Vortex Gaming

'Diablo 4' carries a heavy burden. While no game is made lightly, Diablo 4 has a lot riding on it. From the expectations of long-time fans to the eyes of gamers ready to tear it apart, and from Blizzard trying to rise above years of misfortune to the industry watching with wary eyes, Diablo 4 is arguably the hottest potato in the gaming industry with less than a week until its official release.

It was fortunate, but also a burden, to be able to play Diablo 4 for about 10 days in advance. As a reviewer, I've analyzed many games, and finding the right balance between praise and criticism wasn't easy, but it wasn't that difficult either. However, Diablo 4 was a bit different. Even after playing for 60-70 hours, I couldn't quite decide on what standard to evaluate this game.

As such, Diablo 4 is complex and full of contradictions. It's released as a complete package game but aims for live service, and while one narrative has ended, I'm curious about the narratives that will follow. It takes motifs from many game systems, so it feels like a 'familiar taste,' but it adds its own seasoning to create a 'new taste,' and I hesitate to call the immediate shortcomings flaws because I can predict how they can be resolved.

I've explained it at length, but ultimately, the reason I had difficulty making a definitive evaluation of this game is simple. Diablo 4 is a game that can continue to change, and the evaluation at the current point and after the changes will be different. So, I decided to just do what I can. To talk about whether Diablo 4 at the time of its release is worth starting.

※ This review was written under NDA, which prohibits mentioning the narrative and main quest-related content of Diablo 4. Therefore, I would like to inform you in advance that the content related to the main quest and narrative is not included.

A Changed Direction and New Fun

First, let's look at the direction of the game 'Diablo 4'.

Previously, the Diablo series was synonymous with 'hack and slash,' a subgenre of RPG, and furthermore, the meaning was reversed, and games with similar appearances to Diablo were soon called hack and slash. As the genre name implies, referring to games that focus only on cutting and slashing among the many fun elements that make up an RPG, the Diablo series was a game that focused on the repetition of slaying numerous demons and collecting loot. All other things were ultimately just devices to make this more prominent, and the core of the Diablo series was ultimately a continuous process of wiping out demons and tearing off new weapons and armor.

However, with the fourth installment, the direction has changed somewhat. The biggest axis of change is the introduction of the 'world map'. The previous Diablo series was based on the worldview of 'Sanctuary,' but the actual appearance of this Sanctuary in the game was somewhat ambiguous. The randomly configured fields only showed the visual concept and were nothing more than a stage for slaying demons. Anyway, since it's a game that aims for 'hack and slash,' there's no need for anything more than that.

However, Diablo 4 has greatly changed the direction of the existing series by presenting a more concrete world map and the appearance of 'Sanctuary'. Until now, the fun of the Diablo series consisted of only two stages: hunting and looting. The repetition of catching monsters with difficulty and catching monsters a little less difficult with the loot they shed is the core of the hack and slash genre.

However, Diablo 4 has added a new fun called 'exploration' by presenting a more concrete world here. Unlike before, Diablo 4 has various elements that gamers have to find themselves. You discover new areas and terrains, meet the residents there, experience their stories, and naturally sweep through the dungeons and dens of evil in the area to learn about the world. This means that the fun of 'exploration into the unknown' that was not seen in the Diablo series until now has been added.

At the same time, Diablo 4 also has the genre-specific fun that previous works had, that is, the fun of wiping out numerous demons and collecting loot. The towns and cities of Sanctuary are relatively safe, but the moment you step outside the fence, gamers will encounter numerous demons, bandit groups, and monsters, and there is no room for negotiation with them. They are just monsters that you have to beat up. If the space inside the fence shows a rational Sanctuary that did not exist before, the outside of the fence brings the wilderness before the 3rd installment as it is.

Gamers will probably feel a sense of déjà vu when seeing these changes. Diablo 4's design is similar to that of 'Lost Ark' in many ways. The difference is the degree to which the center of gravity is tilted, but if Lost Ark is closer to a more general MMORPG, Diablo 4 can be seen as leaning a little more towards the past, still aiming for hack and slash.

