Diablo 4 Beta Review
Dear Diablo enthusiasts and Game Developers,
As someone who has been playing RPGs for a long time, my first ever RPG was Diablo 2. Since then, I have played numerous MMORPGs, including WoW and of course Diablo 3. With this experience in mind, I would like to give my opinion on the Open Beta of Diablo 4, and hopefully, the developers will take some of my feedback into consideration.
To make my review more understandable, I have put a (+) before every positive point and a (-) for every point of improvement
Note: I played the game on the Xbox Series X on a 1440p 27"inch 144Hz monitor.
Graphics:
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(+) The graphics are good, and I could see the great attention to detail in the surroundings. The textures were particularly impressive, especially the icy wet snow tracks on the ground and the “fluffy” snow that you could walk through. The lighting and shadows also looked phenomenal. Overall it gave me the real Diablo feel again.
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(-) However, I was expecting a bit more from the graphics on the Xbox Series X. I was hoping for a higher resolution and frame rates, especially considering that I’ve recently played other prettier looking games such as Hogwarts Legacy and Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Especially the latter looked surprisingly stunning and had a really nice FPS. I feel like Diablo 4 could have been cranked up a notch on the latest gen consoles. Probably the console version is just not on par with the PC version, as I have seen videos of the game on PC and it looked amazing. But overall, while the graphics were not as impressive as I had hoped, the atmosphere, the attention to detail and the and storyline of were very enjoyable.
Atmosphere:
- (+) I really liked the darker and horror-like tone of the game. It feels like Diablo 3 has become more adult, and the mind control and blood ritual elements of Lilith and her demons give an eerie feeling to the game that was not as present in previous titles.
Storyline:
- (+) The storyline is great again. In the beta you already get to experience the clash between Hell and Heaven again (though Inarius became even more grumpy
).
It was not too complicated or too simple. It left me wanting to know more about the plot, which is well thought out because people are probably going to play the storyline over and over again. You don’t want to get stuck in a repetition of complex dialogues.
World Design / Gameplay:
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(+) The gameplay felt fairly smooth overall on XBSX. Casting spells etc felt really nice and looked pretty good overall. Also I didnt experience too many bugs, lags, or frame drops, only towards the final hours of the Beta.
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(+) The open-world design was impressive, and I appreciated the freedom it gave me to explore the game world. Looking forward to be able to mount up and explore even more.
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(-) However, I feel that there could be more variety in the dungeons. In comparison to Diablo 3, where the hallways and environments would change more frequently, the dungeons in this game felt a bit repetitive.
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(-) One thing that bothered me was that a random player could swoop in and defeat the mobs that I wanted to kill. While it’s nice to encounter other players in towns or out in the wild, I prefer to team up with friends, clan members, or random players I’ve met in town when I’m ready to party up for some serious battles.
Talent System:
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(+) The level of depth in the talent trees is truly impressive. The developers have clearly put a lot of effort into creating them, and it shows. I think they’ve done an amazing job with this aspect of the game. Each class offers at least three or four different paths, with the ability to combine elements to create countless possibilities. I really appreciate the flexibility and freedom to explore various options. In my experience, there wasn’t a single best option, which is fantastic. The talent tree should not have overpowered talents or strictly overpowered ways to build it.
Moreover, the Aspects featured on Legendary items can boost several skills, making the talent system even more complex and unique per character. It’s exciting to imagine how in-depth the system will be when a character reaches level 50 and unlocks the paragon system. -
(-) However, one thing I did not like about the talent system was that when you got an item that gave a “free” talent point to a certain skill, you could not thereafter put a point into its improved talent. You first had to level that talent with a point you actually received from leveling up before being able to put a talent point into the improved talent. This didn’t really make sense to me.
Class balancing:
To be clear I played only in the open beta, but played every class to at least level 10.
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(+) I really liked the authentic feel again each class gave you. Like the barbarian still got fury and whirlwind, the summoning of the necromancer etc.
