If this game were just 8 hours of figuring out made-up languages and using those languages to solve dope language-based puzzled this would be a 5/5. But alas, it is not just that. It also has some meh puzzles, weird stealth sequences, and constant running around and back-tracking.

Aside from some of those negative quirks, this really is one of the most unique puzzle games I've ever played. The process of mastering these fictitious languages is so immensely satisfying. It scratches a similar itch for me that games like Obra Dinn and The Witness scratch. Such a rad concept for a game with a really lovely story and beautiful visual design.

+ Unique, extremely cool, and incredibly satisfying mechanic for a puzzle game
+ Scratched a good mental itch that not many puzzle games do
+ Cool story
+ Beautiful world design

- Some iffy puzzles that distract from the cool language learning
- Way way way too much running around and back-tracking
- Really needs some sort of map

Diablo 4 has the bones of what could’ve been the best Diablo and one of the best action RPGs of all time, but it’s weighed down by its poorly-designed, heavy-handed games-as-service systems that make it difficult to enjoy the good video game buried under it all.

Ignoring all the live service nonsense for a minute (as difficult as Blizzard makes that to do), at its core, Diablo 4 is a really good action RPG. The world design is incredible - it’s the first open world Diablo game and it executes it pretty well, even if it sometimes feels like they lean too far into the whole “misery porn” thing where everyone is dead, dying, or sick. The game feels great to play and all 5 classes feel unique and fun in their own ways. The game looks fantastic. I never thought bloody, dirty environments could look so gorgeous. I’ve never really cared or even paid attention to the story in Diablo games in the past, but the main story in Diablo 4 is actually great. There’s good voice acting, cutscenes actually include your characters, and I was surprisingly invested in the plot. The side quests are basically all the same, though - either kill a bunch of enemies, or find someone’s relative who ends up being dead. The end of the game escalates in such an epic way that we couldn’t even put the game down in the final act and then they completely stick the landing and deliver on a solid ending. It’s a shame that looming over all of this greatness is the giant wet blanket of live service games.

Diablo 4 feels like a game made by two different teams of people - one is a team of devs who lovingly made an incredibly well-crafted action RPG that delivers the Diablo sequel that fans always wanted, and the other is a team of money-hungry executives who waited until the game was done so they could make tweaks to every system in the game to keep dragging players along and get them hooked on the endless grind. Things like resource use, gold cost for skill tree respecs, XP scaling, item drop rates, etc. are all designed in such a way to require hours of grinding. And the most frustrating thing is - all that stuff could be tweaked pretty easily to make the game more fun, but why would players log into your game and play it every day if they just got what they wanted from the activities after only one or two attempts? The skill tree in Diablo 3 had no respeccing - you could just move your skills around and try new stuff whenever you wanted. It encouraged constant experimentation and allowed you to adapt your build when you got new items. Diablo 4 takes the opposite approach in that respeccing gets more and more expensive as you level up. The devs even said that it eventually gets so expensive that it’ll be more time effective to just create a new character rather than respec your current one. It’s insane to me how much the game is literally crafted around grind. I’m not even inherently opposed to live service games. I’ve got about 2000 hours across Destiny 1 and 2 combined, but I eventually quit Destiny when I realized how little the game respects the time of its players and Diablo 4 doesn’t even pretend to care about your time.

On top of that, the monetization in the game is absolutely wild. A cosmetic armor and weapon set bundle for one character will run you $26. Yup. For almost half of the price of the game you can buy one (1) armor set for one (1) character. If you happen to have one of every class, outfitting all of them with a cool cosmetic armor set will run you over $100. The battle pass seems more reasonable at $10, until you examine the contents more carefully and realize that it comes with one armor style adapted to the 5 classes and not even remotely enough in-game currency to rebuy the pass for the next season or buy anything in the shop. All of this in a full price $70 video game. I feel like a broken record, but every time a new live service game comes out with offensive, predatory microtransactions, I wonder why they don’t copy the model of Fortnite (a free game, mind you) which has fair cosmetic prices, is generous with its currency, and still somehow manages to be wildly successful.

Diablo 4 was my second-most anticipated game of 2023 and it took me over 2 months just to finish the campaign, not because I wasn’t enjoying the story but because I had nothing to look forward to when I finished it and I constantly felt the threat of a grind looming over me. After getting the Plat in Diablo 3, and spending over 100 hours with multiple characters over several seasons, I never thought I’d finish the campaign in Diablo 4 and put the game down for good. If you want to just play a fun action RPG campaign, grab Diablo 4 on a sale. But if you’re looking for a new longterm game to continuously dip back into, there are better games that respect your time and your wallet than Diablo 4.

+ Great open world design
+ Shockingly good story campaign
+ Really good gameplay feel
+ All the classes feel great to play
+ Visually stunning

- Live service choices looming over every system
- Skill tree discourages experimentation
- Game is designed for grind over fun
- Insane microtransaction prices and terrible battle pass
- Sometimes felt like I did more running than fighting
- Side quests are pretty same-y
- Misery porn