Knowing full well that Diablo's spirit could never be truly destroyed, the hero of Tristram made the noblest sacrifice of all: to take the spirit of the Lord of Terror into himself, hoping that his strength of will could contain the demon within. He was wrong. Now it's time for extending the story. The player can pick from five classes to play: Amazon, Necromancer, Paladin, Sorceress, and Barbarian, of which each posseses unique abilities.

Like its predecessor, Diablo II is an action RPG. Most of the gameplay is dedicated to roaming wilderness areas and fighting hordes of monsters in real-time combat, gathering experience points. Dungeon layout and items are randomized. Diablo's magic has been replaced with skills: class specific abilities that can be purchased with skill points as characters level up. A Paladin's skills allow him to cover allies with a protective aura, while a Sorceress can learn to fire lightning bolts and frozen blasts from her hands. Skills can be purchased several times to level them up, and some skills, when purchased, will increase the effectiveness of other skills. A new item type, socketed, has been added as well. Socketed items can be modified permanently by adding magic gems to them, increasing their statistics or adding elemental properties.

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Alternate Titles

"暗黑破壞神 2" -- Chinese spelling (traditional)
"暗黑破坏神II" -- Chinese spelling (simplified)
"Diablo II: The Calling" -- Working title
"D2" -- Common abbreviation

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Part of the Following Groups

Merchant	Title	Platform	Price
	Diablo 2	Windows	$4.95
	Diablo 2 (Mac)	Macintosh
	Diablo 2	Windows	$4.95
	Diablo II
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User Reviews

Great cinematics wasted on boring gameplay	Windows	Unicorn Lynx (132758)
The interest faded all too quickly.	Windows	Geoff Cruttwell (8)
Quake in an RP nutshell...	Windows	Kartanym (10835)
More of the same, and that can be both good or bad...	Windows	Timotei Centea (6)
Some GREAT cinematics hint at a storyline that's absent throughout most of the Hack 'm Slash simplicity.	Windows	WildKard (12203)
The mind suck master of computer addictiveness - just like its predecessor...	Windows	Colin Rowsell (45)
Diablo II Is Better Than Diablo, But That's Not Saying Much.	Windows	MasterMegid (899)
Stagnant gameplay but wonderful cutscenes	Windows	Chris Wright (99)
A much-improved version of the hack n' slash classic that was Diablo.	Windows	Droog (462)
"click...click...click..." (in a good way)	Windows	MadCat (55)

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The Press Says

macHOME	Macintosh	2000		100
FiringSquad	Windows	Jul 06, 2000	93 out of 100	93
Playback	Windows	Dec, 2005	9.25 out of 10	92
RPGamer	Windows	Sep 05, 2000	9 out of 10	90
Gamezilla	Windows	Jul 17, 2000	89 out of 100	89
IGN	Windows	Jul 07, 2000	8.3 out of 10	83
All Game Guide	Windows	2007		80
RPGFan	Windows	Aug 13, 2001	80 out of 100	80
Gamekult	Windows	Jul 11, 2000	7 out of 10	70
Christian Gaming	Windows	2000	3.3 out of 5	66

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Trivia

Promotion

Blizzard itself produced an action figure line, with figures depicting the Barbarian, the Unraveler, and of course, Diablo. They also released a whole stack of merchandise, including Zippo lighters, wristwatches and mouse pads, all in limited edition.

References to Diablo

The much rumored and non-existent secret "Cow Level" from the original game was actually added to Diablo II. It is just a flat plain, populated by bipedal cows, which go "Moo! Moo!" in deadpan human voices. The level also features a boss, "The Cow King", who looks just like all the other cows.

In Act I, the player can enter a portal to the town of Tristram, now destroyed by demons. Some characters from Diablo can be seen there. Decard Cain and Griswold the Blacksmith are alive; the former will help the player with his quests while the latter is possessed by evil powers. The remains of Wirt the Peg-Legged Boy can also be spotted; his leg allows the player to enter the cow level.

Other references

Once in a great while, one of the zombies can be heard uttering "brainsss". This is a reference to the numerous Living Dead movies, in which zombies hunger for human brains.

Dungeons & Dragons

Diablo II was adapted into a set of two D&D rulebooks: Diablo II: Diablerie, published in 2000, and Diablo II: To Hell and Back, published in 2001, in addition to which a Diablo II set for the Dungeons & Dragons boardgame was released by Wizards of the Coast in 2000.

Awards

Diablo II was named "Best Game in 2000" by German gaming magazine GameStar in the February 2001 issue, and received a special award as "Best Multiplayer Game in 2000". In the following issue it was named "Best Game in 2000" according to a readers' poll. German gaming magazine PC Player also named it "Best Online Game in 2000" in January 2001.

The game has also appeared on a number of magazines' "Top Video Games" lists, including:

#25 "101 Best PC Games Ever" by Computer and Video Games in 2005
#16 "50 Best Games of All Time" by PC Gamer in April 2005
#82 "Top 100 Games" by PC Gamer in 2007
#11 "The 32 Best PC Games" by GamePro in 2008
#7 "Top Video Games of the Decade" by Destructoid in 2009
#49 "Top 100 Games of the Noughties" by VideoGamer.com in 2009

In the German PC gaming magazine GameStar (issue 12/2008) the secret level "The Moo Moo Farm" received a special mention in their "10 Coolest Levels" article. It was also named one of gaming's top ten Easter eggs by IGN in 2009.

Information also contributed by Ajan, Kasey Chang, Patrick Bregger, PCGamer77, phlux, Tibes80, and Scott Monster.

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This entry was contributed by Xoleras (66669) and MAT

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