Despite the release of Diablo II: Resurrected in 2021 there hasn’t been a new entry into the series for consoles and PC’s for over 10 years. The Diablo community have clambering for some new Diablo action so the question posed today is, was it worth the wait?
In a word…Hell yes! Sorry, that was two. From what I’ve played so far Diablo IV is amazing. I’m new to the Diablo franchise having dabbled with III, I then took part in IV’s beta and wanted more so I purchased and completed (the story) of Diablo III. I was hooked and couldn’t wait for the release of Diablo IV and boy oh boy, it hasn’t disappointed!
From the beautify crafted world, to the fun you can have with each class, Diablo IV is close to a masterpiece and I don’t use that word lightly. The world is bigger and more open than before and is complimented by an easy to navigate world map.
The Diablo series is seen (from outsiders anyway) as game you grind to get better gear, but it’s so much more than that. Sleeping on the story would be a big mistake. Set 50 years after the events of Diablo III, the war between the High Heavens and The Burning Hells is raging on as Sanctuary has fallen once more into darkness. This time due cultists have summoned the daughter of Mephisto, Lilith.
The duty to stop Lilith falls to you of course and to help you have one of five classes to choose from; Barbarian, Druid, Sorcerer, Rogue and the returning Necromancer are all available at launch and there’s no shortage of ways for you to play. Want to smash your enemies with rocks as your wolves devour them as a Druid? Fine. Want to burn them to crisp as a Sorcerer? Done. Fancy standing idly by whilst your undead minions do the work for you? Why not. I’ve managed to play all but the Barbarian class so far with the Necromancer being my favourite, but in truth they’re all fun to play.
You will of course have your main character you play with, but once you decide to start a second or third character the game can certainly feel fresh and with 10 character slots there’s plenty of fun to be had.
When you begin your journey you’ll have two difficulties to choose from – Adventurer and Veteran. Once you reach the heady heights of level 50 you’ll unlock the Nightmare and Torment difficulties. Only having 4 difficulties compared to the 20 that Diablo III had is a welcome change as well. If you’re new to Diablo I’d encourage you to try Veteran difficulty from the off, respec-ing your characters is cheap so you can easily find the skill that suits you the best.
The game levels up with you so there will always be a challenge waiting for you, and when playing with friends you don’t have to wait for them to reach your level as the game will scale the enemies based on their level so you can play together and face the same challenge.
Microtransactions aren’t thrown in your face either which is a fresh change of pace for a AAA game. All extras are cosmetic, so you won’t be needing to spend any extra of your hard-earned money, all the best weapons and armour will have to be earned in game, so any FOMO you might get can be solved by a few extra hours of grinding and luck.
Earlier I wrote that Diablo IV was close to a masterpiece, meaning there are a few bugbears. The first one being there is no separate gem bag so space is easily taken up in the already small inventory bag. You can get around this by using a portal to get back to town to empty it, so it’s really only a time-consuming inconvenience, albeit an inconvenience all the same.
The only major red flag for me is the ‘always online’ nature of Diablo IV. Even if you intend to play the game solo like me you have to be connected to the online servers which to be fair have been good – the server smash has done its job. However, if you find yourself in a situation like me where there’s a fault in the area so your service is slower than it should be, you’ll experience lag and disconnections from the server.
Dungeons are a staple of the Diablo series and they make they’re return. They are vast and reward players that do more than follow the quest or go after the boss at the end as most dungeons will have mini bosses that can give out great loot.
Conclusion
Blizzard has proven that AAA games CAN launch in a ready state and be a game of the year contender straight off the bat. It’s going to have to be something special that beats Diablo IV to the top of my list.
Become a Patron!This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
