Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred Non-Review

 Looking back at my 2023 remarks on Diablo IV, I was moderately positive. The game's good enough to play and the story was compelling enough for me to voice thoughts about events and characters within, focusing on the central prophecy and how characters interpreted it differently.

Now, I see some trailers for the second DLC, and I feel very different. I wonder how much of that may be a matter of me and my own perspective versus the game/story itself?

Seeing Lilith making a reappearance is incredibly deflating. Arguably, that was inevitable. Blizzard doesn't want to sideline their major characters and in the setting most major powers are defeatable only in a temporary sense. But usually defeating a big-bad puts them out of action for more than a single expansion, so that feels ludicrously brief. I'd also say the flip-flop between getting Mephisto's assistance in fighting Lilith in the base game to vice versa feels uninspired.

Really, the overall feeling I get of seeing those general plot points come up is one of futility. I could give the game designers points for creating storylines that mirror the pointless grind of the gameplay? 

I get, and even appreciate to a point, that the series Sanctuary setting is a "grimdark" one, but more and more it feels like it should have been ground to dust by now. Even the grimdark posterchild of Warhammer 40k allows for victories and light moments because the grand scale of it's decline can be overlooked from the ground. But seeing a settlement (much less a city) in Sanctuary makes me think less that it's a bastion of humanity struggling against the dark and more that it's a narrative contrivance that should have been overrun by now.

I don't know... part of me wants to see the story of the two DLCs to see if I find anything redeeming in them, but it may be more frustrating than rewarding. I certainly don't feel inclined to pay for the privilege. I suppose there are/will be some summaries or compilations put together by someone in the near future...

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