As we talked about what would or would not potentially be nominated for Game of the Year in 2023 ahead of The Game Awards, looking over the year’s metascores, I constantly heard shock and awe that Diablo 4 managed to land a 91, at least on one platform, one of a only handful of games to do so.
“How is Diablo 4 on that list?” people said, and at this point, I really think the perception has been totally warped of this game based mainly on two missteps that have more or less been corrected already. This idea that Diablo 4 launched and is some big flop and a miss for the series is absolutely not true.
The one thing I will keep hating on Diablo 4 for indefinitely is its terrible microtransactions, but outside of that, people really have to tune into the reality of the state of the game both at launch, and currently.
Without question, Diablo 4 deserved all the accolades it got right at launch for its campaign. Diablo campaigns previously have been throwaway vessels to get to the endgame, but that’s not true in D4 with an expertly crafter Lilith vs. Inarius storyline with our hero caught in the middle, with Lilith being who I would argue is one of the best gaming villains of the year. All of this culminated in one of the best cutscenes in Blizzard history in the game’s final chapter, and that’s saying something.
For the campaign alone, I would argue that Diablo 4 deserved a Best Narrative nomination and a Best Performance for Lilith’s Caroline Faber, but that category is too tiny and not split by gender like the Oscars. No, perhaps not GOTY given the stacked list, but it deserves more credit than it’s gotten. Best RPG in addition to its Best Multiplayer nomination, certainly.
The “bad era” of Diablo 4 started when Blizzard released a giant nerf patch that hamstrung loads of builds, something they had to apologize for an promise to never do again, and they quickly issued big buff patches afterward. Then, we had the launch of season 1 which was merely okay, and the game ran into an issue where leveling in the endgame felt like a slog, and there wasn’t much of a worthwhile loot pursuit.
But that was like, three months total. Soon, season 2 arrived with sweeping changes to the game that fixes a huge portion of these issues. Leveling now flew by much faster, the time it takes to level to 100 dropped by 40%. They changed gearscore ranges so top end gear had much better stats. They put in endgame bosses to farm specific uniques, and created a significant endgame pursuit, farming Duriel for uber uniques like Shako and Grandfather, something the most devoted players can slavishly pursue, just like the old days.
It’s transformed from season 1, and really, there was just this very small window of time between the excellent base campaign and the excellent season 2 where D4 was not as good as it needed to be. Now, I think it’s extremely impressive how reactive Blizzard has been to the game’s issues, and that’s with a lot more to come, including a just-announced expansion for late next year.
Diablo 4 is a great game. It is. Yes, mistakes were made as the live service portion kicked off, but they were corrected in short order, and this narrative that the game sucks is just plain wrong. It’s one of my favorite games of the year, a great ARPG and on pace to match or surpass past entries in the series. Yes, it’s microtransaction hell in the skin shop, but other than that, it’s evolving into a great experience and I would return to it if you gave up during that not-great three month first season.
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