The head of Diablo suggests that similar action RPGs should be called “Diablo-like” in the future, but this doesn’t sit well with players.
What exactly does the head of Diablo say? Rod Fergusson has been the head of the entire Diablo franchise at Blizzard since 2020. On X.com, he has now proposed naming an entire genre after Diablo.
Fergusson writes in a post: “I feel like the genre ‘ARPG’ is starting to mean a lot of different things. Similar to ‘Soulslike’ and ‘Roguelike’, I wonder if we could normalize ‘Diablo-like’ for ARPGs that follow the Diablo formula…”
Such genre terms are common in gaming. The example mentioned by Fergusson, “Soulslike”, describes games that are like the “Dark Souls” games from FromSoftware. However, these formulations usually arise within the community and are rarely desired by developers – this has now also led to mockery for Diablo.
How does the community react? Many X users respond to Fergusson’s proposal with cheeky comments and criticism of the Diablo head and the development of Diablo 4. One player writes, “Imagine the game director of a major AAA company posting that he is envious that another game had a better release.” (via X)
Another user asks, “How can we normalize ‘Diablo-like’ when no one likes Diablo 4?” (via X). It should be noted that while the user received over 5,000 likes, he also felt some backlash. One user pointed out that the game is now in a different, better state than at release.
Nevertheless, some players also suggest the term PoE-Like and argue that Path of Exile is the better game (via X.com). Others feel that Path of Exile 2 is more of a Diablo-like than Diablo 4.
Which games would be considered Diablo-likes? The first that comes to mind is of course Path of Exile and the upcoming sequel Path of Exile 2. Last Epoch would also be considered a Diablo-like. This likely applies to Grim Dawn as well. At MeinMMO, we have a whole list of games that are like Diablo: Games like Diablo 2024 – The best alternatives to Diablo 4
