, even a port to ps plus premium would be awesome

[@odinsplaygrounds]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the Dungeon Siege trilogy. Especially liked the first one when it came out, playing it on LAN parties.

[@daninumbers]

Glad to see Shadowflare here even though I didn't expect it lol. It was one of my first games ever, with a demo from one of those pc games magazines and then I got the full thing when my parents hired internet. That short clip doesn't make it justice since it's the base mercenary class and early gameplay. It has several other magics that you level separatedly by using them. Warriors get a special triple attack and physical oriented skills like berseker, the classic attack boost while lowering your defense skill, and sonic wave that gives you a ranged physical attack. Hunters on the other hand get more pet skills along with cc. And besides the common loot you got the yellow "premium" items, usually with hp/mp regen, elemental affinity and special "skins". About elements it featured a system that you would equip gear trying to max certain elements for extra damage to and protection from such element enemies. Maxxing them would grant you extra stats while boosting your skills if they belonged to such element. And besides leveling each skill you could equip gear with "magic levels". Normally every few magic levels skills would be upgraded with more hits. 3 earth spears instead of 2 (up to 7 as I remember), piercing bullets, another row of lightning for thunderstorm... The story was fairly simple. You are a mercenary hired to clear some monsters and then you find out about the gargoyles have awakened, and with them the ancient dragons. You go on a trip to find what's going on, solving quests in different villages, and you end up involved with 2 "scientists" (angels), that were trying to help the humankind with their experiments but one of them somehow went insane and became a demon. Nothing amazing but entertaining, conquering the "demon lord" fortress. The gameplay was fairly hard. A lot of grinding. Enemies would respawn just when closing the games but some areas were massive with few to no portals working as checkpoint. At least you had a teleporting skill to go back to town and then back to your previous location but in case of death you'd drop a random piece of gear that'd be lost if you didn't recover it before closing the game. You could change classes each level to get its stats increase but after a number of levels being a class you'd get less and less stats. You were better off mixing classes. Warriors would get more hp than mp, attack and defense while mages would barely get any hp increase. And if you weren't a hunter you'd get an 80% damage reduction when using crossbows. That was weird. Anyway, even with a lower quality and a weird plot I preferred most of its system over the actual Diablo. It's abandonware though, the company shut down years ago so you just could find it pirated and probably in some dark corner of the internet.

[@darienb1127]

So I can vouch for Grim Dawn and say it's pretty dope. It's vibe is a lot more eldritch than it is demons and such. What's cool about this game is how your character gets two classes to choose from, letting you mix and match abilities. I only play a few hours, but it was fun.

[@jin12345678]

I'm really into grim dawn atm, it's might be my favorite arpg over diablo 2 or POE. it's really good.

[@Repetoire]

@@jin12345678 grim dawn is the best arpg ever to me with d2 being second

[@okagron]

Coming from someone that played for nearly 5k hours over the course of 6 years, it's pretty great. It does have its fair share of problems like the entire crafting system is straigh up trash (bad UI for starters) and some of the bosses have bullshit attacks.

[@tj8815]

Very glad you mentioned Divine Divinity, that game was my childhood. I actually think it aged extremely well, the voice acting is attrocius but its so bad that its funny. And the Skill system was just really cool, the goal of becoming a god really felt appropriate with how powerful you could get. And you are the origin story of all Future Divinity games! Its so fun seeing "Lucian" becoming this mythical immortal when you were just a goober that woke up in a little hut and killed some rats and skeletons

[@crashbandicoot5636]

Torchlight filled the gap nicely when Diablo was on hiatus, good games but they can't replace Diablo... Too bad Diablo is a dumpster fire now.

[@Abedeuss]

I'd say Torchlight is an even bigger dumpster fire, since at least Immortal wasn't made by Blizzard and can be ignored. The "latest" Torchlight game was a massive disappointment.

[@Invidente7]

Diablo Eternal, 'nuff said.

[@TempoLOOKING]

Fate is on steam.

[@put1996]

Divine Divinity is the best Diablo clone and possibly the first immersive-sim isometric game. I love it so much as a kid. Stealing in the game is base on sight, story's gate can actually be bypass via clever use of mechanic, moving metal box to block the door so you can trap enemy and shoot them freely, etc.

[@Zombielokii]

If you see this comment, and didn’t end up with a list of games to play already from the video, you should check out Xanadu Next! It’s a very neat, pretty Diablo-Esque dungeon crawler made by Falcom, the guys behind YS and the Trails Series!

[@joshuachurchill2858]

Not brought up in the video, but the biggest diablo clones that left their mark on me were the dungeon siege games (except the third, we don't talk about that one)

[@khodexus4963]

Between the drow monk and heroic necromancer, Dark Alliance 2 was and still is a rather unique experience. I know you can play as a necromancer in Diablo 2 as well, but your characters in that game always felt more like horror protagonists than straight up heroes, so not quite the same vibes. Also, I'm kind of surprised it took you 32 minutes to bring up Rogue, considering Diablo itself is very much a Rogue-like. Especially if you play it in hardcore mode.

