Blizzard still has it

After eleven years of waiting, the gates of hell are finally opening again. We have already played through Diablo 4 and in the test we clarify whether the long wait was worth it.

There has never been a better time to be a Diablo fan. Diablo 3 is shooting out of all cylinders after years of updates with Season 28, Diablo 2 is in full bloom thanks to the successful Ressurected new edition and even Diablo Immortal is a solid, if not undisputed, mobile alternative.

And then, to top it all off, after an almost unimaginably long wait, Diablo 4 actually appears. The wait was worth it!

What is Diablo 4 about?

Granted, at least they’ll be playing Diablo for the story. But that doesn’t mean that Blizzard will stick with the extremely dark and macabre staging wouldn’t have bothered. Instead of the eponymous Prince of Hell, this time the villain Lilith is the focus. The daughter of Mephisto is jointly responsible for the creation of Sanctuary, i.e. the human kingdom of Diablo, which repeatedly has to serve as a theater of war for the eternal conflict between heaven and hell.

You can get an overview of the story in the official trailer:

Lilith’s influence penetrates deep into people’s hearts, unleashing their darkest tendencies. Already at the beginning of the game, Diablo 4 presents itself from its most desolate and brutal side. Long gone are the days when Diablo 3’s graphic style was decried as kid-friendly and comic-like.

The story is told again this time in a mix of render videos in the usual high Blizzard quality and in-game cutscenes, which are also absolutely convincing. That’s a good thing, because the fantastic staging gives the story a certain weight. Finally, Lilith is more of a secondary character in the Diablo lore, making the storyline feel like a spin-off rather than a new part of the core series.

In the second half of a total of six story acts die-hard Diablo fans still get their money’s worth, especially since the main game is only the beginning of the story and leaves little doubt that it will continue to be told in future expansions.

2 + 3 = 4? The best from both worlds

The predecessors Diablo 2 and 3 have their own strengths and weaknesses. Diablo 4, on the other hand, tries to combine the best of both parts.

As in Diablo 2, each class has a complex talent tree that allows for a wide variety of builds. In the endgame, the search for suitable items plays a major role again, instead of putting together one of the ready-made sets like in Diablo 3 and then just grinding Paragon levels.

In contrast, Diablo 3 had the edge thanks to the adventure mode in the endgame, a strength that Diablo 4 builds on even further. Whether it’s nightmare dungeons, bounties, events, world bosses, side quests, PVP areas or Infernal Tide, there’s always something to do.

Two other strengths carried over from Diablo 3 are the overall gameplay feel and the seasons. Every hit is massive, every spell feels mighty, the sound crunches and rattles convincingly – The combat in Diablo 4 just feels good. In addition, they were pleasantly slowed down compared to Diablo 3. It does matter where you position yourself in battle, which enemies you eliminate first, which area attacks you dodge, and which talents you choose, rather than decimating entire groups of enemies with a single sleep like in the predecessor.

You can see how Diablo 4 plays in the gameplay trailer:

The seasons from Diablo 3 are also a good indicator of how Diablo 4 will continue in the coming months and years. That’s how it should be offer a unique gameplay trick for each season and also correct the balancing of the classes and builds in the long term. Blizzard has already demonstrated in previous beta phases that it is willing to make adjustments if certain playstyles are too weak or too powerful.

After all, that’s one of the greatest charms of Diablo: developing your very own build and playstyle, and then finding the right items to get the most out of it.

open questions

In our test version, we were able to play through the entire game with all of the endgame content, but there are still a number of features that we cannot yet come to a final verdict on. Finally, Diablo 4 is an online game with shared world and offers a Battle Pass on top of that. How the Battle Pass and the multiplayer content will be integrated into the game flow can only be judged from the launch.

The same goes for trading items. While fully open trading is one extreme in Diablo 2, it’s virtually non-existent in Diablo 3 since the infamous auction house went offline. In this respect, too, Diablo 4 wants to take a middle ground, the effects of which can only be fully assessed in a few weeks.

According to all the information so far, Diablo 4 will not contain any pay-2-win elements. All Battle Pass content that affects gameplay, such as XP boosts, is strictly part of the free track and must be cleared. The premium content of the paid tracks, on the other hand, should contain transmogs and other cosmetic elements. However, the concern about how aggressively the Battle Pass and other shop content is being promoted in-game is justified, especially given recent experience with Diablo Immortal.

It is also unclear whether some of the technical defects will still be fixed with a day-one patch. The miserable rubber banding of the beta was no longer a problem, but there were still lags and frame rate drops, especially in the cities. The game also crashed completely at one point.

test conclusion

The wait was worth it, because Diablo 4 manages to wrap the old strengths of the series in a contemporary guise. Each of the five classes can be specialized in several different builds, with the druid and the hunter, two old friends are returning, the staging is as gloomy as it is impressive, the endgame activities are extensive and varied, and the switch to the open world is also organic into the flow of the game.

If there is no total technical failure at the start, Diablo 4 has successfully mastered the first step and this is just the beginning, after all the game should be maintained and expanded for years to come.

The first season starts in July, hopefully there will be enough time to solve any balance and technical problems. So if you don’t want to pre-order the game to get a few days early access, that won’t put you at a disadvantage in the upcoming race to the top of the leaderboards.

Diablo 4 will be released on June 6th for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox Series, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows PC. Those who pre-order the Deluxe Edition can already start their adventure on June 2nd.

8.7/10

“Diablo 4 skilfully mixes the strengths of its predecessors into a contemporary overall package. You’ll have fun with this game for years to come.”