Diablo General Manager Rod Fergusson and Game Director Joe Shely say a lot of testing is being done to ensure Diablo IV’s launch is as smooth as possible. While it’s a neat concept, the Shared World experience of Diablo IV doesn’t yet feel innovative enough to put up with potential server woes. Diablo IV is still very engaging as a single-player experience, but even those intent on playing the game that way will be subjected to the whims of Blizzard’s servers. Overwatch 2 was nearly unplayable for days after release due to connection issues. My multiplayer experience was smooth due to the limited nature of this preview build, but I have doubts about how its servers and queue system will function on launch day. Then there’s the always-online nature of Diablo IV. Considering Diablo IV also isn’t a free-to-play game that needs microtransactions to be profitable, that’s concerning. Overwatch 2 and Diablo Immortal have also struggled to make their microtransactions affordable yet compelling enough for players, so I don’t expect Diablo IV will get it correct right out of the gate. For a loot-driven game like Diablo IV, that’s worrying. None of the outfits I found during my playtime were terribly exciting, but that might be because it’s earlier on in the game, I’m understandably worried that Blizzard will lock all of the coolest-looking gear behind that battle pass. Although Blizzard has messaged that the battle pass won’t make Diablo IV pay to win, which is good, it still seems like it will lock away some of the best cosmetics. They weren’t part of this preview build, but I could still feel some of their influence. The first is the battle pass and shop system Diablo IV will employ.
While my time with Diablo IV was enjoyable, some elements not present in this build that will be in the final game leave me concerned in the wake of Diablo Immortal and Overwatch 2‘s rocky launches.
From my time with the Diablo IVpreview build, it seems that those who want a big, dark, and new Diablo world to explore and fight enemies will be pleased. While I focused on Frost skills, re-specing my character was a cheap and easy process I could do anytime, so Diablo IV will give players a lot of room to experiment. I could progress up to level 25 in my demo and, along the way, assign points to unlock abilities on my skill tree that would shape my character’s skill set. I focused on abilities that would allow me to freeze enemies in place and deal more damage to them. While I played around with the other classes and other types of magic like fire, most of my playtime was as a frost mage. This demo gave me access to the Rogue, Barbarian, and Sorceress classes, which have many unique skills players can utilize offensively and passively to create different playstyles. It’s the same dungeon-crawling, demon-defeating isometric combat everyone expects from a Diablo game. However, there’s nothing too revolutionary here regarding the core Diablo action-RPG formula. This open-ended structure makes Diablo IV feel freeing and gives an otherwise grim game a hopeful sense of adventure. Players will encounter each other as they explore too.
DIABLO IV WHEN FREE
Sidequests and dungeons populate this massive world, and after the game’s opening quests, players are free to complete major campaign questlines in the order they see fit. The biggest innovation of Diablo IV is that it’s set across multiple giant, shared worlds that are nonlinear in structure.
My demo was set on Fractured Peaks, an icy tundra that is one of the first Shared Worlds where players will be able to explore and complete quests. That’s especially notable as this style of game has largely been left to indies recently. Even this mid-development build of the game had an impressive level of AAA polish in its world design, writing, and combat. Both cutscenes and gameplay are disturbing, the combat is fast-paced but weighty, and the world’s colors are muted and dark. Based on a chilling conclusion to the game’s opening dungeon that I won’t spoil here, it’s clear that Diablo IV is a return to the first two games’ darker form - it’s significantly grimmer than Diablo III or Diablo Immortal.
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