Diablo : The Roguelike DIASCII

In CanardPC, we love counterfeits. Therefore, here in the writing we are essentially low cost celebrities. Kalash looks like a bad version of Tina Fey in "30 Rock". Boulon is a variant of Garcia Sergeant (Zoro). It seems that I am myself a quirky Klays Nomi. Then, necessarily, we have sympathy for Kornel Ksielewicz. There is a guy who will never accept the fascist principle of intellectual property and does not fear to finish inside a polish prison. After his Doom roguelike and his Aliens Roguelike, now a release a Diablo one. This is a good idea !

First of all, because Diablo, before Blizzard realized that real time is quite good, was a RPG turn-based. But mainly because Diablo, with is hand-to-hand, with his fight with "light RPG" style, with his random dungeons, and dark fantasy ambiance, is almost already a roguelike. Kisielewicz didn't have to create his own rules system. He just copy all the already existing data : same monsters, same weapons, same spells, the same affix "mod" on the magical weapons. Even the interface, the life orbs and the shortcut bar for potions are there, rebuilt in text mode.

"My first alphabet"
Don't believe that DiabloRL is a banal roguelike. Here, like a real Diablo game and instead of most other roguelikes, we fight tons of foes. The basic monsters are not very tough, only the random champions and bosses are real threats. At all other time, it's about "crowd controlling". The bad guys behave like in Diablo (the Fallens flee, the Hiddens spread over the room when wounded...), the old good strategies always works : slaughter the bugs who go through a door ones after the others, throw arrows through a fence... This is not the most deep in terms of fighting turn-based but it's very funny, a little forceful and a little too easy for a roguelike. (Mostly, when you died it's because you deserved it) But yes, we will not lie ourselves, like news reporters like to say between to UV ray session : The appeal of DiabloRL, like DoomRL, is this little nostalgia that start at the first seconds of the game. It is even possible to play with the music, the FX and the voices of the original game (you just had to copy the file name DIABLODAT.MPQ from the CD of Diablo 1) and then, the miracle : behind the small ugly fonts, we found the dark atmosphere of the original one, the scream of the monsters and the murky and oppressing original soundtrack. We are in charted territory, then, immediately, we think up. If you have never dared to try a roguelike, Dwarf Fortress or any other text-mode game in general, DiabloRL is the ideal enter.

Our opinion : 8/10
Even more than DoomRL from the same author, arcade but more difficult, this DiabloRL is the best title possible to start playing text-mode game. Perfect rules porting form Blizzard title, with the same amazing dark fantasy atmosphere and perfectly adapted in a game where the death is permanent, DiabloRL is a real roguelike, without a doubt, but simple enough to  be accessible to newbie. And over the top, it's free.