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A beginner’s look at Diablo 4

... or, "How I learned to stop worrying and love the grind".

At the risk of having my Gamercard revoked, I never liked the look of Blizzard’s Diablo franchise. Isometric ARPGs were a far cry from the over-the-shoulder, narratively-driven games that I enjoy and have become accustomed to. But maybe the reason I’m so partial to them is because the market is becoming a little oversaturated? That’s why I decided it was time to try something different.

I went into the review build of Diablo 4 with low expectations. I have always looked at my friends who loved the franchise with bemusement because the pitch was always, “push the game to a prohibitive level of difficulty and overcome that by making really big numbers.” These grindy games with painstaking build management just didn’t feel like something I would enjoy. Also — if I’m honest with myself — I was a little scared of the whole prohibitively difficult part. After playing Diablo 4 I can confidently say that the game is in fact the pitch I was given, but it’s also much more than that. If you, like me, have avoided the franchise to this point and are wondering whether this newest entry is the right place to join, read on.

At first glance, Diablo 4’s combat looks like a button-mashy affair with little in the way of thought or strategy. I could not have been more wrong. I was blown away by just how engaging slashing, shocking and exploding my way through hordes of enemies was. Each playable class has a variety of different skills dependent on unique resources or cooldowns.

You can only slot six active abilities at a time, which may sound limiting; in practice, it creates a tightly-focused and rhythmic combat flow. Learning to master the management and deployment of these abilities for maximum effectiveness was incredibly satisfying and struck a near-perfect balance of simplicity and skill that is worryingly addictive.

Diablo 4 has five classes that offer enough gameplay variety to suit most preferences. Usually at this point I would do a brief overview of the classes with a quick summary of their playstyles. This proved more difficult than I expected because from my experience, each has a plethora of unique abilities that have a significant impact on the way they play. For posterity, the classes are Sorcerer, Rogue, Necromancer Druid and the one I spent the most time with, Barbarian. When I first opened the skill tree, I was intimidated by the scope and variety of options for what I assumed would be the most straightforward class.

Diablo 4 Barbarian

My worry was unfounded however — inside of two minutes I was able to divine multiple potential builds for my Barbarian despite my limited experience with the franchise and the genre. This was thanks to a helpfully colour-coded UI and highlighted keywords that clearly mapped out complimentary options. To make things even easier, infinite and cheap respecs leave plenty of room for experimentation or error.

For my playthrough, I decided on a build that focused on applying bleed damage to enemies, leaving them to die over time while I moved from mob to mob. What became quickly apparent was just how game-altering learning new abilities or augmenting existing ones could be. Diablo 4 offers a genuine sense of progression, particularly in comparison to other RPGs I’ve played. Each level up provides a very apparent scale-up in power and effectiveness.

With no hyperbole, every time I added seemingly minor buffs of 6% to damage types, I noticed a massive difference in how quickly I could churn through clusters of enemies. Carefully considered paths of skill augmentation applied debuffs to enemies and then rewarded me for that application. It was not long before I had enemies exploding into piles of pulped goo all around me as the big numbers — ones that I played every part in orchestrating — flashed above their heads.

Diablo 4 wandering death world boss

Diablo 4’s impressively expansive range of skills and abilities are bolstered even further by an impressive system for looting, selecting and upgrading gear. The game throws a deluge of weapons and armour at you as you explore its open world and dungeons. Like many RPGs there are multiple tiers of gear: common, magic, rare and legendary (there are more tiers in higher difficulty settings, post-campaign, but I didn’t get to see them).

Once you hit level 15 or so, enemies are constantly dropping rare items that have multiple bonuses to stats, abilities and damage types. Finding and selecting gear that compliments your build is consistently rewarding and adds even more depth to the enhancement of your characters combat effectiveness.

