Diablo 4; hairs from release

 Return of the devil?

Perhaps it was Destiny that first secured the idea in the collective consciousness of the advertising world that an 'Open Beta' served best as an advertising campaign rather than an actual testing of an online title's servers. I mean sure, I'll bet to some degree the Betas of that time put strain on the Bungie Servers which helped them guess how those same systems would stand up to a full launch- but there's plenty of services available that can test that exact same thing without resorting to the public. What an Open Beta really is, when we break it down, is a free trial to test out the game before launch but with a timer attached to it, thus incited that all-important FOMO encouraging the industry to pay it more attention than it otherwise would or should have. The Destiny Beta was a success for it's time, becoming something of a landmark event that united everyone with it's freshness for a new property that looked great and played better- so thin was the 'server test' veneer, that Bungie even did a special sneak preview review of the second world space, the moon, during the final day to really blow everyone away at the same moment.

Of course, then spawned the era of 'open betas' for every game that could feasibly get away with it, which of cause led to over-saturation and now I don't think these events are quite as special and platform unifying as they once were. Perhaps the death knell in my eyes was the beta for 'Homefront: Revolution'; a godawful shooter with even worse online functionality that decided, insanely, to present it's ugliness proudly out to the world and gawked when that world thoroughly rejected them. Honestly, I tried my hardest to try and find anything of value out of that game and all I saw was a total mess, which would go on to pretty much represent the full release of 'Homefront: Revolution' and kill the illusion of the 'magic' behind the 'play an upcoming game for free' marketing ploy. I think some companies missed the tongue in cheek and thought this was actually meant to be a public showcasing of a Beta Build game. It's not. That would be ridiculous.

Such was my disillusionment that I don't partake in these events nearly ever when I see a new one pop up, now I merely watch from the sidelines as these events flare up and take a mild interest in hearing about the general public sentiment of how they was received and how that might effect the final product. (Honestly, the effect is always negligible.) But then there comes Diablo 4. I've always been morbidly fascinated with the legendary Diablo franchise, but I've never bitten the bullet to actually play through one beyond some preliminary taps at Diablo 3 throughout the years. 4, however, appeals to me in that primal, near subliminal way that a fresh game can whisper sweet seductive nothings when you least suspect it. I love the look of the world, the visceral nature of the blood splatter, the grimly gothic design sensibilities, the appealing pop of the magical abilities. Truly the game rang in tandem with some cave-man part of my brain.

Diablo, thus, got my attention when they decided to host a public beta not exclusive to those who pre-ordered the game like nearly all modern 'betas' tend to be. (Further hinting at their true status as 'early play' marketing tactics.) Although, I guess to say 'decided' would be a bit of a misnomer. In truth, these betas serve more as a plea from Blizzard to the general public to put some trust back in them after the years of negative press coverage, the abuse allegations, the awful CEO's antics, and most pertinently, the apocalyptic hell-hole of greed called 'Diablo Immortal'. The mobile port which everyone said was going to be a soulless phlegm ball from hell, Blizzard swore that it wouldn't be upon their honour, and then the game turned out to be exactly what everyone feared and, if possible, somewhat worse. The Diablo 4 marketing path has been more of an apology tour since then.

Diablo 4 has been similarly 'mask off' with it's 'server slam beta' which tasks it's users with speed-gaming it's systems in the race for level 20 and then murdering a periodically spawned world boss in the brief beta window in return for carried over prizes to the main game. A suitable enough incentive for anyone to pick up the job and try their hand at delving into the bittermost depths of hell- or at least as far down that path as they can get in the provided open world space of the game's first act- a giant snowy tundra brimming with small quests, randomly spawning loot events and expansive optional dungeons to delve through. Honestly, you can really see the absolute step upwards in sheer scale compared to what Diablo 3 was working with a decade ago.

I think what constantly surprises me is just the level of visual detail that was gone into a world that is designed to be viewed isometrically. Muddy tread paths look soaked in grimey water, clumps of snow glisten and splatter with blood and the character models look absolutely incredible up close. Even though you'll only ever see your hero from up top in gameplay, just tapping into your inventory reveals a model good enough for up-close cutscenes, which the game will then present in it's decently cinematic main story cutscenes rife with camera changes, quality animation work and a respectable amount of effort sunk into every step of the rendering. Blizzard went above and beyond in the presentation department and it shows.

And the gameplay- it's solid so far. With your simple attacks, specials tied to mana and balls of health exactly where you would expect them and playing exactly how you'd expect them to. Diablo 4 meets the very definition of the APRG genre so far with nothing really wild to add to the formula in it's moment to moment, at least not by the early hours. Even as someone only lightly invested in this style of game and playing on a Tier 2 difficulty realm, I didn't really have to think about differing types of enemies and how to counteract their abilities until it came to bosses; whom were both admittedly a little more interesting. The Main narrative boss was a creative puzzle of dodges and weaves with focus damage opportunities and the world boss was... so long. She only spawned in a few times and I never had the opportunity to beat her, but god that boss bar barely seemed to move throughout her entire 15 minute battle time. Both times all 12 of us threw the everloving daylights at her and only got her down to the final quarter of health before she despawned. (Then again, she was scaled five levels above the max level limit for the beta...)

Diablo 4 seems to be going for the AAA presentation of a polished ARPG game, instead of anything wild and interesting to win back the crown of 'king ARPG' from Path of Exile. Right now, Diablo 4 has everything it needs to welcome people back to this genre who've felt starved since the Diablo 3 support started to dry up, but in the face of other new releases like 'Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom', I can't help but get the sense that the game feels a little... safe. Maybe there are surprises and tricks waiting up the sleeve of the game as it goes on (I haven't even experienced the horse gameplay yet) but as of so far  Diablo 4's greatest selling point is it's visuals- which are unmatched in this genre. Is that enough to get me to buy the game? Not at release price, I can tell you that much...