Diablo 4

Role-playing slasher/action with an isometric third-person camera, game-service, and online looter. It brings back the classic elements of the Diablo duology — dark visual style, sound design, thrilling gear grind in hundreds of dungeons and strongholds, immutable character builds — and introduces innovations such as a fully open world, world events and bosses, and player-vs-player battles.

Fifty years have passed since the finale of Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls, but Sanctuary has not recovered after the angel Malthael exterminated half of humanity. Lilith, the demoness succubus and daughter of Mephisto, has returned, plunging the world into even greater decline and despair. Her influence is felt everywhere — she breeds hopelessness in people's minds and awakens the darkest feelings in their hearts. Only a brave Nephalem hero can reclaim Sanctuary from the hordes of monsters led by Lilith, daughter of the demon of Hatred Mephisto, who embodies all the evil and cruel aspects of humanity, ready to be reborn at any moment.

Diablo 4 revealed many details about the creation of Sanctuary. Long ago, an endless war raged between Heaven and Hell. Some participants understood its futility. Archangel Inarius and demoness Lilith gathered renegade followers, stole the Worldstone, and created a new world — Sanctuary. It became a quiet haven, peaceful from the endless discord and war, hidden from the sight of powerful forces.

From the union of good and evil came the Nephalem — unprecedented beings capable of rivaling anyone in power. Fearing the loss of power or the discovery of Sanctuary, its ruler Inarius, along with his allies, decided to destroy the Nephalem. Lilith opposed this, and war broke out again between angels and demons. Inarius won and imprisoned Lilith outside the world, altering the Worldstone so that the Nephalem slowly weakened until they turned into ordinary mortals who populated Sanctuary.

Peace did not last long — when both Heaven and Hell learned about this hidden refuge, a prolonged Sin War broke out, with both sides trying to destroy humanity. Sanctuary endured, but its protector Inarius was handed over to one of the Prime Evils — Mephisto, and Heaven and Hell continued to secretly influence its inhabitants, setting off the chain of events of Diablo.

Several significant events have occurred over the past fifty years. Inarius freed himself from Mephisto's captivity and returned to the mortal world, where he led the Cathedral of Light — a religious movement aimed at protecting mortal minds from the influence of evil and demons, and also gathered a personal army of Penitent Knights. Trained in combat and magical skills, they are capable of expelling the forces of evil with fire and sword.

The trio of Prime Evils has not fully recovered in Hell, but they have partially regained their essence. Part of the story campaign will be accompanied by a black wolf — the form taken by Mephisto. The Horadrim order opposing Evil has collapsed, Tyrael has left Sanctuary, and without his leadership, no new members were recruited. The Horadrim that the player remembers or meets have become feeble old men.

The mortal world teems with monsters, undead, and demons, but even without them, humanity struggles. By the time Diablo 4 begins, the human world has fallen into complete decline, and people's lives only faintly resemble the old times. The confrontation between the returned Inarius and Lilith is inevitable. Sanctuary stands on the brink of final destruction, and only the awakening of the Nephalem can protect it.

The story begins with a small prologue where the player is convinced firsthand that their main task is the destruction of Lilith, whose demonic influence seems to have consumed the entire world. Seeking support, the hero finds Inarius, but the archangel ruler rejects the help of some nameless hero. Then he encounters Lilith, but confronting the mother of Sanctuary is not so simple. In the finale, Inarius and Lilith find each other, but with the help of Mephisto, the hero eliminates the threat they pose.

The writers of Diablo 4 have crafted a story that is not as simple as it first appears. The narrative is still linear from start to finish, but it is well-written, engaging, and filled with vivid characters. There are many of them, almost all with backstories, motivations, and roles in the plot, and some even grow as individuals as the story progresses. Despair has become the main theme of the narrative. From time to time, unexpected twists occur, and the most significant of them change the perception of what is happening.

The world of characters is revealed through in-engine cutscenes with numerous dialogues (there is no full-fledged dialogue system) and high-quality CGI cutscenes, while the music adds emotion. The pace of the plot's narrative slows down as the hero runs back and forth on main quests, but it is picked up by multilayered side quests, which are well-developed and connected to the main plot or lore, mentioning other characters or previously completed quests. This, however, does not apply to the considerable number of other activities on the map.

Diablo 4 features a huge, practically seamless open world consisting of 5 unique biomes, each distinguished by its landscape, style, and roster of enemies:

The game world is excellently crafted, filled with numerous objects and destructible elements, and the cities and storyline locations have received the best detailing, including objects and interiors. It is so large that a pet is needed for transportation. Fast travel has been removed, leaving waypoints in cities and key locations, that is, at significant distances. To reach dungeons and other activities — on foot or mount.

