Diablo 4

A role-playing slasher/action game with an isometric third-person camera, a service game, and an online looter. It brings back classic elements of the Diablo series — a dark visual style, sound design, an engaging grind for gear in hundreds of dungeons and fortresses, and unchanged character builds — while introducing innovations such as a fully open world, world events and bosses, and player-versus-player battles.

Fifty years have passed since the end of Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls, but Sanctuary has yet to recover from the destruction of half of humanity by the angel Malthael. By chance, Lilith has returned — the demoness of succubi and daughter of Mephisto, which has plunged the world into even greater decline and despair. Her influence is felt everywhere — she breeds hopelessness in the minds of people and awakens the darkest feelings in their hearts. Only a brave nephalem hero can reclaim Sanctuary from the hordes of monsters unleashed by Lilith, the daughter of the demon of Hatred Mephisto, embodying all the evil and cruel aspects of humanity, which is on the verge of being reborn.

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. The archangel Inarius and the demoness Lilith gathered followers of dissent, stole the Worldstone, and created a new world — Sanctuary. It became a quiet haven, peaceful from endless discord and war, hidden from the gaze of powerful forces.

From the union of good and evil, nephalems emerged — unprecedented beings capable of rivaling anyone with their power. Fearing the loss of power or the revelation of Sanctuary, its lord Inarius, along with his allies, decided to destroy the nephalems. Lilith opposed this, and war broke out again between angels and demons. Inarius won and imprisoned Lilith outside the world, while the Worldstone was altered so that the Nephalems slowly weakened until they became ordinary mortals inhabiting Sanctuary.

The peace did not last long — when this secluded refuge was discovered in Heaven and Hell, a prolonged War of Sin erupted, in which both sides sought to destroy humanity. Sanctuary endured, but its protector Inarius was captured by one of the Prime Evils — Mephisto, while Heaven and Hell continued to secretly influence the inhabitants, setting off a chain of events in Diablo.

Over the past fifty years, several significant events have occurred. 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 the minds of mortals 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 driving out the forces of evil with fire and sword.

The Trinity of Prime Evils has not yet fully restored itself in Hell, but has partially regained its essence. Part of the storyline will take place alongside a black wolf — the form Mephisto has taken. The order of the Horadrim, which stood against Evil, has collapsed, Tyrael has left Sanctuary, and without his leadership, no new recruits were gathered. The Horadrim that players remember or will meet have become frail old men.

The world of mortals 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 life for people only vaguely resembles the old days. The clash between the returning Inarius and Lilith is inevitable. Sanctuary stands on the brink of total destruction, and only the awakening of the nephalem can protect it.

The story starts with a small prologue, where the player sees firsthand that their main task is to destroy Lilith, whose demonic influence seems to have consumed the entire world. Seeking support, the hero finds Inarius, but the archangel lord rejects the help of some nameless hero. Next, he encounters Lilith, but standing against the mother of Sanctuary is not so easy. In the end, 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 delivered a story that is not as simple as it first appears. The narrative is still linear from beginning to end, but it is well-crafted, engaging, and filled with vibrant characters. There are many of them, almost all with backstories, motivations, and roles in the plot, and some grow as individuals throughout the game. 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 staged scenes on the engine with many dialogues (there is no full dialogue system) and high-quality CGI cutscenes, while the music adds emotion. The pacing of the plot slows down while the hero runs back and forth on the main quests, but it is picked up by multilayered side quests that are well-developed and connected to the main plot or lore, mentioning other characters or previously completed tasks. However, this does not apply to a considerable number of other activities on the map.

Diablo 4 features a vast, almost seamless open world made up of 5 unique biomes, differing in landscape, style, and roster of enemies:

The game world is well-developed, filled with numerous objects and destructible elements, and the cities and story locations have the best detailing, including objects and interiors. It is so large that a pet is needed for movement. Fast travel has been removed, leaving waypoints in cities and key locations, meaning over significant distances. To reach dungeons and other activities — on foot or on a mount.

There are hundreds of dungeons and catacombs, each assembled differently (except for story ones), several cities, and small settlements. There are references to events from previous games everywhere, 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 head to Skosglen or the Fractured Steppes. It is impossible to completely avoid the campaign, which consists of 5 acts and a prologue; the game will force you to go through the main plot points one way or another. As before, the story campaign is merely 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, fury, or mana, collecting the gear that drops from them, making the hero even stronger. The experience points we earn along the way are spent on active abilities and passive perks. The game features dozens of hero parameters, interconnected with abilities and gear items, their quality and upgrade level: base stats, main and critical damage, primary and secondary defense, numerous buffs and debuffs, chances for various types of damage, bonuses to damage from different sources — bleeding, fire, and poison, among other factors.

There are indeed some innovations that cannot be overlooked. "Dodge" has appeared, allowing you to jump to the side without the need to frantically move the mouse. "Lucky Hit" will give a bonus to the damage of a basic attack or ability, or extend its effect. "Overwhelming damage" crushes the enemy with bonus damage on top of the base attack. "Fortification" accumulates over health and reduces all incoming damage, while "Barrier" absorbs it, preventing health from depleting too soon.

All this creates a vast space for build creation, allowing the character to be customized for different play styles and tactics. For the first time in the series, Diablo 4 allows the simultaneous use of multiple builds, automatically switching between them upon using a skill. Thus, after chopping down enemies with a dagger or sword, one can immediately switch to a bow or crossbow, starting to use the skill tied to them. This allows for adaptation to any combat situations and changing the fighting style depending on the enemies and weapons in the set.

Compared to previous games in the series, Diablo 4 has many small changes: a weather system that turns the world into impassable mud; a compact inventory that sums all units of weapons and armor into just one slot; a reduced pace of combat compared to 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 "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 features, hairstyles, tattoos, and more).

Main characteristics include Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Will, 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, a cluster with core skills and their upgrades, as well as defensive perks, opens up. After that, unique class abilities and mastery skills can be unlocked, which will enhance specific characteristics of the hero. By investing 23 and 33 points, the player gains access to ultimate skills and key passive abilities. Depending on how they spend their upgrade points, various character builds emerge, but the hero can be re-speced at any time.

Diablo 4 has acquired all the features of service games, combining proven elements from Diablo 3 and MMORPGs, and still does not work without a constant internet connection. All activities and content are interconnected both with each other and with single-player and multiplayer ways of playing.

You can complete the campaign, explore the world, capture fortresses, and clear dungeons of monsters alone. The same activities are carried out by 6 to 8 other players in the game world, and you can encounter them on the map. In cities, the number can reach up to 20: they have become hub locations for social activities — finding companions and exchanging items. Actively interacting is not necessary if you don't want to; the gameplay, while designed for cooperative actions, does not pressure you into it.

Story events, fortresses, and dungeons are private, meaning they are intended only for the player (if playing solo) or their group (in cooperative mode). This is how Blizzard preserves the individual experience of story progression and protects it from random players. Network events, such as battles with world bosses, are designed for a squad of up to 12 players and take place in separate PvE and PvP zones on the world map. They are known as "Fields of Hatred," recognizable by the change in picturesque visuals to a light red hue. Those wishing to fight each other must mark themselves with blood. Otherwise, you can engage in PvE.

Over several years of its development, Diablo 4 has received dozens of updates, adding new regions, acts of the main story, seasonal stories, characters, gameplay features, numerous and diverse activities, elements, and separate game mechanics. It makes no sense to list all the online activities and endgame content — the game offers hundreds and even thousands of hours of engaging gameplay.