Buzz
Nowadays, reviewing a game like Diablo IV, or any games as a service for that matter, we have to approach it much like reviewing an iPhone. In the early days, the impact of the game on us will be significant, as it's a new piece of art. But gradually after two weeks, a month, half a year or more, the allure of the game will be very different.
Diablo IV is no exception. Blizzard's vision is to keep players engaged for the next five to ten years. While it only takes us less than a week to finish the storyline, where the main character and companions try to stop Lilith, from now until Season 1 is updated, we'll have to redo the endgame tasks and face the challenges of World Tier 3 and 4. It may sound boring, but I assure you, based on what I've experienced in the past two weeks, compared to Diablo 3, the endgame content of Diablo IV is much deeper and more engaging.
But it seems we're moving a bit too fast. Let's take a look at what Diablo IV has accomplished at launch.
Storyline
Lilith, deep down, has always wanted one thing, the safety of the nephalem generations, a result of the forbidden love between Lilith and Inarius. Long-time Diablo series fans, following the lore and storyline, will quickly recognize that the main character in this part is not the one you control. On the opposite side, the villainous characters are Lilith and the fallen Horadrim Elias. Standing alongside you are the Horadrim who once sealed Astaroth, and a completely new character, Neyrelle.
Lilith can't be entirely seen as the absolute villain in this story. She wants to protect Sanctuary at all costs, even from Diablo, Baal, or Memphisto themselves. And the solution proposed is simple: Absorb the power of the big boss. And if that happens, Lilith will become the most terrifying threat, not only in Sanctuary but also in both heaven and hell.
All of that, ultimately, stems from a sacred value that has been reiterated many times in various works, from literature to cinema, games included: Motherly love. Each sin, the way Lilith protects her children and future generations, is truly negative.
From that foundation, the adventure in the vast land of Sanctuary is designed with plenty of twists and turns, spanning across 6 Acts, taking roughly 20 to 30 hours to explore depending on whether you want to delve into the world or not.
Every cutscene, whether it's remnants describing Lilith's journey for players to reminisce, or overhead shots zooming in on characters, all together demonstrate that Blizzard is still a master of narrative storytelling. The cinematic sequences are still top-notch, while the in-game cutscenes are reinforced by soulful, incredibly impressive voice acting. Diablo IV truly deserves to be enjoyed when players have a powerful speaker system to portray the sounds meticulously designed by the game developers.
And then, the climax of the masterpiece is a sophisticated twist that surely no one could imagine. I dare to assert that the conclusion of Diablo IV is the culmination of the lessons learned by the writers after completing Diablo III over a decade ago. Making the ending too perfect and neat would only back them into a corner when writing scripts for expansions or new seasons.
Gameplay
Is Diablo IV gameplay smooth and satisfying? Absolutely. However, the issue with the iconic point-and-click action RPG gameplay that Diablo is famous for still has some inherent problems. But let's talk about the positives first. The feeling of facing hordes of creatures from hell, or the monsters spawned by the diseases in the world of Sanctuary, doesn't feel like a 'punching bag', despite being at higher difficulties like World Tier 3 or 4, where the health of each monster increases exponentially based on the character level, or the number of people in a party when dungeon crawling.
As you gradually become strong enough to tackle both World Tier 1 and 2 difficulties, which are the basic levels for newcomers or those familiar with Diablo, you'll grasp the fundamental elements. Loot dropped by monsters in dungeons or the open world doesn't guarantee being better than what you already have equipped. Then, creating character builds that suit your playstyle becomes necessary to overcome both higher difficulties and nightmare dungeons with monsters always at a higher level.
The addictive aspect of Diablo IV probably lies in the very loop described above. Advancing to higher difficulties isn't just about gaining more experience points, but also about obtaining the right items at the right level. However, having the right level doesn't necessarily mean it fits your current build because Legendary and Unique items in the game each have a unique Aspect line tailored to different build types. For example, I'm currently playing a Necro with summons, which is relaxing, but it's getting slower as I fight monsters in nightmare dungeons level 15 and above. While I can still fight, my speed can't match that of my two friends playing Sorcerer and Rogue, dealing critical damage swiftly.
And to achieve this, you have plenty of options.
Alternatively, you can seek out an Occultist to swap out item affixes for better stats. Or, you might rely on luck to find new gear to replace, applying the most suitable and unique Aspect lines to your build. Or, you can venture into Helltide or complete Grim Favor missions to trade items with the talking tree...
But what happens when you've collected too many Legendary and Unique items that suit a completely different playstyle, such as blood lance for AoE damage or bone spear for crits? Then it's time to switch up the build.
At this point, with enough money, you simply press a button and you'll be able to reset all your skills, a sort of reset but with a price tag. All skill points will be refunded, giving you complete freedom to redistribute them. Then, based on those skill trees, you'll match corresponding gear with Aspect lines that complement the skills you possess.
Playing Diablo IV is all about trial and error to find the strongest build at any given time. At least that's what Blizzard envisioned. However, as I mentioned at the beginning of the analysis, the freedom to craft character builds and assemble corresponding gear to make the character as robust as possible is now limited by two factors.
Firstly, let's set aside the Paragon tree unlocked at level 50; your character's skill tree is inherently simplistic. Most active skills, executed via shortcuts on the keyboard or controller, are limited in the number of upgrades. Some may only have 2, or even just 1 upgrade. However, the options for passive skills that boost damage or enhance the character are incredibly diverse.
The first factor has pushed high-level players to confront the second issue. Ultimately, each character only has two or three strongest build paths to tackle World Tier 4 or the most challenging nightmare dungeons. In fact, each character class currently has its own strongest meta builds shared across various websites.
