How long did it take Blizzard to design and create Diablo III? The answer, 12 years, so it must be good right? Exactly right, Diablo II was released in 2000, and since then they have been working on Diablo III. Ever since the release of Diablo III on May 15th, 2012, I have spent enormous amounts of time playing this game, and I’m sure this will happen to anyone that plays the game. That 12 year wait was well worth it because they used every minute of it to create a game with an amazing storyline, characters, and adapting difficulties to fit any type of gamer, hardcore, or casual.

Diablo III has a phenomenal story that will lure any player in and keep them engaged in the game. After defeating Diablo in Diablo II, the world of sanctuary lives 20 years without evil. Then when Deckard Cain, the wisest man in sanctuary, returns to the sacred church a star strikes from space. The star is an angle warning that there will an attack from hell, and that all of Diablo’s minions will awaken.

The storyline consists of four acts that increase in difficulty as you progress. Each act has a set amount of quests, and during those quests the player does a range of different things like killing a boss, saving one of the town’s citizens, or fetching a weapon for the blacksmith. As the player gets to the second, third, and fourth act the game will get harder and harder, and eventually they will work their way through all four acts. At this point their character will now be a higher level so they will be able to take on the harder difficulties.

Diablo III has four difficulties that range from very easy, to very difficult. The first is normal and is designed for players who are new to the Diablo series and trying to figure it out, so as anyone would guess, it is very easy. Don’t worry, an experienced player will fly right through normal. Then after the player completes the last quest on normal, they will be brought to the nightmare difficulty. Nightmare is the next step up from normal, and will be challenging to any player. The monsters in nightmare have more health, and deal much more damage. Getting through it will take strategy and time, but once it’s finally done, the player is moved to the hell difficulty.

This difficulty is another step up from nightmare and it will take a lot of strategy, like switching between skills, and maneuvering enemies. The monsters in hell have certain immunities, like immune to cold, so if there is a character who is based on cold damage, they will have a difficult time killing those specific monster, and that is why allies are needed. The game testers that were hired by Blizzard were asked “Should the hell difficulty be more difficult?” The most common answer was that it was right where it should be. Then Blizzard went above and beyond hell and created the newest edition to the Diablo series, the inferno difficulty. Inferno is double as difficult as hell and was designed for only characters that are the max level, which is 60. The monsters in inferno are level 61-65, so all of them are stronger than any player can be. On twitter, Bashiok, community manager at Blizzard, was asked “Can the inferno difficulty be beaten?” He then responded “Inferno was not designed to be beaten, it was designed for a challenge.” If the player is looking for a challenge than inferno is for them, but to beat the inferno difficulty the player will need a very strong character.

There are five character classes to choose from in Diablo III, those characters are the Barbarian, Monk, Witch Doctor, Demon Hunter, and Wizard. These classes all have their own special abilities, or skills. The barbarian relies on strength, and is a close combat fighter, when the demon hunter uses archery and stays at a distance from his enemies. The witch doctor can even summon zombies, or flesh eating locusts. Each of these classes can also be built in a different way, for instance, a wizard could specialize in cold spells, or fire spells, which both have pros and cons. All of these builds open up a wide range of ways to play Diablo III.

The story line of Diablo III will lure all players in, and keep them playing for many hours at a time. It also offers four different difficulties that are all created for different types of players, casual to hardcore. Diablo III also offers many different play styles with five different character classes, and hundreds of different builds for those specific classes. Those twelve years it took to create this great game were well worth the wait, because this game will blow anyone away. Diablo III is the best game ever produced by Blizzard, and is the best Role Playing Game on the market. I would recommend this game to any type of gamer who is looking for an astonishing play through.