Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred Review (Xbox): Warlocking In

Every time Blizzard releases a new Diablo story, you probably have a good idea of what to expect. Plenty of enemies to blast your way through while showering yourself in gear galore as you work to make the mightiest loot goblin possible. All of that remains true, and at the core of the latest expansion for Diablo IV, Lord of Hatred. That said, things have been adjusted and tweaked since Diablo IV’s release back in 2023, and the new Warlock class makes for a great addition to the roster. All of this, plus a pretty good story, adds up to a highly enjoyable experience for newcomers and veterans alike.

A Shadowy Presence Emerges

As mentioned above, the warlock is the latest class added to Diablo IV, and who I chose to play the new campaign as. Overall, I found them to be really fun. They are mid to close-range battlers who wield fire or demon attacks that can pack quite the punch. 

While I’m not a pro at making builds for Diablo characters by any means, I felt the new skill tree for the warlock was easy to understand and allowed me to make a hard-hitting foe capable of bringing enemies down fast. I chose to focus on a build that specialized in summoning demons for their attacks, which included throwing explosive demons at enemies in one instance and summoning a wall lined with bodies in another. I also loved the ultimate attack, which had a giant demon emerge from the ground and begin swinging a huge sword at enemies in the area for a particular “I feel badass right now” moment.

In short, I think the warlock was a ton of fun to play as, and I think they could stand toe-to-toe with any of the other classes if you are looking to make a new character.

Mephisto Rises

Focusing on the Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred new campaign, I was pleasantly surprised to be quite interested in what was happening here. For a little background on me, I do not dive deep into the lore of Diablo. I’ve only played through the third and fourth games, and I didn’t even touch the Vessel of Hatred expansion, so I was coming in lacking, but after getting the freshen up on what’s been happening and seeing it come to a conclusion here, I was pretty entertained.

As Diablo IV has been leading up to for a while now, Mephisto, the titular Lord of Hatred, is the main threat this time, and you need all the help you can get to prevent him from spreading that hatred throughout the world. As a lukewarm Diablo fan, I think the feeling of helplessness and overcoming that are strong at play here, even if there are a few hamfisted moments that make this not the most deep or engaging story. 

Essentially, your task for the large majority of the expansion is boiled down to finding shards of a weapon to fight Mephisto. Other things happen in conjunction with that, but that’s the beating heart of a lot of what the focus is on, so it’s a bit oversimplistic, but when the big moments hit, they make an impact.

Overall, anyone who played the base game can likely enjoy this story with a new direction from Blizzard to try and deliver a hard-hitting narrative that isn’t deep, but will make people feel.

Some New Tricks

As mentioned, I am not the most diehard Diablo fan, so I may be off-base when saying this, but I felt Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred introduced some new tricks into the mix to liven things up a bit, particularly in the boss fights. Things like the boss stealing your abilities so you have to retrieve them before you can attack, or gathering chains to lock them down were a particular stand out to me that I don’t remember dealing with before and added a new layer of enjoyment to an experience that usually in the past seems too much of a monotonous dodge incoming attacks while dealing damage status quo.

There were also a few environments that I thoroughly enjoyed adventuring through. In particular, a forest full of zombie-like bramble monsters was a particular standout for being something that greatly challenged my expectations for what is usually a dark and dreary series at all times, but this place was lit up and quite beautiful, honestly. I also found myself feeling pretty badass when fighting my way up an exploding volcano as I took cover from incoming molten rocks. There are plenty of dark and muted locations that Diablo loves, but I was excited to see something that felt quite different for me here, and I enjoyed that.

Final Verdict

As someone who could not tell you the ins and outs of every little thing Diablo IV does, I really enjoyed Lord of Hatred. The warlock class was a lot of fun to play as, and the new campaign’s story was quite hard-hitting in spite of being a little too simple. For the hardcore player, there are new additions like the war table that should really excite your endless grinding, but the more casual crowd, like myself, can enjoy the ride without much dragging down the experience.

Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred was reviewed on Xbox Series X with a code provided by Blizzard Entertainment. It is also available on PC and PlayStation 5.

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