LIVING HELL

Fiery builds and lots of skeletons in the fantastical darkness of DIABLO IV

- 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 two-handed axe out of a wolf. The storytelling is as subtle as a Marvel film and about five times as long. No matter what Diablo IV’s cast of characters tell you, you’re just 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 recognisable 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 might seem to be a good fit for Diablo’s 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.

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