“Diablo Founder Critiques Rapid Character Progression in Modern ARPGs as Detrimental to Player Experience”
By David Brevik, the creator of Diablo, has expressed his disapproval of certain elements in contemporary ARPGs, emphasizing that when the journey to level up becomes too quick, “you’ve diminished the overall experience.”
Brevik, who currently leads the indie development studio Skystone Games, discussed his career and insights on the ARPG genre with VideoGamer. He was previously a co-founder and president of Blizzard North, acting as the lead programmer and senior design director on Diablo, as well as project and design lead for Diablo 2.
During the interview, Brevik criticized the rapid manner in which games today facilitate player progression, which he feels disrupts the overall pacing.
“I believe that RPGs, in general, have started to trend towards quickly dispatching large groups of enemies,” remarked Brevik. “Your character build is eliminating all sorts of creatures to gather more loot, level up, while the screen becomes cluttered with items that hold little significance.”
The enemy counts in the original Diablo games were notably high for their era, yet Brevik contends that modern titles have learned the wrong lessons.
“I don’t find that approach as personal and immersive as games like Diablo 2. The pacing in Diablo 2, in my opinion, is excellent,” he explained. “That’s one reason it has endured. I simply do not enjoy the aspect of obliterating swathes of enemies in a flash and trekking through levels while annihilating everything; it doesn’t seem appealing to me. I think it is somewhat absurd.”
“When you shorten that experience and make it almost ludicrous, you’ve diluted the complete journey, in my view.”
Although Brevik’s observations pertain primarily to the latest Diablo releases, they can also apply to titles such as Path of Exile 2 and Lost Ark. Additionally, MMOs suffer from comparable issues.
“I believe that MMOs have certainly moved in that direction,” Brevik stated. “How swiftly can you level up? How quickly can you defeat everything? It’s all focused on speed and similar metrics. However, I truly think that leads to a poorer experience. I tend to steer clear of that path.”
Blizzard has followed the release of Diablo 4 with several seasons and substantial expansions.