Moon Studios CEO Thomas Mahler believes the next Diablo and Path of Exile can’t keep leaning on the genre’s old foundations. In his view, ARPGs have mostly expanded sideways – more loot, more modifiers, more screen-filling effects – without actually evolving at their core. Mahler argues the classic point-and-click era is running out of road, and players now expect direct control instead of watching the game play itself.

Thomas Mahler has already left a major mark on the games industry by leading development on Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and more recently No Rest for the Wicked, but he has also become a frequent talking point thanks to the blunt opinions he shares on social media about where the industry is headed. This time, he has sparked debate around Action RPGs and what “progress” in the genre should actually mean, because he believes the Diablo and Path of Exile series have mostly moved sideways rather than forward.

Mahler tackled the subject in a lengthy post on X, framing No Rest for the Wicked – which is set to add co-op features on January 22 – as a next-generation Action RPG. He describes it as “the kind of ARPG you couldn’t make 20 years ago because it wasn’t possible”, and suggests that this shift marks a turning point for the genre. “I think the problem I have with Path of Exile 2 is that it’s built on the same old foundations as Path of Exile 1, in the same way that Diablo IV is basically built on the same foundations as Diablo III”, he continues. In Mahler’s eyes, genres only move forward when studios take risks, because if they don’t, competitors eventually will – and they will take the spotlight with them.

In a separate post that goes even deeper, Mahler lays out the core of his argument: he says “most current ARPGs, even renowned ones like Diablo IV and Path of Exile 2, are still designed based on ideas from the 1990s”. At their heart, he claims, they are still point-and-click games. “You press a button or click on something, and your character performs the action for you. You’re not really performing the action. You’re telling the game what you’d like to do, and it takes care of the rest”, he explains.

To Mahler, that formula simply “is no longer good enough” today. He argues that players want genuine control over their characters’ actions, and that the combat systems supporting Diablo and Path of Exile cannot fully deliver that by design. “So yes, ARPGs like Diablo IV and Path of Exile 2 can still be fun. But my point is that they’re not evolving. They’re scaling laterally: more modifiers, more loot filters, more ways to explode the screen with a single button. But it’s all based on the same basic idea: press a button and watch things die. And they literally can’t do anything more (even if they try very hard) because they weren’t designed that way from the ground up”, Mahler writes.

Mahler says ARPGs will only evolve if studios take real risks

Mahler also takes the opportunity to underline that No Rest for the Wicked was built to feel fundamentally different, because “the idea was that combat shouldn’t be designed on a spreadsheet, but around a real feel”. The creator of Ori believes that “this is the direction ARPGs must take if they truly want to evolve”, and he argues that even a future Diablo V or Path of Exile 3 will ultimately need to move in the same direction.

“Combat should feel like something you do, not something you watch. Progress shouldn’t come solely from loot, but also from skill. And enemies shouldn’t be obstacles or stat drains, but encounters that demand you focus, learn, and adapt”, Mahler continues. While he acknowledges that old-school ARPGs will keep existing and entertaining large audiences, he is convinced the genre’s true evolution will only happen if developers are willing to take risks.

This is just one of many industry topics Mahler has discussed publicly across his social channels. In the past, the Moon Studios CEO has triggered debates about Steam’s strict monetization model, how negative reviews can impact PC releases, the legacy of Xbox Live Arcade, and more. And judging by the reaction so far, his take on Action RPGs is set to fuel another round of loud, wide-ranging discussion.

Source: GRY-Online