I believe it made such a splash because....there was hardly anything else!
It came out right at the end of a dead zone, where most of the stuff was downright garbage in the RPG area, not to mention it sucked in many players who previously didn't like RPG's anyway...I found it ok back in the day, I wouldn't touch it these days nor any of the spinoff games.
As others have stated, the level designs, music, etc lend to the "Hellish" aspect of the game. I bought it during a severe downturn in good RPG's.
I believe it made such a splash because....there was hardly anything else!
It came out right at the end of a dead zone, where most of the stuff was downright garbage in the RPG area, not to mention it sucked in many players who previously didn't like RPG's anyway...I found it ok back in the day, I wouldn't touch it these days nor any of the spinoff games.
As others have stated, the level designs, music, etc lend to the "Hellish" aspect of the game. I bought it during a severe downturn in good RPG's.