If you’ve kept up with my vaguely coherent ramblings over the past few years, you’ll know that Diablo is one of my favorite videogame franchises ever. It’s the dreariness, the action, the sense of complete and utter hopelessness – sure, it’s all a little bit depressing, but it’s a world I can’t tear myself away from. While there are a slew of other ARPGs – Path of Exile 2, Last Epoch – I’ve never really been able to divorce myself from Sanctuary, simply because I feel like Diablo will always just do it better. Wolcen Studio’s new ‘ExtrAction ARPG’ Project Pantheon, however, adds an interesting twist to the traditional hacking and slashing, and, despite my affinity for Diablo, it may just lure me away.
This is the Realm of Fate, a world where various myths and legends once coexisted in peace. But that was a long, long time ago: this once thriving metropolis now lies in ruin, and it’s your job to give it life. In Project Pantheon, you’ll be hacking and slashing your way through the Afterlife, uniting disparate communities and tearing the hordes asunder at the request of Death himself.
Dubbed “the first of its kind,” Project Pantheon is an “extrAction RPG” that blends Diablo’s traditional dungeon crawling with Escape from Tarkov-style extraction. While that may sound similar to Ironmace’s Dark and Darker, the action is viewed from a top-down perspective as opposed to first-person – hopefully that means fewer jumpscares.
You’ll begin your journey at your base (or Sanctuary, is that a nod to Diablo?), where you can build out your lodgings and customize your loadout. Then, you’ll drop into one of several maps, each of which has its own unique loot and challenges. From here, it’s a case of hacking your way through whatever’s thrown at you, grabbing the best gear, and extracting back to safety where you can peruse your newfound treasures and get ready to do it all again.
But Project Pantheon ups the stakes. If you die out in the wilderness, your gear is lost – think Escape from Tarkov. Sure, it’s maybe a step down from Diablo 4 Hardcore, which sees your entire character bite the dust, but for more casual players who want a challenge but not that much of a challenge, this feels like the happy medium.
If you do manage to extract, however, you’ll be able to trade your spoils with other players. Wolcen Studio champions its community, meaning that the in-game economy is player-driven and reliant upon an open market system. You’ll want to get the best gear, then, but are you willing to risk it all?
You’ll be able to find out during Project Pantheon’s first Closed Alpha Test, which runs from Saturday January 25 to Sunday January 26 in Europe, and Saturday February 1 to Sunday February 2 in North America. Note that this is largely a technical test to evaluate the game’s stability, with future alphas scheduled throughout 2025. You can sign up here.
In the meantime, however, we have a guide to all the best games like Diablo to slake your bloodthirst, as well as a list of all the best fantasy games if you, like me, love venturing into the wilds.
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