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(-) However the class balancing needs a lot of work. Some classes seem stronger than others. The Necromancer, for example, was a bit too overpowered, especially when combined with Blood Surge and Corpse Explosion. It made clearing entire rooms a breeze, which felt a bit unbalanced.
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(-) The Sorcerer and Rogue were both strong and fun to play. The Rogue seemed probably the most balanced of the lot, while the Sorcerer was a bit too overpowered, especially with shields and the early-game frost build. While the frost build was very enjoyable, the shields made the Sorcerer almost untouchable, which seemed out of place compared to the Druid or Barbarian. It’s worth noting that the Sorcerer apparently becomes even more overpowered (especially its shields) in the late game, so balancing will be crucial.
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(+) Nevertheless, I did really like the frost build and the way it worked, with enemies receiving more damage from cold spells while being frozen.
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(-) However, the fire build needs to be buffed, as it seemed to be underpowered in comparison.
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(-) The Druid was a bit weak in my opinion, despite trying several builds. The popular tornado build didn’t appeal to me, the bear build was fun but not too strong, and most of the time, I used the toxic werewolf build, which was pretty fun to play with all the poisons going around, adding Vines and spreading Rabies (lol). But still, the Druid felt quite weaker in comparison to the others.
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(-) But the Barbarian was the weakest of them all, which is surprising because from previous games, I actually liked the Barbarian the most. From Diablo 3, I can remember that the Barb was also weaker in the beginning but became stronger in the end game. I hope this is the case with Diablo 4, but they really need to buff the Barbarian a little in the beginning.
UI:
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(-) The quest menu could be improved. It was inconvenient to have to go to the map and then to a separate section to access quests. A separate tab with a clearer description of the quests would be better. The design of the quest menu was also too small and not very user-friendly.
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(-) The countdowns, buffs, and cooldowns needed better visibility. When a spell was on cooldown, it was difficult to tell when it would be available again. The buffs were also barely visible, and it was hard to tell how much time was left on a buff of an elixir-potion.
When casting a longer-lasting spell; for example when popping Blood Howl from the Druid you only see a small, green bar on top of the spell, which was too small and not eye-catching enough. Also, a good idea is to add a sort of prox when you are able to cast a spell again after finishing a cooldown. -
(-) The spell bar variety was also lacking. It would be great to have a system similar to the one in Hogwarts Legacy, where you can select up to 16 spells on four different cycles, and switch between them easily using the D-pad. With so many spells unlocked at higher levels, you want to be able to have access to more than just six spells.
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(-) Can we add an improved zoom-in/zoom/out option? You know have to click to zoom in to a certain higth. Would be nice if you could see your character better, or if you could view more of the surroundings.
Mobs:
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(+) I enjoyed the variety of mobs in the game, including spiders, wolves, undead, and demons. I also appreciated the inclusion of the good old shamans that needed to be killed first.
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(-) However, I think there could be even more types of mobs, such as goat-like creatures, orcs, trolls, zombies, or crawlers. More types may be introduced later in the game, though.
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(-) I felt like the quantity of the mobs was a bit low. It felt like diablo 3 had more mobs to run through which felt better imo. I can remember I gathered entire maps with my Barbarian and whirlwinded them all to shreds.
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(-) I feel like Diablo 3 got more variety in the skills of the mobs. The only skill the elites possessed were stuns, which were really annoying because with some classes you weren’t able to counter that. Again, perhaps those could become more frequent in higher levels or higher difficulties (hard, master etc.)
This were my main good points and points for improvement. Overall, I really liked the game and I’m really looking forward in playing the full version. It just need some more tweeks to make it even better. I hope you guys are able to manage that in this short amount of time! Or if not… soon after in (mid) season updates. When doing so… please note CLEAR patch notes.
Thank you for reading if you’re still around 
Greetings,
Tim