For example, Barbarians now find Whirlwind spinning to be the most effective. Rogues are currently transitioning from Twisting Blades, which were nerfed by Blizzard in the recent update, to using Penetrating Shot for increased damage. Sorcerers have two gear-dependent options: Arc Lash or Ice Shards...
The depth of skills and character diversity for each class post-level 50 has been significantly affected. If you only play for 4 days before diving into a detailed review, I guarantee not many people will recognize that. Following the meta also impacts the enjoyment of playing Diablo IV in endgame content, especially in terms of entertainment, when we no longer have reasons to experiment with new things. It all becomes a gear-grinding journey, leveling up Paragon points, conquering higher difficulties, to earn better gear...Graphics
The visual aspect of Diablo IV itself marks a clear advancement from Diablo III. The essence of Diablo, where demons roam hell, plagues ravage, and grotesque monsters wander the lands of Sanctuary, always accompanies an extremely grim, dark, and somewhat horrifying graphic style. With the hardware power of 2023, on PC, every region, from the arid deserts of Dry Steppe, the snow-covered peaks of Fractured Peaks, to even the details of large cities, small villages, human houses, and the diverse dungeons, sometimes mountain caves, sometimes blood-drenched dungeons, are all depicted with meticulous detail.
In each battle, every elite monster possesses unique strengths, and when facing multiple elite packs at once, the AoE effects they produce are both visually stunning and clearly defined, avoiding confusion during combat.
Everything will be taken up a notch further when you download the game with the 4K texture pack, a whopping 40GB in size, almost equivalent to the original game package itself. Playing the game on a 4K screen, especially on a large TV, with the DualSense controller feels truly immersive, erasing the notion that Diablo is a series of games only suitable for PC.
And leveraging exclusive technology on the RTX 40 series, DLSS 3, coupled with the Frame Generation feature processed through the OFA cluster chip on the Ada Lovelace GPU generation, playing Diablo IV at 4K 120FPS with RTX 4070 Ti and 4080 is no longer a daunting task. In fact, for me, playing the game with RTX 4080 at 4K resolution, locked at 120FPS, the card runs very cool, never exceeding 50 degrees Celsius even after playing for several hours. That's the power of DLSS 3, a technology supported by Diablo IV.Endgame content
As mentioned, taking it slow will cost you a week to explore every landscape in Sanctuary and then try to stop Lilith and her gang. Playing fast, on the other hand, will get you there in about two or three days. With a game-as-a-service like Diablo IV, the speed of creating new content never matches the speed of gameplay for the hardcore fans. So, right at the game's launch, we have a series of endgame contents to conquer. But looking closely at the issue, all those contents serve the same purpose: upgrading characters, upgrading items, and conquering higher difficulties.
You have PvP, something Diablo III players didn't get access to, despite Blizzard promising it would be there first when announcing the game. You have Helltide, daily events that occur every few hours to farm gear, as well as resources for upgrading items. If you want new gear, the talking tree will also be a frequent destination. Also, there are new dungeons, the nightmare ones, where monsters are much stronger than the basic difficulty you chose...
Comparing running Bounties, Nephalem Rifts, and unlocking Adventure Mode in Diablo III when it was first released, after defeating Diablo in heaven, the post-story gameplay content in Diablo IV may sound boring, but its depth is clearly much greater than before. Your options are plentiful, not simply running the same content over and over.
Of course, playing through the same 4 or 5 contents for a whole month before Season 1 of Diablo IV gets updated can feel tedious. But at least we know the roadmap of Diablo IV, what's coming up, including new story-related quest chains. Plus, at the current moment, for die-hard Diablo fans, the loop of upgrading and conquering higher difficulties is enough to keep them engaged with the game.Conclusion
As a Diablo fan, I dare say that Diablo IV is a game worth playing. The issue arises when the internet and social media fail to accurately reflect the community's response to Diablo IV. On Metacritic, hundreds of Diablo IV players have rated this game either 0 or 1. Looking at these statistics, it's easy to conclude that Blizzard hasn't made any improvements since the release of the Diablo III expansion. This is not to mention the issues related to the real-money virtual item store in the game. But focusing solely on these issues overlooks the millions of others who are enjoying this masterpiece day by day, to the point where they no longer have time to share anything on social media and the internet.
Activision Blizzard sells a transmog costume pack for nearly $30, do they have greed? Yes, they do. But at the same time, not everyone cares about that because the gameplay process includes dismantling items to unlock their appearance, combining outfits, armor, and weapons to create the coolest and most badass character. Like, I don't spend a dime buying stuff in the shop, just transmog the items I've collected before. How bad does it look, guys?
More than anything, Diablo IV proves itself as a high-quality work with enough depth to keep players engaged for the long haul. Its addictive gameplay, especially for those who adore this series, ensures players are constantly entertained. While the depth of the skill system and upgrades may seem straightforward compared to other titles on the market, it ultimately saves a lot of time in research and experimentation to create the most satisfying character, allowing players to spend the majority of their time battling monsters, whether solo or with friends, and having a blast.
As for the meta issue, where everyone follows certain build patterns based on the strength of each character class at a given time, that can be entirely adjusted by the game designers at Blizzard. A long-lasting game always comes with balancing to ensure the gameplay is the most reasonable, and it's worth noting that in the future, all player builds, if properly equipped with suitable stats and aspects in items, will be on par with those of others.
This conclusion, as I've mentioned, is only temporary because no one knows how different Diablo IV will be from what we're experiencing today a year from now. But one thing is certain, at this moment, Diablo IV is a game not bad at all, especially for the loyal fans who have been eagerly awaiting a return to the Sanctuary.
