Diablo II is an action role-playing game released in 2000. It was created by Blizzard North and published by Blizzard Entertainment for computers running Microsoft Windows, Classic Mac OS, and OS X. The game’s dark fantasy and horror themes were created and planned by David Brevik and Erich Schaefer. Max Schaefer helped lead the project. Matthew Householder and Bill Roper were the senior producers. The game took three years to develop, with an intense work period lasting one and a half years.

The story takes place shortly after the events of Diablo. Players control a new hero trying to stop the destruction caused by Diablo’s return. The game has four acts, each featuring different locations and settings to explore. Players can choose from a larger group of characters to play as and interact with.

Diablo II followed the success of its earlier version, Diablo (1997). It improved gameplay by updating character progression and developing the story further. The game was very popular in 2000 and is often called one of the greatest games of all time. Its success was helped by continuing fantasy themes from the first game and offering free online play through Blizzard’s Battle.net service. An expansion called Diablo II: Lord of Destruction was released in 2001.

Diablo III, the sequel to Diablo II, was released on May 15, 2012. A remastered version of Diablo II, called Diablo II: Resurrected, which includes the Lord of Destruction expansion, was released on September 23, 2021.

Gameplay

Diablo II’s story is divided into four chapters, or "acts." The Lord of Destruction expansion adds a fifth act, Act V, which continues the story after Act IV. Each act follows a fixed path, but the wilderness and dungeons between key areas are randomly created. Players advance by completing quests in each act (six per act, except Act IV, which has three quests). Unlike the first Diablo, where most quests were optional and randomly assigned, Diablo II’s quests are more structured. The game also includes optional side dungeons for extra monsters and experience.

Diablo II’s environments are more varied than the first Diablo’s Gothic-themed dungeon and Hell. Act I resembles the original Diablo, with a simple fort called the Rogue Encampment, plains, and boreal forests (cold, northern forests) in the wilderness, and a medieval-style monastery. Act II is inspired by Ancient Egypt, featuring desert and tomb settings, as well as a Middle Eastern city and palace from the Crusades. Act III is based on Central American jungles, with Kurast modeled after the lost Mayan civilization. Act IV takes place in Hell, designed like classical Christian depictions with lava, rocks, and a cathedral with demonic features. Act V, added in the expansion, is mountainous, showing the journey up Mount Arreat through icy tunnels and plateaus. It includes portals to Hellish side dungeons and a final location, the Worldstone Keep, inspired by Angkor Wat.

The game has three difficulty levels: Normal, Nightmare, and Hell. Completing the game on one difficulty unlocks the next. Higher difficulties have stronger, more varied monsters that may resist or ignore certain types of damage. Players lose more experience when they die and have reduced resistances, but better items are rewarded. Characters keep their abilities and items across difficulties and can return to lower levels, though completed quests cannot be replayed.

Players can create a "hardcore" character. In Normal mode, characters can be revived if killed and continue playing. Hardcore characters, however, have only one life. If they die, they are permanently lost, and all their items are also lost unless another player has the "loot" icon enabled. Hardcore and standard characters play on separate online channels, so they cannot join the same game session.

Diablo II uses a system for randomly generated equipment, similar to the first Diablo but more complex. Items are categorized into quality levels: normal, magical, set, rare, and unique. Normal items have fixed properties, such as damage or armor. Magical items have blue names and one or two random bonuses. Rare items have yellow names and 2–6 random properties. Unique items have fixed gold-colored names and specific preselected properties. Set items have green names and belong to specific groups. Equipping multiple items from the same set activates special bonuses. Items can also have sockets, which allow gems to be added for extra effects.

Diablo II includes an item crafting system using the Horadric Cube. Players can combine two or more items to create new ones. For example, three lower-quality gems can be combined to make a higher-quality gem, or three small potions can be merged into a stronger potion.

Players can choose from five character classes: Amazon, Necromancer, Barbarian, Sorceress, and Paladin. Each class has unique strengths, weaknesses, and skills. The maximum level for any character is 99.

• The Amazon comes from the islands near the Great Ocean. She uses bows, javelins, and spears, and has passive defensive skills like Dodge and Evade. She is voiced by Jessica Straus.
• The Necromancer is a spellcaster from the Cult of Rathma. He can summon skeletons, create golems, and use poison and "Bone" skills to damage enemies. He is voiced by Michael McConnohie.
• The Barbarian is a powerful melee fighter from Mount Arreat’s steppes. He can dual-wield weapons, specialize in combat, and use warcries to boost his party. He is voiced by David Thomas.
• The Sorceress is a witch from a rebellious coven. She casts lightning, fire, and ice spells, with ice freezing enemies. She can teleport to avoid attacks. She is voiced by Liana Young.
• The Paladin is a crusader who… (text cut off).

Plot

Diablo II takes place after the events of the first game, Diablo, in a world called Sanctuary. In the first game, an unnamed warrior defeated Diablo and tried to trap the demon's spirit inside his own body. Over time, the warrior became corrupted by Diablo's spirit, allowing demons to enter the world and cause chaos.

