Loot of Baal

Loot of Baal is a desktop idler from Gleamer Studio, released on Steam on 16 June 2025, that transplants the loot-and-build systems of Diablo II into a small always-on-top window meant to sit in the corner of a screen while a party of three hirelings auto-battles demons across a level map. It quickly built a reputation, and a reasonably large one — 218 Steam reviews and counting — for both a genuinely deep item and rune system that longtime Diablo II fans recognise immediately, and for a cramped, overlapping interface that a significant share of reviewers describe as close to unplayable.

A loving, detailed homage to Diablo II's loot systems

The single most consistent praise across positive reviews is how faithfully the game recreates Diablo II's itemization: runewords, socketing, elemental resistances and gear-driven builds are all present and, according to multiple reviewers, implemented with real fidelity to the source material. "The best part of Diablo 2 was the loot/item system and this game uses and improves on most of it," reads one detailed positive review, while others call it "Diablo 2 if it was an idle game," or simply "the best idle game I have ever played" for fans of the genre it's borrowing from. Reviewers describe genuine progression satisfaction in chasing specific runewords and set pieces, and several note the game holds up as active entertainment on its own even without the idle framing, running the party manually at increased speed rather than leaving it fully unattended.

The interface is the review pool's dominant complaint

Set against that praise is an unusually loud and specific interface complaint that runs through a large share of even the game's positive reviews. The core issue is the compact desktop-overlay window: menus like the level map open as separate pop-ups that overlap the combat log and settlement view rather than integrating into a single coherent layout, and there is still no full-screen option as of the reviews surveyed here, despite reviewers noting the developer has confirmed one is planned. "Maybe there's a good game here, but there's no way I'm ever going to find out due to the absolutely godawful UI," reads one of the most-upvoted negative reviews, calling it "borderline unplayable." Other reviewers push back on this framing directly, arguing the small footprint is the entire point of a desktop idler and that critics expecting a full-screen RPG are reviewing the wrong genre — a genuine split in the review pool rather than a settled consensus.

A DMCA takedown and asset-replacement controversy

Loot of Baal's launch was complicated by a documented Steam delisting shortly after release, triggered by a DMCA claim over Diablo II assets used in the game. Multiple reviewers reference this directly: one detailed negative review states that after the game was delisted, "a large number of stolen Diablo II audio assets" were replaced before it was relisted, and describes frustration that the developer's public statements framed the issue as a misunderstanding while assets were quietly swapped out. This review cannot independently verify which specific assets were changed or the full sequence of events, but the fact that multiple separate reviewers, including some who otherwise recommend the game, describe the same timeline independently gives the account real weight.

Balance concerns and a demanding endgame

A second cluster of complaints concerns build variety and late-game balance. Several reviewers report reaching a point — commonly cited around level 50 to the low 50s — where progress stalls sharply, driven by enemy debuffs that reviewers say force specific hero and equipment combinations rather than allowing free experimentation. One detailed negative review claims to have tested whether equipped weapons affected damage output at all and found no measurable difference, calling the result "dodgy to say the least." Others describe legendary items as "completely useless" in their current state and note that stat requirements on gear seem to gate access to equipment without meaningfully affecting combat performance. These are specific, testable claims made by individual reviewers rather than confirmed facts, but their repetition across independently-dated reviews suggests a real, ongoing itemization balance issue rather than isolated confusion.

An always-online save system, and an actively-updating developer

A separate, smaller complaint thread concerns the game's save architecture: several reviewers report that every save file, whether or not a player intends to trade with others, requires a live connection to a single official server located in Singapore, causing connectivity issues for players elsewhere. "There is only one official server to play on if you are interested in trading. And that server is in Singapore," one reviewer wrote, adding that connection issues occur "before, during, and after trading." This sits alongside a more consistently positive thread running through the reviews: reviewers across both recommendation camps describe the developer as unusually responsive, shipping updates roughly every two weeks and actively engaging with community feedback on Discord. Several reviewers who initially left critical reviews say they revised them after seeing specific complaints addressed quickly, which tempers some of the interface and balance criticism above with the sense of a game still being actively finished rather than abandoned.

Verdict

Loot of Baal succeeds as exactly what its most devoted fans describe: a genuinely deep, lovingly detailed Diablo II tribute wearing an idle-desktop-game disguise, with itemization systems that reward the kind of theorycrafting genre fans specifically seek out. Its Mostly Positive score is earned, but it comes with real asterisks — a cramped, overlapping interface that a large minority of players find genuinely unusable, a documented copyright controversy around its launch assets, and late-game balance complaints that suggest the build variety promised by its deep item system doesn't always hold up under scrutiny. Diablo II veterans willing to tolerate a rough interface will likely find real value here; anyone hoping for a polished, walk-away idle experience should treat the interface complaints as a serious warning rather than a minor quibble.