Gear that you have no use for can be sold or salvaged for crafting materials that allow you to upgrade your preferred loadout. When salvaged, you unlock the piece of gear as a cosmetic transmog, a system I spent entirely too much time with because I’m a slave to fashion. Certain pieces of gear can also be socketed with gems that add additional bonuses to damage or resistances depending on its type. Legendary weapons and armour have unique abilities called aspects that fundamentally alter your abilities and playstyles.

Diablo 4 equipment

Some are universal but others like one that transforms the Druid’s wolf companions into more powerful werewolves are class specific. These aspects can be removed from items at one of Diablo 4’s specific vendors at the cost of the piece of equipment you take it from. These become single use upgrades that can be added to another piece of gear allowing you to keep your preferred buffs as you obtain higher level gear. Certain legendary aspects with infinite uses can also be obtained by completing dungeons.

Working in tandem, Diablo 4’s character progression, looting and crafting create layers of synergy that keep your build and playstyle in constant focus. The game’s massive depth is paradoxically complex in its execution but simple in practice. All of these elements were tutorialised either minimally or not at all, but designed so intuitively that even a newcomer to the series like myself had no problem understanding and engaging with them.

While previously not my preferred style of gameplay, I found planning, building and using my characters immensely enjoyable. This was mostly thanks to the fact that transmogs from salvaged gear and legendary aspects acquired from dungeons are available across your account for newly created characters. This means building, levelling and customising on new playthroughs is far less of a chore than you’d think, which is good because you will definitely be building new characters.

Diablo 4 Classes

Blizzard has previously announced a live service model for Diablo 4 that revolves around seasonal content with new stories, cosmetics and mechanics to experience in solo, online multiplayer and couch co-op play. To engage with this content, you will have to create a character from scratch to participate in the Seasonal World. Characters will then be transferred to the Eternal World for play afterwards. Each season will have a free and paid Battle Pass with the free track rewarding necessary in game resources that allow the use of new mechanics.

The paid track offers additional cosmetic transmogs. Fortunately, the shared acquisitions of legendary aspects and mounts amongst characters on the same profile should help speed your progress through the tiers. In addition to this seasonal content, paid expansions will further the game’s core narrative and likely add more classes and change existing ones.

Speaking in a very spoiler-free way about Diablo 4’s story, what I can attest to is that even with no background in the overarching tale of the franchise, I was able to understand and engage with its narrative. There’s enough context within the mandatory and optional dialogue to make the self-contained plot both comprehensible and entertaining. I imagine an understanding of previous events and important characters would enhance it, but it is certainly approachable for newcomers. I’m sure there’s a plethora of content on YouTube for those who want to brush up and learn more about the world of sanctuary, the war between heaven and hell, and the characters involved. I know I will be.

Lilith Diablo 4

So, for those of you wondering how Diablo 4 stacks up as an entry point to the series, it has the Stevivor seal of approval. As someone with absolutely no experience with the franchise or isometric ARPGs in general, I found this one  incredibly welcoming. Even without the benefit of any build guides or “5 Tips for New Players”-style content, a blind playthrough is both achievable and enjoyable.

The game has a staggering scope for replayability and will keep you busy for as long as you want it to. Most surprisingly, thanks to the fast-paced character growth and enticing combat flow, it’s easy enough to jump on for an hour or so and still feel a sense of progress. The only people I wouldn’t recommend Diablo 4 to are those not seeking a new addiction. I expect it will take up a great deal of my time.

For a more in-depth look at Diablo 4 from a long-time fan of the series — and Stevivor’s official, scored review — be on the lookout for more from Hamish Lindsay.

Diablo 4 is available from 6 June on Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS4 and PS5.

Diablo 4

6 June 2023
PC PS4 PS5 Xbox One Xbox Series S & X
 

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About the author

Ethan Dean

I've been an avid gamer since my dad shoved a controller in my hands and brutalised me in one-sided bouts of Tekken 2.

Since 2020, I've written about videogames in whatever capacity my journalism studies have allowed.

When I'm not plugged in to whatever open-world, action-adventure is the flavour of the month, I'm painting Warhammer miniatures and role-playing a bard in D&D.