Best of 2023: Why we’re looking forward to Diablo 4-GameCentral-Entertainment – Metro

Diablo 4 – you’ll be crawling back for more (pic: Blizzard)

GameCentral previews another of this year’s biggest games, as the new Diablo sequel sets out to be the definitive high-tech dungeon crawler.

With all the furore over Microsoft buying Activision it’s easy to forget that they’re also trying to acquire Blizzard Entertainment too, since the pair come as a set. How much they even care about Blizzard isn’t clear but if the deal goes through it will mean that Microsoft controls franchises including Warcraft, Starcraft, Overwatch, and… Diablo. Since Diablo 4 is out on June 6 this year it’ll likely be released long before the acquisition deal goes through, if it does at all, and so it will remain multiformat, even if future sequels become Xbox console exclusives.

How much console owners are actually aware of Diablo is always a little unclear, as the series’ success is entirely due to its PC audience, with Diablo 3 in 2012 being the only entry to get a high profile console release (there was a PS1 version of the original but that was ignored even at the time). On PC, Diablo is huge: Diablo 3 was the format’s biggest launch ever. It has nowhere near the same level of draw on consoles, but perhaps that will change with Diablo 4.

The main reason the series is still associated with the PC is that it’s primarily designed for a mouse and keyboard control set-up, but Blizzard long ago worked out an effective way to translate that to a gamepad and once you get into it, the basic concept is very straightforward. Technically, the game’s an action role-player but more specifically it’s a top-down dungeon crawler, that is not at all ashamed of its old school roots.

The plot of the series is never very important, so you needn’t worry about starting with number four, but this one involves the resurrection of the demon Lilith, based on the same mythological figure as the main villain in Marvel’s Midnight Suns. She has somewhat sympathetic motivations, in that she was previously banished for trying to protect (by killing everyone else) a race of half-angel, half-demons, so should be a more interesting baddie than the straightforward evildoers of previous games.

In keeping with the rest of the series, most of Diablo 4’s dungeons are procedurally generated, but one of the game’s most important new features is the open world element, which will help emphasise both the traditional co-op features and new competitive options. Since it is still a dungeon crawler the emphasis is very much on gathering loot and experience points, as you embark on a never-ending search for better weapons and armour, and ever more destructive magic abilities.

The appeal is very similar to games like Destiny, except the random element and wider variety of loot makes it arguably less repetitive, at least on a micro scale. Having both an open world and procedurally generated dungeons is an interesting mix, with the game world being completely open-ended except for when you enter a dungeon. This has necessitated some unusual precautions, such as restricting character interaction in certain areas until you get to the relevant part of the story – which itself is more non-linear than usual.

Although the game can be played on your own the emphasis is very much on group play, with the game being online-only – despite the considerable controversy that caused with Diablo 3. That game also got into trouble for its microtransactions and in-game auction house, but while Diablo 4 will feature crafting and trading Blizzard promise that they’ve learnt their lesson in terms of spoiling the sense of progression and encouraging a pay to win approach.

Diablo 4 will feature five playable classes – Druid, Rogue, Barbarian, Sorceress, and Necromancer – and each plays very differently, to the point where many veteran players will aim to get a good build for each. They are very different too, with the Druid, for example, being able to transform into a werewolf or werebear and the Necromancer, as you’d expect, able to raise a temporary army of undead allies.

Each class has their own, complex skill tree and you can customise how they look, down to the skin colour and type of mount they use. Although dungeon crawlers, and Diablo itself, have a reputation for mindless combat this is a proper role-player, with an almost endless array of equipment, abilities, and stats – all of which can be upgraded and enhanced in a near infinite number of ways.

The reliance on stats, for both your character and their equipment, adds a random element that may be off-putting to some but if you’ve ever enjoyed a looter shooter you’ll be absolutely fine with Diablo – in fact, this is where those games got most of their ideas from.

If you’re still not sure that Diablo is for you there’s always the free-to-play Diablo Immortal on mobile, that you could try out first; although its need to pay for itself via microtransactions means it’s a somewhat compromised entry in the franchise, which is not a fault that’s likely to be levelled at Diablo 4.

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