Treasure hunting has been part of gaming since the early days of quests and role-playing adventures, but if you think about the moment it went from being a sideline game element to a central driving force, it can only be Diablo that comes to mind. Blizzard's darkly atmospheric hack'n'slash action role-player turned the search for loot into an addictive and compelling gameplay device. There was a sense of limitless bounty to be discovered, even though behind the scenes we knew there were parameters determining what magical goodies could possibly pop out of each chest or be dropped by the next fallen enemy. Not knowing what you would find just added to the mysterious allure of battling through each procedurally generated level of this dungeon crawler. It was captivating, and largely responsible for the success of the franchise debut - endlessly searching for that beautiful Doombringer broadsword or Demonspike armor was almost as absorbing as working your way through the actual quests. Things only grew from there, with Diablo 2 and the monstrous Diablo 3 taking this preoccupation with loot drops to new heights. Chests, barrels and recently cut down corpses now all overflow with treasure across the entirety of the hack'n'slash genre, from Dungeon Siege to Torchlight to The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot. And beyond - Gearbox built this same passion for loot into their lovely Borderlands franchise too. Again, Blizzard didn't invent the concept of obsessive loot hunting, but they definitely hammered it home unlike any other game and made it an essential part of adventure gaming.
Game-obsessed since the moment I could twiddle both thumbs independently. Equally enthralled by all the genres of music that your parents warned you about.
