Pixels to paper - 10 videogame novels reviewed

The shadow fell across Uldyssian ul-Diomed's table, enveloping not only much of it, but also his hand and his as-of-yet-undrunk ale. The sandy-haired farmer did not have to look up to know who interrupted his brief respite from his day's labours. He had heard the newcomer speaking to others in the Boar's Head - the only tavern in the remote village of Seram - heard him speaking and prayed silently but vehemently that he would not come to Uldyssian's table.
(Courtesy)

What is it?
A prequel to the events of the original Diablo. Short-tempered Uldyssian is exiled from his village after being wrongly accused of a double murder, leaving him wandering the wiꦉlderness, while struggling to cope with the strange and terrible poꦆwers he is slowly developing.

Who wrote it?
- if there was ever a name perfectly suited to a Diablo novel, it'🦂s his. Knaak is a prolific writer, his novels covering the universes of pen'n'paper RPGs Dragonlance andDragonrealm, as well as Blizzard's Diablo and Warcraft, plus a handful of his own creation.

Fanboy factor?
Our on-team fervent Diablo fan was actually a little let down by this. Uldys⛎🐓sian isn't a particularly evocative character, but the chance to explore what happened before Tristam was infested with hell spawn at least gives this novel a real fanboy pull.

series, and the first in his novelisations of the﷽ videogame adventures.

Ben Richardson is ꦑa former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.