These items will naturally lose their value, and there will be little to actually strive for. In softcore, where there is a real-money auction house, the economy will soon become flooded with exceptionally high-level characters doing endless (probably botted) boss runs that will flood it with high-level items. It's not just a short-term selfish benefit, either. While Diablo and its sequels are a mere shadow of true roguelikes thanks to their linearity, action gameplay, and lack of difficulty, they do have one thing in common: permadeath.

Nethack has persisted for 25 years as generations of players throw themselves at its mercy in an attempt to achieve ascension.

This line passes through all manner of roguelikes, Nethack foremost among them. You can draw a direct line of descent from 1980s Rogue to Diablo III. It's not just about making the game more of an experience, it's about experiencing the genre in the way it's meant to be played. The reasons you should play Hardcore run deeper than that, though. We've been suckered in en masse with ever-bigger explosions-but they're a poor substitute for actual jeopardy. Without jeopardy, where is the challenge? Without real risk there can be no real reward.

What once were cheats have now become necessities and common features, and we seem to have forgotten the damage they do. Actual jeopardy is nearly non-existent in games these days we've been coddled with auto-saves, checkpointing, and infinite lives, and gaming is the poorer for it. Whichever class you choose, choose Hardcore.ĭiablo III is gloomy and atmospheric, but the tension only becomes real when death carries a penalty.

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