Tech: Diablo IV review

Blizzard's Diablo III had a famously rocky launch in 2012, and a lot has changed in action RPGs since then. The free-to-play juggernaut Path of Exile and a slew of other fine titles have been released by other game studios, while Blizzard's fortunes have tumbled. Between the controversial pay-to-win mechanics of Diablo Immortal, internal turmoil from sexual harassment lawsuits, and turnover from the pandemic and the Microsoft merger, how did Diablo IV turn out?

Mostly good, I'd say. With development led by Blizzard Team 3 (and aided by Blizzard Albany f/k/a Vicarious Visions), Diablo IV plays like a mix of Diablo II: Resurrected, Diablo III, and World of Warcraft - dark and downbeat story and graphics, arcade-style GUI and simplified character progression, all combined with an MMO-style open world. If you have some friends in tow, you'll have a blast mowing down demons in a huge variety of environments.

Diablo IV falters if you don't have friends to play with, however. You lose out on XP and you can't use combined arms tactics with other characters (the game is designed for parties to inflict varied debuffs). Most importantly, if you're by yourself, the questlines are too thin to sustain the dozens of hours it will take to finish the story and hit the endgame content.

Rating: 90/100 (80/100 if playing solo)