Building on the compulsive click-click-click hack-and-slash mechanics Blizzard used to lure millions in Diablo, Diablo II delivered a much broader, multi-chapter story spanning multiple locations, added the option to tweak items by applying magic gems to “sockets,” then topped that all off with a fully fleshed-out multiplayer mode (Diablo had none) that included both PvE (player vs. environment) and PvP (player vs. player).
Wandering Blizzard’s bleak, demon-filled fantasy-verse, players could choose to adventure as one of five character types (two more were added in an expansion), mowing through hordes of spike fiends, claw vipers, thorned hulks, vile mothers, putrid defilers (and dozens more with equally gothic names) on a collision course with the game’s eponymous antagonist.