LIVING HELL

The long-awaited sequel to the leading action role-playing game defines a new era for the genre

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DIABLO IV 
PC, PS4/5, Xbox One/Series

Diablo IV has a surplus of corpses. For every gangly demon, there are piles of bones just waiting to pop out. They bulge out of their stomachs like a rodent in a snake.

One slice and they come tumbling out. It’s a bloody mess, but to my Necromancer, it’s an opportunity. To her, there’s value in what a body leaves behind. After all, bodies are a pain. They fight us at every turn and exist to get worse.

Corpses, however, are a canvas. They birth friendly skeletons and deadly explosions. Those explosions lead to more corpses, and soon, my Necromancer is a spark in a world of petrol.

Do not let the screenshots fool you: Diablo IV is an absurd game. It may be darker and more serious than Diablo III, but it still offers the bizarre pleasures of playing an action RPG. Numbers fly out of enemies, chests burst with all manner of loot, and you can be a Necromancer who disperses into mist and sets off every corpse in the room.

But no matter how ridiculous it is to have a pale woman pop corpses as if they were balloons, Diablo IV remains devoted to its tight combat design. Many players raved about it.

Diablo IV has a number of principles, or ‘pillars’, that anchor its design. In the 11 years that have passed since Diablo III, big games have gotten even bigger, and players now expect them to last years, decades even.