PS1 port of Blizzard's original Diablo. The foundational hack-and-slash dungeon crawler remains excellent despite less precise controls than PC. Tristram's dark and addictive atmosphere is intact. Essential even on console for fans of 90s action-RPG.
Your verdict
Category
Action RPG1 player16+
Co-op
Description
Console port of the cult hack and slash where a hero descends into sixteen catacomb levels beneath Tristram cathedral to face Diablo. Created by Climax Studios and Electronic Arts for Blizzard, released in 1998 in Japan, the United States and Europe. Three selectable classes, procedural dungeons, random loot and two-player split-screen co-op. Multi-regional edition.
Diablo review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
3/5
Story
★★★★★
"Solid"
Climax Studios carries Blizzard's chiaroscuro across intact: sixteen floors sliding from paved crypt to glowing caverns and finally the plains of Hell, lit by torchlight alone. Tristram, its cathedral and its villagers frozen in fear make up a gothic stage whose isometric readability remains exemplary.
Matt Uelmen wrote one of the most recognisable themes in games: the twelve string guitar of Tristram, played close to the microphone, its harmonics left hanging. Deeper down the score dissolves into drones, breaths and distant choirs, reaching metallic resonances on the final floors. A lesson in atmosphere built from near silence.
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"From the very first minutes"
Addictiveness
"Obsessive"
Clicking, mowing down hordes and scooping up ever-rarer loot pulls you into a descent where every floor promises an item, a spell or a power tier. The thrill of the drop and the oppressive gloom push you down "just one more level." The repeated clicking wears thin over time, but this loot-and-progression loop remains a blueprint that still grips.
The Japanese release of Blizzard's hack and slash, markedly less common than its Western versions in a market where the American-style action-RPG stayed a minority taste. This local edition draws collectors of cross-region releases of Western PC landmarks in Japan. Its interest lies in this limited Japanese run rather than in any overall scarcity of the title.
Is Diablo still worth playing in 2026?
Diablo on PS1 is the port of Blizzard's founding hack-and-slash dungeon crawler. The title stays excellent despite less precise controls than PC, with thoughtful pad adaptation and a two-player ad hoc co-op mode unique to this version. Tristram's dark, addictive atmosphere is intact, Matt Uelmen's score still entrancing. A genuinely interesting detour today.