[@l33g3ndar33]

I can't even put a number on how many hours my brother has put into d2 over the years. It came out when he was 12 and he still has long sessions to this day. He actually had 2 PCs at one time bc his friend would stay over and they'd play all night together.

[@chris_is_here_oh_no]

Amazing video! This was extremely well made and detailed.

[@Vernias]

My eyes popped out when you started talking about DeathSpank I loved that game when I was a kid

[@johnwilson8543]

When you talked about fighter style combos on the pc, thought you were going to bring up "Avencast" excellent obscure game.

[@75190255508]

Had so much fun with Avencast when it first came out. Btw, it is being released on Steam if you want to try it out again.

[@aleksandarmalovic8535]

Deathspank... man I love that series so much, thank you for shining more light on it!

[@KingGameReview]

Ghostlore is a pretty interesting new(ish) Diablo clone. I was playing it in the weeks leading up to D4 and I actually really enjoyed it. It's a bit rough around the edges, but it's worth checking out.

[@DavidReyes-xm7vd]

holy crap. i dumped a ton of time into both Ehrgeiz and Darkstone. I never even realized they were diablo clones, but as soon as you compare them its instantly recognizable why i loved it

[@robcabob1og]

Darkstone had op mages. If you moved while casting the spell, it canceled the animation so you could cast super fast.

[@SirPadron]

Man, when you said Fate the flood gates of nostalgia just opened and all the memories came back so for this, I thank you.

[@Broccoleet]

Revenant by Cinematix was also pretty decent around that time .

[@TheWildersmith]

Yesss

[@holden52982]

I almost choked, I was apparently unaware that the worlds best narrator created Torchlight.

[@madflyer666]

path of exile is by far the best game ive ever played. there is so much to do. its complex but the feeling you get as you learn and flush out a character you have to work for is unmatched. (just follow build guides and see what others are doing cause the games got a few things going on)

[@jameztrainwreck2681]

Exellent game for sure. Way better than d

[@dragoneye6229]

Cybermercs: The Soldiers of the 22nd Century was actually one of the few early clones that wasn't bad in it's own right considering how much I played it as a kid and I think that's why some of these "clones" did so well while others failed. You can tell which were made by people chasing a trend and which were made by people who had a burning passion for the genre itself. China has an untold number of clones that were basically just eastern versions of diablo and none of them came close to Throne of Darkness in that regard which not only had a cool setting but also an amazingly Japanese style story with one heck of an ending.

[@Ronin11111111]

I always wanted to get into Diablo style ARPGs, and even spent a dozen or two hours in a couple games, but I never really ended up liking any of them that much. This was until I played Nioh which finally saitsfied my cravings for far too much loot, with a combat system I liked far more.

[@TheCozyBearGamer]

The Bard's Tale is a classic that openly spoofs the genre. "The Bard, having slain the random wolf, found that it had digested not only the contents of a small treasury but also various household goods... Wait, am I reading that correctly? That can't be right." "You'd be surprised. I find all kinds of things inside these beasties. Did I ever tell you about the time I killed this rat and out popped an entire chest..."

[@nocturnPhoenix]

Oh wow, I completely forgot about FATE. That was my first introduction to the genre as a kid, and I really liked Torchlight when I played it a while after that. Maybe I should look into those games again.

[@Steadysphere]

Another good Diablo clone is Victor Vran, from the guys who made Tropico of all things. Very heavy metal - even has a Motorhead expansion - and has the voice of Geralt as the protagonist. It's pretty fun.

[@lonelyteenage7144]

My grandparents bought Nox for me at Costco when I was a teenager (I’m in my 30s now). I could not remember this game’s name for the life of me, and I was hoping you’d mention it! THANK YOU, brought back a lot of good memories hurdled over that old PC

[@droggelbecher2k127]

Silver owns so much, the humor and the simple story but heardwarming style was so great.

[@toastertarts2990]

I'm 21 I didn't grow up with Diablo but I've always heard about it. I bought Diablo 2 Resurrected after watching this video I love it.

[@CasterKidCastle]

@Austin Eruption , your usage of Storm's Theme for the X-Men section was great, thank you. Seriously underrated composer.

[@deVence]

Has anyone played the clone named, Shadowflare? I remember playing this as a kid in the early 2000s. I never played Diablo before it, but it felt like Diablo would feel just like it. Shadowflare had 4 different chapters and it was the first game that I played where I discovered the "Bastard Sword". Good times I wish I could get my hands on this game again just for the nostalgia.