this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2024
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l don't understand people who think there's any meaningful comparison between Diablo and HoT.
HoT is a vampire-survivors game, and in my opinion is the actual best in the genre, I have dozens of hours in it. This type of gameplay has absolutely nothing to do with ARPGs.
It has a bit of resemblance, in that it's a dark fantasy action game in which the player character fights a very large number of enemy units in order to level up and increase their power while fighting bosses interspersed throughout, occasionally upgrading abilities and acquiring gear. and of course the art style is directly cribbing Diablo 1.
But in the nitty gritty of how the combat works, how the gear and abilities work, the format of the levels and win condition of the game and pretty much everything else, it's very different from Diablo.
Bullet heaven is apparently the term being thrown around. They're very fun.
Supposedly it just scratches „that itch” - mindless grind and loot cycle integrated into survivor-like formula. There are more games like it but HoT is also nailing aesthetics. Death Must Die is another game in similar vein but they also went one step further and copied upgrades from Hades too (this one I played myself). Both are enjoyable remixes on proven formulas and there’s nothing wrong with that.
I agree that there's nothing wrong with remixes. Vampire Survivors dude invented a new genre and all, people who say these games are "copying" Vampire Survivors probably also say that every FPS is copying Maze War lol
Death Must Die was indeed fun. Soulstone Survivor is pretty good too.
I find the biggest difference in itch scratched between Diablo-like ARPGs and Halls of Torment is that the pacing is very different. Diablo has a lot more player control over when there are breaks in the action providing downtime for the player to sort through gear and abilities. Halls of Torment sort of has that when you're making choices, but it's waaaay faster
That's what I thought. I don't care how much it looks like Diablo, if it's not even in the same genre, then there's no comparison.
I agree with you. Its the same as saying checkers and chess are similar games because they are both played on the same board haha.
Have you ever played Diablo 1? Graphics in HoT straight up look like they were ripped from the og diablo 1. Also, both of them have a very similar loop: you go to the dungeon, you kill a bunch of stuff, you come back to the hub area. I never fancied Vampire Survivors before I had the chance to play HoT more than a year ago, and the similarities in graphics and gameplay loop between it and the first diablo were THE reason that made me buy and play the game.
EDIT: yes, Halls of Torment is the actual best in the genre. I've played most of the famous ones (Vampire Survivors, Soulstone Survivors, Holocure, Death must Die, Deep Rock Survivor, Pathfinder Gallows something...), and HoT is clearly a cut above the others in how solid it is built and how great it iterates on the 'survivors' trope. A game that is technically not a survivors but scratches a similar itch and has been hogging a lot of my time right now is Kill Knight.
I was with you until the Deep Rock Survivor, but good lord, that one is way better than halls of torment. While it's not necessary, the ability to mine traps and hallways to escape is a sweet addition.