Diablo IV is a Franchise Topper, With Near Perfect Endgame Fun | Review
Dungeon crawling has never been so fun
WACO, Texas (KWTX) -
Reviewed on PS5
Video review coming at season 1 launch.
Returning to gleeful sin as you slaughter demonic forces in search of better loot to take down the Daughter of Hatred, Lilith. Diablo IV is a return to form for the series, bringing with it an overhaul of every mechanic which delightfully gives me an almost addictive gameplay loop with some truly engaging combat, a character skill system that feels exceptionally polished and some of the best endgame content we’ve seen from the Diablo series so far. All this coming together to make one of the most addictively fun dungeon crawlers in years.
While the story does a great job of setting up future conflict as you wade through this holy-hell of a divorced parent situation, delivering some excellent voice acting and truly astonishing cinematics, it does little to stand out as truly exceptional, boss fights hold more weight than usual at least emotionally. But little else feels especially intense. That being said, massive props to the voice actors for Lilith and Lorath who both deliver monologues like nobodies business. Especially as the story explores the nature of the eternal conflict and mankind’s place in it. Like I said, a compelling enough story but the gameplay is where Diablo really unleashes its hellfire.
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A renewed since of progression builds on the already excellent gameplay loop of the diablo series. There is nothing quite like taking your no-name, one skill having basic character and carefully crafting an unstoppable, demon slaying, killing machine hell bent on having the best fashion. Thanks to a new skill point based system, the reward gained through leveling allow you to explore, adapt and more widely benefit specific builds. I spent a lot of time with my rogue, turning points into stabby shadow damage as I shadow stepped across the arena to stun enemies setting them up for a flurry of blades or arrows. No matter which of Diablo IV’s 5 classes you pick, you’ll quickly find that success is found just in loot or even leveling. If you aren’t sure what class to pick the strong suits of each one become pretty apparent quickly, but for my money I had the most fun zapping everything in sight with my sorcerer than I did probably anything else. No offense to my skelly bois but lightning just hits harder than bones. Refreshingly Diablo IV rewards skillful players by letting adaptability be it’s strong suit, allowing me to more directly cater to my playstyle. The many buffs and debuffs you can gain and dull out really make strategy comeback into play this time around. Knowing when to set up a vulnerable status on an enemy and how to capitalize on it to deliver a massive damage hit is a key, likewise damage over time and your own vulnerability can be good things to look out for to keep you rested up. This is especially important, because gone are the days of infinite but delayed potions. Diablo IV instead starts you with 4 potions usable at a time, health globes now only replenish this stock and don’t actually heal you. This means more often you’'ll be figuring out how to create distance, dodging or simply investing in moves and inventory that heal on kill. Subtle changes to the familiar Diablo experience have made for more gritty and exciting combat. The way some moves chain together so nicely with other classes moves, making a meaningful team up something to really behold. Rogues and sorcerers taking the fight by constant assault from every angle, Barbarians and necromancers never ceasing their assault. It makes the multiplayer side of it all so much more engaging...when it works properly, but more on that in a minute. Another small change that I’m less a fan of is the removal of the dodge roll that was tethered to the right stick in Diablo 3. That thing was amazing, no cool down, did damage and breaking stuff with it even gave you a movement speed bonus. But no, Diablo Iv has decided that was too silly and so now you have a dodge button on O(for PlayStation) not only removing what was once a skill button but now limiting your usage of the doge with 5 second cool down. At first this felt terrible, in some cases making me feel like any demon with bite had a chance at slaying me, but as the game progressed working the dodges timing in to my flow became second nature.
Enemy variety is at an all-time high in Diablo IV with Sanctuary overrun with a wide swath of demonic and human adversaries to triumph over. Hordes of enemies spot the land making any travel outside cities a battle for survival, as is par for the course for Diablo at this point, but smarter AI has led these new foes to be more cunning and dangerous. Not only will they spread out and flank you at times but some enemy types will even straight up dodge you. Playing on the games veteran recommended difficulty of World tier 2, I found myself struggling with large groups who had a massive variety of dangerous modifiers, from fireball to poison making encounters more deadly when running up against the mini boss like elite enemies. A minor gripe I have here is that compared to Diablo 3′s very dynamic and easily followed color coding, the lack of name color changes for Elite enemies in Diablo Iv can really cause some visual clarity issues. On the flip end of that stick, are the big boss fights which teeter the edge of difficulty often resulting in victory by the skin of my teeth. While the fights themselves are more emotionally resonant and less clear-cut evil guy is evil, the boss arena’s do feel often underwhelming and nothing quite reaches the heights of Diablo 3′s, final boss encounter at least not till you reach this games finale.
In much the same regard, the map of Sanctuary feels oh so familiar and yet I often found myself unsure of exactly. The world is more grotesque and dilapidated and yet still so full of optimism and beauty. It’s really nice to wonder around some of the more visually appealing locals and take in all the artistic flourishes on display. Even extremely well-trodden Diablo locations such as Hell feel like they were given a rebirth in blood and flesh. Creepy contorting faces and bodies dot it’s landscape, blood pouring and oozing from skeletal nightmares infused into the flesh-like walls. It’s all very haunting and bizarrely gorgeous. Exploration also found new legs here, four of them to be exact. The wait is long to get it, but at the start of Act IV you can acquire a mount, granting you a steed to hastily traverse the lands. This greatly improves the otherwise sluggish traversal of the world, I only wish it’d been granted to us sooner.
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As any good Diablo fan knows, the story is nice, but the real game begins after. Diablo IV introduces a full suite of engaging ways to make numbers go bigger. You won’t visit the entire map during the campaign, so exploration is still at play here. Hunting down unique enemies, new dungeons that pay out legendary aspects allowing you to form your own arsenal of lethally imbued weapons, and the added whispers of the tree system which works in much the same way as D3′s bounty system. Taking advantage of the always online nature of Diablo IV are world bosses, massive boss fights requiring multiple players to take down. These can be intense and highly rewarding fights, that really show off the build combinations of the character skill system. Cranking the difficulty up to Tier 3 begins to reward you with unique items, offering intensely powerful and more dynamic ways to slaughter your foes. Climbing the ranks to level 100 feels like a real task worth accomplishing, enemies scale to match you as you become a god-like being of destruction. In the month following its release I’ve dedicated every free second I’ve had to relieving the demonic threat in Sanctuary.
Verdict:
Building a new darker Diablo game, was always going to lead to a return to form for it’s visuals but the unexpected part of that revamp is the skill system, paragon system and the delicate balance between reward and challenge that keep me locked in to this eternal war with Hell. A compelling story, that does notably drag in places, provides a solid backing to this excellent dungeon crawler. Gameplay is the star here, feeling more skill based than ever and letting players make the most of the incredibly customizable skill system to build a playstyle that fits their personal preference. My only real gripes are the always online nature of the game, which fails to give players living in more remote areas a chance to experience this gem of a title. On the other hand, it does save them from seeing Blizzard’s audacity at charging $28 for ONE armor set in the store...and $10 FOR HORSE ARMOR!?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Well, regardless the game is a well-oiled, demonic Slaughter fest that provides nearly perfect endless thrills. I give Diablo IV a 9. Can’t wait to see what the first season of content holds. For Hardwired I’m Andrew Hamilton.
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