Diablo III

PC game

Waiting 12 years for a new video game in a franchise is uncommon, but so is Diablo III’s developer, Blizzard, which also took 12 years between StarCraft games. In this hack-and-slash dungeon crawler, players take the role of one of five classes to battle Diablo—yes, again—with brutal melee attacks, wicked spells and deadly crossbows. There have been some gameplay improvements such as the ability to pick up gold by walking over it without clicking each gold pile. It may sound like a trivial note, but Diablo III is all about clicking; lots of clicking. An auction house for in-game items that sell for real U.S. dollars creates an income-flow for Blizzard, which takes a cut of each successful auction, and offers gamers a chance to earn a little cash for the inevitably countless hours they’ll spend destroying demons. Blizzard also nails the seamlessly smooth set up for joining and creating multiplayer games. This is great because you’re going to want a little company as you replay through the four difficulties, but no rush—we have a long wait ahead of us for Diablo IV.