2023-07-27 19:44:58
Let’s be honest: Holidays with four children are nice, but not really relaxing. Is it so reprehensible when you start the washing machine and immediately lock yourself in the living room to log in? We don’t think so. Because as soon as we sit down on the couch and pick up the controllers, we transform from tired parents into Necro man and rogue woman, stepping into a parallel world with challenges more manageable than those of our everyday family life. And with tasks that have a beginning and – above all – an end.
As with the earlier parts of the action role-playing game “Diablo”, in “Diablo IV” you create a character that can be shaped as you wish to enable an individual gaming experience: As an agile rogue and bloodthirsty Necro, we chose complementary skills who, when their powers are properly combined, can transform a sea of monsters into a graveyard in a matter of seconds.
The atmosphere is finally darker again. The predecessor was often criticized for adapting the colorful graphics from “World of Warcraft” too much. The main story, centered around the character Lilith, is captivating through a series of well-crafted videos, even for those of us who tend to skip the clips and move on to another fight. The so-called loot spiral, i.e. the hunt for better weapons and equipment in order to be able to kill stronger opponents and then rearm them, quickly becomes addictive. There are also more ways to work out character builds than with “Diablo III” at release. We particularly like that the combat feedback feels consistent. If everything goes well, you slide through a firework of special effects that are almost hypnotic. All in all, it seems that this sequel is a step in the right direction. Even if many fans of the older titles see it differently.
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All of this can easily be experienced for two on the couch, which makes the adventure particularly enticing for us, the eternally weary leaders of an offline and an online pack. Even if bugs limit the gameplay every now and then, they don’t tear you out of the flow of the game as much as trying to repeatedly pretend that the TikTok video that the young sprout is holding under your nose isn’t boring to death or at all Relevance.
For the younger generation, the game may quickly reach a point where the content becomes thin. But for those of us who are only granted an hour or two of respite every now and then, there are always situations in which new game content is discovered, which is initially very challenging and then, as is customary in the genre, relaxed again with improvements to equipment and character are mastered, so that we sometimes feel like victims and sometimes like gods at well-spaced intervals.
You can clearly see this in the transition to a higher world level: In order to be able to experience all of the content, you have to advance to at least Tier 3. This requires you to complete a dungeon challenge that tests your previous skills: while progressing seemed easy up to this point, now every death feels like a baptism of fire, like having to do and learn everything from scratch .
Sometimes giving up is the only option
This impression remains in the new world stage, especially the additional mechanics such as the Helltides and the nightmare dungeons. At least with the latter one has a certain influence on the increase in difficulty by using modifiers. We especially struggled with a variant with opponents who spit out poison without end. And although we had fought our way through the dungeon for a long time, we had to give up on a boss the first time because the number of attempts available to you was quickly used up.
Despite the many curse words used, the repeated failures did not create lasting frustration: like raising children, you eventually learn that setbacks are part of the game. Sometimes you have to give up. But deep down you know that with better equipment, preparation and the right mentality, the outcome could have been different.
An exception represents the butcher: A boss that appears in random situations and follows you mercilessly until you’re lying in the dust with tears streaming down your face. Its peculiarity is that it disappears immediately afterwards and, despite its superiority, one wishes that it would appear again, with the hope of turning the tables this time.
The Merciless ButcherDiablo IV screenshot
After all the praise, it’s time to point out some design flaws. There is the questionable decision to only allow the mount to be unlocked after many hours of trudging through the magnificent surroundings. To top it all off, you can only get into Tier 3 on the first run if you have played through the campaign. These two points lead to the fact that one clicks away earlier or at least impatiently in order to exploit the potential of the game mechanics. This is particularly annoying, since it is hard to overlook that Blizzard wants to unnecessarily stretch the game time. Such antiquated tricks don’t fit the otherwise modern image of the game.
A new season every three months
Although the game was released in early June, it is now even more exciting thanks to the different seasons that let us immerse ourselves in a new adventure every three months: deeper possibilities for even more creative design of characters, new story quests and elements like the Hearts that you have to collect and from which come out demonic creatures but also rewards. In the current season, we both turned into druid werewolves, but we still chose different abilities. For example, one can stun enemies for three seconds or pop out whirlwinds, while the other throws huge, rolling rocks and spits out poison.
The transition to Tier 3 came even quicker this time, as we’ve progressed in character levels at a record pace, despite Blizzard releasing a much-criticized patch at the start of the season. Enemies have been made disproportionately stronger and most builds have been nerfed. Here, too, the community agrees that Blizzard makes it easy for itself and extends the playing time with these changes.
It would have been better if the patch had focused more on fixing existing bugs. Unfortunately, new bugs have been added. A particularly annoying one occurred repeatedly while we were both out on horseback. A game character suddenly disappeared from the screen and the only way out was to teleport back to the city to walk the same route again, as the same route on the horse had given exactly the same result.
This development brings back the bland aftertaste that Blizzard has been bringing with it for a long time. The almost smooth release had at least pushed him into the background. But now the negative reports are increasing again.
So Blizzard placed the ‘Activate Premium Battle Pass’ button right next to the button you have to constantly press to check your Season Journey.
Guess what happened to me and at least 5 others on my stream. This is straight up Malicious Design. @Diablo pic.twitter.com/99KhTR51ad
— Rurikhan (@Rurikhan) July 21, 2023
In addition to the issues already mentioned, several players reported that a button to activate paid content in the Battle Pass was apparently placed in a way that is easy to accidentally press. Especially since it’s a pre-selection on the console versions when you go into the menu.
It took Blizzard almost a week to change the default. Even though we’re not programmers, we think the relatively long processing time indicates that it wasn’t an accident. It remains to be hoped that Blizzard will not maintain the course in the usual negative patterns. Because apart from “Diablo IV”, no other game currently provides us so satisfactorily with the daily shot in dark places to which no small monsters have access due to the age rating of 16+.
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