Diablo Games in Order

Why this order?

Diablo is one of the defining action-RPG series, and its appeal is simple: descend into Sanctuary, slay demons, and chase ever-better loot. The good news for newcomers is that the order is almost entirely intuitive. For the four numbered games, release order and story order are the same thing, so the list you see by default is also the chronological path through the Eternal Conflict between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells.

Release order runs Diablo (1996), Diablo II (2000), Diablo III (2012), and Diablo IV (2023). Each game opens a fresh chapter and is built to be playable on its own, so you do not strictly need the earlier titles to enjoy a later one. That said, the lore genuinely builds across the series: the fall of Tristram, the wanderings of the Prime Evils, the Worldstone, and the rise of new heroes and villains all connect. Playing in order rewards you with payoffs that land harder when you have seen what came before.

The one thing that trips people up is Diablo Immortal (2022), a free-to-play mobile and PC entry. Here the distinction matters: by release date it arrived between Diablo III and Diablo IV, but its story is set earlier, roughly five years after Diablo II and well before Diablo III. So in the in-world timeline it slots between II and III, even though you would have played it after III. It is real and canon, yet it is a separate game with its own monetization model, so it is listed here as an optional aside rather than a required stop.

The games also come with expansions, remasters and DLC. The ones you play as their own thing get their own row in the list: Diablo II: Resurrected (2021) is the full modern remaster of Diablo II, and Reign of the Warlock (2026) is its surprise DLC that adds the Warlock, the first new Diablo II class in 25 years (part of a cross-game Warlock launch that also hit Diablo IV and Diablo Immortal). Smaller expansions stay tucked under the game they extend: Lord of Destruction under Diablo II, Reaper of Souls and the Rise of the Necromancer pack under Diablo III, and Vessel of Hatred plus Lord of Hatred under Diablo IV.

If you enjoy this kind of loot-driven dungeon crawl, Diablo's lineage runs parallel to genre cousins like Path of Exile and Torchlight, while Blizzard's own World of Warcraft shares its high-fantasy DNA. Start at the beginning, or jump into Diablo IV and work backward when the lore hooks you.