Activision-Blizzard has been under a lot of heat in the last few years after several allegations about a negative workplace for women and people of color arose. No matter how good or bad a game is, it’s important to remember if the people who made it aren’t recognized under the current leadership. CEO Bobby Kotick recently stated that there was no mistreatment and blamed workers in a Variety interview.
However, Kotick and Activision aren’t Blizzard, and this developer has a proven track record of creating exciting live-service games before they were all the rage. Diablo IV is the first title in the series in over a decade, with Diablo III released in May 2012. In the decade since then, game development tools have come a long way, giving Blizzard a whole range of new tools to play with.
The advancements in tech, and development planning in general, are clear in Diablo IV, whether that be in the action-packed combat or surprisingly compelling MMO story.
It’s a big world full of demons
As a lonely adventurer in the blizzard, no pun intended, you’re fortunate enough to stumble into a town where you’ll find townspeople struggling to survive the winter. After helping them fend off monsters, they reward you in a pretty unconventional way. After getting a taste of blood, you become intertwined with Lilith like her followers, but you retain your own free will.
After that prologue, you’re taken to Kyovashad where you can begin your journey on the main quest or just complete activities in the game world, building on the freedom in game trends in a big way. The sense of freedom is similar to that in the Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom titles, where the sheer size of the undiscovered map and its different activities is daunting on first approach.
That being said, as scary as it seems, I never felt like the game was punishing or rewarding me when I didn’t deserve it. If you think about the skills you upgrade and pay attention to how they interact with each other, every new challenge can be overcome. Paired with the seemingly endless combinations of abilities and gear, we haven’t even seen the extent of what’s possible.
During the beta in March, I largely played as a Rogue to the level cap and then a Necromancer during the second period. I picked up the Necromancer again for much of my first character in the early access period before moving on to the Druid’s tank-like bear form. No matter how far I got in each of them, I could really feel the differences when I would respec in a different direction.
When you’re going through hell, go at your own pace
Genuinely, this may be the first live-service Blizzard game that I actually get into after failed attempts at Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and more. This game is so approachable to new players and seems to deliver what old fans love. Exploding corpses and mauling vampires as a bear really never gets old, and I’m eager to play the rest of the existing classes as well as whatever’s planned for the future.
With Diablo IV being open-ended, and content expected to continue with at least two updates in the near future, it feels like players will be able to spend tens to hundreds of hours in this game without even breaking a sweat. I can definitely see where some might find the grind a bit excessive, but as long as I had something to complete, I never felt like my time was wasted.
In fact, one of the things Diablo IV does extremely well is rewarding the player for small achievements, making the game feel more rewarding overall as opposed to one big reward. Those opportunities are still there, but I can feel satisfied in getting to a certain point and then stepping away to do work or grab dinner before coming back to where I left off.
I’ve admittedly never been a fan of top-down third-person games when I was younger, but something about Diablo IV scratches an itch for blowing up dozens of corpses in 10 seconds. The combat is just fun in a way that doesn’t normally click with these titles, and especially with Diablo Immortal. How my Sorcerer friend and I were able to stack abilities was often a spectacle.
I don’t think that this game will be for everyone, with Christians across the world holding their religious doctrine a little closer tonight. In truth, Diablo IV is a fight against the devil, or Lilith, and a race to protect the entirety of Sanctuary from the demons that now inhabit it. The cinematics and lore you can find in the corners of the game really do a lot to make you feel connected and interested your first time around.
Mother is calling
The Final Word
Diablo IV is the monumentally fun game that such an iconic series deserves while still being approachable for new players to enjoy. The gameplay relies a lot on the grind, but you’re almost always rewarded with something of equal quality to the effort you put in. The story would get stale if you had to play through it each time, admittedly, but you can skip it for any additional characters once you beat it once.
Diablo IV was reviewed on the PC. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in the Game Reviews section of our website!
This guy stinks!