Diablo IV Analysis – Xbox Zone

Diablo IV, It is already here. The highly anticipated sequel to one of Blizzard’s most iconic sagas has arrived on our consoles. After 11 years since its last numbered episode, the company takes us back to the dark world of Sanctuary. A world again as dark as it was in its first two parts, both narratively and artistically. The criticisms that the third installment has received have been heard and we are now presented with a dark title, where gloom dominates each of its dungeons.

Although having been able to take advantage of its beta some time ago, the doubts about this fourth opus have always been there. And it is that, there have been some notable changes in the playable formula, one of the most relevant being the jump to the open world. Now is it again Diablo As fun as 11 years ago? The answer is a resounding yes, in fact, courtesy of nostalgia, it’s the best game in the series.

Lilith has arrived

One of the points that I liked the most about this episode is its main villain. Lilith, Sanctuary’s mother arrives in style. Blizzard introduces us to one of the best characters in the entire saga, thanks in particular to a few very well-chosen cutscenes that highlight the presence of this infernal creature. The height of Lilith, seeing how her shadow is cast or how all the light goes out in her path will leave us with some truly memorable scenes. The character’s introduction is a brutal thread for a dark campaign that’s full of nuance and will leave you wanting to know more and more about what’s going on in this world. Moreover, after the events of Diablo 3: Soul Reaper.

As I told you before, Diablo IV, recovers the essence of the franchise based on blood, guts and settings full of darkness. A dynamic that contributes to setting the tone of this fourth part. All this is accompanied by a spectacular artistic design, which is enhanced by its powerful graphics engine. Seeing hordes of demons tearing apart in front of us is a real treat. The lighting effects, as well as the details of each of its parameters are simply fantastic.

As if that weren’t enough, the sound section is postulated as one of the best ever in the genre. Indeed, to see one with the same level of quality as this one, we will have to go back to the previous installments of the franchise. He The Spanish dub is a delight and perfectly accompanies everything seen on screen.

Fast and brutal action

Leaving that aside, Diablo IV It triumphs mainly thanks to its gameplay. Considered by many to be the royal saga within ARPG, the team at Blizzard had the daunting task of updating and bringing to the present a formula that has worked for over two decades. The expectations were high, maybe too high, but the team managed to exceed each one, to live up to it.

On this occasion, the game presents us with 5 classes (barbarian, rogue, necromancer, wizard and druid), each of them having three well differentiated archetypes. However, it will be up to the player to follow the lineage of one of these archetypes or create mixed characters, here Contrary to Diablo 3customization is much greater. Thus, the skill tree is quite extensive and divides each character into different branches, being intuitive enough to understand what each of its parts refers to, so that we can create the character to our liking. It is true that we will no longer be able to distribute the attribute points as in its second part, but the game makes up for it perfectly.

And it is that, we have 50 character levels, in addition to legend or paragon levels once we exceed said level. Some skills that will allow us to complete our “builds” and create authentic massacres. As you can imagine for any game in the saga, the “loot” is one of the fundamental elements of its gameplay.. Finding legendary gear is always extremely satisfying. On top of that, the game has greatly expanded its customization system when it comes to gear. Diablo IV, seeks to create the perfect character, or at least the one you imagine in your mind. To do this, it gives us endless possibilities, to remove traits from a weapon and replace them with another, or destroy a piece of armor to extract a property that interests us and that we want to integrate into an armor higher level. Limits are practically non-existent.

An almost eternal game

The jump to the open world presents us with a title much bigger than the rest of the games in the saga. The sanctuary is huge and full of situations and things to do. A fundamental point for the open world concept to work in a game of this type is that the world adapts to our level. Thus, we will always experience a small challenge, you will never find extremely simple or low level enemies, everything is perfectly balanced.

In order to move around in this desolate world, the game includes mounts for the first time. A means of transport that will allow us to jump into battle at any time so that the degree of action is not affected at all. In addition, the mount is obtained in a fairly advanced area of ​​history, so we will have to travel the plains of its world.

To give meaning to this open world, The game presents us with a large number of world events, in which we can collaborate with random players to fight the demonic hordes. Generally, these events are quite good and offer a degree of variety to the action, with challenging boss fights. In the same way we will have other activities such as dungeons, basements or new assaults on fortresses.

This added to the large number of customization options make Diablo IV to be a practically infinite title and which you will rarely get bored of. It’s very easy to wander around Sanctuary and end up clearing an entire area of ​​enemies without even meaning to. But that’s it, it’s so spectacular how the screen is filled with enemies that you just can’t stop playing.

A few points to remember

From my vision as a player, I enjoyed and continue to enjoy this fourth installment. In fact, it’s going to be a long time before he stops rampaging through demonic hordes. However, Yes, I would like to be critical on some aspects of this title that I consider questionable. First, its microtransactions. While it is true that we are talking about purely cosmetic components, the reality is that the price they hold in the store is a real savage. Coming to cost a skin the modest sum of around 24 dollars, we are talking about the price of many video games, simply for a skin. I know we can’t compare it, but the ghosts in the grocery store Diablo 3They flew over my mind.

Another of the critical points of this episode lies in the need to be connected to be able to play. I understand that this is due to the multiplayer component of the title, but we can not ignore that we are dealing with a game that has local co-op, so it makes me even bloodier that it is not possible to enjoy the game offline.

The devil is back, the king is back

Despite these ratings, it is difficult for me to find fault with Diablo IV, As a fan of the show, it’s everything I could hope for and more.. It’s a game that has kept me glued to the screen for hours and has me thinking about returning to Sanctuary as I write this review. The playable characters and the actors who accompany us during the story mode are varied and charismatic, its artistic section is wonderful, as is its graphics and sound section. Likewise, the playable formula has been improved thanks to the subtle changes introduced by the company.

Without a doubt, Diablo He has once again shown that he is the king of the genre. In fact, it’s virtually impossible to understand the ARPG genre without mentioning Devil. That’s why Blizzard managed to exceed all my expectations and show me again that they know what it’s like to create a masterpiece. The king has returned.