Editor’s take: Action RPGs are a staple in my game collection. Surprisingly, I didn’t become a fan of the genre until I played The Revenant, a 1999 ARPG released two years after Diablo. Since then, I’ve played every ARPG I could get my hands on, including the entire Diablo series.
One of the best Diablo games – if not one of the greatest ARPGs ever – is Diablo 2. It nails many aspects, but progression stands out the most. The game walks a fine line between excessive grinding and leveling so fast that you max out a character in a day.
Diablo creator David Brevik shared a similar sentiment in a recent interview with Video Gamer. He noted that Diablo 2 remains a “great” looter nearly 25 years later, largely because of its pacing.
“The pacing on Diablo 2, I think, is great,” Brevik said.
He believes many modern ARPGs prioritize rapid progression over natural pacing, a trend that has become common in the industry but ultimately devalues the experience.
“I think that RPGs, in general, have started to lean into this: kill swathes of enemies all over the place extremely quickly,” said Brevik. “Your build is killing all sorts of stuff so you could get more drops, you can level up, and the screen is littered with stuff you don’t care about.”
The approach that Brevik describes is a major feature in Diablo 3, and Diablo 4 doubles down on the concept. Blizzard intentionally designed both games to rush players toward Paragon levels, allowing characters to reach the maximum level in about a day. However, reaching levels beyond that requires fighting larger mobs, as Paragon leveling becomes a slog. This design pushes players to purchase the Battle Pass. While not Diablo 4’s only flaw, it ranks high among the complaints from the franchise’s creator.
“I just don’t find killing screen-fulls of things instantly and mowing stuff down and walking around the level and killing everything, very enticing. When you’re shortening that journey and making it kind of ridiculous, you’ve cheapened the entire experience, in my opinion.” Blevik opined. “I just don’t feel like that is a cool experience. I find it kind of silly.”
He believes MMOs are just as guilty of this. There’s heavy pressure to rush through the early levels, partly due to the rise of live service models. Games like Destiny 2 and Diablo 4 push players to blitz through the campaign to access seasonal content and the rewards it offers. There’s no time to stop and enjoy the journey because the season “ends soon.” This sense of urgency and rushed pace is exactly where publishers want players, as seasonal content fuels microtransactions.
Blevik, who now heads up indie publisher Skystone Games, despises this design philosophy and steers clear of it. He favors game designs like Diablo 2, Torchlight, and The Witcher 3, which slow the pacing and allow players to savor the adventure.
“[The fun] actually isn’t getting to the end; it’s the journey,” he said. “When you’re shortening that journey and making it kind of ridiculous, you’ve cheapened the entire experience, in my opinion.”
I couldn’t agree more. With the increasing emphasis on live service models and the flood of multiplayer games, finding an ARPG that nails the pacing is becoming more challenging. The single-player experience, however, remains the best for maintaining solid pacing.
