.Probably one of the most anticipated games of this decade, Diablo IV, was fully released on June 6th, 2023, and it is living up to the lofty expectations set for it. After the controversial release of Diablo Immortal in 2022, many fans are finding the Diablo IV release to be refreshing as it breathes new life into the Diablo franchise. Let’s talk about what Diablo is, why Diablo IV is exciting to millions of players, and the pros and cons of the game so far.

What is Diablo?

Diablo is one of the longest-living game franchises in the world, with the first Diablo game being released in 1997 and effectively creating the Action Role-Playing Game (ARPG) genre in gaming. Best described as a top-down dungeon crawler ARPG, Diablo has always been a fast-paced game with the objective of killing thousands of enemies as fast as possible and continuously improving gear.

Each Diablo game is set in a different area in the hellscape called Sanctuary. However, the story of Diablo IV, while still in Sanctuary, does not have too much to do with lord of hell Diablo since he was defeated in Diablo III. Instead, the story is focused on the main antagonist named, Lilith, the daughter of hatred. As she is unleashed upon the sanctuary, she converts humans and demons alike to her side as disciples of hatred as she makes a way to the cathedral of hatred to devour her father, Mephisto, to become hatred incarnate. How and why she was unleashed upon Sanctuary is what you, the player, need to find out so that she can be stopped in her tracks before she is able to unleash hell and hatred fully.

Why are millions of fans loving Diablo IV?

There are a lot of things to like about Diablo IV. One of the biggest pros of Diablo IV is that playing with friends is highly encouraged, and unlike past Diablo games, there are functions in the game that make it easier to play with friends and/or find new friends within the game. Most notable is the ability to create and join clans with up to 100 other players.

Another standout feature is the playable classes. There are five classes to choose from, Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Druid, and Necromancer, and they each have a unique and fun play style to them. None of them feel similar or redundant, which is often a problem in ARPGs. Each class has a variety of builds to choose from, with legendary gear and paragon boards to support every build. The highly anticipated season that will come to the game in mid-July should expand on these classes even more.

The story and world of the sanctuary are incredibly vast and well put together, creating a cohesive and exciting narrative to dive into. Both the story and world, respectively, take well over a dozen hours to play through and explore, so there is plenty of content for anyone to play. There are also several difficulties, so the game can be made as easy or hard as a player wants it. Lastly, the story is well told and has about a dozen cutscenes to illustrate the greatness of the story further; the last cutscene is so well done it looks better than what is seen in most movies.

The Pros and Cons

The main pros were basically covered in why fans love the game, but there are many more pros than what was mentioned. On the cons side, there are a few glaring ones. The main complaint is that while this is a great class and builds diversity, there is only one, maybe two, builds per class that can push the hardest content in the game. Therefore, the game is only diverse up to a certain level of content, making the longevity of the game potentially lacking.

Another big con is the dungeons are repetitive and even annoying. There are 115 different dungeons, but in reality, there are only like 20 because many of them are so similar. The objectives, monsters encountered, aesthetics, and bosses are identical. The only difference between some dungeons is where they are located on the map.

Finally, the very end game content is somewhat lacking. There are only a handful of ways to get end-game gear and get enough experience to level up. Those being Nightmare dungeons, Helltides, PvP, and Tree of Whispers objectives. With such a limited number of ways to continue progression, the game is bound to get old for many people eventually.

On the bright side, Diablo IV is a live service game, and the game devs have promised to continue making content and creating new objectives for the players. There are also a lot more pros than there are cons, so there is no reason to dwell on the cons when there are so many other good things about the game.