Video Game Review: Diablo IV

Release Year: 2023
Reading Year: FA2023
Developer/Publisher: Activision-Blizzard
Time to Beat: 30 Hours

Thoughts: I have so much to say about this game. But, I will keep it brief.

Two pieces of context. I am 2000+ hour Diablo II and Diablo II: Resurrected player. I have played Diablo II on and off since it released. I love Diablo II and it is one of my favorite games of all time. I played through the campaign of DIablo III a few times, mostly out of desperation that I would find the fun I had longed for in the decade between releases. I gave up after maybe 30 or 40 hours.

Diablo IV is something different. It doesn’t make me crave “just another run” like Diablo II. It doesn’t humble me with its visuals and the world like Diablo III did upon release. There is so much I like, no love, about this game.

First and foremost: it’s fun. For the first time since maybe Overwatch, I couldn’t take myself away from a game. While recovering from surgery, I would wake up and play until I was too fatigued, and then do it again the next day. I can’t explain why, but I have never loved creating new characters just to see what they look like tearing through a new horde of monsters. To me, a game that makes the hours melt into the sunset is one worth talking about!

There are a litany of other facets to praise such as the music, voice acting, cut-scenes(!), character design (Andarial’s first form??), animations, and viewpoints. I almost forget to mention them because of how outstanding Blizzard is with these factors – but they should be praised many times over. Even small things like how skipping dialogue still allows the next line to flow fairly seamlessly. This game gives you mobs regularly, you get to feel powerful, and ultimates hit hard. The “open world” – if you can call it that – motivates me to keep on searching and I feel a nice tingle when a new part of the map gets revealed. There are even some genuine gems in the side-quests (Anata). And, in my opinion, they stuck the ending. What was a story about war became a much more intimate tale of belonging, motherhood, and the nature of freewill (just wish they leaned into it the whole time!).

All of that being said, there is much to have gripes about. First and foremost: this game isn’t good enough. It isn’t big enough. The story isn’t cohesive enough. The world isn’t as immersive as it should be. It isn’t long enough. It lacks many of the modern features in many other action, Japanese, and C-RPGs. It’s so incredibly hard to see one of the largest game studios release a game that is squarely in the shadow of Baldur’s Gate 3. It doesn’t live up to basically anyone’s expectations for Diablo IV.

And yet? It does the most important thing – it’s fun! Something that shouldn’t be taken lightly in our current era of games. It is a true pleasure to be pulled back into a game over and over again. So, I can leave much of my disappointment behind as I spam another chain lightening. I don’t care, I just want to hop back into Sanctuary and play the campaign again!