Several of these fights are undercut by forgettable MMO-like mechanics that force you to dodge out of highlighted shapes on the ground until you win. A few boss encounters, like a surprise fight with one of Diablo's signature lesser evils in the middle of a sandstorm, stand out because of their significance to the story. The six-act campaign sends you around Estuar trying to stop Lilith from opening a portal to Hell. Activision Blizzard) Every class a painting Entire features, like the MMO-inspired Grim Favors quests or the almost roguelike Helltide events, are held back until you've suffered through a 10-hour storyline that tries to reset the over-the-top tone from Diablo 3, but goes overboard with the grimdarkness without fundamentally changing what a Diablo game is about (killing demons). Diablo 4 begins like a story-driven adventure, but it's not until you finish the campaign that its best parts start to unfold.

Today's prevailing live service structure, exemplified by Destiny 2, might seem to be a good fit for Diablo's historically replayable co-op design, but it actually requires a huge structural shift. Once you finish its campaign, its glorious depth reveals itself, but the overwhelming grind restrains the creativity in its intricate RPG systems. An unnecessary reboot, but one with a recognizable goal: to reconfigure the series' strengths into a modern live service format that fits into the lives of players who probably have a handful of other games to play. The title of Blizzard's latest action RPG hides what's really going on: Diablo 4 is a reboot.

Diablo 4 gameplay pl