On an Island
I’m sure everyone can recall a time, maybe it was back in grade school, when they were asked “if you were on an island and could only bring one <blank>, what would it be?” First of all, that question is fucking stupid but I do get the spirit of it.
What’s the one game that could stave boredom the longest, distract me from my horrible predicament, and not wear out its welcome too quickly? Assuming the game came with the required gear and a power supply to allow me to play it before I died of dehydration, that one game might be Diablo II: Lord of Destruction.
Every couple months myself and a couple friends reinstall the thing and play the hell out of it. I make the same two classes every time and it never gets old. I usually make it to Act III Hell before putting the game back on the shelf. Back in storage DII waits patiently; knowing it won’t be long before another binge. I’ll say it, Diablo II: LOD is fucking timeless. There’s a simple brilliance to its design that is severely lacking in much of the gaming landscape. It’s not without its flaws but each one is minor – never game breaking or hindering – and most of the flaws only grow more endearing with time.
I wouldn’t call it my favorite game by any stretch – being asked to narrow down a genre as robust as video gaming to a single title is a Sisyphean task – but I would say it’s amongst a long list of favorites. I’d even go further and say, there are games I like more but play much less than this classic.