Diablo 4: Lord Of Hatred Review- Streamlined Slaughter

Its been a while, since I have written a review for a video game (2 years give or take). In that time, Diablo 4 released to much fanfare, occupied the immediate zeitgeist for a month and then gamers like they do moved on. Since then, Diablo 4 has been marching onwards, adding new Seasonal Activities, new/throwback classes, gameplay tweaks/enhancements/modifications and of course new cosmetics (including collaborations with Doom and Halo). Which brings us to Diablo 4 : Lord Of Hatred, the second and for the immediate future, the final expansion for the base game. And just like the Prime Evils resurfacing after repeated slaughters, I am back reviewing the latest addition to one of the most influential franchise of my life. SO STAY A WHILE AND LISTEN!!!

The Lilith Saga

Diablo 4 broke away from the path laid by Diablo 3 in a big way when it comes to the story. Diablo 4 introduced a brand new antagonist, namely Lilith and a brand new Horadrim companion Lorath. As noted in our original review, Dibalo 4’s story is surprisingly detailed and well thought out. The protagonist (YOU) have a personal stake in the story, the companions you meet have depth and motivation and characters, and the stories told are complex and layered. Its not a separate, siloed story hacked on to the main thread. But a well thought out, logical conclusion with a clear through line envisioned way before it was implemented.

During a Q&A, the team behind the game mentioned, “The overall direction of the story didn’t fundamentally change. We’ve been building towards a conflict centered on Angels & Demons, the Horadrim vs Prime Evils, Lilith’s Return, and the Wanderer’s role in the story.“

The Angels and Demon conflict is central to the story as setting for this latest expansion is Thamsycria Skovos, a group of islands which is home to the Amazons (one of the original classes from Diablo 2), and the birthplace of humanity. This is where Mephisto AKA Akarat travels to and where Lorath and you should follow and foil his nefarious plans. Travelling through Skovos, as yoju slay hordes of monsters, for roughly about 8 hours you will be introduced to some very pretty cut-scenes and some very “When You Star Into The Abyss…” conversations that are a hallmark of the franchise. While the last expansion, ended on a cliffhanger, the third and final act in the Lilith/Mephisto saga, brings a sense of finality to the narrative to many of its central characters.

Out Demoning Hell

The angels and demons theme of the expansion is also evident in the 2 new classes that the expansion introduces. While long time fans would rejoice at the re-introduction of the Paladin (yours truly included), and would love to fall back into the nostalgia of banishing demons by just being around them. The Warlock showcases the dark side of the wanderer by introducing a class that straight up summons demons from Hell, or in a pinch just converts into a demon themselves.

I had spent a considerable amount of time, when the Paladin class was announced and made available free for a month for players to try out and experiment with; and I can report that for anyone who had played the class in D2, would find themselves easily slipping back into the comfort zone of Auras, elemental sword strikes and some very fulfilling shield bashing.

Talking about things returning to their roots. THE OVERLAY MAP IS BACK. In all its glory, now you can explore Sanctuary with the map superimposed over it and set to the specific transparency level that your heart desires.

The Horadrim cube is back too. Only now you dont carry it in your inventory for some extra slots, but use it from a town to (check notes) transform, transmute, modify, upgrade and enhance (including but not limited to) your gear. I can’t guarantee that I have explored all that the cube has to offer, and honestly I don’t think I could. I see myself encountering a video online on how to get really awesome gear made by someone who had spend 100 of hours into the game, and then replicating it in my own way. That I can do.

All is not copy-pasta however. Something new is the Talisman. A new tab in your inventory, a new resource to manage and collect, and a new meta to game and optimize. But at its core, the talisman system work to separate the set bonuses that Diablo has always tied with its items and to that end its efficient. It now allows players to keep the set bonuses that they like along with the armor of their choice, allowing for even fine tuned builds than before.

