Diablo II has given me more value from my hard-earned cash than any other game I've purchased. The reason for this is that the game is now ten years old, and I've played through both the core game and its expansion pack, Lords of Destruction, at least once a year for those last ten years.

Something about this game makes it so addictive, and so rewarding to play even after ten years, and I can't place my finger on it. I've thought perhaps it's the randomized dungeons, or the need in my reptilian brain to farm more loot, but only recently have I really pinned down what makes Diablo II as awesome, and replayable as it is. The sense of real progression as you build up your character makes this game something to come back to. Levelling your character up, decking them out, and proceeding to slay the baddest enemies out there with your friends is so damn fun because you get to see, in terms of the sheer damage your character dishes out, just how they've progressed from their lowly beginnings, or even from one dungeon ago.

The only other game that gave me that sense of progression was World of Warcraft. Though WoW will always be one of my top games of all time, I recently put it behind me after playing it regularly (as in hours a day) for about four years. Grinding to level 60 (and then 70, and then 80), raiding with my friends, and building up my characters was a lot of fun to be sure, but it required a lot of time and energy. And that is where Diablo II trumps the mighty World of Warcraft. Every day I'd spend hours of my life to build up my character in World of Warcraft, yet Diablo II is a game I can play on and off, and still be just as rewarded by that sense of progression. Blizzard truly accomplished something special by offering that sense of progression while not requiring a huge level of commitment.

Even though they've released masterpiece after masterpiece, Diablo II is Blizzard's magnum opus. It offers a level of pure fun that few games match, and a level of replayability which, to me, no other game has attained. Happy 10th birthday Diablo II.

Now Blizzard better hurry up with Diablo 3.