Therefore, Diablo 4 contains more diverse stories than any previous work. The Sanctuary implemented in Diablo 4 is only a very small part of the Sanctuary in the setting, but it is still wide enough. Even after playing the game for nearly 70 hours, there were still places I hadn't been to, dungeons I hadn't cleared, and various stories I hadn't experienced.

This is also a design that is possible thanks to the narrative base of the work called Diablo. In a common-sense world, the setting that daily life is maintained but the outside of the fence is close to a demonic realm seems somewhat lacking in plausibility, but it makes sense in the Diablo series. This is because Diablo 4 is set at a time when human survival is precarious, decades after the Maltiel incident in which many people died. The concept of a post-apocalyptic world where the village is close to a shelter and other areas are dangerous areas gives justification to Diablo 4's design.

Thanks to this, Diablo 4 has captured both the fun of two similar yet contrasting games. It contains all the fun of the unique fun that the existing series maintained, that is, the fun as a hack and slash game that sweeps away monsters coolly, and the adventurous fun of RPG-type games such as exploration into the unknown and new stories.

Here, I don't intend to write about small stories such as what the world actually looks like and what stories the side quests contain. These cute unknowns are more enjoyable when you don't know them, and I hope that gamers who will explore the world of Diablo 4 for the first time can enjoy a more enjoyable adventure without prior knowledge.

In terms of evaluation, the world of Diablo 4 is wide enough and contains enough stories to be worth the money even with just one playthrough. Diablo 4 shows enough volume for the price of the game even with just one run. You can see the ending much faster if you want to do a time attack, but it doesn't really matter. Unlike the past when the proportion of side quests and collection elements was very small, Diablo 4 has various auxiliary elements with a volume as large as the main story.

And, the appearance of Sanctuary that is reflected in this way is close to the ideal appearance that Diablo series fans have been hoping for. This gothic post-apocalyptic world, which is so miserable without a single gag, depicts a darker and more desperate world than the previous works, and is darkly stained with a crazy collaboration of deceptive evil and light that has lost its way. This means that you don't have to worry about it being too cheerful.

1~50, 50~100 Completely Different Game Design

However, the world of Diablo 4 may be a new fun, but it cannot be what gamers truly want. If the fans of the 'Diablo' series are compared to 'meat lovers', the introduction of the world map described earlier is closer to the feeling that the charcoal grill restaurant where the meat was always plentiful has changed its system to a buffet. There are definitely more things to eat than before, and there are many foods that I see for the first time, but anyway, the regulars of that restaurant are bound to look for meat. What if the meat restaurant I liked became a buffet, but it turned out to be a vegan buffet?

To summarize, Diablo 4 must be a game that you can continue to play. The core of the Diablo series is to continue to challenge and become stronger, not a game that ends after you beat it once.

This is what I thought was most important even before reviewing Diablo 4, and it is probably the part that many gamers think of as the most essential 'Diablo-like fun'. Diablo 3 can theoretically be played endlessly. Even if you have all the items at the highest level, you can continue to get stronger because there is a Paragon level. However, when the growth curve becomes so gradual that it is close to horizontal, the gamer will let go on their own.

Of course, Diablo 4 should also be able to do that much. If the game ends when you clear all the content on the map just because the world map has been introduced, it is close to not properly understanding what Diablo gamers want. For Diablo 4, 'sustainability' is not a concept that is good to have, but an essential quality that you must have. Diablo fans want to catch stronger demons and get stronger loot endlessly. And, Diablo 4 also clearly has this continuous growth process that is close to a mountaineer's climb.

Diablo 4's climbing system is divided into two stages. From level 1 to 50, and from 50 to 100, but in fact, 1 to 50 should be regarded as a tutorial. Here, gamers can explore the world, clear various side quests, build Renown, clear world events and Whispers of the Tree quests, and try out various builds of their character.

In my experience, it takes about 40 hours to reach level 50, and in the process, gamers acquire various legendary items and test builds based on them. I chose Druid as my review character, and I reset the skill tree more than twenty times from 1 to 50 to try out various builds. In fact, this period is necessary for gamers to get used to the character.

