Diablo can be played on any web browser, again

Saint Satan: Originally released by Blizzard North in 1997, Diablo kicked off a video game series that continues to be popular today. Activision Blizzard released Diablo IV in 2023, but dedicated fans of the series can now play the original game on almost any internet-connected device.

A developer has created a new web-based “conversion” of Diablo, allowing fans old and new to (re)play the classic action-reality game on PC. The open-source project builds on the Devilution team’s reverse-engineering efforts, incorporating tweaks to make the game run efficiently on modern browsers.

According to the developer, Devilution’s original code has been adapted to work in WebAssembly. All dependencies have been removed, and the “minimal required” user interface is now implemented solely through JavaScript code. Event handling routines, including the game’s menus, have been “significantly” modified to fit the JS programming model.

Someone has made a source port of the original Diablo, making it fully playable in a browser! pic.twitter.com/TJ0MBAdkqh

– Shane Lynch (@iequalshane) August 13, 2024

The page hosting the final version of the project offers players a quick and easy way to access the new web port of Diablo. It features the shareware version of the game, but players can upload their own diabdat.mpq file to run the full experience directly in the browser. The port also includes a save management system, though we had some trouble getting it to work as expected.

Diablo was released on GOG.com in 2019, with the Hellfire expansion and a compatibility layer for modern Windows systems. Users can get their own copy of the game data (the diabdat.mpq file) through the DRM-free digital store for a few dollars, or they can use the file from an original CD-ROM release if they still have one.

Someone attempted to port Diablo to the web in 2019 using the same Devilution code as the new project. The 2019 version is no longer available, and the developer of the current port is trying to avoid copyright infringement by allowing users to provide their own copy of the game.

I tested out the shareware version of Diablo since I couldn’t find the original box of the game. Using Firefox on Windows 10, the web port seems to work fine, though the graphics seem slightly slower and less responsive than I remember. Still, the prospect of replaying one of the best PC games ever made on a smartphone is undeniably appealing to longtime Diablo fans.