So… it doesn’t look likely that we’re going to get a (proper) new Diablo release before the end of this year. Well, not since Blizzard committed one of the biggest bait and switches with their ‘Immortal’ mobile game. The good news is, however, that there has since been more than a few hints that Blizzard was now actively ramping up production on Diablo 4. Albeit, again, at the cost of a Starcraft spin-off.
Following the launch of a new website, however, ‘Rivsoft’ has managed to create a version of the original Diablo from 1996 that is available to play, for free, right now in your browser!
Diablo Can Now Be Played For Free in Browsers
So, you might be wondering how this has been achieved without creating a storm of legal problems. Well, the version is effectively the original ‘shareware’ version of the game. One that has been modified slightly to get it to run correctly within a browser.
For those of you unaware of the term ‘shareware’ (and I wouldn’t blame you since it’s been years since I used it) it was effectively a term for a free demo. One that was usually relatively extensive, albeit with a cut-off point. The main point of it, however, was that (as the name would suggest) it was openly encouraged to distribute it as far and wide as possible. As such, even over 20 years on, this is still entirely legal to distribute. Even within a browser!
How Detailed Is It?
Well, as you might expect, you do not have access to the full game. At least, not initially. The clever part, however, is that if you do own a full copy of the game (such as the one recently made available on GOG.com) you can effectively ‘import’ the missing files to make it a fully-fledged browser ready Diablo!
I will admit that the website hosting the game is currently suffering a little from traffic issues. As such, you might want to give it a little while. If you do, however, want to check it out, you can visit the official website via the link here!
What do you think? Are you impressed with this free version? – Let us know in the comments!
