Diablo IV for PC is an online-only action role-playing game, the fourth main game in the Diablo series. This game makes you feel as though you are playing through a medieval city, and for the first time in the series, you can go up and down, as well as along.
About the Game
The game revives the world of Sanctuary, and takes place some 50 years after the events of the last main game, Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. Lilith, the daughter of Mephisto, is the main antagonist and, in this game, she is able to grab a toe-hold in Sanctuary as the forces of both demons and angels have been reduced by the events of the previous games.
Backstory about Sanctuary: Lilith and the angel Inarius created a haven for those needing a time-out from the endless war between heaven and hell. Their alliance led to the arrival of the Nephalem, a combination of Lilith’s demonic side and Inarius’s angelic side – a sort of blend of angel and demon that is neither one nor the other. The Sanctuary inhabitants loathed the existence of the Nephalem and in the ensuing fight, Lilith was banished into the void.
You play as the Wanderer, and the game begins with you being captured and drugged by villagers who are under Lilith’s spell. Your escape brings you into contact with Lorath Nahr (fans of the game will recognise the name from the last game) who explains the premise of the game and gets you set up with your first task. The story will then progress linearly, as you work your way along the storyline, with a lot of excitement and combat along the way.
The Nitty Gritty
There are a number of places on the game map: Dry Steppes, Fractured Peaks, Hawezar, Kehjistan, Scosglen, and Hell itself. There are some procedurally generated dungeons which will change each time you play both inside and out. The world is contained to just your playing party, so there is no danger of coming across other players. Sanctuary is a fixed world, and as such does not change.
As for the other places: Dry Steppes is a cannibalistic desert region; Fractured Peaks is filled with snowy mountains pock-marked with caves; and Hawezar is a witch-populated swamp. Kehjistan seems to be a warning against unchecked capitalism, holding the remains of a past civilisation, while Scosglen is an attractive forested area by the coast: home to druids, werewolves and other enemies such as the drowned undead.
Once you have played through the campaign once (unravelling the fairly loose storyline) you can skip it on subsequent play-throughs (when you have a new character to try out) treating the game more as an open world game where you can explore and battle and quest to your heart’s content. There are no loading screens between regions, and you can wander from one to the other in any order you like. Some areas remain locked until you’ve upgraded enough.
The tried and tested well-loved co-operative play format returns – so round up three like-minded friends, as well as some new player-vs-player formats and challenge events that anyone can try their hand at. If the game seems a bit easy, load up hardcore mode to try a more challenging game.
The graphics in the game are wonderful, with hell showing as suitably gruesome and Sanctuary the tempting refuge it is meant to be!
Who Will You Be?
There are five playable classes in the game and you can play through the game as each one, seeing the differences in weapons, skills and combat styles: as mentioned above, once you’ve completed the first playthrough, you can skip the campaign mode and go straight to the sandbox. Let’s take a look at who you can be:
- Barbarian: switch between your weapons while in combat, this playing character returns from Diablo II and Diablo III. Or just use your fists and your righteous rage to trample forth!
- Sorcerer: wield fire, ice, lightning and other elemental magic as a sorcerer as seen in the original game and the first sequel
- Druid: last seen in Diablo II this character is a shapeshifter who has earth and storm magic, to be deployed while morphing between human, werewolf, and werebear
- Rogue: from the original game, this speedy battler can handle both distance fighting with a bow and arrow and up-close knife melee attack
- Necromancer: deal with dark magic and death to summon allies and attack enemies with this returning character who has featured in Diablo II and Diablo III. Use your evil powers to populate your army of the dead, reanimate fallen soldiers and generally terrorise your opponent’s
All of these characters are tremendous fun to play, and you can customise your appearance, rather than being tied to a character type, as well as being able to make your own way up skill trees so even your abilities can be customised too. Your character building is loot-based, so be sure to pick up any swag you might come across.
