Disclaimer – The following review contains story spoilers for the main game of Diablo IV due to the context of the DLC’s plot start. With that said, there will be no story spoilers on the DLC past Quest 4.
One year later, Diablo IV finally got its first big expansion pack. It is interesting to note it took two years to get Diablo III, the first and only expansion, back in 2014, but times have changed since then, and Blizzard has changed as well. So, is the DLC the shot in the arm the game needs to get back into the limelight? Well, for me, it was because, despite the fact I have had access to the game for about six days, I managed to clock in 46 hours on a brand-new character, so yeah, I think it’s back, for better and worse.
The game picks up shortly after the events of the base game. Lilith is defeated, and your personal character and group have successfully trapped the demon Mephisto inside a Soulstone. Now, one of your party members, Neyrelle, has set off on her own with the Soulstone to find a way to keep the demon at bay before an even greater evil arrives in the world. The story was quite interesting, and this is coming from someone who isn’t in-depth with the Diablo lore; it does have some interesting additions compared to last year, with a new villain in the form of a lone solider who, thanks to surviving the battle in hell last time, has quickly risen through the ranks and become a leader of the church, turning into something in similar nature to the inquisition, preaching judgment over mercy.
You soon end up in the expansion’s new land, the jungle area of Nahantu, which, from appearances, is currently being taken over by the remains of Mephisto. Here, you will fight new demons that, from my experience, focus more on the poison attack side, which makes sense with the theme of fighting poison from consuming you completely. You also have the new Spiritborn class, which, from the time I was given with the game, I don’t know if this will change once the game goes public; it was fast-paced and so much fun to play. When I played the base game, I went with the basic barbarian and compared the speed to that class; I saw that it was night and day. You have the option of choosing four different “animal elements” to fight: Jaguar – Fire, Centipede – Poison, Gorilla – Fists, and Eagle – Electric. I went with a mix of Fire and Fists, and since it’s early enough that there isn’t an established meta yet, I had a fun time going through the 15-hour campaign as the new class.
As for the changes that were made for people returning after finishing the campaign last year, well, the first thing you will notice is the Loot system has been redone. I say that because I was getting more legendary loot than the last time I played the game at launch, and my bag was getting filled faster and faster as I kept pushing myself along through the campaign. They also added a bot system called Mercenaries, which, after completing a set list of quests, will have an additional person with you throughout your adventure, helping you out during boss battles when your friends aren’t available. I found this feature to be very helpful during the boss sections, which are clearly designed to be tackled with other players, as Blizzard finally adds a system to find other players to help you tackle certain aspects of the game which reminds me a lot of how Bungie handles the Fireteam finder in the Destiny app. The last thing I attempted before the preview servers were turned off was the new endgame dungeon, The Dark Citadel, which helped that I was with people who knew what they were doing; the best way I can describe this is this is the Diablo version of the massive raids present in World of Warcraft and Destiny. You need team communication and coordination to even attempt to make it through and get exclusive loot. I can see this being a massive get for the endgame Diablo players, but as for me, it is something I have tried and decided it’s not for me.
So, in the end, is this the best time to jump back into Diablo IV or for the first time? It mainly depends on whether this type of gameplay is for you, someone who is ok with the sensory overload of numbers and loot populating the screen every other second. I am someone who likes this type of gameplay, so it’s a moot point for me. But for newcomers to the series, this edition adds more new-player-friendly additions than the base game, along with the new difficult options and the party finder feature, as mentioned earlier. So, if you have any interest in jumping in, now would be the best time since you will only have one year of lore and loot to catch up on.
Score: 8 out of 10
Reviewed on Xbox Series X