◾ $89 | diablo4.blizzard.com | PC, PS4/5, XB1/S/X
Diablo IV is a reboot. An unnecessary reboot, but one with a recognisable goal: to reconfigure the series’ strengths into a modern live service format that fits into the lives of players who probably have a handful of other games to play. Once you finish its campaign, its glorious depth reveals itself, but the overwhelming grind restrains the creativity in its intricate RPG systems.
Today’s prevailing live service structure might seem to be a good fit for Diablo’s replayable co-op design, but it actually requires a huge structural shift. Diablo IV begins like a story-driven adventure, but it’s not until you finish the campaign that its best parts start to unfold.
The six-act campaign sends you around Estuar trying to stop Lilith from opening a portal to Hell. A few boss encounters, like a surprise fight with one of Diablo’s signature lesser evils in the middle of a sandstorm, stand out because of their significance to the story. After finally finishing Diablo IV’s campaign, I was let loose in its open world with all sorts of loot-hunting activities to do. Dungeons get harder and the game starts to require that you squeeze as much damage as you can out of your class, a targeted attack on my character-build-obsessed brain.
’s skill tree single-handedly keeps me from
