Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred review: Fun, but not $40 worth of fun

[Redaktion]

Diablo 4's first-ever DLC Vessel of Hatred aims to breathe new life into the game. While the expansion has its moments, it doesn't feel like a $40 DLC, especially after the standards set by Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Diablo-4-Vessel-of-Hatred-review-Fun-but-not-40-worth-of-fun.903368.0.html

[Urhuckleberry]

The writer can't mention Diablo 2. He's not old enough to know the game. It's definitely fun. He doesn't mention other RPGs you could buy for $40. Fail

[Spencer]

This article is the outcome of the tragedy of modern gaming journalism - someone who claims to be a gamer since they were 8 years old (irrelevant anecdote) is tasked to play a game's new expansion for perhaps a week or two and give their thoughts on it just to write an article; with absolutely no inclination as to potentially playing the game over it's entire life because they are legitimately interested by the themes, lore, and concepts of therein said game. I'd call the author an ultra-casual but even that wouldn't do justice to how disconnected they are from the Diablo franchise.

This review merely provides an ugly opinion of Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred, and Diablo IV for that regard. There is zero analysis or evidence given to support positions shoehorned into the conclusion such as "bland writing" "boring art design" and "visually inconsistent hitboxes" (beginning to wonder if the author even played the right game).

"Bland writing"? And what's the story like in other Diablo-likes? Oh wait, they basically don't have storylines or characters that anyone cares about. Oh but go ahead and compare the story from Cyberpunk or Elden Ring as if those games are anything remotely comparable to Diablo IV. Apples to Oranges.

The "boring art design" should be enough to have you seeing an eye doctor. Blizzard has always been at the forefront of artistic design in all of their games. Even the failed Overwatch 2 has interesting characters that are memorable and unique. Go ahead and look up Diablo or any other Blizzard games' fan art and you'll see how inspiring their work is. Can you say the same for PoE or Last Epoch (two games that are actually comparable ARPGs to Diablo IV)?

"Visually inconsistent hitboxes" is crazy, considering the game auto-aims most skills directly at your foes. Additionally, you did bring up some valid criticisms shared by the Diablo IV community, yet chose to quietly mention them at the end of your "D4 bad" article, rather than addressing them as a separate concern irrespective of the new expansion. Let's be real: you're just mad $40 is extremely cheap, one-time entertainment fee that isn't recurring. Compare it to the hundreds of $'s people spend on all their streaming services and installments of various other videogames. Considering Diablo IV currently has the largest dev team at Blizzard right now (yes, people are paid for their work!) $40 expansion base price is almost criminal, considering World of Warcraft regularly releases expansions starting at $50 with a much smaller team and way more bugs.

For any who take the time to read, yes, Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred is absolutely worth $40. Is it perfect? Not, not yet. But I've never had more fun in any Diablo-like game than I am currently. There's nothing wrong with playing a "meta" build or making your own, so long as you understand the game itself and how the mechanics work. Perhaps "value-allergic" may be the best way to describe the author of this article.

[D]

48% score on Steam tells me more than best glooming elaborate written by people working for Blizzard marketing department.

 Played D1,D2,D3 (casually, yet paragon 1200 will tell you I put some hours) and I just can't do D4. Have it installed via Gamepass, tried so many times to like it, I can't even finish the story.

Thank for you review, looks the expansion does not fix much.

[Anil Ganti]

"someone who claims to be a gamer since they were 8 years old (irrelevant anecdote) is tasked to play a game's new expansion for perhaps a week or two and give their thoughts"

That game was Diablo. It was a shareware version because digital distribution was not a thing back then and physical copies were near impossible to acquire in my region.

"I'd call the author an ultra-casual but even that wouldn't do justice to how disconnected they are from the Diablo franchise."

Between Diablo, Diablo 2 and Diablo 4, I have collectively put in hundreds of hours in the franchise. I still remember thrill of finding my first Shako/Raven Frost only to find out it has bad rolls. I spent hours roaming around Kurast Bazar for Enigma and farmed The Council for even longer for a Zod rune.

And I've uploaded gameplay footage for everyone to see.  I don't know about you, but Paragon level 225, Torment 4 and Ancestral/Mythic gear with multiple GAs isn't something casuals will bother to unlock; less so a week after a new season drops.

"Oh wait, they basically don't have storylines or characters that anyone cares about."

Except, they do. I still remember the names of Diablo/Diablo 2 NPCs because they meant something. Show me one NPC in recent Diablo games that comes anywhere close to Griswold, Pepin, Ogden, Jillian, Farnham or Wirt.

Even Diablo 3, for all its faults, had an engaging story with a decent plot twist. Diablo 4's shareholder-first writing approach is bland because I can easily predict what will happen next.

Down to some more specifics, in D4, Lorath makes a deal with the Tree of Whispers in exchange for information about Elias. Why isn't this properly addressed in the DLC? Even a single cutscene acknowledging Lorath's presence there would have sufficed.

"Visually inconsistent hitboxes" is crazy, considering the game auto-aims most skills directly at your foes."

This specifically refers to Uber Lilith's wave attacks before portions of the map collapse. It has been an issue since launch and Blizzard still hasn't fixed it. If you want another example, look no further than last season's Tormenter offscreen one-hit bug in IH. It took hundreds of Reddit complaints before a fix came.

"The "boring art design" should be enough to have you seeing an eye doctor"

Diablo's core theme is overarching terror. A mere mortal taking up arms against the legions of hell. Nothing about Diablo 3 or 4 even remotely captures that essence. High poly count != good art design.

"Considering Diablo IV currently has the largest dev team at Blizzard right now "

...only to be outdone by studios with a fraction of the resources. Blizzard has been shamelessly ripping off Last Epoch for months (Tempering, Greater Affixes, Lightless Arbor). Last Epoch is by no means a perfect game. It'll be years before it gets good, but it has its fundamentals right. Diablo 4 does not.

"you're just mad $40 is extremely cheap, one-time entertainment fee that isn't recurring."

$40 for runes, mercenaries, nahantu and a half-baked story is an absolute rip-off. The story is way too short

Update 2.0 has plenty going on by itself. You get that for free.

Previous seasons had a rudimentary plot with unique quests. Season 6 is just you talking to an NPC, completing Realmwalker events and collecting rewards.

"There's nothing wrong with playing a "meta" build or making your own"

Try unlocking Torment 4 with a non-meta build. Something like Firewall Sorc or Bash Barb. What's the point of calling Diablo 4 an action role-playing game where you can't role-play as the character you want?

My main gripe with meta builds is that they get too powerful. After a point, when you have the right gear, the only real challenge you get is from The Pit. Everything in the base game, even bosses, feels trivial. Where's the fun in that?

It's Quill Volley Spiritborn this season, it was LS sorc the last time and Minion necro before that. You can't have one this much of a power differential between one build and the rest of the game.

Like I said in my review, Diablo 4 is still relatively young and I'm sure it will get better with time.

But, it took Blizzard years of trial and error to fix D3 and I simply do not have the patience to wait that long.

[A]

Diablo 3 story was pretty crap, personally I think Diablo 1 had the best story. I really wish there was a Diablo 1 remake (yes I am aware of the modded fan version).

And while Diablo 2 gets a lot of praise, I think it is inferior and the story is rushed. But a huge amount of Diable players are multi-player so not as many people care about story. Diablo 2 also needs a remake where each prime evil gets its own full game and more fleshed out story instead of rushing to kill them all in 1 game.

Diablo 3 story as I mention was a mess, just cause you have plot twists doesn't make it good.