No idea, but one of the most recent (negative) reviews says:
you may wonder how its possible to make something more pay to win, non-functional, scummy and devoid of anything resembling fun than war thunder but gaijin manages to make lightning strike twice. if you are somehow able to take one look at the 2nd-to-none worst ui in gaming with less readability than mobile games, and continue to press the play button. you will be met with the most uninteresting cluster♥♥♥♥ of tanks and planes raping the handful of players and their army of bots.
lets also not forget the initial steam launch of this game, which was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews, was taken down because you couldnt get this free game on steam without also paying for a dlc(which by its nature is non refundable). Now the game has been re-listed under a different name specifically so that negative reviews and associated community news/discussions are lost to time and not carried over onto this page.
But I mean, it’s free to try if you have time to spare…
Okay, a bunch of thoughts come to mind.
I love Diablo. However, I think a big part of it is the atmosphere and also me being young and never having seen anything like it. That’s pretty hard to recreate. I heard the game Halls of Torment nailed the Diablo atmosphere, but as a Vampire Survivors-like. Basically it’s focused on the grind and progression. Maybe, that’s something for you? Personally, I haven’t found anything that is as fun as Diablo, so every now and then I play Diablo 1 with a new mod, like the new The Hell 3 Mod. It brings back the wonder of the unknown, because there is lots of new stuff in there. I also loved Book of Demons, which is basically a streamlined version of Diablo 1 with a dark comedic twist.
I think you underestimate the satisfaction that comes from clearing levels in Diablo. Yes, it could be a different theme and still work, but isn’t that proof of how potent it is? So the question is, why does it feel like a grind to you? I wager it’s because the magic Diablo had for you got lost over time. You know how they work now, you’ve seen behind the curtain and thus don’t feel the danger, the intrigue like you used to. Maybe you will find it in games like Elden Ring that you don’t see through right away?
About the stats progression: I think a very big part of the fun of progressing your character comes from doing it the way you want. It’s a form of expression. You want to be a Necromancer that only uses Golems or a Mage focused on ice. I think what a lot of Diablo-likes miss is finding a good way to allow lots of expression in character development. Too often I feel boxed in by the class and it doesn’t feel like it’s my Tinkerer, but the Tinkerer instead. A good Diablo-like has abilities that define the character instead of just simple stat increases and cooldown reductions and all that.
Lastly, if you haven’t seen it there is a great Diablo 4 Critique on YouTube that might give some more food for thought!