I guess Silver is a bit Diablo-like - even though it LOOKS like FF7, it plays more like a Diablo game

I agree. I loved it when I was younger and hadn't played many other RPG's.
Now... I can barely stay awake when I try to play it. Luckily, it is not a big deal if I fall asleep, because the game almost entirely plays itself.

It is pretty though :)

OMG thank you all for such fast and thoughtful replies! I'll be taking a close look at all of these, esp the ones I can get from GoG.

@Lexor , D3 folks, & Path of Exile folks: totally legit suggestions. But no D3 for me. I like my games offline & LAN only, so that rules out the Steamy stuff & D3. Maybe if I run out of games that I don't find overly invasive I'll give these others a try.

@AdamR: you're absolutely right about Dungeon Siege. I've played a lot of 1 & 2. I remember one particularly funny weekend where a couple friends came over and we played that one of those for literally like 48 hours straight. It mattered so little that you were awake that we just drifted off in shifts. Was a fun weekend, but I haven't been able to stand the game since :-)

@rtcvb32: someone made a an ASCII art Diablo roguelike?? This I've got to try!

@rtcvb32, @darkplanetar: mods! Why didn't I think of that sooner? I tried a couple years ago: Ancestral Recall & Seven Lances. Don't remember why I didn't play them more. I'll check out the ones mentioned here.

@Fever_Discordia A super hero themed Diablo sounds extremely interesting. Hail Eris!

I'll throw Harbinger into the mix since I haven't seen it mentioned here yet. Great game, hopefully it comes to GOG.

I'm partial to Titan Quest myself.

I regret that I buy Diablo 3, it was really bad when they released it. Unbalanced, bugged, same narrow areas again again and again.... auction house....no pvp.....worthless legendary items.....ah......

After it i tried Torchlight 2 and Van Helsing 1.... and what can i say, both game are boring. Maybe because one thing is really great in Diablo 3, the combat system. And in these games the combat is not so good.

Torchlight 1 is the same, but the levels are very limited, same narrow areas, same monsters.

I really like Sacred 1, but sadly the multiplayer mode is unstable. But it is one of my fav from games like diablo.
Sacred 2 is not so good as the first, and the 3 is probably a big joke.

Shame but i didn't play with Titan Quest.... but i am sure i will once when I have time.

I'm curious about Grim Dawn.

Roguelikes in general might be a good choice, if you don't mind simple graphics and turn based gameplay. Nethack, ADOM, Elona, and DoomRL are some quality ones with DoomRL being the easiest to learn.

I am guessing Grim Dawn ought to fit the ticket when it gets released. That one is made by people who worked on Titan Quest, and was Kickstarted. Here's hoping that it ends up on GOG.

Just my opinion but I'd say avoid Torchlight, it's the weakest action RPG I've played - with the exception of Space Hack which is even weaker. I don't understand why Torchlight is so popular, I found it bland, sterile, painfully average and it most certainly doesn't scratch the Diablo itch. I've had a rather intense Diablo 2 relapse earlier this year and I'm still playing it from time to time but I'm burned out on it as you are. There's only so and so many times you can suffer through the Kurast jungles. The problem with finding a game to replace Diablo 2 is that there isn't anything that's on its level. Especially not when it comes to the loot, Diablo 2 is still the unchallenged Gearhead Nirvana for that.
Games like Totchlight that simply copy Diablo fall flat.
I recommend even older games like NOX, Silver and Darkstone over Torchlight, all 3 have more primitive graphics than Torchlight but have a certain charme that Torchlight completely lacks, that game has no mojo whatsoever.

Divine Divinity might not scratch your itch because it's much more slower paced than Diablo and therefor a bit overkill for the occasion. As for Sacred, I didn't like it as the world felt and looked very sterile and has no "oomph" to it.

NOX and Silver are my picks for action "RPGs", both are kinda cute but not childish and dark but not grim dark. They're simply enjoyable games. Neither of them can replace Diablo 1/2 but then again, nothing else really does.
You can try Path of Exile of course and see if you like it at no risk since it's free, if you absolutely need something with modern graphics.

EDIT: In fact, I'd rather play Ecstatica 1 & 2 again instead of Torchlight, those are action adventures like Silver so there isn't much or anything in terms of RPG elements but the border between action RPGs and action adventures is rather seemless anyway

Titan Quest was an excellent game, but only if you had someone to play with. If you, or anyone else is interested in a playthrough, let me know

Torchlight 2 I guess.

Even though I'm a hardcore Nox fan and personally think it's way more than a Diablo-clone that was unfortunate enough to be released at about the same time as Diablo II and, thus, being the less popular of the two, automatically being called a Diablo-clone when it's definitely not, my recommendation still stands. Go get this game. Sure, it hasn't got procedurally generated levels and mobs don't respawn, but it has quite an innovative system -- for its time, mind you -- and offers you non-stop fast-paced aRPG action requiring some skill management and fast reflexes, all the while giving you some environmental puzzles and a few NPC sidequests. The levels are brilliantly designed and you'll find it's a game that aged quite well. Plus, there are some online modes that are sure to make you keep coming back to the game as soon as you've finished all three main campaign quests (Warrior, Wizard, Conjurer). Nox is a somewhat dark game, though it never looses touch with its particular kind of humor, which you will find all throughout the different campaigns.

I kind of recommend Torchlight, even though it's a bit more light-hearted than the Diablo games. As has been said before, some of the old developers worked on it and it has tight gameplay, albeit in a more "cartoony" world and taking place in pre-designed levels. It's enough to scratch that Diablo itch for some time, but it definitely won't replace the originals for long, as it gets tedious and repetitive fast enough.

I can't, for the life of me, recommend Divine Divinity. Probably my biggest dissappointment here on GOG, along with Outcast. Fans of the game praise its humor, but as far as I'm concerned, I didn't find it funny in the least. The game is slow as hell and is more in tune with the Infinity Engine D&D games than with Diablo. The story is not engaging, the game definitely didn't age all that well, combat is frustrating and tedious, "unless you know what you're doing" -- which is to say, far from being entertaining and fun, just your regular "strategize everything and run away a lot" -- and it takes A WHOLE LOT OF TIME to start. Seriously. I've never even left the starting town, and the only time I was about to, after 5 hours or so, the game crashed on me and I said "screw this". So, for old Diableros, trust me: Divine Divinity is a big no-no.

I'd stick with Nox and Torchlight.

Nox? I wouldn't recommend Nox.... I remember quitting that game after coming to a conclusion of my opinion was on it.

Well art might be a little strong, but it's in ASCII. The first area the zombies seem to do almost nothing, but they did that in D1 too (says the author) so in a rouge-like you have a lot more time to react. It might turn you off as too easy early on, not sure I didn't play that far.


And I loved trying Mods for D2. Ancestral Recall.. Ahh yes, the kicking Sorceress, loved that. One of my favorite, at least until they added stuff after 4.2? My memory's rusty, haven't played AR since... well... Wow...15 years ago...

There's a lot of hidden treasures in Zy-El, but I recommend you reading the manual as until you have 1-2 easy small celebrity posters, you'll pretty much be playing super defensive (I think I was 30th level before managing to fight off raven in the graveyard). Course getting hep from someone who's played long enough to get decently. Once you have custom equipment or 1-2 posters, the game radically changes difficulty.

Naturally it always gets harder :P

Progress Quest captures the essence of diablo pretty well..