You can play the original and best version of Diablo in your browser (again)

Diablo leers from the cover of Diablo 1. — (Image credit: Blizzard)

Browser Diablo has been a thing for a while now, and we wrote about a previous incarnation back in 2019. That version is unfortunately offline these days, but another one has taken over my browser like someone jammed a soulstone into its forehead. Diablo's source code, as reconstructed by GalaXyHaXz and the devilution team, has been ported to WebAssembly and lives again via Github.

My colleagues here at PC Gamer are split between Diablo 4 sickos and Diablo 2 enjoyers, but I'm here to tell you they're both wrong. While Diablo 4 may have substantially improved thanks to its post-launch seasonal updates, there's still nothing like the original for atmosphere and condensed simplicity.

All you need is one dungeon and one town, none of that open-world filler. Hearing a goatish whinny somewhere in the dark beyond the range of your light while you're alone and too many layers underneath Tristram is the ultimate Diablo experience, and something none of the sequels have ever equaled.

To play Diablo in your browser you'll first need to upload the DIABDAT.MPQ file. If you own Diablo, perhaps via GOG, you'll have access to this file already, but if you don't there's a shareware MPQ loaded already so you can click and play. You'll be limited to the warrior class and unable to talk to NPCs, but if you just want to test that it works you can fire up Diablo that way and immediately experience the classic flavor.

You can even play it on your phone with touch controls. You guys all have phones, right? Here's the website.

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.