Diablo IV – we’ve already played it. Hell queue

replay entertainment

Friday March 17th, 2023, 5:00 PM I’m running Battle.net, because apparently I’ve downloaded the necessary files beforehand to be able to play the Diablo IV beta when it’s released by Blizzard. Unfortunately, the Play button remains greyed out, but reloading the app a few times helps with the issue. It seems like it will work without much trouble, and at first it does. You manage to create a character (Diablo IV includes a full scale healer) and join the game. After several tens of minutes, the game stops running for an unspecified reason. So I restarted the program, and I want to log into the server, but… I’m stuck in the queue. The waiting time to log back into the Diablo IV server is 95 minutes.

So I thought I’d skip the Diablo IV beta that day. I came back early Saturday morning, which was a good decision, because at that time I didn’t notice any issues with the servers or the app itself. Diablo IV performed exceptionally well for a beta, although here and there you can see that the game still needs polishing in terms of optimization. However, having learned from the experience of the previous day, even when I had to stop playing for a short or long time, I left the game hoping that I would not be kicked off the server. As a result, I was able to check out Diablo IV’s prologue and the entire first chapter, because these are the parts of the story campaign that were made available before the beta.

Hell good graphics!

On the one hand, there may be complaints that Blizzard does not intend to make revolutionary changes to the gameplay mechanics of Diablo IV, on the other hand, if this is implemented, there will be people who say that it just isn’t the same anymore. However, from the very first moments of contact with Diablo IV, it can be seen that the creators wanted to use a well-known formula without worrying about its foundations, polishing the individual aspects of the title to the maximum.

Therefore, the first thing that catches your eye is the insanely good visuals. High-quality textures, an amazing game of light and shadow (reflections on various objects in the environment, traces left by our character in the snow), and most importantly – a dark atmosphere, because Diablo IV in many places is just a colorless game in the world. Depressing and raw, which is what players have come to expect from Diablo III, which uses a full palette of colors. Thanks to this, the locations in Diablo IV make you want to explore them!

Interesting story

I don’t want to go into detail here about the plot outlined in the opening Diablo IV cinematics, thanks to which we know more or less what the new Devil is about, but I have to say I was very curious. Yes, it’s still the story of saving the world from evil, but it’s more developed (longer dialogues) and more mature than ever. At least at first it makes such an impression, besides, it is not difficult to notice that even the character of the main character or heroine is slightly different, for example, “in three”. This time we are not the only hope for humanity, but we are a character who has found himself in a difficult situation and has to deal with it. This is a quite interesting approach to the subject matter, the more the whole is accompanied by – and how – fantastic cut scenes.

Well, to the point!

Wait one more minute. Diablo IV for PC can be played with a controller right from the start. However, Blizzard has previously announced that the latest installment in the series will offer the ability to transfer game states between platforms (the title will also be released on Xbox and PlayStation consoles for the current and last generation) and that there will also be an option to play between all devices. Therefore, the fact that at the computer we are not limited only to the keyboard and mouse should not surprise anyone.

Diablo IV in the beta, which I had the opportunity to test, allowed you to choose one of three character classes, including my favorite – I played a barbarian, but there is also a rogue and a healer waiting for the willing (they will be joined by necromancer and druid over time) . Interestingly, from the very beginning you can choose to play on one of two difficulty levels, aimed at veterans and beginners, respectively (there is also nothing stopping you from playing a hardcore hero, that is, in permanent death mode). As I mentioned, the beta includes the prologue and the first act of the story campaign, along with the ability to evolve the character up to level 25.