Yes, Diablo 3 is great and waiting for Diablo 4 is annoying. Luckily, there are fantastic games that can fill the gap a bit. MeinMMO author Max Handwerk often turns to a hack and slash game whose best days are actually long gone: Champions of Norrath.
Smashing a few monsters, collecting loot, exploring dungeons, and doing it all in co-op – there are days when there is simply no better game principle than exactly this mix. The classic in this regard is of course Diablo, for which we have already been waiting for… I can’t remember exactly how long we have been waiting for Diablo 4. Long, anyway.
At least there are a few games that bridge this waiting time. Path of Exile comes to mind. You can find the best Diablo alternatives in this overview at MeinMMO, which I also consulted when I wanted to go loot-hunting again. And then I discovered with dismay: The best Diablo alternative, in my opinion, is missing here!
Old, rusty, grand – that is Champions of Norrath
What kind of game is this? Well, the fact that Champions of Norrath is missing from the list of the currently best Diablo alternatives might be because it is a 17-year-old game. Which also only runs on the PlayStation 2. And is not available on PS Now.
In short: To play it, I have to dust off my old PS2 console and find the disc each time. But: Once these hurdles are overcome, there is a nice shot of nostalgia straight to the brain.
Because just when the familiar music starts, I feel transported back years. Of course, this also applies to the game’s graphics, which, for a 17-year-old PS2 game, don’t look bad at all. Graphics and gameplay are shown in this video, for example:
The nice thing: The game is still a lot of fun once you get it running. Especially in co-op, Champions shows its strength: Back in the day, you could simply connect four controllers to the PS2 via Multitab and get started. Champions of Norrath was one of those games where it was really worth it. Because then you could assemble a powerful team from various classes.
One would grab the barbarian warrior to smash goblins with a hit-and-smash tactic and two weapons at once, while the wood elf ranger decimated enemy hordes from a distance with the bow. The cleric relied on blunt weapons and reliably took care of the undead, while erudite wizards covered the field with spells. And the dark elf was always in a bad mood but could somehow do a little bit of everything.
The diversity of classes that could be individually customized in appearance and skills keeps the game from getting boring even on the third or fourth playthrough. The dungeons are randomly generated, which was not exactly standard back then.
Of course, at the end of the day, the gameplay primarily consisted of beating up monsters, orcs, goblins, and other enemies from a bird’s-eye view. Then you would get better weapons and abilities to take down even bigger, meaner, or simply more monsters. But somehow this game managed back then to keep my attention without me really noticing – and it never really got boring.
Is Champions of Norrath really that good?
If you look at reviews from back then, Champions definitely impressed with its content. The fact that I still enjoy taking it out of my PS2 treasure chest today is probably also related to personal nostalgia.
I first played Champions when I got it as a demo version from some gaming magazine for the PS2. I must have been about ten years old back then. And those first few levels included in the demo – my brother and I must have gone through them hundreds of times.
There we had to dismantle an orc-goblin horde in a dark, treetop-located city, and then fight against… even more goblins in the forest. In the end, a big orc was waiting with two creatures that could best be described as saber-toothed tiger-dog-bear hybrids.
As soon as the boss of the level was smashed, the demo approached its end. So you can imagine how excited we were when we finally had the full game and could suddenly play beyond this endpoint.
Finally, we could discover more abilities and even buy weapons from the vendor Nenmar, whom you couldn’t pay in the demo at all. We got to travel to new places that were something other than a forest full of orcs (for example, a cave with spiders, an ancient temple, or a tropical beach with fish creatures!).
Then we also discovered that we could equip weapons with elements. Suddenly, our champions were waving fire swords, ice bows, or poison staffs around. It shone and caused trouble for enemies – as a kid, it was insane.
In the following years, we played it over and over again, even my later girlfriend took her first gaming steps with Champions of Norrath. Diablo came to us only later. Somehow it was more like Diablo became the Norrath alternative for us.
There was also a sequel, Champions: Return to Arms, which was also really strong. But the original Norrath – it has somehow remained deeper rooted with me than the successor.
A re-release in modern garb I would buy without a second thought. On that front, however, things don’t look good – but honestly, the classic version is also enough for me.
So please excuse me now. After all this writing, it’s time to call my brother, grab the PS2, and dump the drawer with the old games. Norrath is probably still being threatened by goblins. Let’s see if we can do something about it.
Do you have such games from the past that you keep returning to – even if they may not hold up as well anymore? Share it with us in the comments!
