This willingness to get out of the way and make the open world optional was one of the few things that long-time fans can agree D3 got dead right.ĭiablo 4 puts the overworld front and centre, turning it into a communal space for romping around and joining fights in progress. With Diablo 3‘s 2.0 update, Blizzard launched the endgame Adventure Mode that allowed players to hop between dungeons from each act and run them over and over in quick succession for rapid reward. Act 2’s desert remains a frustrating and directionless experience, leaving you to scour the edges of the map for the path forward.ĭiablo 3 leaned further into the overworld, but understood that players just wanted to get to the good stuff. It was an interesting addition at the time, but in the years since, it has become one of the game’s weaker aspects, a pause in your ruthless hunt for better loot.

Diablo 2 expanded this by adding a traversable world that sent the player hunt for randomised dungeon entrances and points of interest. Enter dungeon, beat the hell out of many monsters, collect your loot, return to town to sell and level up, and start the dungeon again. It was a town and a dungeon, and that was it. In the original Diablo, there was no overworld to speak of. It’s this expansion of the overworld that I think will be Diablo 4’s most divisive aspect.

Your fights are consistently hijacked by interloping players on the server, that delete everything in sight with over-levelled characters and leave, robbing you of the chance to play the game for yourself. Conversely, Diablo 4‘s beta was at its weakest when it felt most like an MMO - traversing the open world, which the game treats as a giant online lobby. It’s the stuff that long-time fans have wanted back forever - tough dungeon delves with interesting enemies and loot that create opportunities for interesting character builds. When it feels most like Diablo 2 - crawling through inky black dungeons and hunting for loot, it is a joyously chaotic experience. My feelings on the Diablo 4 beta boil down to this: It is a game of two distinct halves, one vastly more enjoyable than the other.

Diablo 4 beta impressions