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And in that case, it is no contest. Grim Dawn is much, much better. I am talking strictly vanilla here.
Diablo1 gets some points for nostalgia and the old school style. It is not very interesting in the long run though, compared to today's standards. 3 classes, each with a limited playstyle.
Diablo 2+exp has a lot of style and flavour and it feels "grim and gruesome", but the maps/areas are mostly bland and more of an obstacle than interesting(to the point that a major goal of endgame is teleporting past as much of it as possible). Minimal rewards for exploration and "end game" in vanilla is very basic and extremely repetetive for minimal reward.
Classes were very cool and interesting for its time, but by today's standard feels superficial and had a very uneven power curve/progression. Level ups was not that interesting, as you only occasionally got something new out of it.
Diablo 3+exp has many issues in my opinion. Compared to what was hinted at and shown prior to launch(much more living story with a lot of NPCs and interactive world etc.), what we got was much more toned down. The art direction for the majority of the game is "fine", but also very safe. It is not particularly grim or gruesome and you dont feel the same tension you did in Diablo 1 and 2.
Forced online(I think this is still the case) can be an issue and it does not really utilize it in an interesting way. The game was supposed to have a lot of different modes, including a gladiator style arena with death traps, but very little was actually realized.
The Reaper of Souls expansion did add more tension and a stronger art style, but it is such a small part of the overall experience.
If you enjoy the seasonal gameplay, you might find enjoyment in constant leveling and releveling characters, but for me, it felt like a small variation on the same playstyle over and over, with nothing new to do.
Diablo Immorals. Bad. Moving on.
Diablo 4. Seems interesting. More map interactivity(but we were promised this before) and it seems like you could be rewarded for map exploration in more than one way. In terms of style it also seems more gritty and dark, so the tension should be better.
Combat seems engaging.
I have hopes, but we will have to wait until it is actually out to see if it delivers.
Now, where does this leave Grim Dawn?
Well, it picks some things that you might see in some of the Diablo games, while doing some other things very differently.
First off, it is not an online only game. It is focused on single player or coop. There is PvP, but it is far from a main focus. Modding is a major aspect and there is no control if those you play with/against have modded the game in a way to give them advantage.
The game has a lot of classes. You fairly quickly pick 2 of them(not at character creation, but during actual gameplay) and you create a character from that. Each class has various active skills, triggers and passives and each level up(up to a certain point) grants you 3 skill points to invest into your classes, so you can quickly get a bunch of skills and abilities. You can respec these at a npc.
You can find shrines out in the world that gives you devotion points, which you use to fill out an additional "star constellation of skills", with various buffs and unique effects. You also get attribute points on level ups to further round out your character. Items add a further level of customization, with everything from swords to wands to guns. Each type of weapon have their own profile. Some have low min, high max damage values, some might be based on an element. Some might ignore more of the enemy's armor or attack faster.
There are set items and unique items with special effects.
The world is handcrafted(very little randomization) and can be rotated(so you can have north point "up" or "down", if you like). There are a lot of hidden areas and side quests in the world, including bosses, treasures, npcs, storylines and more. Some areas require you to do, or find, certain things to unlock. The game does not hold your hand, but there are clues and directions for most of it. The rewards can be substantial and exploration is encouraged, but not required.
There are various factions in the game that grants you access to specific gear, unique quests and challenges. Some factions are rivals, so by helping one you are closing off the other path(for that difficulty, you can choose a different rival with newgame+ higher difficulty).
Aside from a gameplay perspective of adding content, it makes the world feel more lived in(in spite of it being during a major apocalypse), with npcs having their own agendas and history.
There are several large dungeons in the game(rogue dungeons) that operates on a risk/reward system. Once you have opened the gate with a special, crafted key, you have to clear the dungeon in one go, or have to start over(including creating a new key). In these dungeons you can find various treasure rooms and some unique enemies(and so their unique loot drops) are only found here.
If you get some of the add-ons/expansions, you get access to additional classes, areas, quests and side quests, and even new ways to play the game.
Lastly, the game is very moddable. From various, personal quality of life mods, to mods that tries to recreate diablo 2, there is probably something that you might find interesting, if you want to try something a bit different.
I don't think I could've said it better myself. Pretty apt description from someone who obviously has played enough of both. I was vaguely curious about D2R (not enough to buy into it), but I think you're right, at the end of the day the ARPG genre has moved past Diablo 2 despite how absolutely incredible and groundbreaking (genre defining, really) it was 20 years ago. I doubt D2R would change my mind.
I pretend D3 and anything after never happened.
Grim Dawn is pretty much what Diablo2 players always wanted going forward for the Diablo franchise.
Grim Dawn sits right in the middle of Diablo2 and Path of Exile. Grim Dawn does almost everything right without being overly complex like Path of Exile. So Grim Dawn isnt really casual nor really "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ what am i supposed to do".
Can recommend.