A group of adventurers traveling through the Rogue Encampment hears stories about this destruction. They decide to investigate and search for the source of the evil, beginning with the corrupted figure known as the "Dark Wanderer." As the story unfolds, it is revealed that the soulstones were originally meant to trap the Prime Evils after they were banished to the mortal world by the Lesser Evils. However, Diablo's corrupted soulstone allows him to control the Dark Wanderer and plans to free his two brothers, Mephisto and Baal. Mephisto is trapped in the eastern city of Kurast, while Baal is imprisoned in a tomb near Lut Gholein with the help of the mage Tal-Rasha.

As the story continues, cut scenes show the journey of the Dark Wanderer. A man named Marius, who follows the Dark Wanderer, later tells his story to a hooded visitor in an asylum. Marius believes the visitor is the Archangel Tyrael. The player learns that the Dark Wanderer's goal is to reunite with Baal and Mephisto. The story is divided into four acts:

In the epilogue, Marius admits he was too weak to enter Hell and fears the soulstone's effects on him. He gives the soulstone to his visitor, who reveals himself to be Baal, the last remaining Prime Evil who now controls his own soulstone. Baal kills Marius and sets the asylum on fire.

The story continues in Act V, from the expansion Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. In this part, Baal tries to corrupt the mythical Worldstone on Mount Arreat. After defeating Diablo, Tyrael opens a portal to send adventurers to Arreat to stop Baal.

Development

Diablo II was announced by Blizzard in 1997, with a planned release in the first quarter of 1998. According to Erich Schaefer, a designer and project lead, "Diablo II never had an official, complete design document… for the most part we just started making up new stuff." Lead developer David Brevik aimed to address issues from the first Diablo game, including better multiplayer features, clearer differences between character classes, and a larger, more open world instead of the vertical, multi-level dungeon of Diablo. The game was expected to take two years to develop, but Blizzard North required over three years to complete it. Part of the delay was due to Brevik’s focus on gameplay ideas from Ultima Online and features from other games like Civilization and Master of Orion, which inspired the creation of the character skill tree. The team had creative freedom to develop new ideas, often drawing inspiration from video games, but this lack of structure contributed to the game’s delays. After missing a key deadline in 1998, Blizzard North worked intensely during 1999 to ensure the game would release by 2000.

Despite using less than one percent of the original Diablo code and rebuilding most of the game from scratch, testers described Diablo II as "more of the same." The game was planned to launch simultaneously in North America and other regions, allowing Blizzard North’s marketing team to build global excitement for the game’s initial sales, which helped its success. The cover art, designed by Gerald Brom, originally included a hole in the character’s forehead, but this detail was removed after the Columbine High School massacre. Over 70 people worked on the game.

A second expansion beyond Lord of Destruction was planned by Blizzard, according to David Brevik, but it was never developed. The expansion would have introduced new classes, areas, monsters, items, and elements of a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game, such as guild halls, which Brevik described as an "ARPG+MMO." The project was abandoned when most of Blizzard North’s staff left the company in June 2003.

The game’s score was composed by Matt Uelmen and blends eerie ambient sounds with melodic music. The style is described as ambient industrial and experimental. It was recorded in Redwood City, Oakland, and San Mateo, California, from April 1997 to March 2000.

Some tracks reused music from the original Diablo game, while others rearranged unused pieces. Other scores combined parts created more than a year after the first game’s release. Each track typically includes recorded samples from sound libraries, live instrument recordings (such as guitar, flute, and oriental percussion), and electronic instruments, making the music challenging to perform live.

When players visit towns in the game, the peaceful atmosphere from the first Diablo game is recreated. The theme from Act I, called "Rogue," returns with the same chords as the original, but only a portion of the original town theme is used. For Act II, percussionist Mustafa Waiz and sound designer Scott Petersen worked on drum samples. Waiz played on the dumbek, djembe, and finger cymbals, providing a foundation for Matt Uelmen’s compositions.

The town theme from Act II, "Toru," marks a departure from the guitar and choral sounds of the original Diablo and the first part of Diablo II. The piece is built around the dynamic sounds of a Chinese wind gong, which transitions from a mysterious drone to a harsh, intense noise, creating an exotic and dramatic atmosphere. In Act II’s desert and valley areas, Arabic percussion sounds are prominent.

The composer used samples from two Spectrasonics music libraries, Symphony of Voices and Heart of Asia. Samples from Heart of Asia were used in the "Harem" track of Act II. The "Crypt" track includes a sample from Symphony of Voices, specifically the choral phrase "Miserere." Voice samples from Heart of Asia, Heart of Africa, and Symphony of Voices by Spectrasonics were also used in the game’s music.

