Diablo IV Review – A Legendary New Entry

One of the most loved franchises in the gaming world makes a legendary return with its latest addition Diablo IV, and in our review, we will cover this world of dark enchantments and diabolical creatures. It has been one of the most anticipated titles this year and has not disappointed for the most part.

The game has returned its endless dungeon, demon killing, and horrific bosses with perfect new mechanics and breathtaking visuals. But there are still a few occasional problems with the tile so we will review them below.

Story And Setting

Diablo has evolved from the generic good vs. evil style of its previous titles and brings an entirely new experience for players to enjoy. While the threat of Diablo and his Prime Evils still holds a tight grip over the narrative, the villains have been represented with a more sympathetic nature this time around. Not only does that make it hard to guess events, but also portrays blood-sucking demons in a more devilishly delightful way.

The main antagonist of the story is Lilith, who is quite a powerful demon in the lore. And Diablo IV portrays itself as a complex version of Romeo and Juliet, with star-crossed lovers fighting to be together. The best part is that you don’t need to play prior titles to get up to speed with the story, but there is still plenty of fan service here for seasoned Diablo enthusiasts.

While the threat of Diablo and its Prime Evils still holds a tight grip over the narrative, the villains have been represented with a more sympathetic nature.

As expected, the world itself is quite depressing, and the style is kept in tune with the older titles, Dark and Morbid, with a lot of gore. The plot starts about 50 years after the Reaper of Souls storyline as humanity tries to rebuild what it lost. As Lilith senses a power vacuum in the battle between heaven and hell, she tries to seize power for herself.

So you must now team up with the retired Horadrim Lorath Nah and some other scrappy adventurers to try and stop her in good old Diablo fashion.

Gameplay

If you’re a fan of open-world games, you’ll love Diablo IV. You can immediately explore almost all of Sanctuary pretty early on, and you get a horse about two-thirds of the way through the game after completing Act 3. But you have access to fast travel immediately, so that will eliminate some of the backtracking fatigue.

There are well over 100 dungeons in the game for you to discover, and while some of these are tied to the story, most of them are open to explore at any stage of the game. When you have completed the main quests, you will also gain access to Nightmare Dungeons, which are hybrid dungeons with stronger enemies and unique aspects.

When it comes to classes, there are five you can choose from. They are Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Necromancer, and Druid. Each of them offers its own unique set of abilities and skills, which can aid you depending on your playstyle. 

If you’re a fan of open-world games then you are going to love Diablo IV.

The Barbarian class is the default brute class, allowing exciting melee combat. It involves screaming, leaping, and just general bloody fun while using various weapons that serve different roles. You can cycle through slashing, bludgeoning, two-handed, and many more types of weapons in combat according to what suits you best.

Rogues are hyper-dexterity-based characters that rely on movement and quick attacks to do well in combat. They offer both melee and ranged-type attacks, making them quite versatile. Additionally, you also have access to special mechanics like applying poison, cold, or shadow damage with each attack.

Necromancers are a fan-favorite class because of their background lore in the earlier games. Even if that wasn’t the case, you can raise an army of the dead or summon minions to fight for you, which is pretty cool. You can also make corpses explode, which is too incredible of a skill to pass up on. 

There is one controversial aspect of the game that needs mentioning: the in-game store. It allows players to spend real money on in-game items. however, unlike its predecessor, Diablo IV does not have a pay-to-win aspect to it; instead, the store is strictly for game cosmetics and character drip. That still doesn’t mean that it’s any more welcome, though. it’s still a very expensive cash shop in a fully priced $70 game.

Visuals And Performance

2023 has not been the best year for games because of a slew of unoptimized games with horrible performance issues. Diablo IV doesn’t fall in that category because it runs like butter on its intended platforms and recommended settings. But PC users may still want to watch for the ultra system requirements because they are quite steep.

In our experience, the game crashes under very specific situations, so it’s not perfect, but generally, performance is still extremely good. Other than that, some bugs have been discovered by users and Blizzard that will be fixed in upcoming updates.

Diablo IV does an excellent job of portraying the true essence of its dark and brutal world.

Visuals are some of the best graphics in the entire ARPG genre. The mood at every stage of the game is perfectly reflected by its aesthetic. It is very important for games like Diablo to immerse the players deeply in their story, which it does perfectly through its locations and ambiance.

One of the most pleasing aspects of the game we experienced was the combat visuals. In games like Diablo or Mortal Kombat, which thrive on gore, it’s really important to capture it all and present it in the best way possible. And Diablo IV does an excellent job of portraying the true essence of its dark and brutal world.

Verdict

Diablo IV is a breath of fresh air among all the poorly performing AAA titles we have been seeing lately. The gameplay is phenomenal, the classes and build diversity are incredible, and the ambiance is some of the best I have ever seen. This is Blizzard at the peak of its game.

The game is also quite demanding regarding resources, but the experience is worth it and does not disappoint. Consoles are no slouch, but PC is the way to go if you want the best experience. But it would be best if you also had a beast of a machine to run it on the highest settings.

It’s also worth noting that including an in-game cash shop in a $70 title is absolutely disgusting, and that has no place in the AAA space. And as far as we are concerned, that costs the game points in our review.

This has been our Diablo IV Review. While you’re here, consider checking out some of our other articles. 

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