There are hundreds of dungeons and catacombs, each assembled differently every time (except for the storyline ones), several cities, and small settlements. Everywhere there are references to events from previous games, ruins, and relics that echo past battles.

The open world of Diablo 4 is divided into regions according to the acts of the story, and immediately after the prologue, it is open for free play, allowing you to go to Scosglen or the Dry Steppes. Completely avoiding the campaign, which consists of 5 acts and a prologue, is impossible, as the game will make you go through the main plot points one way or another. As before, the story campaign is only a kind of prologue to the main game, namely seasonal events, world bosses, and cool endgame rewards.

The famous “Diablo formula” still works: we run around the world, slicing up enemies, keeping an eye on health, rage, or mana, collecting the equipment they drop, making the hero even stronger. The experience points gained along the way are spent on active abilities and passive perks. The game has dozens of hero parameters, interconnected with abilities and equipment items, their quality and upgrade level: basic characteristics, main and critical damage, main and additional defense, numerous buffs and debuffs, chances for this or that damage, bonuses to damage from different sources — bleeding, fire, and poison, and other factors.

There are some innovations. There is “dodge,” which allows you to jump to the side without frantically moving the mouse. “Lucky hit” will give a bonus to the damage of a basic attack or ability, or extend its duration. “Overpower” crushes the enemy with bonus damage beyond the basic attack. “Fortify” accumulates on top of health and reduces all incoming damage, while “Barrier” absorbs it, preventing health from depleting prematurely.

All this creates a vast space for build crafting, and the character can be customized for different play styles and tactics. For the first time in the series, Diablo 4 allows the use of multiple builds simultaneously, automatically switching between them based on skill usage. So, after slicing enemies with a dagger or sword, you can immediately switch to a bow or crossbow, starting to use the skill tied to them. This allows you to adapt to any combat situation and change the fighting style depending on the enemies and weapons in the set.

Compared to previous games in the series, Diablo 4 has many minor changes: a weather system that turns the world into impassable mud; a capacious inventory that sums all units of weapons and armor into just one slot; a reduced combat pace to the level of Diablo 2 ; new types of items and updated old ones; more deadly bosses capable of slowing down and stunning heroes.

Each class in Diablo 4 has a unique mechanic unlocked after reaching a certain level, such as the "Book of the Dead" for the Necromancer or the "Arsenal" for the Barbarian. When creating a character at the start of a new game, you can edit their appearance in the editor (body shape, facial details, hairstyles, tattoos, and more).

The main attributes include Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Willpower, and they automatically grow as the character levels up (up to level 50), affecting all aspects. After reaching level 50, players start earning Paragon points and filling the Paragon board.

The skill tree is divided into 7 clusters. Initially, basic skills and their upgrades are available. As more points are invested in the tree, the cluster with core skills and their upgrades, as well as defensive perks, are unlocked. After these, unique class abilities and mastery skills that improve specific hero attributes can be unlocked. By investing 23 and 33 points, the player gains access to ultimate skills and key passive abilities. Depending on how points are spent, different character builds can be created, but the hero can be respec'd at any time.

Diablo 4 has acquired all the features of games-as-a-service, combining with proven elements from Diablo 3 and MMORPGs, and still requires a constant online connection. All activities and content are interconnected with both single-player and multiplayer modes.

Проходить кампанию, исследовать мир, захватывать крепости и зачищать подземелья от монстров можно в одиночку. Тем же самым в мире игры занимаются от 6 до 8 других игроков и с ними можно пересечься на карте. В городах число может доходить до 20: они стали хаб-локациями для социальных активностей — поиска компаньонов и обмена предметами. Активно взаимодействовать, если не хотите, не нужно, геймплей хоть и заточен на совместные действия, но не давит этим.

Сюжетные события, крепости и подземелья приватны, то есть предназначены только для игрока (если он играет в одиночку) или его группы (в кооперативе). Так Blizzard сохраняет индивидуальный опыт прохождения сюжета и обеспечивает его сохранность от залетных игроков. Сетевые события, такие как битвы с мировыми боссами, рассчитаны на отряд до 12 игроков и развиваются в отдельных PvE- и PvP-зонах на карте мира. Они известны как «Поля Ненависти», опознать их можно по смене живописного визуала на светло-красный оттенок. Желающие сразиться друг с другом должны пометить себя кровью. В ином случае можно заняться PvE.

За несколько лет своего развития Diablo 4 получила десятки обновлений, добавивших новые регионы, акты основного сюжета и сезонные истории, персонажей, геймплейные функции, многочисленные и разнообразные активности, элементы и отдельные механики игры. Перечислять все сетевые активности и эндгейм-контент не имеет смысла — игра предлагает всего этого на сотни и даже тысячи часов увлекательного прохождения.