The Original Diablo is Now Playable on Your Web Browser
The original 1996 Diablo is playable now right on your computer’s web browser.The browser port of the original Diablo was developed by Rivsoft, a team of developers who work on several Blizzard-related projects. However, the port would not be possible were it not for the work of a development team who in 2018 reconstructed the original source code for Diablo.GalaXyHaXz and the Devilution team reverse-engineered the source code for the original Diablo last year in 2018. The project was meant to be archival, so the source code was reconstructed with all the bugs and bad code from the original 1996 version.
From there, that source code was used to produce the browser port. You can check out the original Diablo on browser here. Just know that it’s not the full game.
Instead, it is a shareware version of Diablo which limits players to only one of the three character classes, and the first two areas of the dungeon.
However, if you own the original game, which can be purchased on GoG, then you can drop the original DIABDAT.MPQ file into the browser page and start playing the full game right there. So anyone looking to play the full version of Diablo for free will have to look elsewhere.
Still, if you find yourself bored at work this is a really easy way to get a quick version of Diablo up and running on your computer with minimal fuss.Meanwhile, Blizzard is hard at work on Diablo 4, as well as a mobile title called Diablo Immortal.
Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter.