Video games: A diabolical new Diablo
Diablo IV is poised to help redefine what it means to be “a forever game,” said Brian X. Chen in The New York Times. Arriving 11 years after its influential predecessor, which used “casino-like tactics” to keep players slaying monsters and collecting loot for “hundreds, sometimes thousands of hours,” the new sequel adapts to a changed gaming landscape by carrying a pledge that purchasers will receive free content updates four times a year. True to its heritage, Diablo IV proves “absolutely excruciating to put down,” said Travis Northup in IGN. Blizzard Entertainment, the studio that also created World of Warcraft, specializes in games that invite endless play, and Diablo drops you into a bloody but especially addictive gameplay loop: Hack through endless hordes of demons for the chance of finding rare treasures that make your powerful character even more powerful. Apart from its unusually complex new villain, there’s nothing particularly innovative about the “unbelievably welldesigned” new sequel. And yet, “like seeing your favorite band play their greatest hit live, Diablo IV is completely awesome to behold.” The graphics, sound design, and “hauntingly beautiful” music are all top tier, said Gabriel Moss in Digital Trends. But while the franchise has always set its action in a horror-infused medieval fantasy world where humans are caught in an existential war between the forces of heaven and hell, “this is the darkest Diablo has ever been.” Because “I live for dank, squelchy environments,” I’m enjoying the game’s ossuary-themed dungeons most, said Alexis Ong in Polygon. The introduction of a massive open world in this installment requires players to pour more time into mere “busywork,” and the resulting grind can grow tiresome. “Diablo IV doesn’t even have to be a good game for me to crave playing it,” though. Such is the “intrinsic lizard-brain appeal” of treasure hunting combined with the accruing of power.