Diablo IV

Almost buries everything that makes it great

- TYLER COLP

DIABLO IV TRIES to ground us in its dark fantasy world, but that’s an impossible task in a game where you can pull a legendary two-handed axe out of a wolf. The storytelling is as subtle as a Marvel movie, and about five times as long, and no matter what Diablo IV’s cast of dour characters tell you, you are a superhero born with an empty inventory and the desire to fill it.

The title of Blizzard’s latest action RPG hides what’s really going on: Diablo IV is a reboot. An unnecessary reboot, but one with a recognizable goal: to reconfigure the series’ strengths into a modern live service format that fits into the lives of players who probably have a handful of other games to play. Once you finish its campaign, its glorious depth reveals itself, but the overwhelming grind restrains the creativity in its intricate RPG systems.

Today’s prevailing live service structure, exemplified by Destiny 2, might seem to be a good fit for Diablo’s historically replayable co-op design, but it actually requires a huge structural shift. Diablo IV begins like a story-driven adventure, but it’s not until you finish the campaign that its best parts start to unfold. Entire features, like the MMOinspired Grim Favors quests or the almost roguelike Helltide events, are held back until you’ve suffered through a 10-hour storyline that tries to reset the over the-top tone from Diablo III, but goes overboard with the grim darkness without fundamentally changing what a Diablo game is about (killing demons).