When you reach level 50 and clear the first Capstone Dungeon, the third difficulty level, 'Nightmare', is unlocked, and you enter the full-fledged climbing stage. From this point on, Nightmare Dungeons are activated, and the Paragon Board is opened, so you start to think about build optimization, and the hunting difficulty increases rapidly, giving you a sense of crisis that you can no longer go higher unless you do it 'moderately'.

From this point on, the main content is not side quests, exploration, or Stronghold liberation, but endless farming through Nightmare Dungeons and Whispers of the Tree, and steady growth by playing build optimization, Helltide, PVP content, etc., considering the Paragon Board and legendary items. Until you reach level 70 and unlock the 4th stage Torment difficulty and access the content corresponding to the 'final boss' that Blizzard mentioned, the direction of the game takes a very similar form to the previous Diablo series.

To summarize, Diablo 4 is divided into somewhat clear sections of 1~50 and 50~100, and 1~50 shows the new charm of Diablo 4 that was not seen in the previous series, and 50~100 shows a somewhat familiar appearance similar to the existing Diablo series.

I was also able to understand the confidence that Blizzard had and the somewhat disappointing and contradictory reactions of gamers after playing Diablo after 50. The 1~25 section that gamers could play at the beta stage is only a taste of experiencing the world map and RPG elements newly introduced to Diablo 4, and the point at which the 'Diablo-like' section actually starts is from level 50. Taking Diablo 3 as an example, the 1~50 section is close to the leveling section where you reach level 70 with a new character. Unlike that, which has become a boring period as the seasons have repeated, it has become impossible to skip it roughly due to the introduction of the account-shared Renown system, etc.

Of course, what the gamer has to do does not fundamentally change. From 1 to 100, gamers always have to clear dungeons, catch monsters, and filter out useful items from the acquired loot to build a build. However, even when doing the same thing, the fun you are aiming for is different.

From 1 to 50, gamers will explore the unknown as Blizzard intended. In this section where leveling up is relatively fast, gamers will test new skills, match them with legendary options, enjoy content that was not there before, and explore the world. And, gamers who have fully explored the world of Diablo 4 after level 50 will analyze the Paragon Board and think about how to get stronger most efficiently, and consider what can sweep away enemies more effectively while laying out the Codex of Power and the items they have obtained.

Both of these processes were very enjoyable, and it was a game experience that gave new yet familiar fun at the same time. After level 50, the experience required increased significantly compared to the time allowed for the review, so leveling up became very slow, so it was difficult to reach the very late content after level 70 or the final stage, but even this was definitely a better experience than the 3-track cycle of Greater Rifts, Normal Rifts, and Bounties in the 3rd installment.

The part I was most worried about after playing the beta version of Diablo 4 was 'Can I play this game for a long time?', and I got my own answer to this concern.

Anticipated and Visible, but Resolvable Shortcomings

Nevertheless, just as a perfect game cannot exist, Diablo 4 has some shortcomings and questions. The most certain and blatant part is that the difference in fun between each class is extreme. What needs to be made clear here is the difference in 'fun', not 'performance'.

While conducting three beta tests up to the Server Slam test, numerous debates arose in each community about the balance of each class. The general consensus was probably that Barbarian and Druid were relatively weak, and the remaining three characters were strong. The reason I decided to use Druid as my review character while conducting the review is also due to this community opinion. I thought I could see the bottom of this game by experiencing the game with the weakest character.

And, in fact, there is a distinction between classes. In terms of 'fun' rather than performance. I didn't feel it because I hadn't raised a Druid during the beta period, but in fact, Druid was somewhat less fun than other classes in the 1~50 leveling process.

The fun in hack and slash games like Diablo is quite simple. Visual and auditory impact is also important, but as a result, it's over if you can catch monsters well without being annoying. Druid was able to play quite stably, but on the other hand, it was slow and simple. I end up catching them, but should I say that it lacks excitement and is not refreshing enough?

Of course, it's a comparative story. While playing Druid, there was no enemy that I thought I 'couldn't catch' during the 1~50 section. This means that there is no problem in terms of performance. However, the whole process took too long compared to other characters of similar level, and it was boring because there was little visual impact. The Barbarian I raised just in case was not much different. It definitely lacked something noticeable compared to the other three classes.

