Whether you guys have phones or not, Diablo IV is here – the continuation of an acclaimed hack and slash franchise drags players back to Sanctuary, the evil-ridden home of humankind. This time the series took a fresh turn and put focus on a new, but equally twisted antagonist – Lilith, the daughter of Mephisto, Lord of Hatred himself. And where there’s evil, there’s the hero of Sanctuary, ready to slice billions of demons into miniscule pieces.

Please mind that this review was written in late December 2023, that is more than 6 months after the game’s initial release and after multiple patches and content additions.

THE GOOD

• The good old hack and slash formula that makes the genre accessible and enjoyable is clearly the heart of Diablo IV. There’s legions of monsters to slay, there’s powers to gain, items to collect, tasks to fulfil and – most importantly – an opportunity to mash your mouse buttons into inexistence. The game isn’t groundbreaking in its mechanics and rehashes many ideas from the previous instalments, but thanks to this there’s not much to be iffy about. You have a large set of skills to choose from, items and talents that improve your survivability or damage output, potions with varying, long-lasting effects, shrines granting temporary boosts… everything you know from the previous Diablo games or other titles in the genre.
  
• After a rather candy colour take on visuals and the overall atmosphere in Diablo 3, we’re back to doom and gloom from the previous titles. The aura is heavy, but not off-putting. Sanctuary is presented as a hopeless world filled to the brim with darkness and corruption, where everything can potentially become a threat to all life. At the same time, said dreariness – in terms of both graphics and mood – is very well balanced to avoid going too far and thus becoming less believable or more ridiculous.
  
• There’s five classes to choose from – Druid, Sorcerer, Rogue, Barbarian and Necromancer – and each has access to several unique skill sets allowing you to create many interesting builds. There aren’t really skill trees to avoid if you want to stay relevant in late game, and even if you find your choices unsatisfying, you can spend a little gold to reset skill points. After reaching level 50 (out of 100), you start gaining paragon points instead that can be spent to boost primary and secondary stats as well as performance of your character’s skills. Overall, there’s quite much variety in terms of classes and builds to satisfy many players’ needs.
  
• Seasons that change every couple of months introduce fresh mechanics in form of unique powers, items and their properties, dungeon rewards, enemies, cosmetics or hour-long hunts with event-specific tasks. Even if you’ve already gone through most the game has to offer, there’s always more waiting in the next Season – and it goes beyond just a couple of small additions. What’s more, there’s also other events (like the Christmas-themed one) that run independently of the Seasons, bringing in even more extras to the gameplay.
  
• It’s not a given in Diablo series, but the story is really good. Not only that, it’s also cohesive, both expands and borrows from the existing lore and gracefully guides you through five regions of Estuar, the eastern continent of Sanctuary. Lilith is by far the most intriguing and complex antagonist the series has ever introduced, and following her trails as well as unfolding new mysteries that shook Estuar to its core is a great, dark and lengthy journey. And if you’re not interested in the plot, you can skip the campaign and go full freelance instead.
  
• There’s dozens of extra dungeons, hundreds of side quests, strongholds to conquer and hidden structures to keep you occupied in between waves of monsters. Not only do they individually provide permanent, realm-wide bonuses, but also contribute towards the Renown of your character, granting extra boosts as a thank you for exploring the vast lands of Sanctuary. It’s a great nod towards completionists and a reward for their commitment.

THE WHO CARES

• Season Pass and micro-transactions reinvigorated people’s need to complain about the company’s greediness and whatnot. While I do agree that having already paid a lot of money should grant players all the goods, the in-game shop items and Season Pass rewards are so insignificant I find it hard to justify the negativity. It’s all cosmetics, and believe me, it’s difficult anyway to notice them when you’re shredding through monsters with lightnings, knives and magic missiles swirling like crazy all over the place. The game is fully enjoyable without spending an extra penny.

THE NEUTRAL

• The endgame is quite lacking. Even though the amount of extra challenges you can then take on is rather satisfying, it all quickly becomes barely relevant, for technically there’s not much else you can earn. These high-level options are devoid of actual motivators that fill the game’s earlier stages. If you want to obtain desired items or powers, you don’t need to engage in endgame at all – a little luck is all you need. The thing is, you can sink hundreds of hours in the game before reaching that point, so you definitely get your money’s worth anyway.
  
• Supposedly all that’s good comes with a cost (someone smarter than me definitely said that at some point) and Diablo IV is pricey. I’d say it’s worth it, but at the same time I’m aware that this is not the money you just get to throw away casually. I definitely recommend reading or watching more materials about the game before making a purchase.

THE BAD

• It’s technically a single player game that’s also online-only. You can meet other players on your adventures, but it happens so rarely it’s confusing when it actually happens. What you cannot do is decide whether to play on your own or not. There’s no way to opt out of multiplayer features (the least interesting parts of the game in my opinion) or even play the game at all without the Internet connection. Supposedly the company’s reasoning behind the implementation of an online-only system was to avoid cheating in PvP, but considering the dubious popularity of PvP in Diablo games that may be among the lamest excuses I’ve heard in a long while.
  
• Items are a vital part of any hack and slash games and unfortunately, Diablo IV still has some work to do in this department. Item diversity is rather poor as it comes to their properties, linear upgrade options and very limited enchanting allowing you to change only a single property of an item. You get to obtain legendary items quite early in the game so there’s nothing really extraordinary about them and items of unique rarity – that’s one above legendary – are often not that impressive. There’s also no item sets. Supposedly they are to be added at some point, but it hasn’t happened yet.
  
• Crafting exists, but in its current form it’s very basic and boring. You gather all resources via scavenging or killing enemies and then just trade them with certain merchants to get what you need. Long story short: crafting is just buying with resources other than gold.

OVERALL
Despite the negativity surrounding Blizzard and its still swelling pile of bad stuff, I think Diablo IV should be given a chance. It’s a very solid game, a great addition to the series and a worthy successor for the previous titles. The level up mechanics are simpler than in Diablo II, but many others are added or expanded. The atmosphere went back to gloomy after a more light-hearted Diablo 3. The story is exceptionally good for the series, the cutscenes are breathtaking, the sonic layer is great. There’s enough to provide you with hundreds of hours of fun. The game’s not perfect, but it’s still developing with frequent updates and patches. If you’re a fan of the series, you should definitely check it out.