Just be warned: alt-tabbing out of Diablo 1's vanilla version is a pain, so get your VoIP of choice running before you launch a session. Joining friends' games is a bit clunky, but so long as my tester and I were in the same chat channel, our games appeared in each other's interfaces. We received this news roughly a week ago, and we're still doing that cartoon-like thing of shaking our heads rapidly, then rubbing our eyes, looking up, and saying, 'huuuuuh?' But seriously, this out-of-nowhere release, mixed with an out-of-nowhere partnership, is real-and we've tested the results.

GOG has already announced that it will follow this Diablo launch with future re-releases of the first two WarCraft RTS games' original files. All of that is a first for a Blizzard game sold as a digital download.Īnd it won't be the last. Once you download the files, designed for Windows PCs, that's it-no online check-ins or CD keys required. You'll have to go to GOG, not the Blizzard Launcher app, to purchase and download Diablo 1 (for $10, right here). What's more, Blizzard has handed the game's keys to a completely different storefront: GOG.com. This famously DRM-free marketplace is run by CD Projekt Group, the Polish company that also owns game developer CD Projekt Red ( The Witcher). It's not a remaster, per se, but it does come with some quality-of-life updates and is Blizzard's first DRM-free game launch in years.

Which brings us to today's seriously surprising news: Blizzard has just put Diablo 1 on sale digitally, a first for that 1996 game, with no prior announcement. Which is to say: the word 'Diablo' is a touchy one as of late.

These are the fans who, to some measure, let Blizzard have it after seeing the unveil of smartphone-only 'freemium' game Diablo Immortal in place of any ' Diablo IV' news at BlizzCon 2018. Further Reading Amid layoffs, Blizzard won’t release a “major” new game in 2019That leaves one classic-minded Blizzard fanbase in the cold: the Diablo fans.

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