Release

The game was released in a Collector's Edition format, which included special items for collectors, a copy of the Diablo Dungeons & Dragons pen-and-paper campaign setting, and promotional movies for other Blizzard games. In 2000, the Diablo II: Exclusive Gift Set also included special collector's items, promotional videos, and a copy of the official strategy guide. The 2000 Diablo Gift Pack included copies of Diablo and Diablo II, but no expansions. The 2001 Diablo: Battle Chest version included copies of Diablo II, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, the official strategy guide, and the original Diablo. However, the Battle Chest edition no longer includes the original Diablo.

Diablo II was released in Japan through Capcom.

Until 2016, Blizzard offered limited support for Diablo II, including occasional updates. The original CD version worked on Windows 95/98/Me/NT4SP5, but the current version available from Battle.net requires at least Windows 2000 or XP.

Around 2008, the announcement of Diablo III increased interest in its predecessor and brought more attention to the many mods available for the game.

In 2015, an unofficial version of Diablo II for the Pandora handheld, which uses the ARM architecture, became available through special methods used by developers.

On March 11, 2016, Blizzard released the 1.14a Patch, which added support for Windows 7 and newer operating systems, a macOS installer, and support for OS X 10.10 and 10.11. Diablo II is not supported on macOS 10.15 because Apple no longer supports 32-bit software in this version.

A remastered version of the original game and its expansion, called Diablo II: Resurrected, was released in 2021 for Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Nintendo Switch. The remaster includes updated graphics, smoother gameplay, and reworked cutscenes. It supports cross-progression between platforms but does not allow local co-op. Cross-platform play was not available at launch but may be added in a future update. The remaster also includes improvements such as controller support, easier item identification, and shared item storage between characters. However, it does not include modern features like quest markers, keeping the original gameplay experience mostly unchanged.

Reception

Diablo II received good reviews. The PC version of the game has an overall score of 88 out of 100 on Metacritic and 89% on GameRankings. GameSpy gave it a score of 86 out of 100, IGN gave it 8.3 out of 10, and GameSpot gave it 8.5 out of 10.

Greg Vederman reviewed the PC version for Next Generation and gave it five stars out of five. He said, "Diablo II is a must-have PC title. That's all there is to it."

Diablo II won GameSpot’s 2000 Runner-Up Reader’s Choice Award for best role-playing game of the year. It also received awards such as "PC Role-Playing Game of the Year," "PC Game of the Year," and "Game of the Year" from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences during the 4th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. In August 2016, Diablo II was ranked 21st on Time’s list of the 50 Best Video Games of All Time. It was also placed at No. 8 on Game Informer’s "Top 100 RPGs of All Time" list.

On its first day of release, Diablo II sold 184,000 copies. Within two weeks, it sold 1 million copies worldwide, and within one and a half months, it sold 2 million copies. It was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records 2000 edition as the fastest-selling computer game ever, with more than 1 million units sold in the first two weeks. In 2000 alone, the game sold 2.75 million copies globally, with 33% sold outside the United States. South Korea was the largest international market. Later, other games such as Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and Diablo III surpassed Diablo II’s sales record at their times of release, according to Blizzard.

In the United States, PC Data reported 308,923 sales of Diablo II between June 25 and July 1, 2000, including sales of its Collector’s Edition. This earned $17.2 million in revenue. By the end of October 2000, domestic sales reached 790,285 units, totaling $41.05 million. Sales of the Collector’s Edition earned an additional $4.47 million by that date. By the end of 2000, Diablo II had sold 970,131 units in the United States, generating $48.2 million in revenue.

Diablo II remained popular in 2001. From February to the first week of November, it sold 306,422 units in the United States. It became the country’s eighth best-selling computer game of 2001, with 517,037 units sold and $19.3 million in revenue. By August 2006, its lifetime domestic sales reached 1.7 million units, generating $67.1 million in revenue. At this time, Edge magazine called it the United States’ second-largest computer game hit since January 2000. It also received a "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

Diablo II was very successful in Germany. It debuted at number one on Media Control’s computer game sales chart for June 2000. A representative from Havas Interactive said they had to make an effort to avoid singing and celebrating over the game’s success. The Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) gave Diablo II a "Gold" award after three weeks of availability, showing sales of at least 100,000 units in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. By the end of July, it remained number one and reached "Platinum" status (200,000 sales) by the end of the month. It stayed in Media Control’s top 10 through October, peaking at number two in August, and remained in the top 30 through December. By the end of 2000, about 350,000 units were sold in Germany. Diablo II continued to appear on sales charts in January 2001, reaching 24th place, and its Limited Edition debuted at number two in February. In April 2001, the VUD gave it a "Double-Platinum" certification for 400,000 sales, making it one of the region’s best-selling computer games at that time.

As of June 29, 2001, Diablo II had sold 4 million copies worldwide. Copies of Diablo: Battle Chest continued to be sold in retail stores and appeared on the NPD Group’s top 10 PC games sales list as recently as 2010. Remarkably, Diablo: Battle Chest was the 19th best-selling PC game of 2008—eight years after its initial release. In 2010, 11 million users still played Diablo II and StarCraft over Battle.net.