Do we measure a game’s quality by the amount of hours we play, the type of content it offers, how it’s all balanced, perhaps a combination?

There’s no question, Diablo 4 has a ton of content. Some might even say an overwhelming amount. And that’s before we get to the future seasons. Diablo 3 is up to Season 29, so, theoretically, we could be playing Diablo 4 a decade from now.

So if you’re measuring the game by its value for money, this is an easy one. Diablo 4 is worth every single cent and thensome. The base game campaign is probably around forty hours, but then you’ve got a huge amount of side quests, dungeons, regular events, all of it procedurally generated. Not to mention a variety of classes, echoes of evil and PVP.

But just how good is that content. Well, for me, after playing Diablo 3 and its expansion, I dropped it. Not that it was good or bad, I just got my fill. But right after one of the most epic final acts I’ve seen in a long time, I was right into the Epilogue. Experimented a bit with a new build. And wanted to try out another class.

Diablo 4 is a slow starter, no question. The early acts feel a little weighty and overwhelming with an enormous map to unravel, blue exclamation marks around every corner and dungeons popping up left and right. I could barely move an inch without a mob and I’m in desperate need of horseback to get around.

But as the game moves, you meet its characters, locations widen up, and Lilith is built up as this imposing, sinister force that you can’t wait to hack into, you realise you’re not getting out until the job is done. Few games have such an iron-clad grip.

I think that’s a big part of it, actually. When the villian is sort of your main character, every move you make is centered on them, their backstory weaves slowly, you learn how they’re impacting people’s lives, and the devastation they’re set to inflict on the wider world. Yet, you come away from beating the game and still don’t really know as much as you’d like or feel you need to know.

Each cutscene is as good as any Blizzard cutscene you’ve seen before, with top notch voice acting, facial expressions telling as much of a story as a line of dialogue and the use of violence to really unsettle the player. It’s masterfully put together.

So when you do get to that final confrontation, it feels all the more epic, enjoyable, and there’s an underlying motivation there to prevail, no matter what odds are against you. That’s a great feeling that few games fail to achieve, even some that launched this year.

But, of course, Blizzard can’t just churn out the same old game with a fresher coat of paint and a couple of new features. I mean, they kind of have to a degree. It’s very much a Diablo game as you tap the same buttons over and over again, collecting new armor and weapons in a desperate bid to stay one step ahead of the competition.

This time, though, you can traverse up cliffs, jump between ledges, climb ladders, and even descend to deeper depths. That’s just the start, though as you’ve got a standard dodge button to get out of the way of near fatal blows, as well as the option to upgrade your items at a blacksmith. Doesn’t matter if it’s a standard item or legendary, if you’re attached to it, you can fully maximise its potential.

The socketing system has also had a massive overhaul. With the right equipment, almost anything can be made into socketable weapons and armor, sometimes multiple sockets. Equally, aspects can be added and removed and swapped from item to item, meaning nothing is wasted.

But the biggest thing is how Diablo 4 feels more like an MMORPG than its predecessors with its focus on live service content, between the big world event bosses which you can take down with others and large scale quests that pop up and appear outside of the seasonal content.

Diablo 4 is a game that keeps growing, evolving, developing and at this point, I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what it is, fully prepared for what it is about to become.

Sure, this content isn’t going to be for everyone. It can feel repetitive, a bit like a continuous slog and end game content is at a savage level difficulty where classes can really struggle to keep up.

But there’s no doubt Diablo 4 is the definitive version of a franchise that has generated some of the greatest games ever made. It’s the end product of a development studio who are masters of their craft, have an extremely long term vision for the project, and have found a formula that can sustain that, while keeping players invested enough to stick around.

Verdict

Diablo 4 boasts one of the best final acts I’ve seen in any game, with typically brilliant Blizzard cutscenes, truly epic battles, and before it, one of the most generous hauls of content you’ll find anywhere. Blizzard have perfected the formula, given us a memorable foe we cannot wait to fight, expanded the possibilities in interesting new ways and refined the Diablo experience so it’s set up for years to come. The content won’t be for everyone and ultimately it’s more of the same game we’ve played many times before, but the depth, length, and customisation is at an unmatched level in the genre that puts it head and shoulders above everything else.

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Pros

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Diablo 4 is out now on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation

Code Kindly Provided by Activision/Blizzard for review purposes

Played on PS5