Diablo IV Review

I have a love hate relationship with Diablo.

I really like the whole religious premise of the eternal conflict of Heaven and Hell and the roll that the humans play in that battle.

I love the creature design and ultimate world design.

The different character classes are great and fun to play as.

The character customization and art design of armors and weapons are very cool as well.

The gamplay loop is fun.

I hate the top down view of the map. In a time when players love to say “You see that towering cathedral in the distance, you can go there.” Diablo doesn’t deliver this because you are always looking from a top down view. So the cool towers, mountains, terrains, fortresses are underwhelming since you don’t get to see them in their glory you see them as you enter them. So you get more of a layout of the environment rather than being able to see all the detail put into it.

I hate the grind. Around level 48 is when the grind feels like it really starts. Suddenly its taking longer to level up and by the time you hit 50 your experience is at a slow crawl even with elixirs.

There is 100 levels but only 50 levels of main story content. The second half of the game is fine tuning characters, doing side quest and dungeons but until the seasonal content comes out or the story expansions this is just grinding for the sake of grinding.

The gameplay loop is repetitive. Yes its fun but the fun comes from figuring out the best combination of skills and using them once you have that tuned in, it boring because you fall into using the same pattern of attacks for every battle. Once you max out and have your strategy there is no incentive to change it while its working.

The main story conclusion is underwhelming.

Spoilers from this point on.

The main story eludes to never ending conflict between heaven and hell. The Eternal Conflict. But with the return of Lilith there is now a third player in the conflict that is not on the side of heaven or hell but we never really get what her plan is to take down both heaven and hell other than it involves humans that she created to be more powerful than angel or demon, she never really gets to get her plan off the ground because we cut her off. I would have love to see her at least achieve her objective and power up more as a prime evil and then we take her down rather than just beating her in her normal power level.

I would like to see the Eternal conflict move forward with a story line of both demon and angel realizing just how much a threat humans are and have a diablo game where you are fighting against both heaven and hell working together to try and stop you. Basically Humans have become so powerful that we or your hero characters are tired of dealing with harassment of angels and demons that your go on the offensive to take it down both groups and end the conflict for good.

Instead we end the game with same place the story always ends. With an prime evil trapped in a world stone which we know can’t hold them forever and doesn’t really have and effect on the eternal conflict. Considering that we have defeated lesser and prime evils before and the conflict rages on this is just and ending that lets them reset the conflict for the next game.

Main fans would hate it but I would like to see the franchise evolve. A third person action game where i can appreciate the landscape and the universe. Even with procedurally generated dungeons that keep the maps fresh not being immersed in the environment still makes them boring once you have your set strategy.

Overall is Diable IV a good game? Well lets see…

It launched with out major game breaking bugs.

The story was complete even if it seem underwhelming.

It gave hardcore fans exactly what they wanted.

The first 50 levels of the game are fun.

I would say if you are a fan then you will love this game and should have already picked it up.

If you have never played a Diablo game, its still a good and fun game to pick up but its going to stick to what it is. You will hear about how level design and details are crisp and beautiful but your stuck looking at the ground the entire time. Creature design is great and detailed but you never get a closed up look at it to really appreciate it.

As long as you know what you are getting into, then this is a great game to pick up.

Let us know what you think about Diablo IV below in the comments.