Diablo was the first commercially released game in Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo series, launching in 1996.
Developed by Blizzard North and published by Blizzard Entertainment, the action role-playing game sends players beneath the town of Tristram to confront the Lord of Terror. Its randomly generated dungeons, mouse-driven combat and loot-focused progression helped define the modern action-RPG format.
The game began as a project at Condor, which later became Blizzard North. Blizzard’s support and Battle.net integration helped it reach a broad PC audience, while its dark atmosphere distinguished it from the company’s Warcraft strategy games.
Diablo II followed in 2000 and expanded the series with larger regions, multiple acts and online play. That sequel’s popularity sometimes leads people to identify it as the series’ original game, but the first Diablo established the foundation.