Diablo 4 plants the quality bar very, very high. It's a nice touch purely from an art-appreciation angle, but it also helps immerse the player, enhancing the idea that you're entering real physical locations rather than simply the flat areas we see with the top-down camera. There are viewports in the game that allow you to snap a glimpse at the landscape from a character-level view, showcasing some of the stunning design work Blizzard's artists have done. ![]() Blizzard shrugged this off in some cases and opted to build out some of its environments in full 3D despite the fact the camera will remove them from view a lot of the time. Blizzard uses these camera tricks to also showcase some of the game's landscapes.įixed camera perspective games often don't really need to build entire facades for their architectures and landscapes since most of the view is hidden from the player. With the camera moving seamlessly from a top-down view to a character-level view, it feels incredibly natural and elevates Diablo 4 far above the rank and file of its imitators. Despite being a zoomed-out isometric title most of the time, the majority of the game's assets are incredibly detailed with high-quality textures. Both sides of the coin work incredibly well. (Image credit: Windows Central)ĭiablo 4 uses a combination of in-engine cinematics and pre-rendered full motion picture quality CGI to tell its story. Some of Diablo 4's projected texture work is truly awe-inspiring. The same can be said for all the game's characters, which feature some of the greatest casting and facial motion capture we've seen from the medium thus far. The demoness Lilith is unsettling in her delivery, with an utterly terrifying stage presence flanked by demonic orchestral overtures and impeccable acting. The cinematics quite honestly give massive-budget movies like Avatar a run for their money and showcase Blizzard at their cutting-edge best. Here, we have true photorealism, with some of the most meticulous and uncanny character art ever seen in a game. Diablo 1 and 2 approached photorealism as best they could with the technology available at the time, but Diablo 3's switch to true 3D imparted constraints that have been completely cast aside in Diablo 4. Sanctuary is absurdly huge, even without considering the vast array of dungeons, keeps, strongholds, and story setpiece areas that comprise this sizeable 50+ hour campaign.ĭiablo 3 was criticized for being too "cartoony," as well as too colorful. An expansive sand-blasted desert with hidden tombs and treacherous crags. Wintry climbs beset with frost-bitten undead and starving predators. Dank, fetid swamps filled with snakes and bristling with poison. As such, you'll find similar biomes across the game's truly gargantuan, continuous open world. Sanctuary is a dimension not dissimilar from Earth, strewn between the high heavens and the depths of hell. This is Diablo 4, and my tale as the wandering druid. But, even without these aspects, this fully-priced title is more than worth the price of admission, comprising a 30-50 hour campaign full of sorrow and darkness, with flickers of hope, weaving a starkly poignant tale that is as unsettling as it is majestic. Additionally, we'll have a separate review going live for endgame some time after launch since a fair bit of it was unavailable to experience in the underpopulated review build servers. ![]() I plan to do a separate article going over the story in more spoilery detail later on. This review will be entirely spoiler free, played on Xbox Series X on World Tier 2. It's the type of game that I worry is becoming increasingly rare in the AAA industry, chasing trends and short-term gains. What I didn't expect was one of the best story campaigns I've experienced in the past decade, one that elevates Blizzard as a whole. After dozens of hours in the game's beta tests, I knew Diablo 4 was going to be special - a game I would undoubtedly sink hundreds of hours into. ![]() Absolutely staggering art and breadth, Oscar-worthy writing and story delivery, both new and returning characters wholly worthy of Blizzard's epic pantheon of heroes and villains.
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