The Diablo game of my dreams
Even in beta, it’s clear to me that Diablo 4 is game of the year material.
The Diablo 4 early access beta has ended. Thousands of demons have been slain, hundreds of players have been squashed by The Butcher, and many bug reports were filed. While pockets of the internet debate and wade into full-blown arguments over Diablo 4’s finer details, as I sit here I am elated.
Diablo 4 was everything I’d hoped it to be, and more. I can’t stop thinking about it. I lay awake at the end of Act 1, haunted by the depravity of Sanctuary’s denizens, and the hopelessness of existence in Diablo’s dark world. I want to live there.
It’s true that there are many questions Blizzard still needs to answer. There are many bugs that need to be squished.
Concerns about endgame itemization and even monetization are valid, given some of Blizzard’s other recent service games. But, if you want wanton negativity about Diablo 4, you won’t find it here. Right now, I am basking in the zealous hope that the legendary franchise has returned to a path of greatness.
Getting hooked on an amazing world
Diablo is set in Sanctuary, a magical realm that arose as a result of the eternal conflict between the forces of Heaven and Hell. Unbeknownst to most of its denizens, a union between the angel Inarius and demoness Lilith resulted in
Sanctuary, a realm both hoped to exist beyond the view of the bitter war between the light and dark. Many angels and demons joined them inside this pocket dimension, high on the idea of existence beyond war. The vision was corrupt from the outset, as both Inarius and Lilith twisted Sanctuary for their own ends.
Don’t spoil yourself
Without giving too much away (and seriously, if you can: avoid spoilers),
Diablo 4 is a huge step up in storytelling quality and tenacity from Blizzard. Even in the brief glimpse Diablo 4’s beta offers, it feels as though Blizzard has well and truly ditched the guardrails in pursuit of the acerbic darkness earlier Diablo incarnations represented.
Blizzard is arguably already the best at in the business when it comes to prerendered scenes, from World of Warcraft to Overwatch, and Diablo IV itself. The opening cinematic of Lilith’s summoning is among the most impressive visual works ever committed to CGI, and many of these blockbusterbudgeted 3D works will feature within
Diablo IV. However, they are also expensive, particularly if all you want to do is deliver some quest text, or push the story along.
Diablo IV represents a massive leap in intricacy within its 3D models. Every
"Diablo 4 is a huge step up in storytelling quality and tenacity from Blizzard."
screenshot I have used in this article was from in-engine, in-game sequences, and not from pre-rendered trailers. The characters are orders of magnitude more emotive and expressive than in some of Blizzard’s previous games, allowing for in-game scenes that keep you grounded in the game’s world. Your character will perform in these scenes too, and not simply narrate them, making proceedings all the more immersive.
Stellar storytelling
As the player character, you find yourself lost in a blizzard, doomed to freeze in the biting gloom. A mysterious, bloodied hound appears, before setting you forth to a dilapidated hamlet. A mad monk raves, as the townsfolk speak of awakened evil in a tomb to the north. Resolving to aid your shelterers, your fate becomes intertwined with the game’s big antagonist, known in legend as Lilith, the Daughter of Hatred.
I am aggressively skirting around the details I really want to share because I want anyone and everybody reading this to experience it for themselves firsthand. There’s a deep sense of foreboding in every word delivered in Diablo IV, with each character class and gender having a unique and fully voiced dialogue. Your character appears alongside major heroes and story figures within these scenes, anchoring you into the dark world that is
Sanctuary. I feel invested in Diablo IV in a way that simply hasn’t been possible in similar fixed-camera action or even tactical RPGs as a result, and I hope it will be a watershed moment for the genre.
Oftentimes I feel like the larger publishers rarely stray from “safe” storytelling devices. The few times they have strayed, it isn’t always elegant in execution. Diablo IV is delivered with a level of unapologetic conviction reminiscent of the strange cults and sects that dwell across
Sanctuary. Depraved, twisted, blasphemous.
I love it.
A sublime slaughterhouse with stunning scenery
In the beta, we had access to barbarians, rogues, and sorcerers, giving a pretty broad spectrum of playstyles to pick from. Each of these classes could be specialised further, vastly altering how they play in practice too. As a rogue, you could focus on dagger combat, or ditch the blades for crossbow bolts and traps. You can even build out combinations of both playstyles, with a hotbar of six skill slots to customise to your content. I dabbled with various types of gameplay before settling on the sorcerer, primarily wielding shattering ice spells that cause enemies to explode into broken shards of frozen meat. The chilling effects also helped out my groups, slowing enemies down or freezing them in place for others to land critical blows.
Diablo has always revolved around obliterating scores of demonic beasties in waves of explosive attacks. Diablo IV is a big step up in terms of visual feel, taking advantage of modern systems with spectacular lighting, satisfying physics, and dynamic destruction that lends weight and power to your attacks.
Even though I have some concerns about dungeon variety, boss dynamism, and endgame progression systems, I remain optimistic. We simply don’t know how a lot of these features and systems will play out. Call it hopium, but I’m eager to give Blizzard the benefit of the doubt following the recent successes of Diablo II: Resurrected and World of Warcraft: Dragonflight.
If Blizzard can build an entire game with this level of evocative storytelling, and compelling combat, wrapped in an ongoing service that me and my friends can play for hundreds of hours – it’s not hard to imagine Diablo IV taking home many game of the year awards later this year as people discover its magic.
Jez Corden