Is Diablo Open World?
Diablo is a franchise of action RPGs (role-playing games). Diablo video games have been praised for their storyline, atmosphere, dungeon crawling and replayability. Diablo video games have often been considered some of the most important RPG video games in the industry, having influenced many RPG video games and the video games industry in general. The first Diablo video game, Diablo (1997), was developed by Blizzard North and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Diablo video games are known and played worldwide, and are especially known for their expansive dungeons, with multiple floors and different enemies. Considering the size of the game worlds of the Diablo video games, many players wonder and debate whether Diablo video games can be considered open worlds, and whether the game worlds of these video games are considered open world environments.
Diablo video games are not open world, because regions of the games are separated by loading screens and transitions. However, Diablo video games feature large and expansive environments.
Comparison of Characteristics of Traditional Open World Video Games and Diablo Video Games
Traditional Open World Video Games (e.g. Grand Theft Auto, Just Cause, The Elder Scrolls)
- Possibility of free-roaming in many directions in an expansive environment
- First-person or third-person camera perspective
- No loading screens or transitions between different regions
- Day and night cycle
- Weather effects
Diablo Video Games
- Possibility of free-roaming in many directions in an expansive, but limited environment (several barriers)
- Isometric camera perspective
- Loading screens or transitions between different regions
- Day and night cycle (Diablo II)
- Weather effects (Diablo II)
The Game World of Diablo (1997)
Diablo (1997), the first Diablo video game, introduced many of the elements of Diablo video games that persisted in the series in subsequent video games, such as the isometric camera perspective, character building, and the overall atmosphere. Diablo (1997) is mostly a dungeon crawler RPG, and most of the gameplay is directed at adventuring in a vast dungeon underneath the main city of the game, Tristram. Throughout most of Diablo (1997), the main character adventures, fights and defeats enemies in this vast dungeon, which consists of several floors. Considering that most of the gameplay of Diablo (1997) takes place in this expansive dungeon, and that the player character does not have the freedom to go to different cities or adventure in the world outside the dungeon, besides Tristram, it is not accurate to describe Diablo (1997) as an open world video game. Instead, Diablo (1997) is a dungeon crawler RPG with an expansive dungeon with many floors. It could be said that Diablo (1997) features a sizeable game world, considering the size of dungeon in the video game, but it is quite different from traditional open world video games such as Assassin's Creed video games and Grand Theft Auto video games.
The Game World of Diablo II (2000)
Diablo II (2000), the sequel to Diablo (1997), expanded on most of the aspects of its predecessor. Diablo II features more classes, more enemies, a much larger game world, and, perhaps more importantly for this article, much more freedom for the main game character in different locations and regions to adventure. Indeed, while Diablo (1997) features, in general, one city, Tristram, and one expansive dungeon, Diablo II (2000) features several cities, several regions and several dungeons. Moreover, in Diablo II (2000), the main game character has much more freedom in deciding the direction in which to adventure. Diablo II not only features expansive dungeons, such as Diablo (1997), but also expansive outdoor environments, an aspect which was not seen in its predecessor.
While Diablo II (2000) features expansive outdoor environments, with a game world which can be considered much more open than the game world of Diablo (1997), Diablo II still features a linear progression in the game in the sense that, while the main game character is able to adventure in expansive regions, the story must still be progressed by moving to certain directions (even if this direction is different in each playthrough due to the randomized generation of the video game). In this sense, I would not describe Diablo II (2000) as a sandbox open world such as Grand Theft Auto video games or Just Cause video games, but rather as an RPG with expansive regions to adventure. In this sense, the game world of Diablo II (2000) is similar to the game world, for example, of Far Cry (2004), the first Far Cry video game, which features an expansive environment, although the main story is still progressed by moving in a specific direction. The game world of Diablo II (2000) could also be considered similar to the game world of Borderlands (2009), the first Borderlands video game. Borderlands (2009) features expansive environments, but in many cases when travelling between different regions the game will present a loading screen. However, it must be noted that Diablo II (2000) features a much more expansive game world than Diablo (1997), in which the main game character is able to adventure in many more regions and larger environments, including outdoor environments and dungeons. Moreover, while subregions in Diablo II (2000) can be travelled on foot, in most cases, when the player desires to move to very different regions, the player character is required to move through portals, which is another difference from traditional open world video games such as Grand Theft Auto, in which the player character is able to move between different regions either on foot or using vehicles.
The Game World of Diablo III (2012)
Diablo III (2012), such as Diablo II (2000), features a variety of environments, including outdoor environments and dungeons. Environments of Diablo III are much more expansive than Diablo (1997), which featured mostly one city, Tristram, and a single, although quite expansive, dungeon. Environments of the game world of Diablo III are separated by transitions, such as seen in Diablo II (2000) and Borderlands (2009), as well as other action RPGs of the 2010s, such as Grim Dawn and Path of Exile. Thus, the game world of Diablo III (2012) can be considered expansive and varied, but due to its transitions, it presents a different gameplay experience than the game worlds of traditional open world video games such as Assassin's Creed video games and Grand Theft Auto video games.
The Definition of Open World in the Case of Diablo Video Games
Although open world, as a genre, is generally related to traditional open world video games, such as Assassin's Creed, GTA, Just Cause, Sleeping Dogs, The Elder Scrolls, Watch Dogs, among other video games, there is also the definition of open world in the case of video game design. In this sense, an open world video game is a video game in which the player character is able to freely move in different directions, and approach objectives freely. One of the typical features of open world video games is the abscence of loading screens different regions, locations and different environments, and rather, the game world is traversed in a seamless experience. For example, in the case of The Elder Scrolls video games, while there are loading screens when entering and exitting dungeons, most of the outdoor game world is traversed in a seamless experience, without loading screens. This is also seen in traditional open world video games such as Grand Theft Auto and Just Cause. In most Diablo video games, different environments and regions are only accessible through specific portals and gates, including loading screens or transitions, an important difference to traditional open world video games.
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