Going into the preview though, I wanted to take the Warlock for a spin, and boy was it fun. Simplified Warlock is a cross between the Necromaner and the Druid, either depending on the spawns of hell to do their bidding or converting themselves into a demonic entity themselves, as they mow down waves and waves of their own kind. But practically, it turns into a brand new fun way of melting anyone who stands in your way full of Purple, Pink or Yellow confetti exploding across your screen. If you don’t like either of that, you could always attune your build to spit out hellfire if somebody encroaches your personal space, and just incinerate them.

This kind of variety is evident in all classes now, as the skill tree for each of them has been reworked. The major inflection being the fact that most passive skills are gone and replaced by paths that can change the way your skill functions. For eg. the Warlock could summon a beast from Hell to stand in a place and bash his foes into the ground, or he could convert himself into a demon, jumping around the battlefield squashing enemies; Using the same skill. A contemporary example would be the snakes that the sorcerer could summon which spit out fire, could now be re-worked into snakes which spit ice (what even are snakes anymore), IF that aligns more closely with your build.

On the flip side this does mean that once you have figured out the build that you want to pursue and are done playing around with the skill tree. Most will find that they would reach this point at about level 30. Once you reach that point, there is not a lot you can do apart from sinking points into the base skill. The flooring of which has been increased from 5 to 15. And rightly so, because the difficulty variety has also been increased to 12. Yup now you go all the way to Torment 12 from the initial 4 that was offered initially. Which brings us to the END. The end game that is.

Looting Hell

At its core Diablo 4 is an ARPG. Its the latest addition to a genre defining franchise and the end game is an important facet of such games. At launch, Diablo 4 was a dichotomy of these principles. There were so many end-game activities and loot to collect, and mechanics to explore that it could feel overwhelming. And yet, the discovery of these activities was much more difficult, and players found themselves trying to rush and teleport in time for an activity to start half way across Sanctuary.

The introduction of a fast moving mount had also added to that effect of disillusionment, where you could just rush through a terrain without engaging enemies. And while I could understand the need for adding a faster way to maneuver the map, it also took away from the challenge of reaching a destination through culling, that slow climb crawl of progress something I feel is at core of the Diablo way.

The latest expansion, aims to bridge that gap, by introducing War Plans. War Plans are a randomly generated sequence of challenges, that can range from Nightmare dungeons, Stronghold challenges and other end game activities that you can tackle.

During the Q&A, the devs emphasized that, “We’re super excited for new players to try out War Plans. War Plans provides a clearcut entry to the endgame for everyone, from completely new players to veteran players that have been with us the whole time. It always gives you an answer to “what should I be doing?” in a fun, rewarding way. It’s easier than ever to hop in for any amount of time and progress your character.”

With each steps in the War Plan laid out for you to easily travel and tackle, it removes the friction between discovery and engagement. And while it does streamline the entire experience, the lack of compatibility when this mode is played in co-op is disappointing. While I did not personally play any games with other players during the preview, it was made pretty clear that players joining their friend’s War Plans would not get the best rewards or make progress on their own War Plans until the War Plans were identical, which would be immensely rare.

What would also be immensely rare, is the new resource “Echoes Of Hatred” which are instrumental in unlocking the new end game horde mode “Echoing Hatred”. The devs describe it as “The new, hyper-rare event deploys infinite waves of enemies and escalating difficulty. The players are given a simple task of taking down waves and waves of enemies each with increasing difficulty. The genius of this mode is such that I wonder why it didn’t exist in the first place. The confounding part about is that why its hidden behind a resource which is a rare drop in the game. It could have easily been the last mandatory step in each War Plan and would have added to the diverse nature of the overall challenge. But if we know something about Diablo, is that if there is any loot that’s rare, players would have millions of it in store sooner than later.

Prime Evil

Its tough to say if the reworked skill trees, the new crafting mechanics, and the streamlined end-game path would make Diablo 4 sticky longer than its next 2 seasons. As a gaming connoisseur though, it warms my heart and ignites a fuzzy feeling inside as I romp through monsters in search of a McGuffin that would eventually lead me to a some very inviting loot, or a very satisfying cutscene. Its a great way to spend the last of your waking hours each night and finally get some wins in the day before you hit the hay. Happy Slaying!!!