It’s been just over a decade since Diablo III launched and we finally have our hands on Diablo IV. Gone are the colorful, almost WOW-like worlds and characters from the last entry. Diablo IV is dark, bleak, and disturbing in all the right ways. Diablo is back, baby!
Presentation
Diablo IV makes quite the first impression. The game begins with a CGI cutscene that had me exclaiming at just how beautiful and engaging the cinematic was to my buddy on Discord as we booted the game for the first time. It was expertly made and immediately hooked me on the backstory of Diablo IV’s villain, Lillith..flesh petals and all. My buddy summed it up best when he said “when does episode 2 come out”. I agree, I would watch a series of these, no question. This effectively sets the stage for your hero to rise up and stop Lillith and save the land of Sanctuary.
My praise for Diablo IV’s presentation only continued as I entered the character creator. Here the visuals wowed me for the second time, but this time it was game assets and I was excited to see what else the game had in store for me. Diablo IV’s character creator is a masterpiece. It has the perfect amount of depth, without being overwhelming. The right amount of options without too many sliders that allow me to make my character hideous. And the best part, all the presets and baked-in tattoo/makeup options look great. You can (and most likely will) come out of it with a character that looks badass.
Luckily, those high-quality visuals carry over into the game itself. Diablo IV is a really great-looking ARPG. Character models are wonderfully detailed, with armor details that really pop. This also extends to the environments, with the many different textures all looking incredible and selling me on the dark disturbing world around me. Diablo IV has a very muted color palette, and that is intentional. You can tell the devs really wanted to get back to their roots and deliver a dark, believable world. There are lots of browns and greys, but I think it fits with the overall tone of the game’s story. Plus it allows for dungeons that are pretty grotesque, with fleshy tendrils “breathing” underneath walkways and fleshy “grass” to wade through.
The final piece of the presentation puzzle that has me completely enamored with Diablo IV is the sound design. Every hit, ability, spell, footstep, you name it has a certain crunch and weight to it that shows the care placed into making sure the world around you and your actions create sounds that pull you into the world. Every character that is voice acted ranges from decent to very good, and I was surprised at how much voice acting there was in the game. Combined with an OST that is so creepy and unnerving, while also being epic, I can’t imagine this not being up for sound design at the Game Awards later this year.
Gameplay
Diablo IV scratches that ever-so-satisfying itch of killing demons, getting new loot, and killing more demons. The combat can seem a little slow and monotonous in the early hours, but as you unlock more skill slots and you grow more and more powerful, the screen fills up with a never-ending fountain of particles, numbers, and bloodshed as you tear your way through demons.
You can choose to start saving the land of Sanctuary as a Barbarian, Necromancer, Sorcerer, Rogue, or Druid. Each of Diablo IV’s 5 starting classes has unique skill trees that unlock and branch out the more you level up. The skill trees are broken up into nodes that unlock as you spend more skill points, which are earned by increasing your level. The nodes are split between basic, core, unique class, ultimate, and key passive skills. Between these, Diablo IV lets you create vastly different builds within each class. My rogue for example
The best part about this skill tree system is that it is relatively easy and cost-effective to respec your character, allowing you to experiment and hone your build to your heart’s desires.
Cooperative play is where I spent most of my time with Diablo IV, and let me tell you, it might be my go-to Coop game with my friends until Baldur’s Gate III arrives, and potentially after if the promise of live service seasons delivers. Combining character classes and builds allow for the combat encounters to become increasingly fun. One neat example included the Necromancer in my party exploding bodies and creating a thick smoke that deals Shadow Damage over time. The smoke became so thick that we couldn’t see through it. I transitioned my rogue to be fully ranged and unload a barrage of attacks into the smoke so I wouldn’t get lost. It was just one of many fun combinations that always looked incredible on screen.
I’ve been playing on PC and the experience has been pretty sublime. Outside of the occasional hiccup from Diablo IV being an always-online game, my experience has been pretty pain-free. It runs perfectly, controls well, and looks great. I’m mainly playing with a controller and I might not go back to mouse and keyboard because it just feels so good with an Xbox Elite Controller. Being able to control my character with the analog stick made a huge difference for me, and the ability to freely change all button mappings in the menu made my experience even better. I imagine playing couch coop with controllers and a friend or two would make an incredible experience on the console versions.
What Remains to Be Seen
I want to preface this by saying I am not a Diablo die-hard or even veteran. I’ve played every Diablo game, with the exception of the remaster of Diablo II, but I usually treat them like a story-driven RPG and bounce out after I finish the narrative and some lingering quests. That seems to be changing for me with Diablo IV. Like with a lot of recent ARPG’s, Diablo IV really starts once the story has ended. The best dungeons, gear, grind, and bosses are all waiting for you after you roll credits on the story.
The Endgame shakes out to leveling up to complete Capstone Dungeons to unlock higher world tier difficulties, unlocking spots on your Paragon Board (where your skill points go after you reach level 50), taking on harder Nightmare Dungeons, unique world events, and PVP. A really exciting feature I’m excited to try out is the ability to start a new character
Conclusion
I’m definitely hooked on Diablo IV. Even without experiencing everything that the (end)game has to offer, I think Diablo IV is a success. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel and the microtransactions are pretty disgusting, but the moment-to-moment gameplay really has its hooks in me. The endgame looks to be very meaty and I can’t wait to get my character up to level 100 and keep grinding away for better and better loot. And because Diablo IV is a Live Service game, hopefully, we have fresh content for years to come.