It will definitely change when you reach the growth and end stages from 50 to 100. Blizzard has publicly stated that Barbarian will show the strongest appearance in the very late stages, and this could be confirmed in the game. Barbarian, who wears two two-handed weapons with stats twice that of one-handed weapons and equips two more one-handed weapons to receive plenty of legendary options, will definitely show a very strong appearance in the later stages.

However, the 1~50 section that you have to endure this boredom is not exactly short. Enduring the boredom of the early stages for the sake of future strength seems like a reasonable hardship at first glance, but as a game, it's a much better experience if it's just fun from beginning to end. If the Codex of Power is fully analyzed a few months after its release, it will be possible to secure essential legendary options from the beginning and level up more efficiently and fun than now.

And, the fact that this 1~50 section is by no means short raises another question about the structure. As I said in the first part, the world of Diablo 4 is by no means small, and there are numerous dungeons and side quests. Dungeons can be played repeatedly, but side quests are actually content that you have no reason to do after playing them a few times. However, the season that is repeated every three months is a hard reset, so everything except the Altars of Lilith is reset. This means that side quests and exploration will also be repeated every three months.

Exploration content is definitely a fun element, but it's most fun when it's hidden in the unknown. Repeating it two or three times can be done with a smile, but if nothing changes even after 1 year or 2 years, the Renown building work at the beginning of the season may just remain a boring chore for gamers.

In this process, it is also somewhat questionable to distinguish between Core Skills, Basic Skills, and Ultimate Skills. The role groups of skills were also distinguished in Diablo 3, but in fact, it didn't mean much, but in this work, some coercion has been created by requiring you to consume a certain number of points in the skill tree to select the next skill group.

Because of this, unless you design it in advance, you will end up building an early build in the form of selecting one each of Basic Skills, Core Skills, Defensive Skills, and Ultimate Skills, and this is also not as free as you might think due to the 'keywords' that exist in the skill tree. This is because it is much easier to design a build around these keywords to utilize synergy, as some skills are tied together as 'keywords' for each build.

For example, 'Fortify' is an important key to building a Bear Druid, 'Poison' is an important key to building a Werewolf Druid, and 'Vulnerable' is an important key to building a Lightning Druid. Barbarian also has a keyword centered on 'Bleeding', and Sorceress also has good keyword synergies that require the use of skills of the same attribute, such as 'Crackling Energy' that is only attached to Lightning skills, or Chilled and Frozen that are attached to Cold skills, so you will end up adopting almost the same type of skills except for a few particularly good skills. Even when you reach the Paragon Board in the later stages, skill synergies are tied together in the same way.

As a result, Diablo 4 allows for various builds, but the build composition is not as free as you might imagine. As the developers said that they have prepared builds to satisfy the fantasies of various gamers in Diablo 4, there is no shortage of realizing various fantasies, but the exception is that there is a limit set to some extent.

However, it is difficult to lump all of this into 'disadvantages' and write it in the 'Reasons why Diablo 4 is a bad game' section. In order for these parts to become real disadvantages, the condition that 'Blizzard neglects this for a long time' is required. The fact that Renown, side quests, and Stronghold liberation are not suitable as repetitive content can be sufficiently resolved depending on how the update is done. Even now, if you clear the main quest, you can skip the main quest for the characters you create later. Blizzard, which shows a clear user-friendly appearance regarding Diablo 4, will not ignore this when they receive feedback on this.

The difference in fun between classes and balance issues are also inevitable genetic diseases that cannot exist in this type of game. This can also be sufficiently changed depending on how the update is done in the future, and the problem that skills are somewhat standardized can also be supplemented by adding new skills or legendary items. The gem bag was a bit annoying, but since this is also a situation where feedback has been received, there will be a way to do it somehow.

Other than that, optimization issues, graphics issues, and bug issues, which are often pointed out as disadvantages of new games, cannot be found in Diablo 4. There is stuttering due to object loading when moving to a new area, but this is an unavoidable problem in seamless world implementation, and the frame rate does not drop even in complex combat situations after stuttering occurs. The graphics are not lacking even though most of the narrative production in the game is in-game rendering that is processed by simply turning the camera as it is, rather than pre-rendered cinematics, and the BGM is so good that it is ecstatic.

To summarize, the 'disadvantages' of Diablo 4 clearly exist at the current point, but they are very temporary, and depending on how Blizzard thinks about them, they can either last longer and become a serious problem, or they can become no problem at all. The review is based on the experience version, so I will say 'disadvantage' for now, but I don't think this problem will hold back the game later.

Pass Now, the Future Looks Brighter

During the years of waiting for Diablo 4, the user community has always shown both expectations and concerns each time a system was revealed. Reporters and industry officials also had many conversations each time new information about Diablo 4 was revealed, but the part I was most worried about as a fan was 'maintaining identity'.

Diablo 4 is a work built on the huge legacy of the Diablo series that has been built up for nearly 30 years, but it is not a conservative game. I can feel that they have learned a lot from the good points of other games that have grown up watching their legacy, and they did not hesitate to solve this with their own interpretation. The world design reminiscent of Lost Ark, the Paragon Board and Nightmare Sigil with systems similar to POE, and the Whispers of the Tree that resemble the Bounties of the previous work clearly seem to have the same roots, but they have been refined to suit the new work called Diablo 4.

In this process, I was worried that the unique identity that the Diablo series has maintained would be shaken, and this concern remained even after several beta tests, but I was able to dilute it to some extent in the process of preparing the review. 'Diablo 4' is a very different and advanced game from the previous series, but at the same time, it has a good 'Diablo-ness'.

A few months ago, there was controversy when the package price of Diablo 4 was revealed. It was discounted from the initially revealed price, but it is still expensive compared to general AAA-class games. If you just ask me as a gamer if it's worth paying this money to buy the game, I would say it's worth it enough. The general price of AAA-class games is in the 70,000 won range these days, and you usually play for about 40 hours if you play for a long time.

Diablo 4 is a little more expensive than that, but I have already played it quite enjoyably for more than 70 hours, and there is still so much game content that I have not experienced. The 'new fun' based on the world map was perfect, and the existing 'Diablo-ness' left a slight disappointment that there was a high possibility of build standardization, but I highly evaluate it in that it gave interesting things to think about with the introduction of the Paragon Board.

My personal disappointment is the narrative part. I can't mention specific stories about the narrative, but it wasn't a very satisfactory story. The narrative also has the possibility of expansion through future expansion packs, etc., and the game Diablo 4 itself seems to have been designed to be too good to attach DLCs as if it was designed with overall expandability in mind, but the narrative was the most disappointing part of the game in the main story. This also comes across as bigger because it is a part that cannot be fundamentally resolved even with future updates.

However, as the Diablo series has always been, the narrative is not a very important part of the game. It could be a fatal problem if it were a story-driven game like 'The Last of Us' or 'God of War', but in the first place, Diablo fans are people who prefer to kill one more demon and tear off loot rather than reading the story, and they are close to battle maniacs who hope that peace will not come to the world (because there will be no more demons), so I don't think that a somewhat unsatisfactory narrative will function as an important factor that determines the success or failure of the game.

The score for Diablo 4 was determined in consideration of these points. Near-perfect workmanship and a new yet sufficiently rich experience. And, while still retaining the fun of Diablo, the somewhat disappointing fun balance between classes and concerns about build standardization added a slight deduction, and overall, I gave half the score to the narrative, which has disappointing but also excellent parts. The current advantages may become disadvantages as the service continues and the seasons repeat, or vice versa, but even if I only judge the release version, Diablo 4 is a game that is worth playing enough.

9.0

디아블로4

Diavlo IV

• Naturally integrated vast open world
• 'Diablo-ness' maintained without losing it
• Promised aftercare and excellent scalability

• Skill tree that looks easy to standardize
• Unbalanced fun balance between jobs
• Convenience functions that are not yet fully organized

리뷰 플랫폼: PC(얼리 리뷰)

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웹진 인벤정재훈 기자
2023-05-31